One of the most revolutionary things to happen to our company was the discovery of Demo Bags, a contractor garbage bag alternative. It is revolutionary because it is so simple yet so profound. We are a green construction company in Brooklyn. We salvage, reuse, and recycle like obsessed neurotic 1950’s house wives if they did […]
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I just graduated from the nine month training by the National Sustainable Building Advisor Program. The program is for working professionals so the benefits of the class come just as much from the content as from other students. The students were construction leaders from many fields: HVAC, environmental remediation, architecture, furniture, design and a lot
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Urban Miners is a salvage company out of Connecticut. It is run by Joe DeRisi, a very knowledgeable ecologist in the salvage industry. His business model caters to the middle class. It isn’t a boutique model catering to a select few. If he pulls materials out of a middle class 1920’s home he wants the
The book 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School by Matthew Frederick is a great little read and it even endears yourself to Architects. On the job site Architects from my point of view as a green contractor are not liked that much. They get in our way. A green builder is a very educated
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The book Green By Design, Creating a Home for Sustainable Living by Angela Dean is a good exploration of green design and the process behind it. In green building the process is just as important as the end result. A beautiful home is not beautiful in the green builder’s eyes if the materials are not
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The book Mini House Now is a picture book of small houses, specifically houses with less than 1080 square feet. They are all free standing houses, most of them in the country side but one or two surrounded by other houses. The pictures are great. Do you have any idea how hard it is to
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The book Insulate and Weatherize is published by Taunton and is part of their Build Like a Pro Series – Expert Advice From Start to Finish. It is advanced weatherization and insulation techniques for a residential home in the North and Mid East United States. This book, like all Build Like a Pro series, is
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We love tung oil. If you want to do a green renovation in a Brooklyn brownstone you can’t do it without tung oil. All the floors, stairs and banisters need to be treated with something. Usually it is some nasty poly or paint application. We use tung oil. It is a key element in our
As a Brooklyn green contractor we are always looking for ways to save resources. The key ones are water, electricity, and raw materials. We don’t mind using up human energy. It’s good exercise and pretty much limitless. But when you hear facts like the ones in the video below you realize how important it is
I had an odd visitor to the Brooklyn green show house yesterday – a Corcoran real estate agent. It is odd because your typical Corcoran agent still has their head in the sand thinking luxury condos are great. So I was pleasantly surprised to meet Gene who is actually pretty honest and down to earth.
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