Before and After

The Baby's Room Is Done

This past week we finally finished up all the painting. We have to touch up a few places where the painting tape stuck too well. We've been in the house for the past four days straight due to the snow, so expect another update soon. Karen.

Josh & Laura

A Kitchen Comparison

The kitchen before.



The kitchen now.

The Counter is In!!!

So they told me that they would be coming between 12 and 2pm. Then at 7:30 this morning I heard a truck backing into the driveway and Laura said, "The counter guys are here." So now it's 8:30 and I have all day to get the rest of my projects done. The counter is made by Cambria, here's a link. It's made from quartz into a granite like stone. The company itself comes up a lot as one of the more environmental. Here is a list from the website about their business practices.

Business Practices

* 100% of the water in production plants is recycled, and Cambria recycles water from an on-site storm drainage pond to water the grounds of the manufacturing plant.
* The Department of Energy (DOE) works with Cambria to implement energy saving procedures at Cambria facilities.
* Cambria's fleet vehicles include hybrids (Toyota Prius).
* A-frame shipping crates that transport slabs and fabricated product are recycled and refurbished.
* All diamond-metal tooling is retooled and re-used.
* Scrap material is collected and used as road base material on local construction projects.
* All computer equipment and batteries are recycled.
* General office waste is recycled (paper, plastics, ink cartridges, etc.).
* Collateral & sales materials are printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper.
* Environmental best practices are promoted through training programs at Cambria University.

The cool thing is you can get this countertop from Ikea. They set you up with a local counter company that will do the installation. This was great for us because we got the cabinets from Ikea as well.

More Bedroom Progress

We've skim coated the walls. We'll have to put on one more coat and fill in any imperfections. Then we can paint and put on the baseboards.

Doors

Today I ended up having the day off. So I began stripping the door for the baby's room. It's a 5 panel, with the panels all horizontal. The paint is old and could be lead based, so I'm stripping it with a heat gun. I'm using the heat gun because other than the electricity that is being used it is the most ecological. The paint hardens up again right away and then you can sweep it up and dispose of it properly. When the paint is dry and hard again, the toxins are also kept in. You need to wear a mask though when you are doing this.

The Baby's Room

Most of the people who read this are our family members, but In case you didn't know we are having a baby. He or She will be born sometime around the 2nd of January. So, our priority shifted to getting the other bedrooms finished. We were working on the kitchen mostly up until we went on vacation.

We rented a place in Provincetown on the Cape for a week. My brothers were back in Massachusetts for their vacation also. So we spent time with them a lot, but mostly we just hang around. All this time my parents had been at our house tearing the walls down and insulating the ceiling. As well as a bunch of other things.

So now things are moving along. The walls are up and the wiring is done. At this point my father is helping me skimcoat the walls. Then I'll be able to put on the baseboard.

Back When We Used To Blog

I had shot some pictures with my cellphone while we were looking for paint. We had been at Home Depot and we didn't think we would be able to get anything. Well, it turns out, they sell NO VOC paint. I have to say I was surprised. It's called Fresh Aire. It's not as high a quality as Mythic. They also have a limited color selection.




We used it on our floors in the bedroom and in the dining room. So far we are mostly pleased with the results. On the negative side; the paint when fully dry, doesn't seem dry. It's sort of rubbery. For example; our hamper sits on the painted wood of our bedroom. When I moved it one day I noticed that the paint came up with the hamper. The walls in the dining room have the same problem. I took a picture down and some of the paint was sticking to the frame where it rested against the wall. All that being said, it's a good paint that doesn't coast too much.

More Kitchen

Back in the kitchen. http://ustream.tv/channel/eco-logical-remodeling

We're back!

Today I am beginning the kitchen renovation. I'm pulling up the old sub-floor and fixing corner of the floor that has sagged. I'll be broadcasting on www.ustream.tv the direct link is: http://ustream.tv/channel/eco-logical-remodeling

Hey, Remember Us?

For those of you that have forgotten. We are Laura and Josh. We bought a house a few months ago. Well, guess what. We have actually been living in it for about a week now. This afternoon Josh will be posting photos of what things look like at this point. Right now we are enjoying a lunch of sandwiches from "Bakery on the Common". We have the use of almost all the rooms in the house. The living room is being decorated here and there. The bedroom is also, but we need to get a bureau to put clothes in. The kitchen... well, you can look at the pictures. It is usable. The washing machine is being used regularly, and it is awesome. You haven't lived until you've seen your washing machine shift gears and go into a 1200 RPM spin cycle. It actually "shifts", it has a clutch.

