Archive of posts filed under the Sustainability category.
Energy Improvement Opportunities
This is a 100+ year old house. Obviously there are many energy efficiency shortcomings (hence many improvement opportunities). The house has been vacant for over 2 years so we don’t have the latest operational information. Exterior Walls. Before taking the walls apart, we already expect little to no insulations for houses of this age. The […]
From Foreclosure To Green Home: Property Inspection
Property Inspection The offer for the home included ten days for detail inspection of the home before the deal becomes final. Unexpected costs need to correct problems uncovered during the inspection can be basis to renegotiate the price of the offer or to retract the offer. Items of particular concern were the sewage system and […]
Acquiring A Foreclosed Home For Green Remodel
In April 2013, Tom Smith (owner of Summit Energy Solutions) found several homes for sale in Bridgton, Maine. One of them, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1716 sq ft home built circa 1900, got his and Dave Robinson’s (founder of GreenEarthEquities) attention. The house was foreclosed by Fannie Mae and put on the market at […]
The Green Countertop Dilemma
During a visit to Eco6Design in Half Moon Bay, California, I was drooling over all the fabulous “eco” options for countertops. Serious eye candy! Vetrazzo, Fireclay Tile, Stone Age, IceStone, Fuez. I was itching to go home, rip out my pale-avocado-tile-with-black-grout counters and start afresh. After all, at 30-plus years old, they’re beyond dated, they’re […]
Partnering With Green Hearted Companies
Green Remodel Forum is excited to partner with GreenEarthEquities and Summit Energy Solutions in an energy efficiency remodel. As Green Remodel Forum is an informational website for up to date information on how to make your home green, healthier, more comfortable, durable and achieve energy efficient at the same time, we are always looking for […]
Finding California Native Plants For Your Garden
I recently visited Botanical Garden at Berkeley with some friends from the East Coast. The Botanical Garden is a 34-acre research garden and a living museum. It is famous for its diverse collections of plants and many of them rare and endangered. There are nine major geographic regions with emphasis on plants from Mediterranean climates, […]
Why A Native Garden Is Good
When I first heard about drought tolerant plants and native gardens some years ago, like many people, I was immediately picturing cacti in desert found in Arizona. But I was curious and started to go on the annual Native Garden Tour (see related blog about the tour this year). To my pleasant surprise, native gardens […]
Saving Water With Native Gardens
It was a beautiful Sunday on May 5th for the ninth annual Bringing Back the Native Garden Tour organized by Kathy Kramer, a recent Jefferson Award winner for outstanding public and community service. There were 43 native gardens on tour this year. Two key qualifications for the native garden tour are 1) the garden contains […]