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Posted at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Apartment Therapy has been hosting a "Smallest Coolest" apartment contest, and the parade of entries makes all those slick expensive coffee table books obsolete. (Just as well, there isn't room for them in my house.) Here's some of my favorite shots, for one reason or another.
That's a dead standard exterior aluminum sliding glass door. What, $200? Genius. Though I think I'd put the toilet somewhere else, and have some sort of bathtub in the other end. Maybe one of those Softubs. Though they're not tiny.
Not only do I like the 'now-it's-here, now-it's-not' inventiveness of this table, I like the white cabinets with marble (cultured?) tops and the political stashing of the pet bowls underneath. The white floor, however, I could do without. Gray for me, at least, if not a very dark gray. Need to investigate what that table mechanism is.
Although the chalk mural is certainly beautiful, what I like here is the gilt-edged mirror hung in the middle of the complicated wall decoration. Like a surreal window in space, a worm-hole from Illustration Land into Looking-Glass Land. Also, I am supremely titillated by the idea of a large gilt-edged mirror as a headboard - preferably against my Nazi white silk parachute canopy.
I don't like this yellow At All - but I like the false panelling job they did. Hmm, maybe that's 1x6 at the base, with 1x3 strips and rail? I also like the complete change in character in the room beyond, achieved merely with wall and floor color.
This guy is way too cool. Duct strapping as utensil organizers, cup hooks hanging up the pot lids... Dahlin, I wear my "I (heart) NERDS" shirt for you!
Posted at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
"You live in the big here. Wherever you live, your tiny spot is deeply intertwined within a larger place, imbedded fractal-like into a whole system called a watershed, which is itself integrated with other watersheds into a tightly interdependent biome. (See the world eco-region map ). At the ultimate level, your home is a cell in an organism called a planet. All these levels interconnect. What do you know about the dynamics of this larger system around you? Most of us are ignorant of this matrix. But it is the biggest interactive game there is." (Cool Tools, again.)
The idea is to know your natural surroundings like you know your wardrobe, or your car, or your house. And for homesteading, it's vital. I'm going to try to answer these for my yard near the beach.
1) Point north. Straight behind my house.
2) What time is sunset today? Not quite six.
3) Trace the water you drink from rainfall to your tap. ???
4) When you flush, where do the solids go? What happens to the waste water? ???
5) How many feet above sea level are you? Twelve.
6) What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here? Spiderwort.![]()
7) How far do you have to travel before you reach a different watershed? 50 miles. Can you draw the boundaries of yours? ???
8) Is the soil under your feet, more clay, sand, rock or silt? Hah! Sand.
9) Before your tribe lived here, what did the previous inhabitants eat and how did they sustain themselves? I need to take this list to the Indian Temple Mound Museum.
10) Name five native edible plants in your neighborhood and the season(s) they are available. Rosemary (all), hickory (fall), fig (summer), raspberry (summer), um...
11) From what direction do storms generally come? West, unless it's hurricanes, which is south.
12) Where does your garbage go? ???
13) How many people live in your watershed? ???
14) Who uses the paper/plastic you recycle from your neighborhood? ???
15) Point to where the sun sets on the equinox. How about sunrise on the summer solstice? ???
16) Where is the nearest earthquake fault? When did it last move? ???
17) Right here, how deep do you have to drill before you reach water? About 10 feet.
18) Which (if any) geological features in your watershed are, or were, especially respected by your community, or considered sacred, now or in the past? The coastline, barrier island, the freshwater rivers/streams.
19) How many days is the growing season here (from frost to frost)? ???
20) Name five birds that live here. Which are migratory and which stay put?
21) What was the total rainfall here last year? Average rainfall. 64.9 inches.
22) Where does the pollution in your air come from? Automobiles.
23) If you live near the ocean, when is high tide today?
24) What primary geological processes or events shaped the land here?
25) Name three wild species that were not found here 500 years ago. Name one exotic species that has appeared in the last 5 years.
26) What minerals are found in the ground here that are (or were) economically valuable?
27) Where does your electric power come from and how is it generated?
28) After the rain runs off your roof, where does it go?
29) Where is the nearest wilderness? When was the last time a fire burned through it?
30) How many days till the moon is full?
The Bigger Here Bonus Questions:
31) What species once found here are known to have gone extinct?
32) What other cities or landscape features on the planet share your latitude?
33) What was the dominant land cover plant here 10,000 years ago?
34) Name two places on different continents that have similar sunshine/rainfall/wind and temperature patterns to here.
Posted at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
From Green Builder Magazine, Jan/Feb 2006, by Clayton DeKorne-former senior editor of the Journal of Light Construction and founding editor of Coastal Contractor and Tools of the Trade-specializes in training the trades in best building-science practices from his base in Brooklyn, New York.
(I have edited the complete list for the Gulf Coast.)
1. Design a smaller footprint - smaller houses save energy.
2. Specify pozzolans in concrete mix - Fly ash is a common one - pozzolans improve concrete performance.
3. NA - Install frost-protected shallow foundations rather than deep footings below the frost line.
4. Focus on air sealing - Convective heat losses account for up to 30% of a home's AC bill. Driven by pressure differences, so having a fresh air intake on your system would reduce this. So would placing all ducts in conditioned space.
