Archive for Green Building Tips
September 13, 2007 at 9:35 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Green Stories
Found this story about Apple founder, Steve Wozniak, and his ambition to build a green home in the future.
“I have a long dream to build my own house in a very energy-efficient approach. That’s going to be very soon. It uses the right kind of wood that serves as a heater and as an air conditioner, combined with some other techniques in how the wood is assembled to operate energy life pressure. You don’t have to add energy into a house after you build it. I love that concept. It’s like the way I used to make computers. I want to build it myself. That’s a project that could be finished this summer, next summer, but not too far from now.”
Read the rest of the article at greenoptions.com
[tags]steve,wozniak,apple,engineer,green,energy-efficient,california,silicon valley,cupertino[/tags]
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September 11, 2007 at 9:32 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
Found at lime.com
For the past couple of weeks, Lime.com has been following a green makeover of sorts. This week, they are looking at the heating situation.
Let’s skip the new green studio for a minute. The big task of the past few days has been in the main house. Some background: as I pointed out a while back, I had thought that Boulder city code would require our new studio building to have a backup heating source in addition to whatever solar-powered source we were planning for it. I was misguided: Boulder considers the building an accessory structure, one that nobody plans to live in, and thus it needs no heating system at all. But, the helpful folk down at the city planning office pointed out, should we or anyone else want to someday live in the new studio, it would need a city-inspected and -approved heating system—so why not just throw one in now, while the tools are out anyway?
[tags]green, solar, heating, renovations, green, eco-friendly[/tags]
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August 17, 2007 at 11:15 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Green Stories
Sundance Channel : Blogs : The Green : EnergyStar could be useful for your home
In case you have heard about Energy Star but aren’t sure what it means, this is a joint program by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy designed to encourage the use of energy-saving appliances, building supplies and other products. To receive an official “Energy Star” badge, each of these products must adhere to specific guidelines for energy usage. Since these standards are relative to other products in the same category, you’ll always know you’re buying the most efficient products available. Such products are not only good for the environment, they can also help you save money on your energy bills. To learn more, visit the official Energy Star web site below.
EnergyStar.gov Website [www.energystar.gov].
[tags]energystar, conservation, energy, home building[/tags]
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August 16, 2007 at 2:01 pm · Filed under Basement, Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Green Stories, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Interior Design Ideas, Lawn and Garden, Smart Home Building, The Johnston Family
A number of weeks have passed since the last update here. Our family participated in some weddings, a funeral and a sailing trip around Vancouver Island, Canada.
Over the next two weeks we will post a daily collection of great links that were forwarded via email while we were away.
HGTV with ideas for greening your home
If you like the idea of being green but aren’t sure how to achieve it, visit the HGTV green home blog. HGTV is building an eco-friendly home and then giving it away upon completion. I have learned a few helpful tips and for those just dipping their feet into the pools of eco-awareness you may renovate or decorate with a whole new mindset. – link
Green Home Makeover Video – Part 1
Alive & Well TV Green Home Makeover Part 1. This is great video to watch to get ideas to make your home more eco-friendly. The video features furnishings that are free of particleboard and made from environmentally friendly, natural, sustainable and/or recycled materials. – link
Green home arrives via truck
The PowerPod is a modular home that incorporates many green design elements, including a solar butterfly roof that collects rainwater and includes an active solar array for electricity and hot water. – link
Green home going up in British Columbia
But the house isn’t just a flashy modern pad, it’s loaded with environmentally conscious design features, such as: Reclaimed cedar siding, Concrete floors with hydronic radiant heat, Recessed compact fluorescent lighting, Ecosmart fireplace, Double glazed windows, Construction with insulated concrete forms, Low-flow toilets, faucets and showers, On-demand hot water heating and Good passive solar heat gain. link.
Top 10 Green Building Blogs
I’ve been at the blogging thing for close to a year and wanted to celebrate some blogs that are doing a dang good job providing green building information. There’s nothing empirical about this list. I didn’t use Technorati or Google Page Rank, although these metrics are important to look at. . link.
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April 21, 2007 at 11:01 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Green Stories, Heating and Ventilation
Wondering what products and options are available for hot water via solar or as a hot water supplement? Check out The Alternative Energy Store’s Solar Hot Water Area.
The benefits of choosing to implement a solar hot water heating system in your home are significant when viewed through a long term lens. In many cases, implementing solar hot water can cost more up front, but the long term energy savings assures that this newer and more environmentally friendly technology will pay for itself, usually within about 5 years. In fact, if you live in the southern half of the United States or in an equally sunny area you could potentially save between 50% and 80% on your water heating by implementing a solar hot water heater.
Additionally, many states and local governments are actively offering rebates and tax incentives for people who choose to implement solar water heaters in their homes – which will hasten your return on investment. The long term benefits will also show themselves as your reduced dependence on oil and other fossil fuels keeps your costs the same or lower than other homeowners with traditional hot water heaters. You can also feel good about the fact that your solar water heating system is not polluting the environment with fumes and exhaust from the burning of fuel.
[tags]Building, Hot Water, Solar, Energy, Savings, Fuel[/tags]
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February 7, 2007 at 11:29 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Stories, Home building on the Web
Via Natural Life Magazine.
Tina Therrien is a partner in Camel’s Back Construction, a Canadian straw bale pioneer with over 60 straw bale residences, studios and other assorted buildings to its credit. The company is committed to constructing sustainable buildings and to reducing the negative impact of its building practices.
NL: Other than the community aspect, what do you see as the advantages of straw bale construction?
Tina: With rising energy costs, those people living in conventional, on-grid homes are really looking for ways to reduce their overall operating costs. Of course, with walls of R-40 (about double the insulation of standard homes) there are tremendous energy savings to be had both in summer and winter in a properly designed passive-solar straw bale house. And for folks who decide to take the leap to build an off-grid straw bale home, well, they definitely benefit from the insulation factor. But there are many other benefits. Straw bale construction allows for more creative design, in that you are already working with a malleable and quite adaptable building material. Straw bale homes are unique, they feel good (no, really, I’m not just saying that…you have to visit a straw home to appreciate how it feels inside) and they offer excellent sound insulation. Some people are touting straw bale homes as “healthy homes” if they are finished and furnished with non-toxic materials.
NL: Would you describe straw bale construction as high-tech or low-tech?
Tina: Hmmmm, that’s kind of a tricky question. Straw bale construction, while being a specialized form of building, is also quite an accessible form of building, in that you don’t have to have advanced math skills and years of training that other trades might require. (I’m speaking strictly of the straw bale portion of the house here; if you choose to build an entire home, then the skills you require are quite different.) We have had participation from 10-year-olds to 84-year-olds, men and women alike, and at one jobsite we even had a volunteer in a wheelchair help with the stitching portion of the job. Now that is exciting! It is empowering for people to get back to their roots and participate in real projects, not unlike what we would have all been doing had we lived 200 years ago in Canada. However, there is a danger in considering straw bale construction really low tech, in that without proper instruction, guidance or skills, the detailing of a straw bale building can potentially fail.
read more | digg story
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November 6, 2006 at 11:01 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Green Stories, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Found this story over at Lifehacker.
The U.S. Department of Energy says you may be leaking dollars and cents out of those little gaps in your window sills and walls, and offers a guide to air sealing your home this winter.
A couple of ways to figure out if you’re losing heat by a door or window include:
* Shining flashlight at night over all potential gaps while a partner observes the house from outside. Large cracks will show up as rays of light.
* Shutting a door or window on a piece of paper. If you can pull the paper out without tearing it, you’re losing energy.
Read the rest of the article on how to air seal your home.
[tags]energy, conservation, savings, diy, environment, building, renovation[/tags]
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October 16, 2006 at 4:08 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Stories, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Interior Design Ideas, Lawn and Garden, Smart Home Building
Found this story today on cbc.ca.
Drive responsibly and help save the environment, the president of the Canadian Automobile Association said on Monday as the club unveiled its plan to address climate change and improve air quality.
The club, which has a membership of 4.9 million members, partnered with the environmental group Pollution Probe to produce a report titled Driving Towards a Cleaner Environment to be released later this year. The report calls on the federal government to encourage Canadians to change their habits through incentives and education initiatives.
“We’re … seeing a shift in attitude on the part of Canadians and we want to help them in terms of ‘How do I do something that’s environmentally responsible?”‘ CAA president David Flewelling told Reuters.
