Archive for the 'Around the House' Category
Turn Your Home Office Green
August 6th, 2008 categories: Around the House, Going Green
Home offices present a few challenges when it comes to being eco-friendly, mainly relating to energy and paper. Jennifer Roberts, the author of Good Green Homes, has come up with a few simple ways to save trees, conserve energy, and reduce the carbon footprint of your home office. Here are her seven tips, which were posted on This Old House:
1. Reduce paper use. Print only the emails and documents that you really need, and make double-sided printouts when possible. Subscribe to digital newsletters, opt out of paper billing, and register for online banking. “If you need to transmit a signed document, scan and email it instead of printing and faxing it,” says Roberts.
2. Reuse paper. Hold onto one-sided printouts and use them as notepaper. If you subscribe to magazines or printed newsletters, consider donating them to your local library or passing them on to a local salon or dentist’s office when you’re through with them.
3. Recycle paper. Keep a recycling bin right next to your regular trash container. “And, don’t just recycle—close the loop by buying recycled-content office products,” says Roberts. Recycled paper, envelopes, and packaging material are competitively priced at office supply stores.
4. Buy Energy Star equipment. “If you’re buying new office equipment, look for products with the Energy Star label. They’re designed to save a lot more energy than products without the label,” says Roberts. Keep in mind, that using less energy means your saving money, too.
5. Set your machinery to power-saving modes. According to Energy Star, you can save up to $75 per computer by activating system hibernate features and/or turning the power off on your equipment. Energy Star also suggests hitting the power button on your monitor when it’s not in use: leaving a monitor running with a screensaver activated can burn up to twice as much energy.
6. Use compact fluorescents. When considering options to light your office, choose compact fluorescents over incandescent bulbs. “They use 75% less energy and last 8 to 10 years,” says Roberts. Also, invest in a good task light on your desk so that you can kill the overhead lights when possible.
7. Buy sustainable or used furnishings. “Reusing furniture is a lot easier on the planet than buying new,” says Roberts. Visit FreeCycle.org to view listings posted by people looking to promote reuse by exchanging various goods. If you can’t find anything you like on the used market, go with a sustainable manufacturer. You can find information on sustainable furniture manufacturers at the Sustainable Furniture Council’s website.
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If You Can’t Move, Consider Remodeling
July 23rd, 2008 categories: Around the House
An article from CNN reports that, with credit markets tight, many families are deciding against shopping for new houses and, instead, are remodeling their current homes. But there can be financial pitfalls in remodeling, especially for those taking on major tasks such as room additions or full kitchen makeovers.
For one thing, some families may have as much trouble getting a loan or a line of credit to upgrade a home as they would getting a new mortgage. And as home prices have dropped in many regions, it can be harder for a family to recoup the money it puts into a remodeling project.
As a result, the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University expects home improvement activity to slow this year, possibly by as much as 5 percent, before picking up again in 2009.
Still, for some families, remodeling can be a good strategy. To learn more, read the entire CNN article.
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It’s Easy Being Green
June 26th, 2008 categories: Around the House, Going Green
Kermit the Frog may have a hard time being green, but it doesn’t have to be that way for you. Save energy and the environment with these simple ideas provided by HGTV.
Have a barbecue. Outdoor grills use less energy than electric kitchen stoves and also keep heat out of the house, lowering air conditioning costs.
Upgrade your toilet. Today’s low-flow toilets deliver more flush power with less water, trimming around $90 from your annual water costs.
Lose the lawnmower. Switch to an electric mower and replace some of your sod with attractive, more environmentally-friendly alternatives.
Get a flat screen monitor for your computer. An LCD flat panel model uses as little as a third of the electricity of conventional tube-based models.
Buy organic, locally produced food. You can get fresher food and, by buying items grown or produced within 100 miles, reduce the amount of diesel fuel needed to ship food.
Use safer paint. Choose a product low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or, if you don’t mind paint fumes, try recycled paints.
Get a solar-powered water heater. You can install solar panels on your roof that work with your current water heater and reduce the need for conventional water heating by two-thirds.
Buy new light bulbs. Compared to low-end compact fluorescent bulbs, the premium ones cast a pure white or buttery golden light across your interior.
Become an expert in recycling. Review your local recycling guidelines to make sure you’re doing everything right. And don’t put light bulbs, broken glass or bits of food in your bins.
Invite birds, bugs and bats into your yard. Skip the pesticides and get rid of bugs by using other animals like birds, Praying Mantises, bats and toads.
For even more ideas, read the book It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living.