More soon.

Laura & Josh

More New Photos

There will be more, better lighted photos this weekend.

Josh

Cellphone Photo

Our new bedroom.

Live Sanding!

Today we are sanding the bedroom floor. Come watch. Later we will be painting it. Here's the address.

http://www.justin.tv/jbarnatt

New Photos

POSTED BY: Josh
PAINTING

We have hot water as of this morning. The washing machine, dishwasher and oven should be working today also. Unless the plumber flakes out again. Which he probably will. The new photos can been seen at the Flickr Page. Click Here.

The Bathroom, Washing Machine, and Water Heater

Bathroom




Washing Machine



Water Heater

Some Before and Afters

POSTED BY: Josh
FOR THE DIFFERANCE



Living Room

Non-House Related News

POSTED BY: Josh
MY BROTHER IS INTERESTING TOO

We will have up dates tonight. We are painting the Bathroom. Check in tonight to see new pictures and see what has been done recently.

Painting

POSTED BY: Josh
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Tonight we are going to Tag's Hardware in Cambridge, Ma. After that we are going to "The Green Briar" to see my dad play the celtic drum. It's my father's birthday today so we are going to surprise him. He didn't think we were going to see hime today because we have to paint. We are skipping painting and going to see him instead. I think it's a better use of our time.

More Pictures.

POSTED BY: Josh
PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are some new pictures of progress. These are of the things that are getting done. The kitchen and the other two bedrooms are unchanged.

Click here to go to the Flickr page.

Getting Near The Finish

POSTED BY: Josh
EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AT ONCE

So, I said I'd explain. The plumber and the heating guy told me there was no gas coming into the house. I told everyone about this a few days ago. We are being weigh-laid after all. When the gas guy saw that the old furnace was disconnected from the pipes, he had to lock the meter and wait for us to have the new one put in. As of yesterday the furnace was in place and connected to the ducting into the attic and second floor. Today he is finishing the first floor ducting and the plumber is connecting the gas lines. (I think)
The bathroom is being tiled. This should not take to long. John Wait, our general contractor told me it would take only about an hour. So he will be priming the living room and maybe the bedroom.
The last I heard, the plumber was going to be there doing the gas lines. I would assume that after that he would begin putting in the bathroom fixtures. We all know what happens when a person assumes, though. Of course this is dependent on how fast the tiles sets. That will probably happen over-night.
Yesterday the electrician put in all the light switched and outlets. They are all tied into the breaker panel. That made me happy. I think he was there today to finish the fire alarms. They weren't in last night when we went to look.
So, it looks like almost everything is going to be finished this week. I'm not sure when the plumbing inspector is going to come. I would hope he was called to come today. If that is the case then I can call N-Star and they will turn on our gas. I vaguely remember being told that the plumbing inspector only make appointments on Tuesday mornings. That would push us into next week.

:THE PLAN:
Laura is taking Friday off. She and I will be packing until then. I'm going to pick up the moving truck on Thursday after work. We can pack some of it then. Friday Laura will do what she can without me. When I get home we will finish packing the truck. Then we will drive it to Dedham and park it at the studio where I work. That night we sleep in Newton at Laura's parent's house.
Saturday morning we will get the truck and move in all of our things. Everything will probably be in one room and the cellar. Then we wait until everything is done.

:NOTE:
If anyone wants to help Laura on Friday let us know.

****NEW PHOTOS TONIGHT*****

More on Live Video

I'm on right now while at work if you'd like to see what I do.
http://www.justin.tv/jbarnatt


Josh

Post are Slow

POSTED BY: Josh
POSTING AGAIN SOON

We've been really busy with work. So, no posts. Also, there is no internet at the apartment right now. This Friday we will be moving out of the apartment. Although we won't be able to move in to the house right away. I'll try and expand on this later today. I'll be going there (to the house) to drop off some things and to take a look at what's been done. I'll turn on the web camera so you can watch if you want. If anyone is on let me know through the chat window. I'll walk the camera around. The address is http://www.justin.tv/jbarnatt. I'm leaving work at about 6pm. So tune in around 6:30 to 7:30.

The furnace is in. The gas is being hooked in today, the tiling is being laid down today. Almost there.