The report encouraged consumers to use public transportation, car sharing, and car pooling as a means to help the environment.
Read more about the pollution fighting auto club.
[tags]cbc, green, gas, fuel, environment, auto club, news[/tags]
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July 6, 2006 at 4:28 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Stories, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web
Found this article about solar power at www.businessweek.com. When it comes to cheap electricity, making money from your home is as good as it gets.
Cheap electricity: Solar power that saves the environment and makes cash
Carl Baldino, a plant manager for a textile finishing company in Philadelphia, is moonlighting as a small-time energy tycoon. In his second job, he’s got the kind of overhead most businesspeople can only dream of. His rooftop solar power generation system pays him an extra $3,000 per year on top of producing all the energy he needs to power his New Jersey home for free. The money comes from an emerging market in renewable energy credits (RECs), part of a program in many states where electricity suppliers that are required by law to invest in renewable energy buy tradable certificates from sources like Baldino. It’s just one way individuals and small businesses are making money off clean energy.
Baldino says he’s never made a better investment—especially with today’s unstable energy market. “I don’t think I can find anywhere that I can make a return of $3,000 per year [just for having solar power], and that’s if the price of energy doesn’t go up,” says Baldino. For him, the $12,000 upfront investment in the hardware and installation he made two years ago (New Jersey paid the remaining $38,700 through the state’s Clean Energy Program) is worth the money he’ll be making in the long run.
While the high cost of equipment, complicated state governing rules, and inefficiencies in the installation process still won’t allow small-scale energy systems to compete directly with the established utilities, micro-energy production is paying off. With energy prices fluctuating and instability in many oil-producing countries, individuals and small businesses are touting the profits they’re making off their wind, solar, and manure digestion systems as the wave of the future. These pioneers are finding that producing clean energy pays dividends that rival Wall Street (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/20/06, “Green Growth Areas for Entrepreneurs”). “There is a market that’s growing, and we’re just at the front end of it,” says Heather Rhoads-Weaver, founder of eFormative Options LLC, a market-research consultancy for the wind power industry.
Read the rest of the article on making Cheap electricity.
[tags]home,building,solar,cheap electricity,daily,blogs[/tags]
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July 6, 2006 at 4:18 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
We added another book to our construction bookstore wishlist. We found this book about building an Earth-Sheltered Houses. The publisher has many titles that would be perfect in your construction bookstore. Check out New Society Publishers from Gaboriola Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Construction bookstore – Learn about earth-sheltered building
An earth-sheltered, earth-roofed home has the least impact upon the land of all housing styles, leaving almost zero footprint on the planet and creating a dwelling in harmony with its environment. But early attempts at constructing underground houses ran into a host of problems that modern technology and more evolved experience of the technique have now solved.
A highly practical guide, Earth-Sheltered Houses brings earth-sheltered construction completely up to date for those who want to build their own underground home at moderate cost. It describes the benefits of sheltering a home with earth, including added comfort and energy efficiency, low maintenance, and protection against fire, sound, earthquake and storm. The book covers all of the various construction techniques involved, including details on planning, excavation, footings, floor, walls, framing, roofing, waterproofing, insulation and drainage. Specific methods appropriate for the inexperienced owner-builder are a particular focus and include:
- – pouring one’s own footings and/or floor
- – the use of dry-stacked (surface-bonded) concrete block walls
- – post-and-beam framing
- – plank-and-beam roofing, and
- – drainage methods and self-adhesive waterproofing membranes.
The time-tested, easy-to-learn construction techniques described in Earth-Sheltered Houses will enable readers to embark upon their own building projects with confidence, backed up by a comprehensive resources section that lists all the latest products such as waterproofing membranes, types of rigid insulation and drainage products that will protect the building against water damage and heat loss.
Find this book at your favorite construction bookstore.
About the Author
Rob Roy, a former contractor, has twelve previous books to his credit, including Cordwood Building and Timber Framing for the Rest of Us. An expert on underground building, he founded the Earthwood Building School in 1981 with his wife, Jaki, and is frequently a speaker at events throughout North America.
[tags]construction bookstore,building,homes,houses,construction,ennergy-efficient[/tags]
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July 4, 2006 at 9:48 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures
We love Google blog search. As we renovate our home on the web over the next couple of days, we would like to pass on some love to other people blogging about their homes that we found on google blog search. These are in no particular order and are sites we stumbled upon while using google blog search. If we missed your site and you would like a mention, please email us at ramsay@ramsayhome.com and tell us about your story!
Use google blog search to find your inspiration from other home builders
The Straw House Blog – In 2002 Glen Hunter & Joanne Sokolowski started building a house. It’s made of straw, it’s off the grid. This is their story on the web.
A Selfbuild Experience – Selfbuilder with no building experience building a house in a Cambridgeshire village – UK
Home Building Diary – This is a diary about the construction of a small house. My name is Greg Manter, and I’m the owner of this house-to-be. My contractor is Marshall Schwenk and I’m his one-man crew. Yes, my house is going to be small, but it’s designed to be easily expandable. 584 square feet of heated space, plus 120 square feet of porches. That’s plenty of room for a 12×16 living room, 12×16 bedroom/office, 8×8 kitchen, and 8×8 bathroom/laundry. The spiral stair will be in a 6×6 stairwell. There will be 6×10 porches on both the first and second floor.
The built green home at SuncadiaThe Built Green Home, located in Suncadia, is a custom, environmental-friendly mountain showcase home that highlights fiscal benefits, as well as the environmental and health benefits, of utilizing “green” materials and building techniques. The Built Green Home at Suncadia will demonstrate that a spectacular, custom-built home, complete with the finest craftsmanship, can provide value through sustainable, earth-friendly building. The project launched August 2005.
The Briard House Project – This Project has been recorded, filmed and photographed from almost day one. The objective is to see what it takes to build a green custom contemporary home on a budget. How are the decisions made, what is does green mean and what surprises happen along the way.
[tags]google blog search,blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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July 4, 2006 at 4:18 pm · Filed under Basement, Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Interior Design Ideas, Lawn and Garden, Smart Home Building
We found the following green stories for July 3, 2006 via Google Blog Search.
Daily green stories from Google Blog Search
Interested in learning more about Biodesiel?
Biodiesel magazine launches new website [www.renewableenergyaccess.com] : JUNE 29, 2006-To accentuate its existing publication Biodiesel Magazine, BBI International Media has launched it’s newest Web site, http://www.BiodieselMagazine.com.
Need more incentive for building green?
Building Green = $$$ [www.thingsaregood.com]: “A new study by the Real Property Association of Canada reveals that adding green features to a building equals better sale value! Rick Nevin and Gregory Watson found that people pay $10-$20 more for a home for every $1 reduction in …”
Learning to conserve from the energy-poor
Will Energy-Poor Nations (and States) Become Models for the Rest [sustainablog.blogspot.com] …: “In both places, the governments have implemented ambitious conservation, renewable energy and green building standards that they hope will lessen their dependence on imports. What really got me thinking, though, was this statement: …”
Wind energy being harvested in South America
Wind Energy Park in Brazil Starts Operating. [www.renewableenergyaccess.com]
[tags]Google Blog Search, blog, blogging, daily, internet, reviews, weblog, news[/tags]
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June 12, 2006 at 10:37 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Interior Design Ideas
As we investigate flooring options for the Ramsay Home project, cork flooring seems to come up over and over again. We were glad to find this article on the next possible contender to replace cork flooring on the green builders wish-list, rubber flooring. This article was written by Oliver Heaths for The Observer newspaper.
Cork Flooring has competition with rubber floors
Q. Is it possible to get rubber flooring suitable for my through lounge? I have a wonderful cover for a diary that is made of multicoloured recycled rubber and I would love to have a similar effect on my floor. Charlotte Sims, Norwich
A. Rubber is a great material and, like cork flooring, is set for a revival, providing it’s used in new ways with contemporary colours. I’ve just fitted a recycled rubber floor into the basement of my home; like many recycled materials it is speckled in colour, but is available in plenty of colourways from http://www.expanko.com – for a harmonious feel, match one of the speckles and use the colour on your walls. They also do a lovely cork-and-rubber-mix floor tile in natural muted shades. Alternatively, for an unbeatable range of colours and textures try http://www.dalsouple.com. But remember, plain colours can mark easily – which will mean lots of cleaning, although some people would pay a fortune to get that close to rubber on a regular basis (I don’t have any website suggestions for that, though).
