Green Archives - Page 14 of 15

DIY: A Green Roof Grows In Brooklyn

October 22, 2007 RH 8 Comments

I found Yeshwant’s “DIY Green Roof” post on the Brownstoner forum and asked if he would be kind enough to give me some info to pass along to my ECO/DIY readers. Well, he went above and beyond my expectations! Thank you, Yeshwant!

Here are our reasons for wanting a green roof:

We bought an 1840s Federal brick rowhouse in Red Hook three years ago. Our top floor bedroom, with an uninsulated tar flat roof over it, sizzled in the summer heat. Finding a way to cool it was the main incentive to want to green the rooftop.

I also liked that green roofs prevent rapid heating and cooling of the roof membrane and are therefore supposed to more than double its life. The growth media and plants are supposed to help insulate the roof in the winter, which we hope will warm the usually chilly upper floor.

Red Hook is a flood zone and the storm drains often fail to carry away rainwater, especially during heavy summer storms. Many homes have storm water backing up into the drains. So, the mitigation of storm water volume could only help the community.

On summer mornings, we’ve also noticed that butterflies and bees seem to like sedum flowers. As do we.

Here is the process: Continue reading DIY: A Green Roof Grows In Brooklyn

Sterling Place: Vintage Finds

October 22, 2007 RH 2 Comments

The NY Times featured an article on the couple behind the Sterling Place shops this weekend. The article was titled “The Ultimate Recyclers“, so they had me at “The”.

First of all, check out the pictures of this couple’s house! I damaged my keyboard from all the drool. Ms. Cromwell lets us know they haven’t changed any of the detail in the house and the craftspeople who created stuff like this no longer exist. It’s funny….Eddie said the exact same thing. Someone told him that over 30 years ago. Sad, but true.

Mr. Wilson on his introduction to collecting: “My parents were always going to auctions and buying unusual pieces. Their house just became more and more filled until they literally had boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff. They kind of lost control of the house.” I shouldn’t let my husband see this. We’ve already lost control of a number of rooms in 2 homes, the garage, driveway and basement.

Sterling Place has 2 locations, in Park Slope and Boerum Hill, as well as the online store.

Best Green Blogs

October 22, 2007 RH

Best Green Blogs is a newish directory of bloggers dealing with issues of sustainability and green lifestyle. They feature interviews with the bloggers and news tidbits. It’s pretty addictive. I spent alittle too much time checking out all the websites I’ve never heard of and reading interviews with the peeps behind the scenes. Reclaimed Home is on there too!

Some cool sites I found:

Eco Home Guy
Ecorazzi
Green As A Thistle
Green Brooklyn
True Green Confessions

Brooklyn Vegetarian Week

October 19, 2007 RH

Sunday, October 21 through Saturday, October 27: Participating Brooklyn vegetarian restaurants are offering discounts.

The event is being sponsored by Brooklyn Goes Veg, a one woman show. That woman is Melissa D. Haile, director of the Black Vegetarian Society of New York.

BGV has a list of participating restaurants. Among them, Red Bamboo in Fort Greeen and 4 Course Vegan in Williamsburg.

Illy Push Button House

October 17, 2007 RH 2 Comments

A reader (who happens to work for Illy Coffee) sent us this tip after reading about the shipping container homes.

Although we’ve seen the Push Button House online, we didn’t realize that we’ll get to see it in our own backyard come November. It will be set up as a cafe in Columbus Circle from November 28-December 29. It is meant to show Illy’s commitment to sustainability, from coffee production to development and environment.

Coolhunter
Treehugger

Green Dream Home: Remainder House

October 16, 2007 RH

Saw this on Off Beat Homes, my new favorite website. She has a house called “The Poop House” on there! Oh, you can bet I’ll be covering that one.

But back to the lovely Remainder House… From Open Space Architect’s website: “The Remainder House is a celebration of old growth timbers salvaged from a New Westminster warehouse. The house was carefully sited on a tight triangular shaped lot to frame a woodland garden, maintaining the existing trees, minimizing the visual impact to neighbors and maximizing Southern views over the water. All was achieved without removing a single existing tree. “

The house is in British Columbia, but hey, just as easy to build it here in New York (Hear that, architects and builders?). I would love, love, love to have a weekend retreat in a place like this. Anything longer than that, I have to admit, would make me claustrophobic.

Treehugger

It’s Blog Action Day!

October 15, 2007 RH

Today is kind of the Blogger’s Earth Day. Bloggers around the web have united to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Those of us whom have chosen to participate are doing so in one of 3 different ways:

1. Posting an issue relating to the environment.
2. Donating our day’s earnings.
3. Promoting Blog Action Day.

Since I earn bupkas, guess which 2 I’m doing?

The event has been organized by Collis Ta’eed of Eden Creative Community , Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and Cyan Ta’eed of Freelance Switch.

There are about 12, 000 participating blogs, among them:

Treehugger
Green Style
ProBlogger
Groovy Vegetarian
Etsy Bling

Officially supported charities include:

Greenpeace
Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
Sierra Club

DIY: Winterizing Your Home

October 10, 2007 RH

It’s still pretty warm out, but it’s always good to start early. Here’s our list of ways to keep your home well insulated and energy efficient for the cold weather.

