Sustainable Building

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Green your walls with American Clay wall plaster

April 1, 2009 in Healthy Green Home, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 1 comment

I’ve been meaning to post on this for a while – better late than never eh? I recently got a heads up about American Clay eco-friendly wall plaster. Not only is this solution green but it’s a beautiful home application choice as well. Look at this example below…

How to use:

American Clay interior wall plaster is an award winning product that can be used for walls of all sorts of structures, from contemporary homes to historical restorations. American Clay Earth Plasters create soothing textures and provide rich color for your walls; think of it as an alternative to – traditional paint, stucco, or other finishes.

Benefits of American Clay wall plaster…

  • Earth Plasters are non-dusting, mold and fade resistant, repairable and moisture controlling.
  • No off-gassing or inherent waste on-site.
  • Non-flammable.
  • Absorbs sound.
  • Helps counter the positive ions coming at you through electronics.
  • Huge array of colors and textures available – which all use natural clays, recycled and reclaimed aggregates, and vibrant natural pigments. Three color finish lines are available – LOMA, PORCELINA, and MARITTIMO.
  • Easy to use – can be a DIY project. At the main web page you can watch a video about how the plaster works or take a workshop about application, and American Clay even offers a “Try It” kit for $35 to see if you like it, with all three different formulations!

Good stuff. I love the colors available – see a larger photo gallery.

Visit the main site to learn more and to find out where to purchase American Clay products.

Tour the World’s Greenest Certified House

March 27, 2009 in Healthy Green Home, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | No comments

The Live Green, Live Smart Institute recently announced that they have received the Outstanding Custom Project Award from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for the highest rating home in the history of the LEED for Homes program. That’s not bad eh?

The house referred to as The Sustainable House, located in Minnetonka, Minnesota is a residential construction, research project conceived and managed by the Live Green, Live Smart Institute. This was actually a remodel of a 1948 rambler, and took two years to green up. Incorporated in the redesign are various eco-friendly home options such as sustainable energy systems, water saving devices, significant reuse of materials and extensive environmental landscaping.

The best part is you can tour the home, even if you don’t happen to be Minnesota bound. The home is featured online and has some nifty interactive features going for it. Clicking in specific areas will give you a run down of how they greened the space.

Check out the house!

[image via Live Green, Live Smart Institute]

Is There an Ideal Sustainable Home?

January 30, 2009 in Sustainable Building by Jennifer | No comments

Sustainable housing is not a new idea, but there are many different ideas surrounding the term sustainable building, some of them always changing (think LEED). People have varied sustainable plans when designing a house, but in reality you can narrow sustainability down to some basic ideas.

The best sustainable housing is…

Sustainable at each level. From choosing a site and clearing the land. Your choice of materials and your building ethics (i.e. recycling waste). Your energy system and landscaping. At each level of the planning and building process there are sustainable aspects you can consider.

A sustainable home has a light footprint and takes up less space. You can sort of build a green McMansion but that majorly defeats the true purpose of sustainable design.

The best sustainable materials are locally acquired, efficient, and recyclable. You can go further by choosing materials that have been reclaimed and by using only what you need. For example, two sinks in the bath, may be overkill.

Sustainable housing requires less fuel to heat or cool and maximizes natural vs. non-renewable resources for energy. Wind, solar, proper landscaping, window quality, and more are all ideas surrounding sustainable energy for housing.

Sustainable housing makes the most of water use with things like water efficient appliances, rainwater systems, and low-water landscaping.

Interior design is also a consideration. Non-toxic paints, clean air techniques, reclaimed floors, sustainable furniture, and more all contribute to overall sustainable design.

In my opinion, sustainable design also adds to the land integrity instead of claiming aesthetics from said land. This is not an across the board idea, but it makes little sense to overtake nature with design.

To learn more about sustainable design read:

Floors Made From Recycled Leather Belts

January 27, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | No comments

This is one of the coolest re-purposing projects I’ve seen in a good long while – belts as floors! This just goes to show you that with a little creativity, you can re-purpose just about anything.

The floors made by TING with recycled leather belts are part of their HOME line. The HOME line stats follow:

“Brightly coloured seat belts are woven into floor and scatter cushions, oversized cubes and hammocks. Deceptively simple in design and incredibly durable, these distinctive accessories have become a modern classic, adding sleek sophisticated glamour to stylish interiors, including bars, restaurants, boutique hotels and film and fashion shoots. Inghua is currently expanding this range and the new, extended HOME collection will be launched at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York this Spring 2008.“

Very nice. TING also makes items like luggage, belts, wallets using salvaged materials.

Visit TING to learn more.