Read the rest of the article on cork flooring.
[tags]cork flooring,rubber flooring,blogs,blog,daily,building,construction[/tags]
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June 8, 2006 at 10:11 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Everyone is having to examine how they use gas and electricity in their homes, especially those of us trying to be green while building a home. This article about building green and the impact on gas and electricity usage can be found at A to Z Building.
Gas and Electricity – New Home Design Solves Housing Energy Crisis
Not only is the energy needed to run a conventional house expensive, but so is the equipment. Heat pumps and furnaces cost money and have to be replaced every 10-15 years. So replacing equipment with good design saves initial cost, as well as running costs. But the big saver is the pre-cut numbered kit construction- labor costs go way down. “One of our clients in southern California built his Enertia® home for 25% of the local going total-cost square-foot rate,” says Sykes, inventor and President of the company. “While building green to reduce pollution is a noble cause, the real kicker that will save the planet is saving money. It’s expensive to foul the earth”
Once it was thought the home of the future would be plastic, but that thinking has changed with the shortage of petroleum. The current trend is to natural bio-based materials. Modern structures, like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, are carbon fiber, so the skin of modern Enertia® homes are nature’s carbon fiber-wood in engineered glued layers for maximum strength. In the current trend for “Green” materials the Enertia® home is at the top- the kit materials are 100% renewable.
This huge carbon content is what really makes the Enertia® home stand out. “Do you know your carbon footprint?” says the BP television ad. By not needing fuel the home is close to a zero carbon footprint, but since the structure sequesters tons of carbon it makes the home better than ‘carbon neutral’- building one actually helps clean the planet. Sykes calculates “building and living in an Enertia® house is like taking 50 cars off the road.”
Read the rest of the article online.
[tags]Gas and electricity, blogs, blogging, daily, global warming, building[/tags]
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June 1, 2006 at 4:57 pm · Filed under Basement, Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Interior Design Ideas, Lawn and Garden, Smart Home Building
We read this post from Andreas Schiffler on the Institute for Distributed Creativity (iDC) mailing list and wanted to share it with the readers of the Ramsay House Project. The iDC focuses on collaboration in media art, technology, and theory with an emphasis on social contexts. As we try to go green and build our new home with eco-friendly materials, it’s easy to forget about all the other ways energy is used in our lives.
I’d like to make a quick ecologically motivated post to the list.
It is amazing how easy it is to forget and ignore a simple fact: the Internet with all its “free” communication and information is a big energy wasting, power sucking HOG of a construction. Once you’ve read the numbers below, there can be no doubt why there is a digital divide and Africans don’t need a donation of our old PCs: only the affluent can afford to “plug-in” and operate that kind of juice-sucking machinery in the first place.
Take Google for a start: Google operates one of the largest computer-clusters on the planet, to provide us with a sub-second search result (and the ads that go with it). They run upwards of 250K servers, collectively consuming a staggering 20 Megawatts of power for a nice electricity bill: 175 Gigawatt-hours per year – almost a Million Dollars a month. And that’s just their server farm, never mind the offices and equipment that connects it to the rest of the world. — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_platform
At the time when “Energy-Star” labels went onto most Dell PCs in 1999, the experts were discussing the total power consumption of office equipment and network infrastructure. An estimate of 74 TeraWatt-hours (TWh) per year is estimated up. The Internet barely makes a blip in the total (copiers and laser-printers are just way better “consumers” than modems), with telecommunications equipment taking about 5-10% of this total or about 7Twh/y … note that this is in 1999 and for the US only. — http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/net-energy-studies.html
A few year later in 2002-2003, the reports were refined and give a number of scenarios with interesting sounding names like “Zaibatsu”, “Cybertopia” and “Net Insecurity” which solidify a new conservative estimate to around 3.5% of TOTAL power consumption. —
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1617/MR1617.sum.pdf
Today usage is further up (as usage grows), so we can assume a conservative level of 4% of total power consumption, factor in the 4TW of US usage in 2006 and get a nice amount of 1401 TWh/year (including all the office equipment again). Thus our 5% Internet portion, is now at a whopping 70 TWh/year – perfectly in line with the 10-fold grows in hostnames from 1999 to today as reported by Netcraft. — http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html
Will the trend continue. Sure it will! With more always-on-devices and entertainment platforms like the PS3 that would be considered a supercomputer just 10 years ago, we will definitely continue to use more power for our IT needs. Even though companies such as Apple like to put a positive spin on it —
http://www.apple.com/environment/energyefficiency/ — the fact is, that current hardware (CPUs, video cards and even networking equipment) will use more power. And new operating systems like Microsoft’s Vista, which will require a 3D accelerator card (the second largest power consumer in a PC) – a software move that will push for more transistors running at higher speeds on Millions of desks. Thermal design is really the primary limiting factor in microchip design today and current processors burn up as much as 100W of power when in use. —
http://tinyurl.com/rpmw4
But hey, I forgot one more thing: The production costs for all the equipment that runs the show! Its a bit like the hybrid-car-connundrum: Forget hybrids, but give me a car that lasts 5 more years – that’s green. Because on a whole, the longer lasting car will probably save more energy than driving one of the latest battery-powered gizmos would – because a lot of energy is spend on making the car in the first place. The same applies to the tech equipment: Five new computers over a period
of 10 years (28GJ) is about two-thirds of a car (47GJ) in terms of energy consumption for production. — http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19992.html
So this leaves my environmental conscience – as tech worker, full-time programmer, dare I say internet-addict – with quite a bad feeling about the whole thing and one can only hope that technological advances will turn the trend around in the near future. As an individual, I think one
can try to do more with less, keep the old stuff and live with simpler cooler-running technology as long as possible. But in the end it leaves me still a searching for practical answers … Maybe after we get this
email, we can all turn off our monitors for 1 minute (and save some power, maybe the planet). 😉
Technorati Tags: Internet, Energy Consumption, Windows Vista, Apple, Google
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May 30, 2006 at 4:30 pm · Filed under Basement, Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Interior Design Ideas, Lawn and Garden, Smart Home Building
We are looking for fellow green builders and/or eco-friendly construction enthusiasts!
Have you always wanted to be a ‘blogger’ but didn’t know how to get started?
We would love to see more stories posted here, so we are putting out a call for contributors. If you would like to donate some spare time and share the stories you have found on the internet relating to green home building or related topics, then drop us a line. If you have an idea for other topics, posts or stories we would also love to hear from you!
No experience is necessary and we will help you get started.
Please email ramsay@ramsayhome.com if you are interested in becoming a regular contributor to the Ramsay House Project blog.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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May 24, 2006 at 11:39 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Interior Design Ideas, Smart Home Building
Found this story about Bamboo flooring products at azobuild.com.
In response to figures like these, in early 2005 a new bamboo flooring company was born in Washington, DC. Ambient Bamboo Products Inc. brings the next generation in building materials to the market – high quality bamboo flooring. Driven by the ever-growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, Ambient introduces several bamboo flooring products to the market that appeal, aesthetically and practically, to a wide variety of consumers.
*Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth. It is known to produce greater biomass and 30% more oxygen than a hardwood forest of comparable size, while improving watersheds, preventing erosion, restoring soil, providing sweet edible shoots and removing toxins from contaminated soil. Ecologists tout bamboo as a renewable source of food and building material. Many promote bamboo planting for erosion prevention, and even to reverse the effects of global warming.
*Bamboo helps reduce carbon dioxide gases blamed for global warming. Some bamboo sequesters up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare, which makes it a highly efficient plant, and conducive to fresh air. Bamboo can be selectively harvested annually and regenerates without replanting.
*Bamboo is a natural water control barrier. Because of its wide spread root system and large canopy, bamboo greatly reduces rain run off, prevents massive soil erosion and keeps twice as much water in a watershed. Bamboo helps mitigate water pollution due to its high nitrogen consumption, making it a solution for excess nutrient uptake of wastewater from manufacturing, livestock farming and sewage treatment.
*Bamboo can restore degraded lands. It is a pioneering plant and can be grown in soil damaged by overgrazing and poor agriculture. Proper harvesting does not kill the bamboo plant, so topsoil is held in place. Because of its dense litter on the forest floor it feeds topsoil, restoring healthy agricultural lands for generations to come.