1. Take your window A/C units out. If you must keep them in, put a cover on them.

2. Caulk or insulate any drafty holes around windows and doors.

3. Make sure all heating/cooling ducts are sealed.

4. Don’t forget to close your fireplace flue.

5. If you have an attic, that should be insulated. You should even put insulation on the hatch.

6. Check for drafts around vents and faucets. Put insulation behind all exterior wall switch plates (they sell “special” stuff for this).

7. If you have antique windows, you can get historic storm windows. There’s nothing historic about them, but they are nearly invisible. We went with Allied Storm Windows.

8. Insulate exposed pipes and water heater.

9. Don’t forget to turn off your outside hose/faucet. It can freeze and pipes will burst!

10. Turn on your heat before it gets too cold so you know it’s working properly. You don’t want any surprises the first time the temperature really drops.

Energy Star

Trinity Glass Recycled Countertops

October 10, 2007 RH

We recently wrote about Squak Mountain Stone and Kliptech countertops. Over the weekend, Treehugger reported that the two companies have merged to form Trinity Glass. Amee Quiriconi and Joel Klippert were constantly meeting up at events and exchanging ideas, so it seemed natural to merge.

Trinity Glass is a composite of 75% glass from recycled beer bottles, plate windows, wine bottles, etc from Seattle and 25% low carbon cement.

Kliptech
Squak Mountain

Dust Control Joint Compound

October 9, 2007 RH 2 Comments

Could it be true? Sanding joint compound without the dust flying around? Found this on LEEDPro. I know, I know: “If you do the mud correctly, you shouldn’t have to sand at all”. Well, I’m incompetent when it comes to taping. I hate it! If this makes my life a little easier, I’m in, baby! Anyone tried this?

Ikea Homes

October 8, 2007 RH

Via OTBKB, via Seeing Green:

Ikea is in the real estate business. They will be selling eco-friendly timber frame homes with their own plots of land. No assembly required, but I hear an allen wrench will be included should the home need repairs.

“BoKlok” flats and houses will be located in Gateshead, England. Developers are looking into sites in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. They will be targeted at first time home buyers with prices starting at £100,000.

Business Guardian

Dutchess Salvage and Antiques

October 4, 2007 RH 1 Comment

Hoffmans

Hoffman’s Antique Barn, located behind a movie theater at 19 Old Farm Road in Red Hook, is my upstate Eddie. They have windows for $9, wooden mantles for $195 and tables of small items listed from $2-5. There are plenty of doors, sinks and tubs as well. 845-758-5668

The Stormville Antiques Market is this weekend! Another favorite of mine for bargain hunting. The show opens at dawn and that’s when you should try to get there. Although some vendors are still setting up, others sell out of their best stuff by 8am. And traffic is killer by 9am! Good to go up Friday night and get an early start.

A shout out to Junk To Jems, from Long Island. He’ll be at Stormville this weekend in booth #265. I was going to do a write up about him this week, but it’s going to be next week instead. People line up at his booth before he even arrives.

Recycled Home: Shipping Container

October 3, 2007 RH 2 Comments

With shipping containers piling up because we import more than we export, some architects have come up wonderful uses for them.

Adam Kalkin, who admits he has a “fascination with junk” is one artist/architect who specializes in shipping container chic. His homes start at $99,000 and are not only beautiful, but can provide extraordinary shelter for disaster relief.

Architecture and Hygiene
CNN Interview: Adam Kalkin

Tax Incentives

October 3, 2007 RH

I’ll admit it. I’m too much of a loser to get my act together to apply for these incentives. I don’t even know if it’s for NY. But if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s giving advice to others. So, don’t do as I do. Do as I say: read up on this and apply for these credits!

Homeowners can get credits for energy improvements to their homes, such as windows, insulation, and envelope and duct sealing. Credits are available to homeowners and businesses who install qualifying solar equipment including photovoltaic cells and solar water heating systems. They’re giving credits for installing efficient air conditioners and heat pumps; gas or oil furnaces and furnace fans; and gas, oil, or electric heat pump water heaters in new or existing homes.

Energy Tax Incentives

Recycled Glass Countertops

October 1, 2007 RH 2 Comments

Icestone

Of the three larger companies fabricating recycled glass composite countertops, Icestone, the best known, is also the only local one. The product, made from 100% recycled glass mixed with concrete, is manufactured in a day lit factory in Brooklyn. The chemical composition is benign and 99.5% inorganic. Icestone comes in a variety of 23 colors. Local showrooms include Chelsea Arts Tile and AK Tile Studio.

Vetrazzo

Vetrazzo is composed of 85% recycled glass with a binder of cement, additives, pigments and other recycled materials such as fly ash – a waste by-product of coal burning power plants. They do not utilize synthetic, petroleum-based resin binders. The product comes in 16 colors and is manufactured in California.

EnviroGlas

EnviroGlas Slabs are made of 75% post-consumer and post-industrial recycled glass and 25% binder by volume. They do use resin in the process. There are 22 standard resin colors or you can formulate your own design. The company is based in Texas.

reclaimedhome.com

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