Home Building

Green Footstep's Carbon Footprint Calculator To The Rescue

If you are an architect, a commercial or residential building designer or a developer/builder, how in the world do you calculate your carbon footprint for your building project? In today's growing carbon footprint-conscious building industry, it's important to know how to calculate it and how to use the results to lower the overall carbon emissions, and strive for net zero site energy of your residential or commercial project. This includes not only new projects but also retrofits, remodels and renovations.



The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is providing a free calculator to architects, designers and builders (called Green Footstep) to help them achieve carbon emission reduction goals. You read that correctly...FREE! If you are building your own home in cooperation with an architect and a contractor, the Green Footstep calculator could prove to be a mighty handy tool.

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Pierced Brick Walls: A Classic Screen Alternative

Pierced brick walls are a great alternative to traditional screens, such as lattice or some type of natural hedge. Homeowners also use them strictly as walls around the borders of their property rather than screens . Brick walls are definitely more durable and they lend permanence to your landscape. A well-planned landscape with complimentary hardscapes combine to make an attractive garden.

 
Pierced brick provides privacy and air flow while providing only a hint of what's in your garden by passersby.

This particular style of masonry has been around for quite awhile. I see the pierced brick wall style every once in awhile and it's interesting to see the slight variations that each homeowner has chosen for their wall. It happens to be one of my favorite configurations when using brick.


 
 

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An Outdoor Fireplace: A Focal Point For Entertaining

It's that time of year again. Time to gather 'round the outdoor fireplace with friends and family for a cozy, conversation-filled evening. When I think of an outdoor fire, I think about s'mores, toasted marshmallows and sharing a nice bottle of wine.
 

This post is about showing one of the best examples of an outdoor fireplace that I've seen to date. The "core" of the fireplace consists of Isokern fireplace components for a quality unit. The fireplace is the focal point of the backyard on the estate of one of Marietta's most prominent citizens and was constructed by the wonderful folks over at Bonner Custom Homes.

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Everybody Needs A Li'l Water Putty In Their Life

In my most recent post, I talked about planing the bottom edge of a door that sticks on the threshold. You may have noticed a can of Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty in one of the photos. I also mentioned it towards the end of the article. "Rock Hard" is a great product and nice to have around when you come across small wood rot problems here and there. I've used this stuff for years, on occasion.


I happened to have one of those small wood rot problems on one of the door frames of my house. I originally wanted to replace the 2" x ½" board that is attached to the frame. Trouble is...it's part of the door frame itself and not sold in places like Home Depot and Lowe's. You have to replace the entire door frame...OR...do what I did...and what was also suggested by the folks at the big orange box. 

Buy a can of Rock Hard!
 

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How To Repair A Wood Door That Sticks

We have a 15 pane single French door that needed some repair. It's original to the house, so 20+ years of weather and wear have taken its' toll. Besides the glass panes, it is solid oak so you can work with it to make repairs, if necessary.
 

The door is actually not the culprit here. It appears that the cantilevered breakfast room had sunk a fraction of an inch to the point that the door frame wasn't square anymore, therefore causing the door to stick on the left side of the bottom threshold when trying to open or close it. I just couldn't take another day of a door that didn't work properly.

What did I do to the door to have it open and close clean and firm? It wasn't a fix requiring great skill. Just a lot of patience through trial and error. Fixing the door to match the frame was a quicker, easier and just plain cheaper solution than raising the breakfast room a half-inch.

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Reclamation Of A Kid Bathroom: DIY Painting For The Soul

We recently finished painting our kids' bathroom. We allowed our daughter to choose the paint color when she was 5 years old. Yes, I know ... what were we thinking letting a 5-year old pick the paint color?!! How could we refuse such a cute little face. You understand what I'm talking about if you are a parent.

Well, time marches on and a change has been long overdue. When she chose the color, Barney was the most popular children's television character at that time. That's right...the secondary bathroom has been Barney purple all of these years with an aquatic themed wallpaper border and shower curtain/bath set just to make it interesting.

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Refinish Your Bathroom Vanity Cabinet For A Fresh Look

Do you have a bathroom vanity cabinet that needs to be renovated with a fresh coat of paint? We certainly did. In fact, our cabinet wasn't painted to begin with. It was just as the builder had left it many years ago with a honey oak stain and clear varnish to protect it. It looked dated so we decided that painting the bathroom vanity cabinet would put us one step closer to accomplishing our goal of completely renovating the secondary bathroom.

The improvements we made with the cabinet were well worth the effort and the results speak for themselves.

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One Very Easy Painting Tip To Save Time, Energy and Paint

Here's a very handy tip to use when you're doing a little (or a lot) of painting around the house.

WRAP 'EM WET!

(What is he talking about?) Allow me to elaborate.
 

We recently painted one of our bathrooms along with the cabinet. We had a good friend that volunteered to come over to help prep the cabinet for painting and to prime the walls of the  bathroom. Now that's a really good friend to volunteer for the dirty work. Not only did she help out with the prepping and priming, she also laid this really great painting tip on us.

When you're in-between coats of paint while waiting for it to dry, or if you want to end your painting day and pick up on it the following day...or a few days later...or even a week or two later, simply wrap the wet paint brush or roller in plastic film (also known as Saran wrap, stretch film or plastic wrap). Whatever you call the stuff it keeps the brush or roller wet until you're ready to get back at it. I've read that aluminum foil will work, also.

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How To Build A Custom Frame For A Bathroom Mirror

We live in a house that has a builder-installed, run-of-the-mill mirror in the bathroom. It's a very plain looking 33-inch x 38-inch mirror that's been glued to the wall over the sink like a gazillion other homes.

We decided to improve the looks of the mirror and the bathroom. It was long overdue and we're very pleased with the results. 

We built and installed a frame around the bathroom mirror. We built it ourselves from scratch. It was easy to do and just a couple of tools were needed to complete the job.

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Fewer Twirlers Are A Sign Of The Times

Hey...you know what I haven't seen in a while (due to the home building industry woes)?

Real estate advertising sign twirlers.

You know...those guys that you see standing at the side of a busy intersection holding, tossing, twirling, flipping and spinning real estate directional signs to get your attention (and other types of businesses, as well). 

You might have a different name for these guys:

• Street Corner Twirlers
• Human Sign Holders
• Sign Jugglers
• Sign Spinners
• Coroplast Manipulators (or is that Corocel they're twirling around?!)
• Cirque du Sign Guy
• (in Real Men of Genius style) Mr. Busy Intersection Real Estate Advertiser Guy (I just made that up)

...or WHATever.

Some of them are actually quite entertaining and look like they practice their craft in order to maintain their gig. I don't know what the going rate for a sign twirler is (probably $8 - $15/hr) but I'd imagine that the more highly skilled you are at spinning, tossing and flipping signs...the more your rate of pay is and the more in demand you are. If that's not how it works then there's an error in the system. The guy shown above looks like a beginner. Ain't no action goin' on there. Although, he did manage to catch my eye enough for me to take his photograph...only for a different reason...this article.

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