Notes

Low Cost Kitchen And Bath Renovations
Green Remodeling Ideas YOU SHOULD USE!
Greening Your bathrooms:

The bathroom is really a room dedicated to relaxation, health and hygiene. But, it is a problematic source of pollutants that under mind personal and environmental health. If you decide to integrate some green remodeling ideas into your bathrooms, remember to also look for environmentally-friendly products such as cosmetics, hairsprays, rubber floor mats, etc.

Green Remodeling Ideas for the Bathroom:

Install a dual flush toilet, or at least a low-flow, water saving toilet. These toilets will save you about $50.00 a year starting as soon as they're installed and save over 180,000 gallons of water during the first 6 year period. Toilets consume to 28% of the water purchased in any given month. If you opt to keep your existing toilet you will find a simple way to conserve to a gallon of water per flush. Fill 1 liter bottles with water and a little gravel and seal them. Then place them in the bathroom . tank, out of the way of the flushing mechanism. Make sure that the bathroom . still flushes well before adding another bottle.
Look for shower heads that feel just like they have an excellent full stream, but nonetheless have water saving capacity. Purchase a shower head with a shut-off valve at the top. You can save thousands of gallons of water each year by reducing the water flow to a trickle while lathering, saving many gallons per shower which adds up quickly.
Install a ?touchless? water faucets. You see these in many public restrooms today, but there are models available for your home. They are particularly a large hit with children, and they save a great deal of water to boot!
Consider installing a tankless water-heater. This is often a small unit near the ?point of use? or a entire home unit plenty powerful enough to help keep your whirlpool bath water hot as the dishwasher and washer are running full tilt.
If your bathroom remodel involves removal of sheetrock on walls and ceilings, consider adding insulation to the hot and cool water pipes in the attic space and in virtually any outside walls for greater energy efficiency. This keeps them from sweating and producing moisture in your walls. When you can insulate the pipes running completely from the water-heater to the shower and faucets it'll save 5% to 10% on heating the water for these fixtures.
Next, if you are not up for a tankless water-heater, make sure that your home water-heater can be an energy conserving model, and use a ?re-circulating pump?. By turning on the pump for under one minute before you shower, you can move hot water to the shower head before you transform it on, virtually eliminating the water you would have wasted looking forward to it to heat up. The cost of the system is repaid in energy and water savings in less than 3 years.
Install quiet vent fans to boost air-quality and remove moisture. Bathrooms generate a great deal of moisture each day and can promote mold and mildew growth. Lots of people have vent / fans but never use them. One way to easily get in the habit would be to install an electronic timer that allows you to push a button so the fan comes on and removes the moisture and turns itself off, so that you will don?t need to think about it. Another alternative is to install a fan unit, like the Panasonic Whisper Quiet fan which quietly and constantly removes moisture from the bath at a very slow rate (10 cubic feet each and every minute), but also could be turned on like a regular vent fan when more moisture removal is necessary. This also really helps to change out fresh air from the home generally. There are models available with motion detectors and humidity detectors that automatically turn on when needed.
Bath surfaces such as walls and floors. Search for recycled glass and ceramic tiles for a good all around choice for bathroom surfaces. You can re-use tiles from your own existing bathroom for other projects and it is getting easier to find new tiles with a high re-cycled content. When you use tile, choose tiles you could place close together and install an un-sanded grout, that is more challenging for mold to take hold in. Apply kitchen and bath renovations -based grout sealer following the installing tile will greatly raise the grout and tile while rendering it easier to clean.
Avoid petroleum based materials such as for example vinyl flooring and acrylic shower stalls. They use many energy to produce and are difficult to re-cycle.
I am not just a big fan of ?refinishing? bathtubs and sinks as the finished do not endure very long. It does have the positive affect of keeping those materials out of landfills and environmentally friendly impacts of manufacturing new sinks and tubs however. Refinishing is fantastic when you are remodeling to obtain the house ready for sale.
Cork, bamboo and wood floors are not recommended for the bathroom even though they can be sealed, since there is a good chance they?ll have trouble taking a stand to the constant water exposure. Carpeting isn't advisable either. NOTE: If your bathrooms has vinyl flooring created before the mid 1980s it can be backed with paper containing with asbestos that may get into the air during removal. The best idea is to install a new floor over the existing sheet vinyl or vinyl tiles in order to avoid getting asbestos in the air during removal.
Countertops can be manufactured from sealed stone, (Granite or Silestone type tops are most popular), but we still install ceramic tile tops as well. Many sealers contain solvents that are not environmentally friendly so look for a water-based sealant such as ?AFM Safecoat Mexeseal? or ?Stone Tech Impregnator Pro Sealer? which are earth-friendly. Be certain your countertop installer installs the stone having an adhesive caulking that is ?Low VOC? (low in Volatile Organic Compound) and that it is placed over formaldehyde ? free plywood, when possible. If you choose the wrong materials, they'll off-gas poisons into your home?s air for a long time.
Bathroom remodeling carries a lot of caulking to seal joints and plug leaks. Caulk often contains toxins to make it more durable and fight mold, nonetheless it will establish in the air and harm you as time passes. Look for low ? VOC caulk that lasts at the very least a decade and cleans up easily with water.
Good bathroom maintenance. All bathrooms will experience leaks sooner or later. It is important to keep a watchful eye. A toilet with a leaking flush valve can waste 10 gallons of water per hour and cost you a huge selection of dollars a year. If you see mold or mildew on the drywall, especially near the floor or any place in the bath, take immediate steps to learn why and prevent the leak source.
Green Remodeling Ideas for your kitchen:

