Here is an article by a major news agency about how dry wall imported from china is toxic. A couple things: – I’m sure they are right about the Chinese drywall. – They claim the US dry wall is safe….I am skeptical of that. – Another thing is that since it is a story from …
Renovating a home is expensive. It involves a lot of people, a good amount of time, and there are lots of unknown. A person can’t possibly know everything regarding DOB fees, codes, electric, plumbing, framing, underpinning, reinforcements etc. And because of this you need to depend on the expertise of others. And you can’t spend …
The ten things I like to do before making a construction decision Read More »
I had to paint the hallway of one of my tenant’s apartments. So I’m in the paint isle and I have a dilemma. Normal paint is cheap. Low VOC or non VOC paint is almost twice the price. Which one do I buy? They don’t care if the paint is low VOC… I’m not sure …
Here is a cool app courtesy of NaturalHomes.org. It shows all the natural homes in the world (at least the ones they know of, which is probably one tenth the real number). The map at first only shows the US, but we’ll forgive them their nationalism in light of our recent and proud presidential election. …
Everyone and their mother is getting LEED certified. Remember the story about Rockefeller overhearing his shoe shine boy talking about stocks? This prompted Rockefeller to conclude that the market had reached a bubble and was about to collapse. He took all his money out of the market just before it crashed. Now I’m seeing the …
Spray foam insulation is good because it creates very good seals. You don’t have to worry about air leaks. The one thing it has against it is that it is petroleum based. There is a company that sells itself as a green alternative because it uses soy based oils instead. Biobased is one such company. …
“High End Apartments”, “Luxury Condos”, “Exclusive Properties” These are terms that have been thrown around a lot over the past couple years as developers and buyers got more and more caught up in the real estate frenzy, constantly looking to make fancier buildings. What Luxury Really Mean? But what did “luxury” really mean? More than …
Green Building is like life: it is all about energy. How you control it, who has it, where it is flowing, and where it isn’t flowing. You control the energy and you have a great house (possibly a great life too). Insulation Part of Green Building So obviously insulation plays a huge part ini green …
Eco Friendly Insulation Has Arrived for Green Building! Read More »
I have relationships with the contractors in the neighborhood. These oak floors were perfectly fine but the owner wanted to replace them with cherry wood floors. Instead of put them in the dump I got them. The lower floors of a brownstone are dark so I like light floors to maximize the light.
Things we can do right away in a lousy economy: –Conserve. Obama almost said the ‘C’ word in the debateand you would think this is something radicals, liberals and conservatives would all agree on, as it requires no funding or investment and can produce huge rewards. If we had continued to conserve energy at the …