Live From the House

I tried this last week, but I didn't leave it on. Go to this link, http://ustream.tv/channel/barnattwork. You can see what we are doing right now.
I'll be here until around 8pm.

Josh

Seven Days To Go

POSTED BY: Josh
WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON

So, great news. The furnace is in the cellar. The bad news is, we've been paying for gas that isn't getting to the house. Apparently it is off at the street. The heating guy is coming over tomorrow, Saturday, to plan out where the first floor ducting is going. I hope that N-Star gets the gas fixed today. Then maybe he can get the furnace hooked in at least.
If this gets done over the week end we will have heat in the house. The tiling in the bathroom will get done, the paint can start going on, and we won't be freezing.
The electrician will be in on Monday to finish up and run power to the furnace. I beleive the plumber will also be there putting in the water heater.
We are scheduled to move out of the apartment on Friday. As it stands there will be a place to go to the bathroom, and clean up. Al though we may not have all of the finish carpentry done.
***************************************************************************************
*Amendment*
14:45 22, February 2007

The gas will not be turned on today. We have to have everything intalled and inspected before they will turn on the gas. I should never have called them. We may be delayed 1 week.

Josh
*********************

if we only had some heat

Hey there,

Well tonight I'm going to Cambridge to fetch some drywall primer for our contractor. We want a very specific brand of No VOC paint called Mythic paint. It just came out which is why the only place in MA that carries it is Tag's Hardware in Porter Square. Our contractor threatened to use his own primer if we didn't have the one we wanted there tomorrow and we really did not want that to happen. Mythic is non-toxic and contains no volatile organic compounds(VOCs)which is very important to us. The great thing about Mythic too is that they have an enormous range of colors. The options are nearly endless. If you can't find Mythic paint near you there are other no VOC options. One is Safecoat, another latex based paint, and milk paint which is an old paint created with the casein in milk (quick note: one of the 2 milk paint manufacturers/distributers in the U.S. is right here in Grafton, MA). Milk paint seems like alot of fun but the range of colors isn't as wide and you have to mix it to some extent yourself.
Josh is going to the house tonight to rip out the old ductwork in preparation for the new stuff. The furnace is proving to be the biggest headache of the process. We need the furnace in order to keep the house warm enough to paint and tile but the furnace may not get in until next week!!! which gets too close to our move in date (2/29)for comfort. I'm a little nervous but we'll see if we can get it in sooner. I'm off to the people's republic of Cambridge for 5 gallons of paint!

New Pictures

Hi everyone,

We put up new pictures of the recent progress.

See them here.

Furnace, Water Heater, and Insulation

POSTED BY: Josh
HEY LOOK WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL RENOVATIONS, FINALLY

I'll add more Thursday when I have time to write. Laura may add before me though. Anyway, I talked to the HVAC guy that works with our plumber John D'Agastino. We will be installing a High Efficiancy gas furnace. So far I have no idea what brand. As far as I can tell this will begin happening this week. The tankless water heater, I think, will be a Bosch or a Rheem. We'll add details when we have them.
I guess that leaves insulation. Well at least it's Formaldehyde Free. We couldn't afford the cotton denim bats. We needed 420sqr ft. At $63.00 per 53 square feet or $75.00 for 63 square feet it was too much. But, after working with fiberglass insulation from 6:00pm until 1:00am yesterday, I wish we had just gotten it anyway. Even though we would have had to drive to Stoneham to get it.

Last Weekend.

POSTED BY: Josh
THE CHIMNEY BIT MY FINGER

Last weekend Laura and I had a lot of work to do. Monday we had the Electrical Inspector coming and the carpenter coming to frame the master bedroom. One of the things was to get the chimney out. At around 6pm on Saturday there were about 5 feet of chimney left in the cellar. While I knocked it over, it broke into two pieces. Then, when it hit the ground, it snapped back together. The edge and fingernail of my middle left finger was inside that opening when the whole thing landed. The day ended there. My finger was bleeding all over the place and everything was dirty, especially my hands. So we had to get to a sink and disinfectant.
The day before that was going really well. Zach came over to help for a little while, and he had lunch at our new favorite eatery, Bakery On the Common. Laura did a great job getting the whole house cleaned. She got all the rest of the nasty old foam insulation off of the walls. As well as all of the debris out of the bottom of the bays between the studs. It looked great.
Sunday was more of the same things. I finished cleaning up the bricks. Laura picked up after all my messes, and started puttinh in some insulation in the bathroom. I also put in collar ties to help strengthen the structure of the roof.