Kitchens are generally the heart of the house where in fact the party happens. It is where families and friends gather like moths to a flame. The goals of greening your kitchen should include natural lighting, good ventilation, low toxicity finishes, energy and water efficient appliances and surfaces that are durable and cleanable and most important, esthetically pleasing. Here are some specific suggestions for your kitchen:

1. Appliances:


Refrigerators: Buy an energy efficient refrigerator. This can be a should do if your refrigerator is 10 years old or older, because the energy efficiency is so much higher now.
Dishwashers: Make sure you buy a power Star ? rated model dishwasher (these use 41% less energy than other dishwashers).
Microwave Ovens: Buy a good microwave oven, these use up to 80% less energy when compared to a conventional oven.
Ovens and Ranges: gas and electric cooktops use between 55% to 65% of the energy produced in the kitchen. Consider induction cooking (?glass tops?) designed to use 90% of most energy produced. Induction does not involve generating heat which is then transferred to the cooking vessel. It makes the cooking vessel itself the original generator of the cooking heat. Whenever choosing an oven search for convection ovens, which conserve to 20% on energy. A self-cleaning model could have more insulation maintaining make it better, as well.
Avoid commercial appliances such as for example Sub-Zero refrigerators or Viking ranges if you don't truly need the excess capacity. Based on the consumer product magazine surveys, many of the high quality models made for residential use by the more traditional appliance manufacturers not merely cost significantly less, but have features that actually are better for residential applications.
2. Kitchen cabinets:

Consider installing cabinets made of re-cycled or re-claimed wood. Search for more offerings in this department in the coming weeks. Lots of people are not aware there are some gorgeous cabinet systems available made of bamboo, a quick growing renewable resource. The glues for these is low ? VOC plus they even have special glues to utilize around chemically sensitive individuals. They come in many different looks including natural and caramelized (a rich medium brown) and in vertical and flat grains. (See bamboocabinets.com)

