Posts Tagged ‘Green’

» Compost it!!

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Ever wonder were all of that garbage goes?  Ever wonder if there was a way to help reduce landfill and garbage waste.  How about a compost pile?

Compost is a combination of decomposed plants and animal materials and other organic materials that are being decomposed largely through aerobic decomposition into a rich black soil.

A great way to save money is by composting your yard trimmings and food scraps.  This compost pile can help you create rich soil conditions for your flowers and veritable gardens.  By composting you can help reduces things like fertilizers, pesticides that are unwanted in our soils while also reducing water consumption.

 A great idea for a composting bin is one that is made of recycled plastic milk jugs. 

Check out this web site:  http://www.composting101.com/ it has great ideas about composting.

» Siding on your Side

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

One of the major aesthetics of a new home or even an existing home is its exterior skin.  There are many different types including stone, brick, metal panels and wood siding.  We are going to concentrate on siding.

Siding comes in many different styles, materials and colors.  When building Green, it is important to understand what type of materials that can be consider environmentally friendly.  In general, wood siding is not considered a very green product because the most durable solid wood siding products are harvested from old-growth trees like cedar. Cutting down old growth trees is not a good idea.  So in liue of cutting down our forests there are other sidings that can be used.

An affordable and durable product is a fiber cement board.  This type of siding is made of cement and wood fibers.  It can come prefinished or it can be painted in the field during installation. 

Another siding to consider is either aluminum or steel.  Unfortunately these have high upfront costs to produce but on the other side they are made mainly of recycled materials.  It is a bit of a trade off.

Engineered wood can be considered but it needs to be FSC certified engineered wood like hardboard or OSB board and be formaldehyde – free.

So when thinking of siding consider the aesthetics, practicality, and sustainability of your choice.