In the next post, we'll talk about insulation, the furnace, and out hot water heater.

Let the Inspections Begin

POSTED BY: Josh
WHY DOES MASSACHUSETTS HAVE TO BE SO DIFFICULT?

Last weekend we finally finished the demolition. There will be pictures of what we did added soon. We were already to start insulating today after work. Rather, I was ready. Laura has had a cold and I thought she should rest. The electrician called me this morning to tell me that the inspector would be coming between 3pm and 6pm. I left work a little early, Thanks Guy, to meet him. Before he got there I talked with the carpenter about what he would be doing next. Everything was great. The inspector showed up and we walked through the house. He explained to me the reason why, in Massachusetts, you have to have an outlet every 6 feet. It's because lamp cords are 6 feet long and the state doesn't want people using extension cords. Therefore we will need to add two outlets. The other thing that was an not welcome surprise was the new outlet law. Starting in 2008, all outlets installed in Massachusetts have to have safeties built in. They have a spring loaded gate that slides in front of the slots in the outlet. This is because a kid could stick something inside and ground themselves. So the round plastic things aren't good enough. Apparently this state is entirely pepoled by morons.
We were given the OK though. Just as long as everything is fixed by the final inspection. I then asked, "So can I start insulating?"
He told me, "No."
I have to have the building inspector come over to sign off. Good thing I asked. So I called him, the building inspector. He can't sign off until the plumbing inspector does. Which he will try to do by coming later in the day tomorrow. The plumbing inspector is supposed to come tomorrow, hopefully between 9am and 12pm. While talking to the building inspector he tolded me the walls would have to be fire gaurded. This is done be making sure that there is nowhere for fire to go up the walls like a chimney.
So, after getting to the house 2 hours earlier than I expected, I wasn't able to get the thing done that I wanted to. I had to run around to find the materials I needed to do a different job. Then start doing the job at about 7pm.
I am now in bed just about to go to sleep. It's 26 past midnight.

Day Off Work

POSTED BY: Josh
FRAMING THE PORCH THAT ISN'T A PORCH

I need to buy some wood to frame our porch area. As it stands, the wall is an old paneling wall that sort of looks like a raised panel door. This is seperating us from vinyl siding and the outside. I'll be going to the lumber yard today to buy 2x4s. I'm trying to avoid Home Depot, but they are the only people open after work.

Small Rant

POSTED BY: Laura:
WHO LEFT THE DOOTIE IN THE POOL, OCEAN?

Okay, so this doesn't really have to do with the house directly but is important information about everyone's home, the planet. I read an article yesterday about these two moving islands of trash in the Pacific ocean. Trash migrates to these two spots that are at the center of these eddies and collects there. The plastic does not biodegrade so it floats there until it photo degrades, becomes brittle, breaks in to small pieces that sink into the water and end up in the bellies of fish and other marine life. This either kills them or ends up on our dinner plate. This seems pretty disgusting to me.
Josh had a great comment about it. He said the ocean is helping us out by putting all of this trash into two very accesible and concentrated spots for us to pick up. Now we humans have to do our part and go out there and pick it up!

ADDED BY: Josh:
FURTHER DETAILS

Here is a link to a more detailed article. Here.

Homeowners Should Not Wire Their Own House

POSTED BY: Josh:
ELECTRICAL NEAR MISSES IN HISTORY

Yesterday I had to run to the house at lunch time to pick up a piece of paper. This was very important because the roofer couldn't get paid unless we faxed this to the bank. While I was there I talked to Buddy, the electrician. He asked me a few questions about where to put some switches, I had forgotten to make notes as to where they should go. He showed me where the new outlets were going to be based on certain building codes. But the big thing that he showed me was what inspired the title of this post, down in the cellar.
The previous owners had done a little work, in the kitchen it seemed. When they ran the wires for the outlet, I believe it is the one the refridgerator was on, they spliced the wires outside of a junction box and left some of them bare. These wires were "hot" as we say where I work. This means they have electricity running through them. Not only that, but they put some big steel shelves right underneath this little disaster. The shelves were maybe an inch away from the bare wires. The plumbers almost moved the shelves without realizing the danger. Thanks to Buddy for warning them, and me. That's all being fixed now.
So heed my warning. If you are looking at a house, old or new, check to see that the previous owners didn't try to do things that they didn't really know how to do.