3. Countertops:

Check out countertop materials using re-cycled materials such as for example re-cycled glass (see Icestone.biz or Vetrazzo.com). Icestone appears to have lighter colors with more conservative patterns, and is more terrazzo-like. Vetrazzo has darker colors with bolder patterns.
People still love granite or Silestone of course, and granite continues to be very popular. Be sure that in case you are sealing granite, you use a water-base Low or Low VOC sealer.
Another alternative for countertops is 100% recycled glass tiles for the countertops. They are nearly as hard and scratch resistant as ceramic tiles, nevertheless, you should consider them for your backsplash material if you choose to do stone on the primary countertop.
A fresh and interesting type of countertop material is named paper composite. The 2 2 main brands of this product are ?Paper Stone? and ?RichLite?. Paper Stone uses 100% recycled, post consumer, paper pulp, and RichLite uses pulp from sustainable managed forests. The countertop material is processed and coupled with other fibers which have been impregnated with resin. Believe it or not, they are very difficult, waterproof, and the composite material handles heat well. The material will not nick easily and comes in many darker colors that resist staining. Bet of most you would out-green friends and family by being the initial someone to have cool recycled paper countertops. Talk about a conversation piece!
Plastic countertop materials vary widely in look, recycled content, recyclability, and composition. Some are constructed of compressed yogurt containers and aluminum (!) while others find yourself looking like traditional terrazzo such as Origins, which is made from 100%, post consumer, polyethylene material.
Wood: Untreated wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an alternative, but it is not a great choice for continually wet areas, such as the space surrounding a sink and will be burned or scorched close to the cooking surfaces. Even though it could be kept sealed with natural mineral oil, to prevent drying, it is still not the best for an extended term, durable and healthy counter material
Stainless steel: This is considered a green material, particularly if it is made of salvaged metal or includes a high recycled content. It is also recyclable. When used as a countertop material, it is being among the most expensive however.
Formica along with other laminates: Don?t eliminate laminate as a countertop material. Much has been done by the manufacturers to produce this material efficiently while being less reliant on fossil fuels and reducing emissions. Take into account that laminate countertops are 70% paper and wood products and the rest are water based phenolic resins and will have been. In fact most are ?Greenguard Certified?. Best of all, good-ole Formica is many times less expensive than lots of the options above.
4. Vent hoods:

Use an energy efficient vent hood and make sure that it has a variable speed exhaust fan that transfers the air out side of your home. Look for a power Star ? rated exhaust fan.

5. Install a trustworthy skylight, such as a Velux Sun Tunnel or Roof Window. These do not leak , nor add heat to the room like the older skylights. They generate lots of day light and that means you won?t have to use any artificial lighting throughout the day. It is a great energy-saving idea. Natural, full spectrum light makes everything in your kitchen or bath look richer and more attractive. Your countertops and cabinets will ?stand out?.Use a high-efficiency ceiling fan to greatly help move air through the space and create natural ventilation.

6. Install compact florescent, recessed light fixtures which are 4 to 5 times more efficient than incandescent lighting and cooler. To find the best look, pick lights with a color rendering index of 84 or greater and a color temperature of 3500 Kelvin or greater, sufficient reason for a quick-start electronic ballast. These numbers may appear to be technical mumbo-jumbo however they are often printed directly on the box that the bulb will come in, so search for them.

7. Consider a local, on-demand hot water system or a entire home, re-circulating, warm water loop (discussed above). Energy Star Ratings for appliances: Search for this rating on every appliance you buy. Energy Star (www.energystar.gov/) is a superb program. It is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy conserving products and practices. Email address details are already accumulated. Americans, by using ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2007 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 27 million cars ? all while saving $16 billion on the utility bills!.

Conclusion: I hope you discover this information useful. I encourage you to try building a few ?green? features into the next project. You will feel good sense of satisfaction knowing you are not only doing good works for the planet, also for yourself and your family.

Green Remodeling Ideas for the surface:

The first items that pop into mind once you think about exterior remodeling improvements are solar electric power and solar water heating systems. There are lots of vendors in the Houston area that sell and install these systems, but they are not cheap. Solar powered energy is still more expensive than fossil fuel generated electricity, but there are amazing advances being made in solar to make it more competitive.

The technology is changing as fast as the rest of the technology all around us, particularly in Germany and Japan where government subsidies to consumers have sparked booms in installation of these systems. Understand that solar power systems may also be referred to as PV (photovoltaic systems) when you are doing your research. The price to install a solar / PV systems which produce enough energy to perform your house, including a/c in the summertime come in the $30K to $45K range.

