Restoring History – Protecting Our Future

“What use is a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” – Thoreau

by Matt Grocoff, founder Greenovation.TV, contributor to The Environment Report on Public Radio, and the greenovation guru for Old House Web

The full article is available on OLD HOUSE WEB

When my wife Kelly and I bought our 110 year old Folk-Victorian home in Ann Arbor’s Old West Side Historic District, it was a dream come true: drafty old windows, lead paint, zero insulation, a half-century old furnace, asbestos siding, a gas powered mower in the shed and even a few pieces of coal scattered around the back yard. What more could a couple ask for?

From the start we knew that homes use an astonishing 22% of energy consumed in the U.S. In fact, your home uses far more energy than your car. Home energy costs have skyrocketed to an average of $2200 per year. Old homes use even more than their fair share of the energy pie. . . .

But using resources to build big new “green” homes to save resources just seems ironic. There are 130 million existing homes in the U.S.; half were built before 1972.

So, retrofitting America’s old homes is not just about preserving history, it is indeed about protecting our future.

READ MATT’S FULL ARTICLE AT OLD HOUSE WEB

And . . . here’s helpful resources you must explore before starting your Mission Zero:

One Block Off the Grid http://1bog.org/

Joolze.com http://www.joolze.com/

Transcript

Matt: [at front of old Victorian house] Hi, I’m Matt Grocoff, the green renovation expert for Old House Web and host of greenovation.tv and this is my house.  So when my wife Kelly and I first bought this 110 year old folk Victorian house, it was a dream come true: it had lead paint, asbestos siding, zero insulation and even an old gas powered lawn mower out in the shed.  What more can anybody ask for.

Matt: [in living room] So on move in day we brought two things with us:  a crowbar to rip up all the old carpet and a box of compact fluorescent light bulbs.  We replaced every light socket in this house with compact fluorescents and then we added motion sensors to every light switch in the house.  We leave a room, if we forget to turn it off, it turns it off for us.

Matt: [in bathroom] So at the start of our renovation project, this was the only bathroom in the house.  It was fantastic.  It had pink Formica tiles, an old flush toilet that flushed 5 gallons every time.  This is a Caroma Dual Flush Toilet which only uses .8 gallons every flush and unlike our old toilet never clogs.  But not only have we made it look great, but we’ve made it way more energy efficient.

This is a 1-minute a gallon showerhead.  This is going to use a gallon and a half a minute less than an ordinary showerhead.  This will literally save thousands of gallons over its lifetime.

Matt: [backyard drilling for geothermal] I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say “I thought you couldn’t put geothermal into a historic house.”  Well this house proves that wrong.  We were able to put three 150-foot bore holes vertically into the back yard on a very small piece of property.  Not only do we have a heating and cooling system that uses half the energy of our neighbors, we have a house that’s a whole lot more comfortable.

Matt: [in living room] We’re out to prove that old houses can be the Greenest houses. In fact, with all the renovations we’ve done so far, we’ve made this house ultra efficient and we’ve got a ways to go.  We’re going to take this house all the way to Net Zero.  Meaning it’s going to produce more energy than it uses.

Matt: [at the computer] So you eco geeks, get ready to get geeked out because this is our WattVision Google Power Meter.  And this will tell us how much energy we’re consuming at any given moment.  If everyone knew how much energy they were using, they would probably use a lot less.  [I'm coming to get you, I got you, I got you] Before we get the solar panels up on the roof, you can see we’ve got a lot of work to do.

Matt: [pointing to house exterior] We’ve got to paint the house, restore these old windows, then top it off with some really energy efficient storm windows.  My daughter Jane will probably still be alive when this house turns 200 years old.  So restoring America’s old homes is not just about preserving history, it’s about protecting our future.   So for Old House Web, this is Matt Grocoff reminding you that, “The Green Revolution Begins at Home”

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Read more about Matt’s clean and green bath addition at Old House Web.

More cool stuff

Materials Unlimited – for salvaged material, clawfoot tubs, bathroom hardware

Habitat Restore

Permaglaze

BIO  > > > > >

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We all want to do what we can to reduce our environmental impact, but green products can be hard on the budget, especially eco furniture. But you have options! Echo Wood Productions LLC provides modern, earth friendly furnishings made from recycled wood and uses all Greenguard certified finishes.

Affordable Furniture Made From Recycled Wood

Many furniture pieces use exotic or high end wood to boost value. This not only damages the delicate ecosystems where exotic wood is found, but it ends the life of exquisite organisms. We want the value of our furniture to come from the skill and effort we put into making it striking and not from the tree it was made- that’s cheating. Trees take a considerable amount of time to grow and need to be treated as the valuable resource they are, especially as the demand for wood grows.

So we upcycle shipping pallets pulled out of dumpsters to make our furniture in order to preserve living trees. A shocking amount of usable wood is tossed everyday while we continue to cut up trees. Upcycling wood, the process of reusing lesser value products to create a greater value product, is essential to saving space in our landfills and preserving live forests. The small amount of wood waste we generate is broken down further and then composted.

The standard finish for the furniture industry is an unsafe, lacquer based finish filled with high hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds. Our finishing product of choice is a water-borne and Greenguard certified finish that is free of HAPs (hazardous air pollutants) and very low VOCs (volatile organic compounds). This means it is safer for you to have in your home, safer for me to work with, and safer for the environment.

Michelle Burton, dedicated to simple living, lives in Gainesville Florida with her carpenter husband, Caleb. Together, they handcraft each piece from start to finish. They enjoy gardening, their dogs, chickens, and watching PBS. Check out their website at www.echowoodproductions.com.

RESOURCES FOR HEALTHY FURNISHINGS:

Pottery Barn now offers products made from reclaimed materials

Find an Urban Wood Retailer near you for locally sourced urban lumber

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Planning to remodel? Unless your home is fairly new, only renovators certified to handle lead will soon be legally allowed to do the work. The problem: Many are not yet ready.

On April 22, the Environmental Protection Agency is slated to enact rules requiring EPA certification for contractors working 0n homes built before lead paint was banned in 1978. The rule, aimed at limiting exposure to lead, applies to carpenters, plumbers, heating and air conditioning workers, window installers and others.  Read full article at USA Today.

Read Related Article on GTV from Philip Proefrock: Do New Renovation Laws Stifle Greenovation?

Peeling Lead Paint - photo by EditorB CC 2.0 license

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