A NOTE ON INSULATION

We are trying to decide which insulation to use, and where in the house to use it. Our options seem to have multiplied yesterday while Laura was at work. Last night she came home with some info on a number of materials that are ecologically sound and very efficient.
One is Mineral Wool, or Rock Wool, or Slag Wool. These are all the same thing. It's most often used in commercial buildings. It's fire proof and sound absorbent. As well as being a hot/cold insulator. Info Here.
One of the others that seems to be a good option is Cotton Denim Batts. This stuff is similar to fiberglass insulation. But, it's blue. It doesn't use formaldehyde and it is affordable. Info Here.
There were quite a few others. I still have to look them up, but the paper is at home and I have to call the plumber. Hopefully after talking to him I will have some info on the tankless water heater and the high efficiency furnace that we are having put in.

Josh

New Photos - Repost

This weekend we got almost all of the demolition finished. I've posted the photos. You can see the photos here.
Here is Laura taking down the living room walls.

Our Toilet

It's 04:44 in the morning. We keep forgeting to turn off the heat when we go to sleep so I keep waking up in the middle of the night. Since I'm up I show you our toilet choices. The first is the Stanton, made by Sterling. The second is called Rockton,
made by the same company. Both are "dual flush" toilets.
They use .8 gallons on the small flush and 1.6 on the full. Click on the photos for a larger view.

Updates and Thanks

Last week we started taking apart the bathroom. Everything was going according to plan. Then we noticed that one of the walls looked like it used to support the original corner of the house. So we had Josh's Dad look at it before we removed the closet. While he was there he noticed alot of things that needed to be fixed. So Sunday his parents came back to help. We would like to give them a big thank you for the massive help they gave us over the past weekend at the house. His Dad, Tom brought his great carpentry skills and he and Josh tore the bathroom apart then put it back together. Mary Ellen, Josh's Mom, was the master cleaner and managed to clean the rest of the cellulose that covered the bedroom floor, you can see in our pictures of the demo, no small task. Again, many thanks.

That day Laura also went to get us a sink. We'll add pictures soon.

You can see photos of the bathroom with it's new sub-floor and new studs on the Flickr page. The tub is there too.  Also, Josh went over after work to see what the plumber and electrician had done. The report: We have PEX tubing in the cellar and a lot of something happening with the electrical.

Josh was also going to strip the front hall. He got distracted and started opening the livingroom wall, to find the old stove mantle.

Good Book

I'm about halfway through "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver generously loaned to me by a work friend. Every time I pick it up to read it relaxes me. I would love to start a garden of sorts but we really don't have any land to grow on. If anybody has any ideas or experience growing veggies on a small plot please let me know. Josh is really the better plant care-giver of the two of us, an ability I suspect he learned from his parents. His mother has a beautiful flower garden on her tiny plot in Milford.
In other news the plumber, roofer and electrician have all been working at the house. We already have half a new roof. I can't believe it's all happening so fast!

Original from 25, January: Fun with Tools!

So we finally closed on the house on Tuesday afternoon and started demolision on the bathroom Wednesday morning. A lot of fun. Josh and I are a good demolition team. Yesterday Josh had to work and I cleaned and packed at the apartment. This morning we went to the town hall and pulled the building permit we needed to make this all official then went to the house with our contractor. The dumpster arrived and we were off! Take a look at our neat pics and video of the fun we had. 
We discovered conclusively today that the house is at least from the 1800's. We found pre-massproduced nails (the square kind), wide floor boards, the outline and pipe connection for a stove in the master bedroom, and ceiling joists made of boards milled straight from trees.
We could tell by their irregular shape.
I suspect we will find something very similar in the front room when we open up that wall.
The green note for the day is the dumpster we got is from a place in Holliston which will recycle as much of the debris from the house as possible. We also saved a good deal of the lathe after removing the old horse hair plaster. We're hoping this can stay and provide a solid backing for the drywall we intend to put up.
Many thanks to Mom and Dad who showed up at the end of the day with hot chowder and a shop-vac!