Solar water-heaters could be cost effective in virtually any climate but work well in the Gulf Coast area where we've plenty of sun. There are 2 forms of systems; Active, that includes a circulating pump and controls and Passive, which does not. Solar water-heaters require a well insulated storage tank. Sometimes there are 2 tank systems in which the solar water-heater pre-heats the water before it enters the conventional water-heater. You haven't any doubt seen a few of the black, weather-proof boxes called ?flat plate collectors? on people?s roofs. While these are still used (and will be especially good for pool heating), the technology that is coming on strong now could be the ?evacuated ? tube solar collectors?. Inside of a long (2-3 3 feet) glass outer tube there is a metal absorber tube mounted on a fin. The fin includes a coating which absorbs solar technology, but will not release heat loss. In past times these have been used more in commercial applications, but because the cost is decreasing, it is being used progressively more for residential applications. If you are interested in solar powered energy or water-heating, there is plenty of information on line, see www.eere.energy.gov.

What are some other exterior remodeling opportunities to live green? Insulated windows and doors are excellent examples of a way to not merely boost your home?s efficiency, but also a way to lessen the noise pollution that is apparently a constant din nowadays. There are a variety of vendors and several window and door types, including aluminum, vinyl, and clad wood products. Be sure that you buy windows and doors that have an excellent ?Low-E? coating, which are double paned, with an Argon gas feature. It really is worth noting that there surely is a higher level of Low-E coating available called ?Low-E 2? that includes a metallic coating on the inside of the outer pane. This keeps heat out much more effectively than traditional Low-E coatings.

If you are doing a room addition, you have a chance to build the walls differently than traditional construction, and you ought to consider ?structural insulated panels? which are pre-fabricated, highly efficient wall sections that fit together like a puzzle or ?ICF?s which stands for ?insulated concrete forms?. It is a system of Styrofoam and steel mesh blocks that are filled up with concrete for an extremely energy-efficient, a very strong wall system. This can be perfect for coastal locations as well as if you would like to feel protected from hurricane force winds right here in the city of Houston.

Moisture control is a very important section of proper exterior construction. Products such as permeable house wraps (such as for example Tyvek) and Styrofoam / Blueboard insulating sheets can all help with keeping water from home. There are several newer house wraps that will not tear, that perform perfectly and are more likely to last much longer than typical house wraps. One locally available brand is XYZ?????

Fiber cement siding, (such as James Hardie siding) are excellent products inside our human environment, and also have excellent warranties. To improve the energy efficiency of the surface of your home consider using light paint colors and planting trees that may provide good shade on the East and West sides of your home.

Before putting that new roof on your own home or room addition, install ?Radiant Barrier? plywood decking, (such as Tech-Shield) or radiant barrier paint within the roof, facing the attic. There are a variety of methods to improve ventilation and remove heat from your room addition or your existing attic space. Ask your contractor about options starting from solar powered exhaust vents on the top, to perforated soffit material, to roof ridge vents. Ask your contractor or builder if they may use high-tech structural framing members, created from weed-woods which are made from easily replaced or re-cycled materials. There are even metal framing components crafted from re-cycled steel, if you look for them.

If you are creating a deck as part of your remodeling project, consider one of the many re-cycled, composite decking material such as for example Trex or Ultrawood????. These are available locally here in Houston and there are plenty of other brands out there to consider. They are more expensive to install initially, but can last a long time longer and require -0- maintenance, if installed correctly.

For anyone who is pouring a concrete patio slab, sidewalk or perhaps a driveway, consider investing in Pervious Concrete rather than traditional concrete. A locally available make of that is called ?Ecocrete?. It is also referred to as ?enhanced porous concrete?, because it allows rainwater to trickle down between your 2 sizes of rocks (called aggregate) that the material is made from. It really is strong but porous.

