My Peace - My Space - My Energy Savings

Sometimes you cannot be the person who invents new energy sources or figures out how to take wheat board and make it into edible salad croutons.  Sometimes you are just the person who follows the mandatory recycling/composting rules, watches documentaries on global warming and takes walking vacations in Spain (my father said, you call that a Vacation?)

How can I still make a difference?

My Peace – meditate for inner peace.

My Space– it is suggested that low-tech actions such as weatherizing homes and installing more-efficient water heaters could reduce household carbon emissions by 20% within 10 years.

Appliances – BIG energy savings can come by replacing old appliances with energy efficient EnergyStar appliances. (dishwashers, washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc)

Toilets– need I tell you again? Replace the old water wasters with HET (High Efficiency Toilets) and watch your savings on your utility bill.  Installing a HET can save up to 22,000 gallons of water per year. 

Water Heaters – install more efficient water heaters

Insulate – my home, like many other older home had NO INSULATION in the exterior walls. When remodeling, add insulation and watch your heating bill dwindle.

Windows – replace old windows with the double paned variety, no more drafts!

Plumbing Fixtures– look for the WaterSense label to curb your water usage.

Leaking pipes & faucets– can waste as much as 7 liters a day.

Yard – selecting plants that coordinate with our weather will reduce watering costs

Rainwater harvesting – collecting rainwater, primarily from your roof, can offset your irrigation/yard watering costs.  If you want to go further, you can install a filtration system and plumb the water back into your home to be used to flush your toilets.

New Habits – turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth, take shorter showers, use the dishwasher only when you have a full load, thaw frozen food in the microwave

My Energy Savings – makes me happy and brings me full circle to my inner peace…..I am just ‘me’ and that is okay.

Water Conservation in the Wet Northwest

As my relatives in Minot North Dakota are being flooded out of their homes, I feel sadly blessed that we have been spared the wrath of natural disasters that have hit the world this year.   Who was it that said, 'take care of nature or nature will take care of you?' Actually, I think it was me.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a fanatic about water conservation.  I hit several brick walls in my efforts to implement conservation programs over a large population base, mainly because the cost of water to us is so low.  We do not have an economic incentive to conserve water.  We conserve water only when/because we want to do the 'right thing.'

Recently I received a couple publications from Seattle Public Utilities that gave me a glimmer of hope.  The first was the Drinking Water Quality Report which reported that our drinking water was very clean, that it costs us LESS than a Penny a Gallon to have water delivered to our taps, and that we have one of the best drinking water systems in the nation.  Quite impressive.  In the very last paragraph, however,  SPU noted that elevated levels of lead and copper are often found in our drinking water due to corroded plumbing systems.  ALERT!  SPU is working hard to get clean water to you, but if you actually want to drink or cook with clean water you need to confirm that you do not have corroded plumbing.  In a city that is mainly compromised of older homes, I would guess that there lots of households that have not replaced the plumbing in their homes.  Health Tip of the Day: When you remodel a kitchen or bath, due yourself a healthy favor and replace as much of the old plumbing that you can afford to.

The second flyer had a section on a new program that was MY IDEA (thank god someone is implementing it!)  Qualified customers in Seattle can get a FREE water-efficient toilet and have it installed by a licensed plumber for FREE if they meet income guidelines.  (My program did not offer the toilet nor the installation for free, so this is actually a better program) Household income for 2 people can be up to $3,273 a month to qualify. PLUS, the picture that is in the flyer is the stylish Kohler Persuade toilet.  I am hoping this is the toilet being given away, but even if not, it indicates that it is probably a Kohler toilet and that is a good thing.  American made, family owned company in Kohler, Wisconsin, Kohler has made an effort to meet and beat the WaterSense guidelines for water conservation and have a large array of HET's available.  HET is tech talk for High Efficiency Toilets.  Who said I wasn't a techy?  Ciao!

Sustainable living -Let's stay home

Most of us want to stay in our homes until the very end.  In other words, none of us wants to go to a 'rest' home or skilled nursing facility.  Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle to remaining in your home, Is Your Home.    As interior designers, we have both the knowledge to design safe environments as well as the aesthetic talent to keep your home looking sophisticated as opposed to clinical.  Almost of all of our suggestions can easily be incorporated into your current remodeling projects.  It just makes sense to plan for your future. 