Read the rest of the story on Bamboo flooring materials
[tags]bamboo,flooring,environmentalism,sustainability[/tags]
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May 23, 2006 at 12:27 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Google Video is a service provided by Google for people to share their own videos or purchase commerical videos to watch at home. Anyone can upload a video (no copyrighted material), and watch it on Google Video, send it to friends, and add it to your own website.
Amoung the thousands of videos are a number of green and eco-friendly related shows and video pod casts – all of which are free to watch. Here is a sample of a couple of interesting videos:
Sustainable Living, Building a green home – Watch Video. A daughter’s asthma inspires a family to design and build an energy efficient, low allergy home. Combining intelligent design, lots of windows and two solar systems, the house achieves near-energy-self-sufficiency, producing enough power that on sunny days the house generates a surplus of electricity. Recycled materials, including a kitchen counter made from curbside collected glass, concrete floors and walls, and insulation from recycled newspapers help create an allergy free interior environment. A home of the future, in an urban area, that is beautiful, safe and environmentally friendly
Darryl Hannah explores green building, green materials and more – Watch videos – “dhlovelife” is a weekly video podcast that explores inspirational and cutting-edge developments in green culture and lifestyle hosted by Darryl Hannah.
Technorati Tags: Free Video, Eco-Friendly, Environmentalism, Videos, Conservation
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April 26, 2006 at 10:49 am · Filed under Basement, Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Interior Design Ideas, Smart Home Building
If half of all households replaced their regular TV with an ENERGY STAR model, the change would be like shutting down a power plant. Findthemoney is currently offering a chance to learn more about financing options for renovations & new home building while giving away a new plasma television every day.
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We all certainly agree that your home is your most important investment, so are any renovations you do to it. Sometimes when you think you need a change, the best decision you can make is to stay right where you are and add to the value of your home.
Scotiabank (and all banks) offer a number of financing options to choose from. The cost of your renovations can help determine which option is best for you. Begin by figuring out how much money you need and when you need it. Do you need it all up front or in stages as the job progresses?
Visit Findthemoney website to learn more about home financing and enter to win a new energy efficient plasma television with draws daily!
Technorati Tags: Plasma Television, Contests, Tips, Advice, Contracts
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April 25, 2006 at 11:00 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Protect your time, investment and health with this guide for hiring a contrator
Contractors can help you with everything from installing a new home network, renovating the family room or building a brand new house – We think that these tips apply to anyone who is considering a hiring a contractor for building anything in your home. Some of these tips we learned the hard way and others we gathered from the web.
Be active and participate – Instead of being passive and watching from the sidelines, we found that being active during the entire process really helped our project. Of course, you do not want to get in the way of your contractor but make sure you are always asking questions, taking photographs and documenting the process. Think team member rather than manager.
Ask how long the contractor has been in business – Look for a well-established company and check it out with consumer protection officials. They can tell you if there are unresolved consumer complaints on file. One caveat: No record of complaints against a particular contractor doesn’t necessarily mean no previous consumer problems. It may be that problems exist, but have not yet been reported, or that the contractor is doing business under several different names. If you can’t find your contractor in the phone book or online, ask them why.
Check that your contractor is licensed and registered – While most provinces/states license electrical and plumbing contractors, not all require licensing or registration for contractors, remodelers, and/or specialty contractors. Check with your local building department or consumer protection agency to find out about licensing requirements in your area. If your area has licensing laws, ask to see the contractor’s license. Make sure it’s current.
Find other projects like yours that have been completed recently – Ask for a list. This will help you determine how familiar the contractor is with your type of project.
Will my project require a permit? – Most areas and localities require permits for building projects, even for simple jobs like decks. A competent contractor will get all the necessary permits before starting work on your project. Be suspicious if the contractor asks you to get the permit(s). It could mean that the contractor is not licensed or registered, as required by your state or locality. Not getting the proper permits in place could mean removing your new deck and starting over again!
Get a list of recent references and visit completed jobs – The contractor should be able to give you the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least three clients who have projects similar to yours. Although this step seems daunting at first, do not skip this. We didn’t spend near enough time on this stage and we got burned because of it. We found out after we started having problems that all the references experienced the same things.
Ensure you ask references these basic questions – Were you satisfied with the project? Was it completed on time? Did the contractor keep you informed about the status of the project, and any problems along the way? Were there unexpected costs? If so, what were they? Did workers show up on time? Did they clean up after finishing the job? Would you recommend the contractor? Would you use the contractor again?
Ask if your contractor will be using subcontractors on your project – If yes, ask to meet them, and make sure they have current insurance coverage and licenses, if required. Also ask them if they were paid on time by this contractor. A lien could be placed on your home if your contractor fails to pay the subcontractors and suppliers on your project. That means the subcontractors and suppliers could go to court to force you to sell your home to satisfy their unpaid bills from your project. Protect yourself by asking the contractor, and every subcontractor and supplier, for a lien release or lien waiver.
Ask to see what types of insurance your contractor carries – Contractors should have personal liability, worker’s compensation, and property damage coverage. Ask for copies of insurance certificates, and make sure they’re current. Avoid doing business with contractors who don’t carry the appropriate insurance. Otherwise, you’ll be held liable for any injuries and damages that occur during the project.
Technorati Tags: Contractors, Help, Tips, Advice, Contracts
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April 12, 2006 at 9:43 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
The Little Green House is a blog by by the Stokes family – Peter is an architect and Tracy is a stay-at-home-mother, writer and gardener. We really enjoy the website they have built and we wanted to share with our readers the eco-friendly choices the Stokes family are making today, and what they would like to do in the future. Your list is truly inspiring and we are looking forward to following your story.
Eco-friendly choices from the Stokes family
Forward Thinking
- * Build deck from FSC or reclaimed timber.
- * Build structure to hang hammock from.
- * Fit double-glazed French doors in our dining room.
- * Install a passive irrigation system from our water butts.
What We’re Already Doing
- * Vermi-composting kitchen waste.
- * Composting garden & allotment waste.
- * Harvesting rainwater with water butts.
- * Recycling as much as we can.
- * Using low-energy bulbs in 70% of light fittings.
- * Buying recycled where possible.
- * Using eco-friendly cleaning products.
- * Using eco-friendly toiletries.
- * Buying renewable electricity.
- * Growing our own fruit & vegetables.
- * Encouraging wildlife in the garden.
- * Cooking from scratch.
- * Cavity walls insulated.
- * All new appliances bought are energy efficient.
Technorati Tags: Green Homes, Green Blogging, Blogs, Family
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March 31, 2006 at 12:57 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures
It’s with both excitement and tears as we announce that work began again on the ramsayhome.com house project. We couldn’t be more happy to have been put into contact with our new contractors – this project sure needs the professionalism, experience and technical ability they bring to our home project. Sadly, the first thing that our new contractors will have to do is dismantle a good portion of the project that was not completed properly by our original contractor. This is sad news indeed and we will discuss this more in our on-going construction diary at City Hippy.
This is the shocking photo of the warmboard subfloor being removed from the living room when it was found that it was glued and nailed incorrect. The entire living room is in the wrong location and the warmboard pieces ended up having to be chopped out.
More photos in our home building pictures gallery were added today.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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March 31, 2006 at 12:26 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures
Norm Schreifels is building a 5,500 square-foot eco-friendly home in Albuquerque, N.M. Read the full article of about his home at spokesmanreview.com.
Housing industry is turning green
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Norm Schreifels is building a 5,500-square-foot dream home with unimpeded views of the Sandia Mountains, an outdoor dining room that faces the city lights and a handful of plazas and portals that take advantage of New Mexico’s weather.
At first glance, the home would send any conservationist into a frenzy.
But Schreifels, who runs Sun Mountain Construction Inc., wants people to take a closer look.
“We put a big house in here just so people would get mad and ask questions,” he said.
The answers all point to green building, a trend that’s picking up speed across the United States as homeowners struggle with high utility bills and leaders begin to talk about shifting the country’s diet from oil to more renewable energy sources.
Technorati Tags: Architecture, Blogging, Home, Real Estate
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March 30, 2006 at 9:48 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
We found out about this new spray foam insulation made from veggie oil and recycled plastics at Canada NewsWire. Read the full press release.
Spray insulation for your home made with veggie oil and recycled plastic
HEAT LOK SOYA – a Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation made from renewable vegetable oils and recycled plastics – is of a unique ecological nature in North America. “From now on, DEMILEC recycles your plastic bottles into a Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation and offers you a performing and durable insulation system which reduces your energy costs and consumption”, said Jacques Larivire, President of DEMILEC.