Whether you are insulating your new room addition or improving the insulation in your existing home, consider re-cycled materials such as cellulose or cotton insulation. Lots of people don?t know about it, but there is a wonderful cotton insulation product obtainable in Houston that is made of re-cycled blue jeans. Like cellulose, that is manufactured from ground-up newspaper, the material is treated to be fire-retardant and to resist the affects of fire and moisture. These materials also tend to have better acoustic properties as well, and so are often installed in interior walls, particularly round the master bedroom.

Rainwater collection systems; consider trapping some of that water that pours down through your gutters and downspouts right into a large collection tank in an inconspicuous spot in your backyard. Our regular Houston rains can keep it filled up with enough water that you attach your hose and also have a gravity fed water supply to water all of your vegetables and flower gardens. Putting one of these brilliant collection systems together is very simple than you may think, and can be achieved at under $500.00.

Green Remodeling Ideas for the Interior:

Have the air-conditioning system and the ?leaky? areas of your home evaluated to see where repairs are essential. For instance; you can find consultants inside our City who can temporarily install a ?blower door? which takes the place of one of your exterior doors and creates a strong negative draft blowing to the outside. Once the fan is turned on, all of the spots in your house that allow air to seep in (and moisture along with other bad things) become apparent. A listing of these places is made and suggestions for plugging those leaks.

Similarly, a ?duct blaster test? can be achieved which forces a large level of air into your existing a/c and heating ducts to locate all the areas where air is escaping. A lot of us live in homes which are 30 to 60 years old here in Houston, and the estimated air loss is 50%.

If duct work needs to be replaced, it must be replaced with insulated, rigid or flexible ducting, meeting the current, model energy, code requirements of an R-8 rating. One excellent brand of crush-proof and green (formaldehyde free) duct work is a brand called ?Flexmaster?. Be sure you ask for this by name.

There are a myriad of indoor quality of air machines that may make your daily life easier and much more comfortable. It really is beyond the scope of this article to get into them in detail, but most of them involve maintaining a perfect humidity level at home (ideal indoor humidity is approximately 56%), with the addition of a de-humidifying machine in the attic and installing systems that have proper replacement air, so there exists a constant re-cycling of fresh air in your home. If you live in a newer home (especially one built in the last 10 years), you may have an extremely tight home that tends to trap air- borne fumes and toxins.

Controlling lights by installing electronic dimmers, (that you should never set on full blast), but always down a notch or two. This is usually a great way to extend bulb life, several fold and also keep the temperature down in the home.

Most interior remodels involve interior paint work. A number of them involve a lot of interior paint work. You should look for interior paints which are Low-VOC products. They are obtainable in both latex, water-base paint and oil-base paints. Remember that there are a number of paint products out there that claim to be Low-VOC and these reduce smog, but that is only portion of the story. Consumers need to ask specifically if the paint promotes indoor air quality and if all the toxins are applied for. You may have a paint that is low-VOC, but if it includes a pronounced smell, you're sucking in aromatic, hydrocarbons, which is wii thing. Also make sure to ask if the clean-up solvents to be used may also be low-VOC. Sherwin Williams makes some low-VOC paints (ask for Harmony paints). In addition there are many excellent products created by AFM ?Safe Coat?. AFM Safe Coat also makes low-VOC sealants, glues, stains, carpet shampoos and caulking. These are available locally through a company called Southwest Building Products ?????. Remember also, that paints which are imported from the foreign country or far away manufacturers are not considered green due to high carbon footprint to get the product to you.

Interior Plasters ? Progressively more Homeowners are asking for ?Mediterranean Plaster? kind of looks rather than the traditional roll textures. There are some excellent products made for interior decorative use and so are manufactured from re-cycled materials, such as sea-shells from the sea-food industry and re-claimed marble dust. One such product, locally available is ?American Clay?. Even the cotton bags that the material comes in can be recycled! Creative contractors are adding other materials to create very interesting textures and looks, such as for example mica, straw and even coffee grounds and tobacco!

My Website: https://www.nskb-wi.com/