Tag: home

Environmental Emphasis: The Sustainable Home Recycled

The American dream of a large, palatial home filled with possessions is dying. Simply put, this concept is no longer a sustainable option. Rethinking dreams and ideals is what environmental consciousness is all about, a spur to something brand-new and exciting.

Many of us really ‘live’ in only a portion of our spacious homes. Usually, those rooms will be the kitchen and living room area. Do we need all that extra space that we are paying to heat, cool and maintain? A small home constructed with eco-friendly living space has multiple advantages. First of all, small living quarters can give the illusion of light and space to rest the soul without large actual size. Manageability in heating and cooling will grant freedom from high monthly overhead, not to mention real estate taxes and maintenance.

The key to smallness is design. Proper design can give efficient kitchen, bathroom and storage space without the appearance of crowding.

A practical component to smaller living space is the need divest oneself of excessive possessions. Emancipation from the care and purchase of multiple wanted items can be revolutionary. Lifestyle simplification is a very positive benefit of smaller living spaces.

Location, location, location. This is the realtor’s rallying cry, an especially important issue when the goal is an eco-friendly lifestyle. The wrong location can put the kibosh on an environmentally efficient living plan.
For instance, will there be an area of routine sunlight for solar panels? Is the soil and location suitable to grow some food? Will there be proper air circulation and drainage to provide some natural cooling for the home? Is there a way to walk or take public transportation when leaving the home for school or work?

Choices of building materials for the ecologically-friendly house are so diverse and creative that they are mind-boggling. We will begin with some concepts to keep in mind. Builder-speak specifies the need for a ‘tight envelope’. Simply put, the better a building keeps out rain, wind, cold and heat, the better the envelope.

An unusual recommendation for tight insulating material is recycled steel. At least 65 tons of steel are scrapped and recycled every year, and it can be used economically in the place of forest products for beams and structural support.

Insulated concrete buildings reportedly saved 20 percent more energy than homes constructed with wood framing in cold climates. The secret is in pouring the concrete into walls with insulation material sandwiched between. Creativity with cement and its forms is practically limitless.

Straw is a by-product of the grain industry that is well-known for its isolative qualities. Animals are bedded with straw. Today, people take advantage of straw by building homes from square bales.At first, this concept may seem a lesson in disaster. What if it becomes wet, or filled with insects?

At first, this concept may seem a lesson in disaster. What if it becomes wet, or filled with insects?
Good questions.

According to the California Straw Building Association, straw will last for thousands of years if kept dry. Dryness is paramount. The key is bonding the straw with stucco and plaster for walls and the outside surface. When that is accomplished, straw bales provide structure and good isolative qualities.
Local building ordinances do not often account for straw construction, but, on a case-by-case basis, authorities can manage the situation positively.

Plastic bags seem the quintessential environmental plague. However, if you have recycled them, they may just turn up as a building resource. Brightly coloured bricks are made from plastic bags, which are very difficult to recycle in other ways. The bags are compressed and placed in a heat mould and forced into blocks of plastic. They are too lightweight to be used as outside or bearing walls for a home but are just right to use for room dividers or outside patios.

Bottles become bricks with just a little bit of attention to their design. The Heineken company originated this concept. The owner of the brewery, Alfred Henry Heineken, visited an island in the Caribbean in the 1960’s and was appalled at the lack of housing. Forthwith the company embarked upon a new, brick-shaped bottle that could be reused and built into housing walls.

Some people think that recycling already-used building products will result in derelict design or poor durability. Nothing could be farther than the truth! Though going through old construction waste and configuring it to meet new construction needs is difficult and time-consuming, it can result in a truly unique tribute to home artistry and design.

An internet service called freecycle.org is a site for people wanting to buy or trade construction materials. Habitat for Humanity retails outlets called ReStores that have used and surplus building supplies for sale. The money garnered from the sales is used to financially aid Habitat’s building endeavours for those in need.

Recycling is truly a momentous endeavour today. The technology to recycle just about everything has geared up and produces products from recycled carpet to reformed glass for windows. Agricultural by-products, cardboard, and paper are routinely shredded into home insulation and pressed into particle board. Recycled plastic foam and concrete are formed into Rasta building blocks, lightweight and extremely durable.

The sustainable home concept is thriving through new technologies and the creativity and innovation of builders everywhere.

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6 Things in Your Home That Are Unintentionally Making Your Family Sick

Carpet

Homes are meant to make a family feel safe, secure, and together. While many people take steps to ensure that their homes are clean and healthy places, there are several considerations you may be overlooking in your endeavors to keep your family healthy. Check out these six areas in your home that might accidentally be causing problems for your family.

Carpeting is a household staple. But carpeting might be making your family feel sick. For one, carpet traps pollen, pet dander, dust mites, and other allergens. Some carpet materials also give off volatile organic compounds. These compounds evaporate and are inhaled, which can cause respiratory problems. Volatile organic compounds don’t just appear in carpeting, either.

To eliminate the problem, furnish your home with items that don’t contain volatile organic compounds by asking at the furniture store. Buy thinner carpeting and keep your home well ventilated.

Dust Mites

Most people with dust allergies are actually allergic to dust mites. The microscopic critters like warm weather and high humidity. When they die, they tend to collect in fabric-based furniture and accessories, like beds, pillows, couches, and the like. So if you or anyone in your family experiences allergy symptoms outside of the typical allergy season, the reaction may be to a dust mite allergy.

There are several steps you can take to reduce the number of dust mites in your home, including keeping your humidity down, regularly washing your linens in hot water, and getting rid of bedroom carpeting.

Drinking Water

The EPA regulates and protects clean drinking water, so most people feel it’s safe to drink straight from the tap. But even with the EPA’s involvement, drinking water may not be as clear of contaminates as we’d like to believe. Trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, like ibuprofen and anticonvulsants, have been found in metropolitan water supplies.

The simple workaround might appear to be to drink water out of bottles, but a lot of water bottles are actually filled with tap water that hasn’t been filtered for these specific contaminates. Consider instead water filtration for the whole house, which has the added bonus of preventing the plastic waste that comes from drinking water out of bottles.

Carbon Monoxide

Most homes have smoke detectors that alert you to the presence of smoke in your house. But unless your smoke alarm specifically also features a carbon monoxide detection system, the dangerous gas might be present in your home without your knowledge. Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless, and has many common household sources like gas heaters, furnaces, dryers, fireplaces, motor vehicles, and more. To protect your family, make sure carbon monoxide producing devices are properly ventilated, and purchase a detector.

Mothballs

Fumigants are what make mothballs so useful against pests. Mothballs contain chemicals that release into the air and kill pests at high enough doses. But these high doses of chemicals can also be harmful to humans. The side-effects of inhaling these chemicals include dizziness, headaches, vomiting, difficulty breathing, and red blood cell loss. Next time you need to take care of creepy crawly pests, safer ways to treat the problem exist. You can eliminate moths without resorting to mothballs.

Refrigerator

Your refrigerator might also contribute to making your family ill. A packed fridge with incorrectly stored food can end up growing things that cause food poisoning. Plus, if the temperature is off, by even a little bit, it only makes matters worse. Keep your cooked and uncooked foods well away from each other, especially meats. Clean the interior of your fridge regularly. Find out what temperature your fridge should be and check it often.

While checking for mold and having a working smoke detector seem like obvious ways to keep your house clean and your family healthy, you may be overlooking some subtler aspects of the equation. Some of these issues, like dust mites, the refrigerator, and carpeting, aren’t deathly serious, others like carbon monoxide and mothballs can cause serious health problems, especially with prolonged exposure. Thankfully most of these areas are easy to take care of with a little diligence.