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Alternative Storage Solution for Homeowners
June 9th, 2008 categories: Around the House, Sellers
Have you seen these boxes popping up in neighborhoods? In case you’re wondering what they’re all about, the myway Mobile Storage website says:
“Forget renting a truck, paying for gas, and hauling your stuff to a stationary storage place. That means extra time and extra money! myway has a better mobile storage solution. We will bring our SafeBox storage containers to you. SafeBoxes are mobile storage units that you fill up at your own pace. We pick them up whenever you are ready. We will store your items in our state-of-the-art Security Hub storage facility. This climate controlled storage building will keep your items safe and secure. Whenever you want them back, let us know! You can schedule a redelivery at anytime.”
If you’re selling your house and want to get some of the clutter out of view from potential buyers (which is always a good idea!), maybe this is something you should consider. If anyone has used this service, let us know what you think of it.
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Little Pink Houses for You and Me…
June 2nd, 2008 categories: Around the House, Sellers, South Side
This house on the South Side has been beautifully renovated on the inside, but would the exterior paint color keep you from seeing it?
There are many factors involved in marketing and selling your home, and you can’t control most of them. But the curb appeal of your home plays a big role, and it’s one of the things you can have direct control over.
You’ll never get another chance to make a first impression of how your home looks from the street. If your home exterior needs new paint, or you made a poor color choice, potential buyers might not even get out of their car to come in and look.
Color can certainly make your house stand out in a crowd, but neutral colors appeal more to the masses and can give you better resale value. If you need a dramatic touch to make your house memorable, try being creative when painting the front door. That’s easy for a buyer to repaint if he or she doesn’t share your love of bright colors.
So does color really matter? When there’s a lot of inventory, buyers can afford to be extra picky and then pink could be a negative factor after all. What do you think?
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Increase Your Home’s Value for under $100
May 28th, 2008 categories: Around the House, Sellers
Here are HGTV’s tips for adding value to your home without spending a lot of money:
Tip 1: Spend an hour with a pro.
Invite a realtor or interior designer over to check out your home. Many realtors will do this as a courtesy, but you’ll probably have to pay a consultation fee to a designer. A standard hourly fee is normally less than $100, and in an hour they can give you lots of ideas. Even small suggested improvements, such as paint colors or furniture placement, can go a long way toward improving the look and feel of your home.
Tip 2: Inspect it!
Not every home improvement is cosmetic. Deteriorating roofs, termite infestation or outdated electrical systems — you can’t fix it if you don’t know it’s broken. Hire an inspector to check out the areas of your home that you don’t normally see. They may discover hidden problems that could negatively impact your home’s value.
Tip 3: Paint, paint, paint.
One of the simplest, most cost-effective improvements of all is paint! Freshly painted rooms look clean and updated — and that spells value. When selecting paint colors, keep in mind that neutrals appeal to the greatest number of people. On average, a gallon of paint costs around $25, leaving you plenty of money to buy rollers, painter’s tape, drop cloths and brushes.
Tip 4: Find inspiration.
An alternative to hiring a designer is to search for remodeling and decorating inspiration in design-oriented magazines, books, TV shows and websites. Simply tear out or print off the ideas you want to try and start your to-do list. Keep it simple — when remodeling on a tight budget, do-it-yourself projects are best.
Tip 5: Cut energy costs.
Many local utility companies provide free energy audits of their customers’ homes. They can show you how to maximize the energy efficiency of your home. An energy-efficient home will save you money now, which can be applied to other updates, and is a more valuable and marketable asset in the long run.
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The Gold Standard of Green
April 29th, 2008 categories: Around the House, Going Green
Here are a few of the “Greatest New Green Products” featured on This Old House:
Velux Skylight — You can now get hot water for free anywhere you can mount a skylight using the turn-key collector kit made by skylight manufacturer Velux. This kit comes with a electronically controlled pump, two collectors encased in the company’s weathertight frames, and a 60-gallon hot-water storage tank.
Fibertech Fencing — Fibertech’s composite fencing is made entirely from recycled materials—plastic and cardboard—destined for landfills. And when the time comes to replace it, it can be ground up and recycled again.
Earth To Air Geothermal — Al Gore Installed the Earth To Air geothermal heat pump in his house, boosting his energy efficiency beyond his greenest dreams. Compressed refrigerant pumps heat into his Tennessee home during the winter months and carries it out in the summer through a circuit of copper piping buried 300 feet in the ground.
Bosch 800-Series Dishwasher — Bosch’s top-of-the-line 800 series dishwashers, the most efficient on the market, use 190 kWh of energy per year. To put that in context, a dishwasher can use up to 330 kWh/year and still get Energy Star certification. Bosch says: “If every American purchased a Bosch dishwasher this year, the water saved would be enough to fill the U.S. Capitol Building 430 times.”
Kohler High-Efficiency Toilet — The old commode is the biggest water consumer in your home, sucking over one fourth of the average home’s H2O down the drain. Kohler’s High-Efficiency toilets, which use only 1.28 gallons per flush, reduce consumption by over 20 percent when compared to the average, 1.6-gpf standard.
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