Moreover, HEAT LOK SOYA has zero impact on the ozone layer. “We are extremely proud of this innovation, our own ecological contribution to the challenges raised by the application of the Montreal Protocol agreement”, added Mr. Larivire while reminding that the insulation industry has an obligation to eliminate all the Ozone Depletion Substances (ZERO ODS) from their products by 2010.
DEMILEC is the first Canadian manufacturer of spray polyurethane to meet the requirements of the Montreal Protocol. On top of having risen to the challenge before the deadline, DEMILEC – while keeping with the high quality and performances of its foam systems – has developed the expertise to embrace the ecological turn (the sustainable development approach) by introducing recycled plastics, renewable natural oils and water.
Technorati Tags: Insulation, Recylced Plastic, Save Energy, Environment
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March 29, 2006 at 11:58 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Interior Design Ideas
Working for change has a column, ‘Ask Umbra’, where readers can get answers to questions about environmental concerns, sustainability and responsible capitalism. We found this article about a mother’s interest in building a green nursery to be really educational – and we are also building a nursery this month as well!
Try to be imaginative as well as minimalist with baby room equipment.
Janine Olsen wrote in: I am pregnant and wondering if you know of any websites or resources for setting up a nursery — for green furniture, bedding, and mattresses. We’re painting the nursery with low-VOC paint and looking for low-VOC carpeting, and we gratefully accept used toys and clothes from friends and family.
[sample, see above for link to full article] Minimize formaldehyde, which is a suspected carcinogen used in certain adhesives and found in plywood, pressed wood products, and permanent-press type fabrics. A lot of cheap furniture and cabinets will have formaldehyde in them, unless specified otherwise by the manufacturer. Don’t buy products labeled “known to the state of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.” Obviously don’t use furniture with peeling lead paint.
There is a book called The Natural Nursery: The Parent’s Guide to Ecologically Sound, Nontoxic, Safe, and Healthy Baby Care that might be helpful to you, and an article in The Green Guide you could scope out (though it requires a subscription). I can’t recommend specific low-toxin baby-gear vendors as I haven’t vetted the products, but I saw quite a few while surfing around on the web.
Try to be imaginative as well as minimalist with baby room equipment. Your baby doesn’t care if the furniture was made for a baby, or if you buy a blue changing table instead of plopping a changing pad on top of a low dresser. Your existing furniture or local salvage store may do just fine. Congratulations, by the way.
Technorati Tags: Home Renovations, Nurseries, Green Nurseries, Responsible Capitalism
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March 29, 2006 at 9:59 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
Carlton N. Owen is a wildlife biologist and forester in Greenville, South Carolina who blogs about the environment, business and the building of his green certified home. You can find his blog at http://upstatehouse.blogspot.com. Here is a portion of a post about the importance of building an energy efficient envelope.
The most important step is to make sure that the “building envelope” is tight
Invest in Good Windows
Windows are a very expensive component in any construction project. While almost all codes require double-pane windows, not all windows are created equally. In our past homes we’ve had all-too-much experience with double-hung windows that begin to fail early in their life — rotted seals, sagging weatherstripping and slipping upper windows that leave cracks for air infiltration. In our last neighborhood of custom homes, most owners were faced with replacing all windows at somewhere between 12 and 18 years.
After deciding that we would indeed “invest” in good windows we arrived at Marvin Windows & Doors — http://www.marvin.com. Marvin produces one of the best products in the market and they have additionally taken a leadership role in ensuring that their product components (e.g. wood) come from well-managed sources. We went with the casement windows because they offer a much tighter fit and, in our experience, have a longer life than double-hung windows. The wood frames are all clad with aluminum exterior to withstand the harsh southern environment.
We could have purchased windows at a much lower price, but when looking at “total cost of ownership” (original cost + maintenance + durability) — not just original purchase price, we think Marvin offered real value.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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March 25, 2006 at 1:54 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Smart Home Building
Dave Hampton is the Carbon Coach. Dave has earmarked Tuesday, April 4, as national “Come off it” day in the UK. He is urging all of us to “switch on to switching off” – to avoid any unnecessary electricity use and buy at least one energy-efficient light bulb. The Telegraph posted the following story about Dave.
Dave Hampton, the Carbon Coach
What, then, can I do to reduce my carbon output that isn’t going to cost me the earth? Who better to advise me than Dave Hampton, the self-styled “Carbon Coach”, who will visit your home and tell you how to cut down on your energy use. What was his prescription for the Lonsdale home?
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Basically, he said, I can go for “passive” or “active” energy-saving methods. Passive methods involve conserving my mains supplies, by insulating my house. Active methods will actually generate power either through the wind, sun or energy conversion.
Yes, Dave, but in practical detail, what does this mean?
Walls
“The two easiest ways of reducing heat loss through your walls are either cavity-wall insulation, if you have cavity walls, or an extra layer of cladding, ideally on the outside of the house, if you have solid walls,” he says. “Installing rigid interior panels involves considerable upheaval and will reduce the size of your rooms.”
Read more about the Carbon Coach’s tips to turn your house green.
Technorati Tags: Eco-Friendly, Home Building, Sustainability, Energy Conservation
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March 24, 2006 at 11:32 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Smart Home Building
The ramsayhome.com house building project continues to be influenced by Sarah Susanka’s amazing book, The Not So Big House. We highly recommend this book and you can purchase it today in our green friendly bookstore.
Sustainability resources from the Not So Big House
There are many new products entering the marketplace made from recycled materials, such as this countertop sample, called SHETKA-STONE, made by All- Paper Recycling of New Prague, Minnesota.
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“Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing awareness that as a society we have to redesign the systems that produce and support our way of life so that we don’t continue to squander the Earth’s resources. This concept is called sustainability. Before the Industrial Revolution, the only pollutants entering the thin layer of film around the earth came from the movement of the Earth’s crust, such as volcanoes and earthquakes. But over the past 200 years, that biosphere has been undeniably affected by the mining of fossil fuels. Nature’s cleaning mechanisms, the green-celled plants that cover our planet, cannot keep up with the increase in pollutants.”
“And with a new emphasis on sustainability and renewable materials, there is an enormous amount of recycled materials entering the marketplace–from waterproof countertops made from recycled cardboard to interior trim made from wood scraps. All of these products are quite beautiful, taking on the colors of what they were originally and exhibiting natural textures all their own. Unlike plastic, they have some personality. Like a beautiful piece of wood, they tell us something about their origins.”
Check out the huge list of sustainability links on the Not So Big website.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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March 24, 2006 at 11:23 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
I stumbled upon the Ecological Design Center at the University of Oregon. while browsing for green resources on the web.
Ecological Design Center at the University of Oregon
The relationship between the built and natural worlds must be sustainable. The Ecological Design Center (ECD) believes designers should pioneer this relationship. The EDC seeks to educate and inspire University of Oregon design students to have the awareness, sensitivity, and expertise to lead the community toward sustainability. While the EDC’s focus is in the design disciplines, we welcome interested students and community members of all fields.
Check out their collection of online resources for green home design .
Technorati Tags: Green Building, resources, University of Oregon, Ecological Design Center
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March 23, 2006 at 2:45 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home Building Pictures
Found this post about building residential homes with concrete at Newsday.
Two houses rising on the Island use innovative new technology to tackle high utility bills
Wilmar and Bente Haile aren’t sure what their new home will look like when it’s finished. Inside and out, it’s still a work in progress. But they are relatively sure of one thing: “Our heating and cooling bills should be a lot, lot less,” Bente Haile says.
That’s because the Hailes are building a concrete home. Their new three-bedroom ranch with a two-car attached garage features exterior walls of concrete sandwiched between two layers of poly.styrene, or insulating foam.
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Don’t be confused by the term “concrete home.” When it’s done, the Hailes’ house, expected to cost about $350,000, likely will be indistinguishable from a conventional house. Like their Ronkonkoma neighbors, the Hailes will be able to put any type of siding — from wood to vinyl or even a combination of brick and wood shakes — on their exterior walls. Inside, their walls can be papered or painted, and they’ll likely have wood doors and floors — all the makings of a normal-looking house.
The real difference will be in energy savings. Concrete structures, with reduced air infiltration, higher insulation values and walls of thermal mass, use less energy for heating and cooling than traditional, frame-built houses. Industry analysts say concrete homes require 44 percent less energy to heat and 32 percent less energy to cool than standard frame structures.