Windows: To plug holes, try these products: DAPtex Plus Window & Door Foam (latex), Todol Pageris foam guns, and Pur Fill canisters.
Rim joists: Not enough to stuff fiberglass batts. Instead, cut rigid-foam insulation blocks and seal around the edges with spray foam, or better, use a spray soy-based urethane (Biobase) foam.
Ceilings: Pull out a can of spray foam and inject it into all wire penetrations. Dupont AtticWrap stops airflow through the attic while providing for a fully vented roof.
Framing bays and cavities: Use framing and sheathing to separate spaces within the structure. Cap framed plumbing and chimney chases (then drill or cut a precise opening); sheathe above soffits that connect to unconditioned spaces; sheathe interior walls between a vaulted ceiling space and an adjacent attic; install blocking over the top wall plates where cantilebered floor joists project; and sheathe exterior walls before any porch or roof bump-outs are framed.
5. Install fresh-air ventilation (see #4): 3 different flavors of mechanical ventilation systems:
Exhaust only - Kitchen and bath fans are exhaust only. Dangerous when combined with non-sealed combustion HVAC appliances.
Supply-only - Uses a fan to deliver fresh outdoor air into a house, ideally directly into the fan of a central AC, where it mixes with recirculated indoor air. Concerns: supply-only slightly pressurizes the building, possibly driving air into building cavities, where if it carries vapor, it may condense, leading to mold problems. (Not a problem for the Gulf Coast, where we have a 6+ month AC season.) Also the expense of conditioning fresh air. (From BOAF.net: "ASHRAE
evaluations for heating and cooling do take into consideration the affect of
introduced fresh air. There are
methods in place to determine the equipment and insulation requirements
necessary to achieve a balanced system with or without a heat exchanger
designed into the system. The Florida Solar Energy Institute has some detailed
information on this issue and offers classes that address it from time to time. You may want to contact them directly at classes.")
Balanced - Uses two fans to bring in fresh air and exhaust old air, often depending on air-to-air heat exchangers to extract heat from outgoing air or dehumidify incoming air, reducing the energy load. Expensive, and must be balanced by a highly skilled technician.
6. Minimize duct leaks
Wastes energy in unconditioned spaces, and creates pressure differences.
Straighten 'em out - keep runs as straight as possible, as short as possible, and install junction boxes to turn corners.
Seal 'em tight - Use mastic over a fiberglass mesh: RCD, McGill, and Hardcast all make water-based, VOC-free mastics. Tape that works has a UL 181 designation; it's foil-faced with acrylic or butyl-based adhesives. Always use zip cord or metal bands to create a durable mechanical connection, then test the run. (Use Google Local to search "duct leakage testing" in your area.)
Run 'em inside conditioned spaces - ceiling soffits, sealed crawl spaces.
7. Choose products that reduct offgassing - Biggest offender is urea-formaldehyde.
Interior panel products - Agrifiber panel stock (Primeboard's Wheatboard) made from wheat straw or rye grass is stronger than wood-based particleboard. S.J. Morse reproduces any hardwood trim stock or panel product in an 8-week lead time, comparative in price to top-grade solid hardwood, but straighter, squarer, and with fewer imperfections. Humabilt offers a complete line of wheatboard-core interior panel doors, French doors, and cabinets as does Neil Kelly cabinets. Columbia Forest Products has begun converting veneer-core hardwood plywood to formaldehyde-free.
Healthier carpet - Avoid styrene butadiene, a known toxin and suspected carcinogen, commonly used in latex carpet backing. Woven carpet lines are more stable than tufteds, requiring far less adhesive, and wool is the ideal carpet fiber.
Paints and coatings - Low VOC paints are now common. Recycle unused paint via Kelly-Moore distributors.
8. Choose sustainably harvested wood products - Forest Stewardship Council has established an international standard that has become widely acceptd as the most rigorous and comprehensive. But FSC doesn't always mean quality. Windsor Mill produces quality trim from managed stands but isn't certified. Potlatch Corp. has passed the FSC certification in Idaho, Minnesota and Arkansas.
9. Install cool roofing - Black roofs reflect <5% of the sun's heat. MAKE THE ROOF REFLECTIVE. (Florida Solar Energy Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories) White asphalt shingles reflect about 25% of the sun's heat, gray asphalt shingles about 20%. White-coated metal roofs have the highest reflectivity value - over 70%. BASF Corporation's Ultra-Cool was one of the first reflective coatings to be used by a number of metal roof manufacturers. They've been joined by Kynar 500, Hylor 5000, and Fluropon SR. These factory-applied coatings can drive reflectivity to 38% with standard pigments. 3M recently introduced Cool Roofing Granules, which are used by Elk Premium Building Products on its Cool Color Series shingle to create a reflective, colored asphalt shingle. According to 3M, an asphalt shingle with its Cool Roofing Granules reflects 25% or more, depending on the color used. The Cool Roofing Rating Council Web site lists various roof reflectivity values.
10. Increase ceiling insulation - Check that insulation over top plates is not compressed, leaves room for necessary air circulation, and alter structure if needed to achieve space, via parallel chord trusses or other means.
Posted at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)