There are quite a few opportunities to create safe healing environments so I will start off with a basic challenge:

BARRIERS.  Look at the picture above - this is one example of a curb less shower. It is not only barrier free, but it looks great!  While we are looking at it, notice the hand shower and the built in shelving for toiletries.  Other barriers in a home include doorways that are too narrow for a wheel chair to pass, unsafe or non existing transfer seats to safely enter a bathtub, and regular stairs.  Stairs to get in the house, stairs or level changes to move from room to room, etc.  For small elevations, ramps can safely be installed.  For a flight of stairs, there are chair lifts available that can move you from floor to floor.  If you have a 'vertical' home, consider adding an elevator during one of your remodels.  A typical closet or powder room is often located directly above/below another closet or powder room, making it the perfect location for your elevator!

Other 'sustainable living' issues that I will address in future blogs are safety and healing environments.

Keep safe!  Christine

Cabinetry & Formaldehyde

Did you know that 'regular' cabinetry off gasses urea formaldehyde into your home for up to five years?  And, if you have a done a great job insulating and weather proofing your house, those voc's (volatile organic compounds) don't leave the house, you simply breathe them into your lungs.  This is one example of why EPA has determined that the indoor air quality of our homes is 5 TIMES worse than the exterior air quality. 

The quick solution is to purchase cabinetry that is made with a plywood box.  Careful, there is plywood available that DOES have added urea formaldehyde in it.  Make sure that the plywood that you are paying extra for (and you will be paying an up charge) is formaldehyde free.

There are other options to complicate our decisions:  there is a new particle board (EcoCore) that consists of 100% recycled materials that also contains no urea formaldehyde.  There is also 'Environmentally Preferred Particleboard' which has extremely low amounts of urea formaldehyde.  Or, you can purchase cabinets and allow some time to 'air them out' in an area that circulates air out of the home (open the windows?).  They will still off gas into the years, but the majority of the formaldehyde will be gone.

Many of you may be asking the same question that I asked - why do all these products have urea formaldehyde in them?  And why can't we use 'solid' wood?  The answer is that solid wood reacts to water and moisture in the air which causes warpage.  That is why, if you order a 'slab' style door, it is never 'solid' wood, it is a wood veneer on a substrate that does not warp.  And, that is why cabinet boxes are not made of solid wood, because they would be constantly expanding and contracting and warping.  The materials that do not warp significantly are plywood (many layers of wood) and particle board.  Particle board is made up of many particles that are held together with binding agents.  Most of these binding agents contain urea formaldehyde.  That is why some plywood and most particle board off gas voc's.  Sometimes, by solving one problem, we seem to have created others.

Breathe well & Have a Happy Thanksgiving,

Christine

Lead Based Paint and Healthy Home Remodels

Remodeling to add some 'greeen' features to your home?  Concerned about the formaldehyde that off gasses from most cabinetry?  Do you know how much lead it takes to cause a difference in IQ with your child, how much lead that can cause miscarriages?  Take a packet of Equal (the sugar substitute) and pore it onto the table.  Extract 15 (yes 15) granules.  That's is how much lead can cause lead poisoning.  Did I mention that it causes learning disabilities, lowered IQ and attention deficit disorder?

Lead based paint was banned in 1978.  So all homes that are older than 1978 have a chance of having lead based paint in them.  If you are lucky and live in one of those beautiful classic homes in our area, you can just about guarantee that somewhere under the many layers of paint on your wall, you have lead based paint.  Like asbestos, it is harmless unless it is disturbed.  What do we do in remodels?  We cut up the walls, removed some, add others.  In other words, we disturb the heck out of it.

I have been very concerned about the health of our families and the affect that our homes have on their health.  We are always talking about eating the correct foods to stay healthy.  How about breathing the right air?  There needs to be a different kind of construction/remodeling that takes place.  A different set of standards.  I have implemented a new safety and dust plan to capture all dust (lead or not) that may come from a remodeling project.  We need to keep everyone healthy, the home owners, the workers, our environment.  There is a new level of safety/health concerns and conversations that have been weaning its way into the Interior Design /Architectural /Construction set of morals, codes of conduct and codes of law. We're all still working on this one step at a time.  One day we will figure out how to provide good shelter for our bodies without poisoning ourselves.  On that happy note, I am proud to say that I am now an EPA Certified Renovator!  I can now Officially test for lead paint and perform quality remodels without harming the people who live and work in that home.  One baby step in the right direction.....