Earth friendly. Eco conscious. Green. What do these terms mean in the context of home improvement? The short answer is being kind to your surroundings — although the meanings can differ slightly depending on where you live.
Green
A Stylish DIY Project
Many people think of furnishing their home as a single expedition to a big-name supplier where they can buy a “set” of furniture to fill their rooms. They plop down their credit card and call their room “done.”
The Heat Wave and Your Home
Temperatures of 100-plus degrees hit the Philadelphia area this week — and they’re only predicted to cool slightly in the days ahead. Not surprising for this region during the dog days of July. Nevertheless, conditions like these test not only our bodies’ ability to regulate temperature, but also our homes’ ability to do the same.
So, just how energy-efficient is your house’s cooling system? Here are some symptoms of poor performance to look for:
Dueling Dishwashers
We like these dishwashers because they are water and energy efficient. There is only one moving part to fix if it breaks, and that’s the size of a tennis ball.
Maggie likes tennis balls!
What Can You Learn From a Brick?
The brick is an iconic building element to those of us who live on the East Coast, where old cities are built from millions and millions of red bricks. Therefore, a brick seems like a good place to start when considering what it costs the environment to build a house. In fact, readers may remember an article previously posted on our fake Rolex website, entitled “New Construction Pollutes!” In that post, we asked folks to speculate about the size of the carbon footprint made by the bricks used to build an average-sized Philadelphia rowhome.
We explained that to make just one brick, 1.4 pounds of carbon is burned and released into the atmosphere.
Chaka Fattah and NASA Chief Technologist Visit West Philly Hybrid X Team
Our company has been very excited to watch the incredible successes of the West Philadelphia High School “X Team” as they take on other competitors with very deep pockets and many years experience for the coveted “X Prize” for high efficiency vehicles. In fact high end Tesla Autos recently dropped out of the competition, perhaps because they couldn’t compete against the West Philly High School team!
We are excited to see our local congressional representative Chaka Fattah also supports these kids. We would like to see Philadelphia as a city get behind these kids and others in our city who are also passionate about learning.
City kids get a bad rap when it comes to their performance in school. The West Philly High “X Team” is proof that urban kids want to learn. The are smart, hard working, successful people. And our company supports the notion that “learning with your hands” is where it’s at.
You can read about the recent visit these kids had with Chaka Fattah and Dr. Braun, NASA’s chief technologist here:
We Toured Post Greens’ Skinny House Project
Last Friday, Tamara and I were invited out by Chuck Weiss, project manager for Post Green, to check out their Skinny House Project. You can learn more about that project here: Skinny House
We are really excited by Post Green’s innovative build process and we look forward to learning more from them. Their main approach to their home efficiency ratings (which are very high!) is a focus on air sealing.
Because Your Home Should Fit How You Live
Very few of us live in homes that were custom built for us. But this doesn’t mean your home shouldn’t fit how you want to live. Your home can be tailored to fit your needs.
Our family stayed home this Memorial Day weekend. How wonderful it was to do so! We like to cook, have cocktails on the patio, and enjoy the views out of our windows into our yard. We have ample room to entertain and relax, and the house is easy to keep clean, so we don’t worry if friends come over with pets or children.
Something Old, Something New… Something Blue
We are completing a renovation project consisting of three older bathrooms in this 1920’s Mount Airy Stone Twin.
We installed this Forbo Marmoleum sheet goods floor in the powder room and the third-floor bathrooms. The color is #3182 Lapponia.
Marmoleum linoleum is a green product that’s been around a long, long time! It has a jute backing, and the sheeting is made from linseed oil, cork and sawdust plus coloring. The color goes all the way through, so it will wear a long time. The linseed oil oxidizes, which means this flooring repels germs! I used to do oil painting restoration, and oxidized linseed oil was one of the hardest substances we ran into.
You can see that we salvaged the original nickel and glass towel bars, too! The bars are made of 1-inch round glass rods.
Guys, Gadgetry, Home Efficiency and the Bottom Line
A landscaper friend recently told me that, “When it comes to landscaping, the husband ALWAYS controls decisions about the lawn.” In remodeling, we have a parallel example. From our experience, gadgets are usually the domain of the man of the house.
TVs = man domain. I have a male friend who has a 6′ plasma TV in the living room, a huge speedboat, and a black Hummer that usually has a beer in the cupholder. His idea of “decorating,” God love him, is a TV in every room.
Audio-visual gadgets = man stuff. The guys love these electrical, blinking gizmos.
“Strap on green gadgets” like solar cells and geothermal heating systems = “green” man goodies.