Looking toward fall, we’re closing the windows more often and putting down the weather stripping.  Among the other emotions that come with preparing for the colder seasons, what you don’t want to be experiencing is the negative effects from VOCs lurking in your home as you’re sealing it up tight to keep out the cold. 

We’re making the effort to make our homes more energy efficient and to save on our heating and cooling bills.  However, this can sometimes have some unintended consequences.  We’re talking VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds, and not only can they damage your home’s indoor air quality, they can make you and your family sick. 

How-to’s for Healthy Homes

Photo Credit: Healthy Building Consultants

Homeowners tend to experience the effects of VOCs more often as a result of sealing up their homes, because keeping the cold out often means keeping the fresh air out as well.   Where do VOCs come from? Well, if you’ve recently had carpets installed, bought new furniture, or happen to be an enthusiastic user of household cleaning products; you’re going to want to pay attention:

In addition to carpets and cleaning products, VOCs can come from new beds.  Mattresses can be big contributors to decline in indoor air quality as most are treated with chemical fire retardants.  Good for your bed’s chances of surviving a blaze, not so good for your lungs.  Carpets are big culprits for similar reasons, fibers trap and store chemicals, and synthetic carpet pads can off-gas harmful chemicals, mainly polybrominated diphenylethers, (PBDEs) that can cause illness and respiratory problems like asthma in high concentrations.  Eeek.  New furniture can also add to the problem for the same reasons. 

Another big contributor? Paint.  We all know it smells, and there’s a reason.  Traditional paint is packed full of VOCs whose effects can linger long after the paint has dried. 

Get the VOCs Out

So, what’s a homeowner to do?  Short of freezing out your home in the dead of winter, there are a lot more practical options you can take to make your home’s air a bit safer: 

Step 1: Replace all vinyl shower liners in favor of non-toxic nylon ones.  Your vinyl liner releases chemicals (toluene and methylene chloride to name a few) that can cause allergic reactions.

Step 2: Use low or no VOC paint. (Available from most major paint suppliers)

Step 3: Stop chemically cleaning carpets and furniture- look for organic cleaning solutions that don’t use harsh, highly concentrated chemicals.  Try to ditch home chemical cleaners entirely in favor of more organic options like vinegar, baking soda, etc.

Step 4: Stop dry cleaning.  Not only is it expensive, but evidence suggests that the chemicals used in the process are carcinogenic and can accumulate in your home whenever you bring your comforters, bedspreads, drapes, rugs and clothes back from the cleaners.

Step 5: Cut down on carpet.  If you’ve got the option, switch it out for hardwood or tile flooring options that don’t require chemical rich mats or stain treatments. If you can’t kick your carpet habit, clean it thoroughly with an organic cleaner and air out extensively afterwards.  You can also opt for organic fiber rugs to keep the soft under your feet.

Step 6: Invest in solid wood furniture.  Believe it or not, manufactured and pressed wood products can off-gas chemicals like formaldehyde over time as well, leading to decline in your home’s environment.  Make sure you air out rooms where you’ve got a lot of particle board products frequently, and if you’ve just bought a similar product, set up a fan to vent fumes out of your home.

What would it be like to live in world that was completely self sustainable?  How would life be different for us if we were completely free of our dependency on fossil fuels and foreign oil?

Well, some intrepid architects are out to get some very real answers to those questions. In what will be the nation’s first net-zero (emission free) community, a little place called Geos will be making its debut in Colorado in late 2008.  

Photo Credit: Inhabitat

Green Genius?

Entirely solar and geothermally powered, this experimental city should prove quite the study in green design and eco conscious building practices.  And it may just be a jumping off point for increased interest in development and implementation of the strategies and products we’ll need if we want to cut our energy bills more efficiently. 

Will it be, as some nay-sayers predict, a disappointing, low grade disaster that fails to make a clear case for the enviro-movement? Or will it be a 25 acre window into the future?

Read the full article

In my neighborhood I’ve been seeing more and more driveways that look like this:

Photo Credit: New York Times

At first I just assumed that it was simply the new stylistic choice for modern home remodels, but I’ve recently learned that it’s actually a smart and easy way for homeowners to make their home more eco-friendly!

Traditional driveways, which are usually just a mass of concrete, asphalt or stone, are not the most environmental choice. However, options for designing driveways that is both earth friendly, and uniquely designed are becoming more widely available.

By putting a Permeable Driveway into your home you are making a big difference to the environment around you. You’ll eliminate storm water runoff that can carry toxic pollutants into the sewers, rainwater will be absorbed back in to the soil to feed trees and plants, and you’ll be reducing the urban “heat island” effect by eliminating the reflection off masses of concrete and asphalt that are often responsible for making the climate around you warmer.

Your options for how to incorporate Permeable Driveway design are abundant. Here’s a rundown of the two ideas I like most:

Concrete Pavers: Perhaps my favorite option is using concrete pavers and vegetation. For this type of design, concrete pavers are used to create a grid like pattern, and the spaces in between the pavers are planted with grass or other vegetation. It definitely creates an interesting focal point for any front yard.

Reinforced Grass Surface: New technologies have developed options in which your driveway can simply look like a continuation of your front lawn. By adding a product such as Grasspave2 under the area you would like for your driveway space you are able to make a space with great load bearing capabilities for your car, while not destroying the vegetation and root system underneath.

If you’re looking for ways to make your home more green, ripping up your concrete and replacing it with some soft, lush vegetation may seem like an easy and incredibly appealing idea.

Living in the middle of one of the greenest, lushest, and most environmentally friendly parts of the country, the Pacific Northwest, it’s hard not to constantly think about how my actions impact the environment. But I’m not the only one, there are a host of bloggers covering environmental issues online, and more specifically about being a green homeowner.

Looking for what other homeowners are doing to make their home better for the environment? Or maybe you want some help getting your own green remodeling project started? Here are some of our favorite green blogs that may inspire you:

BobVila’s On the Level Green Building Blog
Bob Vila is arguably the most trusted man in the home remodeling industry, and his green building blog is just as informative and helpful as any homeowner could hope for.

Get With Green
If you’re working a remodel, or are thinking about it, this site will help you figure out your greenest options, and where to find them. Full of useful ideas you may never have thought about (tubal skylights to save electricity and light hallways and rooms) and practical information (where to order carpet made of recycled materials), this blog will help you through the green remodeling process.

Green Building and Remodeling
This site is simple, straight forward, and full of interesting articles on industry trend-spotting, and ideas for homeowners to incorporate into their home. 

TreeHugger
While this blog covers a wide range of topics other than green building, it is one of the top environmental blogs out there. A quick search of green building, or green remodeling should return a number of entries that you may find helpful.

Brevard Green Homes
Run by a green minded real estate agent, this blog is another great resource for homeowners on topics ranging from tax credits, green materials and other eco news.

To show our support for homeowners who want to green their home, ReliableRemodeler.com is proud to announce that we have recently added Solar Panel Installation as one of our newest offered services! Check out some of our Green Building Resources for more information.

We hope to keep bringing homeowners more green building options, and we’ll be sure to keep covering green building topics here in the future.