Thanks to my pal Peggy who first posted about this at Junk Creation. Since I ruthlessly stole this tip from her, check out one of her other green home inspired posts.

What do you think of these hip floors?

Green Roof Homes for Pets

October 7, 2008 in Eco-Pets, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | No comments

When you’re greening your own home and lifestyle, don’t forget about your furry friends. While green pet homes are lacking, there’s one company you can turn to for all your sustainable pet home needs…

Sustainable Pet Design an amazing company creating beautiful green-minded homes for your best friend – at least, your best friend with a tail. “Greenrrroof” pet homes smell great, attract wonderful wildlife (think birds and butterflies), and even naturally repel fleas. Green roofs are becoming more in style among human habitats, but to put a green roof on a pet home is brilliant. Take a look:

Each “Greenrrroof” pet home is custom sized to your dog. If you live in California, you can have a nicely planted pet home shipped to you. For folks living outside of California, you can’t get a planted one shipped, but the company will send you a pet home, and plant recommendations for your region.

Each home is green to the max. The company used untreated recycled red cedar wood, zero-VOC paint, and beeswax waterproofing.

Look at these other cool green homes for pets:
Read the rest of this entry »

Where To Find New Green Homes for Sale

October 3, 2008 in Green Your Home, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 3 comments

If you’re looking to buy a new or existing green home, rather than build or remodel green, it can seem frustrating. As mainstream as green living has become, there’s still not a ton of publicity about green homes and where to find them. Still, with the right help, you can find what you’re looking for.

A really fun way to find green homes is to take part in one of the many green home shows or tours popping up all over the country. Not all states have green home shows or tours, but many do. At a green home show, you can meet builders and merchants of green homes and green home goods. If you attend a green home tour it’s even more fun, because you get to see some beautiful homes and learn about green home options. Check with your local chamber to learn about green home events in your area.

For an eclectic collection of killer green homes for sale visit Green Homes for Sale. This is one of my favorite drool worthy sites on the web. You can search by location (U.S. (all the states), Canada, Nicaragua  and Puerto Rico), ID number, or watch fun slide shows. These are lovely homes and stats about their green attributes are listed.

Look for green communities in your area. Usually these are all new developments in a walkable area and green spaces. One downside of green communities is that the homes tend to be clustered closely together, but there are still perks, like energy savings and non-toxic materials.

Other ways to find a green home to purchase include:

Questions for A Green Home Remodel

September 29, 2008 in Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 1 comment

If you’re thinking of a green remodel for your house, there are some basic questions to consider.

General home questions:

What don’t you like about your current home?

What do you adore about your current home?

Do you have enough space? Too much space?

How efficient is your current insulation solution – is your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer without having to use huge energy drains?

Is there mold in your home? Other problems? Before a remodel, you do need to plan for the costs of taking care of current problematic issues.

What sort of alternative energy options appeal to you – how much work are you willing to put into alternative energy upkeep?

Window questions:

How much natural light does each room receive?

Is energy efficient glass used for all your windows?

Is it even feasible to change window placement if you choose – can skylights or solar lighting be implemented?

Are windows properly placed with roof overhang, or other sun blockers?

Outdoor living:

How can you bring more of the outside environment indoors?

Can you green renovate your landscaping during your remodel?

Money issues:

How much can you afford to spend on green renovations?

How are you spending now on utilities?

Will green renovations cost as much to build a new green home or relocate to a green home? If so, which choice is best for you?

How much money will green renovations save you in the long run – and how long until you recoup your costs.

What eco-benefits will a green remodel have and does that increase the worth of the remodel to you?

This is just a start. These questions will get you thinking, but the best thing to do if you’re considering a remodel is to speak with a green remodeling professional or a builder who has green know-how.

Quick Green Laundry Tip – Skip the Bleach

August 13, 2008 in Green Cleaning, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 4 comments

Bleach is toxic, bad for humans and pets, and pollutes our water supplies and soil. Skip the bleach when doing laundry.

If you want a safer way to whiten whites, use anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1 cup of borax per wash-load (experiment). Borax can also be used as a color brightener as well. If you can’t get past not using bleach, try a chlorine free bleach.

Green Building Resources & Green Living Tips

July 29, 2008 in Alternative Energy, Decor, Save Energy, Sustainable Building by Jennifer | 1 comment

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Best Green Home Tips used to be located in a different spot, at the RiverWired network. Over there, we looked at many a green building and remodeling tip. I thought that if you missed these posts, it would be cool to catch you up to speed.

green living

Following are some of the best posts that you may have missed the first time around…

Green building:

Green home interior:

Alternative energy & energy saving:

This catches you up on about half of the green building blog. Later this week, I’ll post a second batch of great links that can help you to build and live green.