Fun With Tools

So somewhere towards the end of last week we wrote a post and then somehow managed to loose it. That post was about the actual closing of the house (we finally got the seller put aside its slavish love of bureaucracy for a minute to sell it to us). And the subsequent fun we had with tools for the rest of the week.
A lot of banging, flying plaster and old wallpaper discoveries followed. The nicest thing we discovered was that the house dates to probably the 1800's. We were afraid it was younger (gasp!) because all records for the house were from 1940 or later. We are happy to report the discovery of some wide, hand hewn boards in the attic, square nails (the shape most nails came in before they were mass produced) and the evidence of an old stove and mantle on the lathe of the master bedroom. So it's our favorite kind of house, recycled many times!

Insulation

I have a guy coming Wednesday to give us an estimate on soybean foam insulation. Our alternative is this stuff. We can just buy it an put it in ourselves.

Josh

We've Added Photos

Hi, Josh here.

I added a Flickr page to show you pictures of what has been going on. That link is here, http://www.flickr.com/photos/23194621@N02/, and in the right margin of the blog's main page. There is also a video of laura tearing apart the masterbedroom.


Enjoy,

Josh

Appliances

Hello,

We still haven't closed on the house which means we are not yet knee deep in construction. However, we have been able to buy our appliances in anticipation of the move. Appliances are  a big part of how efficient your house can be. We have a very specific budget and within that we have tried to buy the best (meaning most efficient and durable) appliances we can afford. Our first purchase and so far the only appliance tat we have paid full price for is an Asko washing machine. I originally found out about the Asko online when I was doing research for efficient appliances. The websites I read were about the extreme efficiency of Asko clothes washers on three different levels, water conservation, energy conservation and soap conservation. I am not putting laundry soap on the list of environmental causes but it doesn't hurt that you only need a tablespoon of detergent per load. Asko is a Swedish brand, a country that has long been listed as one of the cleanest and most environmentally conscious countries in the world. I just need to say that I cannot wait to start using this machine. I get excited just thinking about it. We also managed to score another Asko appliance for our house, the dishwasher. We originally did not think that we could also afford an Asko dishwasher because they are one of the most expensive brands on the market. We managed to get a 2002 model at a discount from a kitchen showroom in the area that was trying to move it out to make room for a new model. I found it on craigslist.org Boston which has already proven to be a great tool for us in our quest for furniture and appliances. The dishwasher has never been used so is in essentially new condition and we bought it for only $600 which is about half of the original price. Woohoo! If you can't afford an Asko I  would recommend a Bosch dishwasher and/or washing machine. They are only slightly less efficient, a few hundred dollars less and more widely available. Just make sure to check the energy guide tag because Bosch has different lines with different levels of efficiency. Of course the higher efficiency comes with a higher price but do the math and see how much you will save on your water and energy bills with the more efficient appliance. 

We were able to get our range and refrigerator on sale at the end of the year and is another big reason we were able to stick to our budget. We got a 21 CF GE Profile fridge on sale and it actually uses less energy than the lowest end of the energy guide scale. Before we found that fridge though we were planning to get an 18.5 CF fridge that uses only 407 kilowatt hours per year. This was the lowest energy consumption that I could find readily available on the American market in a regular sized refrigerator. They come in several price ranges as well so if you're on a tight budget and you can't find a sale you should be able to pick one up for about $600-$800. We did not go for energy efficiency on our range. The data is not readily available and they are not the biggest energy suckers in the kitchen by a long shot. We got a servicable little Hotpoint range. Hotpoint gets high marks for durability so hopefully this one will last us longer thereby cutting down on the need to replace the range and creating more waste faster. If you have money to blow I would recommend an induction cooktop because it is by far the most efficient use of energy. The stove only heats the pot and what's inside it. The stove never gets hot to the touch so it's safer if you have kids or pets. They will run upwards of a thousand dollars and that does not include an oven. Josh is complaining that I've ben writing too long so I'm going to close up shop. 

The Beginning

So this is the story of us and a house and our attempts to make it into a little ecologically sound oasis in what seems to be an increasingly hostile environment towards, well, the environment. We don't have a lot of extra money, we come in right around the national income average. One thing I have discovered is that there isn't that much good information out there for people in our position doing this sort of thing. If you are super rich you can afford all the high end, high efficiency appliances, the solar panels, the carbon offset credits. Then there is the other extreme. People who eschew all trappings of the world. They build huts out of earth and use straw bales for insulation.
Where is the middle path I wonder? What about those of us who don't exist in those two minorities? Can we step lightly on the earth too? Can there be a balance? As soon as we close on this house we are going to try our hardest to create a home that we can feel good about. Hopefully you will join us and try some of these ideas yourself !

Welcome.

Good Morning.