Modular homes have been around for decades. Green homes have been around for awhile, too, and they're getting greener all of the time. When you combine those two types of homes together you get modular green homes. Enter GreenPod Intelligent Environments. … [Read more...]
Radiant barrier roof sheathing is a great product that will reduce your power bill. There are just a few manufacturers that make this unusual type of roof sheathing that has a shiny, perforated aluminum foil/craft paper laminated to one side of it. For simplicity's sake, I'm focusing my attention on Georgia-Pacific's Thermostat® radiant barrier product, not to mention that all Georgia-Pacific wood product samples are available to me. I happen to manage the facility that sends out all of … [Read more...]
One of my biggest reasons for attending home shows is to see interesting, cool homebuilding products and services, with the occasional celebrity to meet to keep things interesting. The 2011 Fall Atlanta Home Show didn't disappoint, although, I had hoped that there would be more products to wow me. A product garners a "wow" and/or a "cool" rating by meeting one, or more, of the following criteria: A better-built "mouse trap" for an old problem A new invention/patent that truly … [Read more...]
If you follow my blog then you already know that our ultra-expensive Kenmore Elite HE3t washing machine that we've had for six years turned out to be a piece of crap. We kind of loved it at first (earth-shattering vibrations, notwithstanding) because it saved a lot of water and was very energy efficient in comparison to our previous washer, a Whirlpool top-loader. It also did a good job of cleaning our clothes. After reading in various appliance repair forums and comparing symptoms of our … [Read more...]
We visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky recently and had a great time. It's a beautiful park with many outdoor activities besides having the world's largest cave system to explore. We visited the park in June of 2011 and they had just completed putting the finishing touches on the new main visitor's central building. They also have a couple of shelters where you meet the park rangers to go on your cave tour. Construction workers were putting the roof tiles on one of the shelters … [Read more...]
If you need new carpeting in your home, you might want to look into some of the great eco-friendly carpets on the market today.Better Homes & Gardens produced a nice write-up on some of their editors' picks of recycled carpet products on the market today and I thought it would be great to share what they had to say.Recycled carpet is no longer the ugly step-child of the industry. It's stylish, durable, easy to clean, comparable in price to virgin fiber carpet, and it's Earth-friendly. Shaw … [Read more...]
A couple of years ago, I attended the Go Green Expo here in Atlanta and came across a tried and true eco-friendly, outdoor rotary clothesline. It was like a breath of fresh air, for you and your clothes. Now there is a product on the homebuilding market that puts a technological twist on the simple, yet effective, clothesline. It's an indoor laundry drying cabinet made by Grimm Bros. Plastics Corp. called the BreezeDry. This is a self-contained clothes closet that is eco-friendly, … [Read more...]
Are you interested in learning all you can about building a net-zero home? Are about to embark on a home building project of your own and you've come to realize that it would be a very wise move to reduce your carbon footprint by building a home that is an energy miser.There is a very cool, virtual tool available to you that can give you a jump start in your quest to build your next home.Builder magazine, KB Home and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia combined forces to put together a net-zero home … [Read more...]
The home building industry is designing and building net zero homes in increasing numbers for customers throughout the nation. No...it is not widespread...yet, but I read about net zero homes being built more and more. That is great news because energy costs will only continue to rise.Did you know that buildings account for 40 percent of energy use in the U.S. and a similar percentage of carbon dioxide emissions? That's more than the transportation or industrial sectors. It's true. (source: … [Read more...]
Smith & Fong produce some great flooring products. The different types of engineered wood flooring they produce are great for a few different reasons:Unusual materials are used in some of their flooring products, such as sugar palm and coconut palm.Their flooring is beautiful to look at.Most of their flooring contributes to LEED credits in one way or another.Sustainability is in their thought process.They pay special attention to grain patterns, configuring them into new looks for … [Read more...]
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