Overall, annual heating and cooling savings can range between 25 and 50 percent for a 2,000-square-foot home. The Hailes expect to significantly reduce their monthly utility bills. They also figure on more savings when installing their new heating and cooling system.
“Because of construction advantages, concrete homes typically use smaller furnaces and air-conditioning units, and those can be less expensive than the bigger units,” says Vince Capogna, whose New Hyde Park company, PolySteel Sales & Support of New York, poured the exterior concrete walls earlier this month.
Last year, about 226,000 concrete homes were built, accounting for nearly 16 percent of new-home construction in the United States.
Read the rest of the story at Newsday.
Technorati Tags: Insulated Concrete Forms, house, energy, architecture
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March 23, 2006 at 2:19 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Found this eco-friendly reference at eco.psfk.com.
Striving to be ‘green’, but just not sure what the ‘green’ options are?
Help is at hand via [Eco-logic], an on-line reference site that gives you everyday choices that are hip & green because, (as the site lovingly points out), you don’t don’t have to be a hippie to save the planet.
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Eco-logic.com is comprised of a) the eco-network (progressive places in nyc), b) sustainable store (products for logical living) and c) green scene (happenings in your hood). The goal of the founders is to help normal people promote environmental health without making big lifestyle changes or being labeled a tree-hugger. After all, promoting environmental and personal health isn’t just the ‘right thing to do’ but also the logical thing to do.
Eco-logic – the logical choice for all your eco needs.
Technorati Tags: green, Eco Friendly, resources, links
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March 23, 2006 at 9:43 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Smart Home Building
This post was found at Shea Gunther’s blog, sheagunther.org. Shea Gunther is a hybrid entrepreneur, environmentalist, and all around big-thinker.
Green building may be about to boom
by Dennis Webb, February 1, 2006 – Via The Vail Daily
GLENWOOD SPRINGS – Gregory Franta remembers one of his early experiences using a low-flow shower head.
It felt like you were taking a mist rather than a shower, said Franta, principal architect for the Rocky Mountain Institute nonprofit organization in Old Snowmass.
But water-conserving showers have come a long way. So, for that matter, has the whole green building industry. It’s becoming increasingly mainstream, as may have been evidenced by the turnout Tuesday at a conference at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.
Really, the market is very ripe for the building community to want this kind of education, said Katie Hoffner, an event organizer with Sustainable Conferences.
High energy costs have contributed to a growing interest in green building. So has a desire to build structures that are healthier and do less environmental harm.
Read the rest rest of the green building boom article at sheagunther.org.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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March 22, 2006 at 9:11 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
Eco-friendly building on public television
We have been posting a lot of media related posts today. Here is a post we found at TreeHugger about about a new PBS show about an eco-friendly building show.
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From The Business Journal of Phoenix – March 17, 2006, A Scottsdale Arizona USA company, “a.k.a. Green“, led by Mick Dalrymple (shown here) is negotiating for an agreement to have PBS broadcast an “eco-friendly home building show” called “Build It Green” on the US Public Broadcast Network (PBS). “Six episodes have been shot and four have been edited, with the first show expected to air in January 2007. Film for the shows has been shot in Richmond, Va.; Portland, Ore.; and Albuquerque, N.M.; but Dalrymple wants to film other locations, such as Florida, New York, Vermont, Denver and Los Angeles, to appeal to a larger audience”. ..”Even if the series doesn’t take off, a.k.a. Green has found a niche in the market. The showroom offers a variety of products, including low-flush toilets, bathroom tiles made of oyster shells and recycled paper and money, wood made from sunflower shells, countertops made from cardboard boxes and mill shavings, and floor and wall tiles made from recycled marble and granite chips”.
What a cool pull marketing idea. Start your own niche retail business and then produce and arrange to broadcast a national TV series featuring your products in use. Won’t it be fun to see how the big box retailers respond by rushing to stock the same items!
Technorati Tags: building, eco friendly, television, PBS
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March 22, 2006 at 2:22 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Home Building Pictures, Interior Design Ideas, Lawn and Garden, Smart Home Building
Green Spec is a UK website that provides resources for green builders and those thinking of building a green home. We found this over at Hippyshopper, which is full of many great items that are now on our home wishlist. It’s too bad that the ramsayhome.com project is based in Calgary, Canada – I wonder how we can ship everything on our wishlist!
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If you dream of an eco build or just want to use environmentally friendly materials as you renovate your home, then Green Spec is an invaluable on-line reference guide. I could spend hours reading their comparisons of construction materials, insulation, flooring and paints in relation to their effect on the environment as well as their benefit to the consumer. There is a great section on green roofs including a detailed explanation of their construction. The site points to further resources such as Living Roofs and also suppliers, including Green Roof. Anyone with a real interest will surely be headed for the Eco Build 2006 show at Earls Court 2, London on 22 and 23 Feb. [Ella]
Technorati Tags: environmental, sustainable, building, resources, links,bookmarks
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March 20, 2006 at 12:12 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web
We found this article and thought it would be ideal to share with our visitors installing their own radiant heat systems. Our contractor is handling the tube installation for us and we are using the Warmboard product for our flooring, but this information helps inform home owners in what to look for and watch during installation.
A radiant heat system is a series of radiant heat tubes that are laid within a floor, which carry hot water into specific rooms or zones.
During the preparation and installation of a radiant heat system you should take precautionary measures to protect the radiant heat tubing.
Radiant heat tubing is also known as PEX and is an excellent material for hot water applications. It’s a cross-linked Polyethylene which means that is has been processed to create a more durable molecule that resists creep deformation and chemical attach under extreme temperatures.
Damaged tubing in a radiant heat system will come back to haunt you and could cause unnecessary delays and costly repairs.
Here are some important tips that you should follow in order to protect your radiant heat tubing. It covers storage, unrolling and installation of your radiant heat tubing.
PEX tubing is not for outdoor applications and must be stored in a covered environment not exposed to direct sunlight. It’s best to leave your radiant heat tubing away from your windows; this also means never leaving it outside, without properly covering or protecting it from the sunlight. Sixty days is the maximum UV exposure time for PEX. And if a supplier has stored their radiant heat tubing outside don’t buy it.
You should also protect your radiant heat tubing from debris. By keeping the ends taped up, you will stop dust, pet hair or other things from entering the radiant heat tubing. Keeping your radiant heat tubing debris free is always best.
When removing your radiant heat tubing from its coil, it’s best to roll it off the roll. When unrolling your radiant heat tubing, if you notice a piece of tape, leave it alone. Often manufactures will mark areas that have kinks or holes. You will need to splice that particular section so make note of the marking.
As far as installation goes, if you are doing a staple-up installation you shouldn’t allow your radiant heat tubing to sag. To protect the radiant heat tubing it’s always best to support it every 16 inches and if your tubing runs close to any lights, especially recessed lighting you should insulate that portion of tubing to protect it from damage. Ultraviolet light will cause accelerated aging of your radiant heat tubes.
Do not install radiant heat tubing to close to your toilets. The heat could melt the wax ring. Also avoid running radiant heat under your refrigerator, stove, freezer, and kitchen cabinets. If you do put tubing in these areas insulate the tubing with a foam pipe insulation, and put a piece of radiant barrier between the sub-floor and the tubing under the appliance or cabinets.
Lastly, when installing your radiant heat tubing, never let it rub on any electrical wires. This may damage the radiant heat tubing and create future problems. If your electrician is working around your radiant heat system, make sure your electrician understands the importance of not damaging the radiant heat tubing when he/she pulls wires.
By taking a little extra care with your radiant heat tubing you will help ensure a trouble free radiant heat system.
Larry Lang is the founder of Radiant Heating Disasters which specializes in consulting of hydronic in-floor radiant heating systems. Larry is also author of Radiant Heat – What You NEED to Know BEFORE You Sign That Contract. This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including working links and this resource box are unchanged. Copyright 2006 Larry Lang All rights Reservered Lang Enterprises Inc. http://www.radiantheatingdisasters.com.
This article represents the views and opinions of the author and not of ramsayhome.com.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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March 19, 2006 at 7:29 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home Building Pictures
When planning the ramsayhome.com project, we investigated a number of building options such as traditional stick-frame, insulated concrete forms and structural insulated panels, or SIPs. Our first priority was to find the most energy efficient construction method to reduce the amount of energy required to heat our home. Winters in Calgary, Alberta can be cold so we needed a product that we could trust. Our research found that SIPs panels met all our requirements and more.
