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October 10, 2007

My dream green home. I'm nearly there.

Hi all,

In my first post here I asked what you've done -- or are planning to do -- to make your home greener. And then I started thinking how I'd answer that question myself.

Since we rent, I don't have a long list of green improvement projects in our own home to talk about. But as they say in real estate, it's location, location, location that matters most. For me and my family, the best and greenest features of our home are based on its location. It's close enough to town that we're able to walk or ride a bike rather than drive to a coffee shop or the movies. Yet it's got a yard and it's pretty quiet.

Since there's a fairly busy road a few hundred yards behind the house, I spend most of my outdoor time in the front, on the porch. In fact that front porch is one of my favorite features of the house. I'm there most mornings long enough to drink a cup of coffee and read a few pages of the paper. Weekdays everyone's busy of course, but even a wave or quick hello with passing neighbors gives a daily dose of community.

Inside, since this little two-bedroom, one-bath home has only got 1,000 square feet of living space, we've clearly chosen quality over quantity. The house is quickly and inexpensively heated in the winter, and believe me, cleaning 1,000 square feet is a heck of a lot faster than 3,000 square feet. (We used to live in a 3,000 square foot loft in San Francisco, so I speak from personal experience.)

One of my favorite features is the old hardwood floors. This home was built in the early 1900s so the hardwood floors have a lot of character. We take our shoes off when we come inside, to keep the dirt down. That's going to become more important soon -- it won't be long until our four-month-old son starts crawling. Like many of you I'm a fan of letting the sun shine in. That's called daylighting in builder talk. It's one of a few areas where this home could be improved. Of the dozen or more windows on the house, only one is on the southern face. So come winter, even in the middle of the day, we've got to turn on lights and heat to stay comfortable.

Other than that, if we owned the home, I'd have just two projects on my list. One, I'd want to put in new, healthier kitchen cabinets. The cabinets were replaced just before we moved in, so a big whiff of formaldehyde awaits every time you open a cabinet door to get a glass or plate. Two, I'd love to have a wood-burning stove. I'd actually prefer a fireplace but I can get the same heat and warm glow with a wood-burning stove, and it burns the wood much more efficiently.

All told, our home is far from perfectly green. But the sum total of the small steps we've taken make it a good green -- it's healthy, environmentally above average, and comfortable.

Tell me about the green home of your dreams. Is it a new home, or are you nearly there with your current home? Green architect David Bergman will be blogging with us shortly. If anyone can help you get closer to that green dream, I'm sure David can.


Willem Maas
Publisher, GreenHomeGuide.com

Posted by wmaas at October 10, 2007 3:39 PM

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Comments

well, my biggest obstacle is poor insulation...i think. for some reason our bedroom stays warm even with the air conditioning on (set at 78)and the rest of the house is cool...the familyroom is cold! i guess the other is that we just moved to this area (tn.) and i don't know what to expect of this winter. i do know to layer, wear sweaters and keep my kids in socks for warm feet... scared of tornado's and would love to add a safe room into our home but thats another show. lol i can't wait to find out the details of the new green home cabin... where is it going to be?? is it going to be a cabin?
brenda

Posted by: Brenda at October 10, 2007 5:55 PM

Willem-

So glad to see you sharing your green lifestyle! We ride our bikes twice a week, and my retail shop for the home and green living is just one block from my (turning 9 this coming Tuesday) daughter's school. We have to ride across town to her school, and it's great for us. We ride with another mom, who has two kids independent on their bikes and one little guy on her handle bars (in a safe seat, of course). We remind the kids that we are riding for the penguins and polar bears when they don't want to tackle the hills. They are pretty great about it. I usually pull our dog in a modified bike trailer, so we make quite a parade as we head across town!

I like that Brenda is also thinking from the ground level as well: dressing in layers is key in states where the weather is generally mild, but it can get chilly or hot. Here in California, we peel and reapply clothes all day, it seems!

I just wanted to chime in: I'm Lydia Corser and you'll be hearing from me on this blog later in the month. Keep the comments coming!

Posted by: Lydia Corser at October 12, 2007 4:59 AM

Hi Willem,
It's interesting that you've moved to a smaller home and find it easy to live with. My husband and I lived in a small home for nearly 20 years. It actually suited us well other than our lack of storage space. We finally built a much larger (approx. 2,500 sq ft) & much greener home. The larger home had lower energy bills than our previous tiny home!

Due to a job loss, we recently moved to a 1700 sq ft home up on the TNn plateau which needs help when it comes to living green. It's been a challenge on a budget but so far we've added insulation, tried to address drafts, put a blanket on our hot water heater, changed all of the lighting and added all new energy star appliances. It's going to be a slow process but we're having fun working on it. Oh, how I'd love to get rid of our kitchen cabinets, counter tops, replace all of our flooring, and get rid of our vinyl siding but all of that will come in good time!

For now we've planted some fruit trees, a large asparagus bed (since it's our favorite veggie!) and three raised 4x4 gardens. We also have free range chickens which supply fresh eggs daily. It's great living in the country.
Smiles...Kathy

Posted by: Kathy R at October 12, 2007 8:37 AM

hi,
well, too start with 2 x 6 or 2 x 8 wall construction helps, as you can put more insulation in them, i live in an area that doesn't have natural gas, and my house is set up for propane,wood stoves are cool, fire places are romantic, but i prefer to leave the trees in the forest, when i go to town i try to combine as many things as possible, so i don't have to make as many trips,part of living out a ways from civilization,
i think this whole green thing is cool,
sincerelly,, george

Posted by: george at October 13, 2007 12:25 AM