Well, much thanks to the Chronicle for a very kind story yesterday in the Sunday paper. As I am a dirty landlord already, it is nice to also be an evil greedy developer =) Yes, I am referring to the lively discussion over at the Chron boards on the story, though I have to say it was pretty cool. A lot of people had some valid points, and even the trolls were funny. One criticism that came up that warrants more discussion was about demolition. Many people were upset at the thought of tearing out material and sending it off to a landfill. While it is true, construction debri is a serious, serious problem, as something like 22% of the total waste stream in the state comes from construction debri, sometimes you have no choice but to tear things out. For 2139 39th ave, the house had some serious termite damamge. There were parts of the first floor hardwood flooring that had so much termite damage, you literally stepped through the floor when you walked on it. There is nothing to salvage there. When a bathroom gets water behind the tiles and under the shower pan, sorry, but those walls are coming down. So my point is, sometimes demolition is unavoidable, and do not let the trolls get you down if you have to tear something out. It is a little like surgery, sometimes you have to remove a diseased part of your body to save you. Here are some before shots to consider:
Honestly, 30 year old red shag carpet? How are you going to salvage that?
Some things are easily taken for granted, and countertop are one of them. When thinking about sustainable building and combating global warming, countertops probably do not rank up high on the list…but there are green options out there that are beautiful AND sustainable. For the 2139 39th Ave sustainable house I chose a Vetrazzo recycled glass product :
“All of the glass used in Vetrazzo is recycled, and it makes up about 85% of the total material. Most of the glass comes from curbside recycling programs. Other glass comes from windows, dinnerware, stemware, windshields, stained glass, laboratory glass, reclaimed glass from building demolition, traffic lights and other unusual sources.”
Other choices include Sonoma Cast Stone’s Earthcrete which combines high recycled content and lower Portland cement use to manufacture some really interesting looking surfaces; Richlite a company that builds a very chic line of FSC Certified Paper countertops and CaesarStone whose line of Quartz surfaces pushes the sustainable product envelop and is featured in the bathrooms of 2139 39th Ave.
You have choices other than granite shipped from God knows where, or laminates made up of God knows what. Choose wisely, because every remodeling step is an opportunity to build sustainably.
Dwell Magazine has a great piece in this month’s issue on Eco-Friendly House Paints. I would link the article but Dwell’s site is clunky and I can’t find it. Good rag though, I always like thumbing through it, and its a local SF business so props to them. Anyways, I have much love for low/no VOC paints. Painting is one of the easiest and most cost effective renovation jobs a person can take on, and it can be an opportunity to go and save green at the same time.
I was at Cole Hardware the other day checking out their low/no Benjamine Moore paints, and the prices are very comparable to the regular stuff – within a buck or two. I have seen the same aggressive pricing at the Kelly Moore stores as well, (BTW – were these like a brother sister family thing, the Moores – that decided to get all competitive with the paint?)
So why low/no VOC paint? Well, let me tell you, it doesn’t smell like a chemical factory for one thing, so you do not have to fill your lungs with the crap they mix into standard paint. Less chemicals for your house as well, which is always good.
What are these evil VOCs? As near as I can tell, not being a chemist, they are chemicals like Acetone, Ammonia and Formaldehyde. In regular paints they are found in concentrations of over 125 parts per liter. Low VOC paints have less than 20 parts per liter, and no VOCs have, well, I will let you figure that out. I myself use low/no voc paint exclusively in my rental units and in our remodels. I have no complaints, it is safer for my workers, better for my tenants, good for the environment, and pretty much the same price.
I am a big fan of FSC Certified wood and wood products. The Forest Stewardship Council oversees the management and production of wood, ensures that forests are not clear cut, that the rights of indigenous people are respected, that proper forest management protocols are observed, and that the wood that you buy has not been swapped out with other, poorly sourced product. The FSC has a chain of custody process that is in my opinion a model for other sustainable building materials.
Here are some highlights(Taken from the FSC Site):
More than 100 million ha forest worldwide were certified to FSC standards in April 2008, distributed over 79 countries.
FSC certified forests represent the equivalent of 7% of the world’s productive forests.
FSC is the fastest growing forest certification system in the world (UN FAO, 2007)
With over 7’500 certificates, the number of companies along the forest product supply chain committing to FSC certification peaked at 40% in 2007.
The value of FSC labeled sales is estimated at over 20 billion USD.
Great video from the other side….long on fear mongering, totally devoid of facts. It is this sort of spooky music, fast scene changing video that really does influence people, far more than, say, research. The NY Times has an interesting write up today of an “International Conference on Climate Change” not to be confused with the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” that one the Nobel Prize for its definative conclusion that Global warming IS a threat.
Honestly, 30 year old red shag carpet? How are you going to salvage that?
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