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A Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) is a panel composed of expanded polyurethane insulation (EPS) board laminated between two sheets of oriented strand board (OSB). A SIP is essentially an I-beam or I-column where the EPS board performs as a web and the two sheets of OSB perform as flanges. Its unique design makes it ideal for light-frame commercial and residential building.
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Replacing ‘stick built’ construction, SIPs are easy to work with and versatile for exterior walls, foundations, roofs, timberframing and log homes, additions and floors. SIPs panels are custom built and arrive ready for installation. The custom nature of the SIPs construction allow for entire walls to be built off-site and delivered in one piece. This reduces the number of seams in outside walls and further improves the walls total R-value.
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At first glance, the SIPs material doesn’t appear to be a green eco-friendly product, but our research quickly provided many examples of the environmental features of SIPs panels. SIPs use substantially less wood than traditional stud construction: as little as 25%. The Oriented Strand Board (OSB) skins of a structural insulated panel are typically made of new growth wood: aspen poplar, southern yellow pine and other small-diameter, fast-growing trees that are quickly regenerated. This reduces the amount of old growth forest lumber needed to build a house.
The EPS foam core of a SIP is manufactured without the use or production of CFCs or HCFCs. And the amount of formaldehyde emitted by the OSB is less than 0.1 PPM (parts per million), well below accepted levels established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Please leave a message about your experiences building with SIPs panels.
[tags]blog,blogging,daily,internet,reviews,weblog,news[/tags]
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March 19, 2006 at 3:36 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Home Building Activities
We are often asked why we decided to build the ramsayhome.com project with insulated concrete forms (ICF). ICF technology is not the most common building material in Calgary or Canada, but more and more residential ICF homes are being built each year. The Portland Cement Association (PCA) provides many good reasons to consider ICF for your new home. The ramsayhome.com project ended up going with insulated concrete forms!
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Greater Comfort & Lower Energy Bills
Energy savings and comfort are built into every ICF system. ICFs start with a high R-Value. Four inches of ASTM C 578 polystyrene foam insulation, combine with a five inch concrete wall a typical ICF system are rated above R-17 at 75o mean test temperature. Other insulating form configurations and materials also exhibit high R-values.
But that’s not all! Air infiltration in an ICF Home is minimal due to the continuous air barriers provided by the foam insulation and the concrete. Likewise, there are no convection currents within wall cavities.
The concrete walls of an ICF home have high thermal mass, which buffers the interior of a home from the extremes of outdoor temperature during every 24-hour cycle. This reduces both peak and total heating and cooling loads.
This combination of high R-values, low air infiltration, and high thermal mass is believed to account for the amazing 25% to 50% energy savings of ICF versus wood or steel-framed homes.
Peace & Quiet
New ICF homeowners almost always remark on how unbelievably quiet their new house is, compared with their old stick-build home. They expect the new-found comfort and energy efficiency, but the peace and quiet the protection from outside noise never fails to surprise and delight them.
In sound transmission tests, ICF walls allowed less than one-third as much sound to pass through as do ordinary frame walls filled with fiberglass. With double-glazed windows in ICF walls and beefed-up roof insulation, you will rarely hear street noises or airport traffic.
Solid & Lasting Security
The high-mass walls of an ICF home not only give it a remarkably solid feel, but they also make it safer for the family. And make it a remarkably solid and secure investment, too. Concrete homes have a proven track record of withstanding the ravages of hurricanes, tornadoes and fires, when all the stick-build houses around them are in ruins.
In fire wall tests, ICFs stood exposure to intense flame without structural failure longer than did common frame walls. The polystyrene foam used in most ICF forms is treated so it will not support combustion. Also, tests show that its tendency to transmit an outside flame source is less than that of most wood products. [Many insurance carriers are now offering a discount on a home owner’s policy for an ICF home.]
Less Repair & Maintenance
With ICF homes, the equation is simple. No Rot = Less Repair and Maintenance. Neither polystyrene nor concrete will ever rot or rust. Concrete can even be exposed to the elements for centuries with few ill effects. Reinforcing steel, buried deep inside and protected by concrete’s alkalinity, does not corrode.
A Healthier Home & Environment
Building with ICFs is healthier for the environment in a number of ways: by minimizing the number of different building products involved in construction, by reducing the amount of waste generated on the construction site, and by lowering energy requirements for heating and cooling.
ICF homes provide a healthy indoor environment, too. Nothing held within or ordinarily emitted by an ICF wall is toxic. The measurement of the air contents of actual ICF houses shows an almost complete absence of any emissions.
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March 19, 2006 at 2:09 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Home building on the Web, Interior Design Ideas
Found at realestate.msn.com.
Sarah Susanka’s idea was so simple it was radical: “It’s time for a different kind of house,” the architect wrote, manifesto-like, in her 1998 book “The Not So Big House.” “A house that is more than square footage; a house that is Not So Big, where each room is used every day. A house with a floorplan inspired by our informal lifestyle instead of the way our grandparents lived.” She derided most spraddling suburban tract homes, with their unused dining rooms and their too many bathrooms, as spacious but not particularly comfortable — less nests than “massive storage containers for people.”
That book, and the five that have followed, clearly tapped into something. More than one million of Susanka’s books have been sold since 1998, including the latest, “Outside the Not so Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home,” which just appeared. A bevy of books by other writers in recent years have struck a similar theme.
How much room does a couple or a family really need, anyway?
“As long as you use all of the space actively, that’s the amount of room you need,” says author Kodis. “The goal of smaller-space living is not to cram yourself into a smaller space to make a point.” Instead, in such a home, “There’s no wasted space, but it’s comfortable.” For example, how many families honestly use their formal dining rooms or living rooms — a few times a year? Then why pay for homes with them, and pay to furnish them? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on creating a very well-suited kitchen/dining/living area, since most families spend their time there, ask Susanka and others.
Read more about Sarah Susanka’s ideas about maximizing small homes.
Technorati Tags: home building, small, green, environment
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March 8, 2006 at 3:58 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web
The Ramsay House Project found out about two great blogs today, each dealing with home building or renovating projects.
Owner Builder tales from the trenches is a new post over at www.speedyplan.com. Find out about more blogs like ours and the experiences of home owners in the middle of home projects.
The Ramsay House Project is a post over at projectsoup.com describing our project here. The folks over at projectsoup are currently in the middle of a large renovation project in Washington State.
It’s a pleasure to meet both of you and the Ramsay House Project is excited to learn more and watch these great sites! If you operate a home related web site or know of online resources, please feel free to tell us about it in our home building blog comments.
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February 13, 2006 at 8:04 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
Found at OrlandoSentinel.com.
Just a few years ago, green-minded homeowners were relegated to buying supplies in small stores with a limited selection of merchandise, most of it imported. But today the idea of green home building is becoming more mainstream.
At Green Fusion, environmentally friendly wares such as plant-based paints, organic bedding (an all-wool king-size mattress costs $2,000) and cork flooring from Portugal (sustainably harvested from the outer bark of oak trees and selling at $5 to $8 a square foot) are laid out to allow customers “to experience the lifestyle in a place that was created with healthy materials,” Snowden says.
He is so confident that he has secured the Web address greenhomedepot.com [that is not yet up] with an eye to expanding Green Fusion to a regional, and possibly national, chain in the next few years. But he is not the only green retailer thinking big.
Read more about a natural building trend.
Technorati Tags: materials, recycled, building, sustainable
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February 12, 2006 at 9:18 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
This excellent collection of links was found at the website of Tom Brown, a Registered Architect practicing in central Wisconsin. His firm specializes in energy-conserving custom residences, additions to older homes, small commercial buildings and historic preservation. Tom also teaches a Green Building course at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Technorati Tags: green, sustainable, renewable, resources
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February 11, 2006 at 7:56 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Written by Lucy Siegle for the Observer Magazine.
Embrace micro-generation (small-scale, home-based, renewable-energy technology that powers your house) and you’ll get decades’ worth of clean, green power, freedom from the tyrannies of a global energy supply chain, and be granted immunity from the high electricity bills expected in the near future (remember, the era of cheap power is over).
Turning your home into a powerhouse not only slashes the volume of CO2 belched out by fossil-fuel-powered plants, but it is the efficient option. However, you still can’t march into a DIY store and pick up a solar thermal pack or turbine and install it over the weekend; only 100,000 households in the UK currently have any form of micro-generation and the domestic grant situation is confusing – the current Clear Skies programme (www.clear-skies.org) will be replaced next month by a Low Carbon Building Programme Fund in April.
Read more about turning your home into a power generator.
Technorati Tags: geothermal, solar, renewable, energy
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February 9, 2006 at 5:10 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Heating and Ventilation, Home Building Activities, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
Found at www.canoncitydailyrecord.com.
Building with intricately-stacked big blocks of styrofoam, which are later filled with concrete, can save the homeowner up to 85 percent of conventional energy costs. When complete, the homes are cleaner, quieter and more secure, but look like traditional framed houses.
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In addition to saving money in heating costs, the homes do not cost more to construct or take longer to build.
“The cost per square foot is about the same as a traditional home,” said All Concrete Exterior Homes co-owner Lanea Graham. “It could even be less because there is no cost for insulating exterior walls, and the cost for lumber is much less.” […]
Read more about building with insulated-concrete-forms
Technorati Tags: building, icf, concrete, cost
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February 9, 2006 at 11:05 am · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web
Feb. 9 — California has launched its own Web site to encourage green building practices and environmentally friendly purchasing practices.
The Green California Web site contains ideas, guidelines, reference materials, engineering data and environmentally friendly purchasing information for state and local government agencies and California businesses. The site’s information assists agencies and businesses in adopting practices to encourage environmental sustainability, energy conservation and landfill waste reduction.
“California is blessed with vast resources…we rededicate ourselves to making California cleaner, greener and more prosperous. The green building approach builds in conservation from the ground up…It’s good for business and it’s great for the environment.” -Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Green California site also provides reference materials for the design, construction, benchmarking and operation of green buildings.
Technorati Tags: green, buildings, resources, california
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February 7, 2006 at 9:00 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Home building on the Web
Found this great resource for people about to approach a lender for a home loan for their green-home dream: Article – Construction Lending, How to Finance Your Dream: Building Your Dream Home. A Borrower’s Checklist
Okay, so you’ve selected your community, your lot, and your architect. You’ve got a terrific set of plans, and you’re ready to build. What about construction funds? Have you selected a lender and considered the documentation they will need to make a lending decision?
Take a moment now to look over the list. Obviously, the sooner you get the complete set of items the sooner you can start construction. Please note that though the second group of items your contractor will give you, you’ll still need to collect these items and assemble them to complete your loan package.
- 1. Plans and specifications for the proposed construction completed by the architect
- 2. Purchase Contract or Agreement for lot if lot has been purchased within the past 12 months or if it will be purchased as a part of this transaction
- 3. HUD-1 Closing Statement provided by the closing agent if property was purchased within the past 12 months
- 4. Copy of Listing Agreement on current residence to be sold
- 5. Architect Agreement
- 6. Copies of any permits obtained (may also have been obtained by Contractor)
- 7. Copies of any approvals from city/county/homeowners’ association
Items to get from your Contractor:
- 1. Property Profile provided by the Contractor
- 2. Line Item Cost Breakdown listing costs for all materials and labor
- 3. Builder’s Statement listing the builder’s project and credit references
- 4. Copy of Builder’s current Contractor’s License evidencing that he is licensed to build the type of structure proposed
- 5. Construction Contract between you and the builder stating the fixed price for completion of the improvements showing a start and finish date
Technorati Tags: home, loans, funding, green, energy-efficient
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February 7, 2006 at 12:21 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web
Originally posted at Jeff McIntire-Strasburg’s sustainablog:
A North Vancouver condo complex has become the first residential building in Canada to receive special status for sustainability.
Project developer David Sprague, principal of West Coast Projects Ltd., is advising other development companies to embrace sustainability as a standard business practice – because it will soon be a requirement.
The 16-storey Silva Building, located in the 100 Block of West 16th Street near Lonsdale Avenue, earned a leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) certification almost a year after it opened last February.
First established in the U.S., LEED is a sustainability-certification process that encourages the development of buildings that feature energy and water efficiency, enhanced livability, indoor air quality, conservation of materials and resources, waste management and sustainable site planning.
Technorati Tags: LEED, conservation, home, energy, energy-efficient
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February 7, 2006 at 12:01 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Heating and Ventilation, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
From: WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: LEED @ Home
The US Green Building Council has released its long-awaited draft of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for homes. LEED-compliant commercial buildings are both remarkably energy-efficient and provide interior environments friendly to workers. With the release of the LEED for Homes draft, developers and homeowners can see what steps are the most critical for making a home a green house.
Technically, what the USGBC has released is a set of guidelines for pilot projects meant to test the utility of the various elements on the LEED for Homes checklist. It’s likely that, once the pilot projects are completed and analyzed, the LEED for Homes rules will be modified. These projects will be built in 12 different regions (PDF) in the United States; interestingly, while most locations (including big states like California, Florida and Texas) are covered by single providers, Colorado has three.
Even if you aren’t a developer, potential home buyer, or even in the United States, the LEED for Homes guidelines make interesting reading. The Pilot Rating System document (PDF) explains the goals of the LEED for Homes project in more detail, and discusses each item on the LEED for Homes checklist in full. The draft checklist (PDF) itself includes numerous references to issues that we’ve talked about frequently on WorldChanging, including: site density, permeable pavement, rainwater harvesting, high-efficiency lighting, and more.
It’s particularly interesting to see the relative credit scores for different items. Highest rated individual items (not counting “packages”): up to six points for renewable energy use, six points for “very high efficiency fixtures (toilets, showers and faucets),” and up to ten points for “Home that is Smaller than National Average.” Those three items alone can put a house 2/3s of the way to LEED certification, presuming that the various “required” features are in place. LEED silver, gold and platinum levels, of course, would need substantially more effort.
Technorati Tags: LEED, conservation, home, energy, energy-efficient
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February 6, 2006 at 11:54 pm · Filed under Green Building Tips, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
From Residental Architect:
Buyers want items that look good, add value to home. We recently attended the International Builders Show presented by the National Association of Home Builders, which gives builders, remodelers, architects and other building industry-associated occupations a peek at the latest in building materials and technology.
One of the benefits of composite building products is the reduced demand on natural resources and the green building movement another fundamental theme of this years event.
Manufacturers are responding to consumer demand for maintenance- free products that use environmentally friendly technology.
For example, one of the biggest growth categories in composite building materials is decking and railing systems. The last several years have produced products that remarkably mimic the look of dimensional lumber. Most of the leading products in the category have several styles, patterns and colors from which to choose. Most products are handled like wood; they can be cut with a saw, nailed or fastened with screws. The better products hold up well to ultraviolet rays and require nothing more than periodic cleaning.
Manufacturers are responding to the other side of the green coin as well: energy efficiency.
Skyrocketing energy costs have sent consumers scrambling for building products that will improve personal comfort and lower their utility bills. In response, most manufacturers with products that affect comfort and energy use are putting their R&D pedal to the metal to come up with increasingly more fuel-efficient products that will keep consumers from going into hock to pay their utility bills.
Insulation with better R-values, more energy-efficient windows and doors, and state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems lead the pack of products that are making a big dent in utility bills. Photovoltaic energy systems where homeowners use the sun to generate their own power are the rage.
Read the Rest of the article.
Technorati Tags: building, architecture, home, eco-technology,trends
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February 6, 2006 at 10:04 am · Filed under Basement, Green Building Tips, Green Home Building, Home building on the Web, Smart Home Building
BASF Launches www.betterhomebetterplanet.com: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance
The www.betterhomebetterplanet.com website steps the visitor through the home using a systems approach that integrates the three key elements to high performance building — the building exterior, mechanical HVAC and solar power.
The website allows the user to navigate the Near-Zero Energy Home in minutes and take from the experience real solutions and resources.
“The launch of www.betterhomebetterplanet.com and the demonstration home are in keeping with BASF’s long standing commitment to sustainable development and bringing cost-effective solutions to the building and construction industry — especially in cities like Paterson, N.J., where cost savings achieved through improved energy efficiency and low-maintenance durability are most needed,” according to Jack Armstrong, business manager for BASF’s Styropor® and expanded polystyrene business in North America.
Once the construction and demonstration phases are completed, the Near Zero Energy Home will be donated to the nonprofit St. Michael’s Housing Corporation as a home for a local family with a quadriplegic son. The project showcases elements of universal design to accommodate the family’s special needs.
Technorati Tags: home, green, ICF, zero-energy
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