First Floor and Second Floor Demolition
Tom has begun taking interior walls down and getting ready for air sealing, insulation and relocation of rooms, stairways and bathrooms. These pictures give some perspective of what is happening. Coming next: Attic Demolition See also: Partnering With Green Hearted Companies and the entire From Foreclosure To Green Home series. This forum provides you with […]
Updated Design
We spent quite a bit of time discussing how to redesign the first floor. The objective is to create more useful space, a bigger master bedroom and a generally more modern open look. Here is what we came up with. Move the staircase going to the basement to the NW corner of the house, below […]
EMI And LEDs – Not All LEDs Are The Same!
Electromagnetic Interference (EMI, aka: “Dirty Electricity,” or “High Voltage Transients”) is a term coined for quick transient pulses, harmonics, spikes and dips in the electrical power in a home’s wiring that deviates from a purely 60Hz sine wave. These often occur due to computers, other electronics, mini transformers/power convertors, dimmer switches, CFL and LED lighting. […]
Where Does the Heat Go
Tom (our project partner and energy specialist) took some infrared (IR) images of the house to demonstrate where heat leaks most. Here we show each IR image side by side with a normal camera image. The different colors in the IR images show the different temperatures over the structure. Usually the reddish/yellowish colors indicate warmer […]
Leaky Like A Lobster Trap
We were hoping to demonstrate how leaky the house is by showing some blower door test results. The specific measurements turns out to be harder to get than we thought. We are also changing some of our initial thinking after examining the house in greater detail. Here are some excerpts from Tom’s report on where […]
Disposing Of Unused Paint Made Easy
The EPA estimates that about 10% of all paints (including stains, primers and other coatings) sold is not used. Most of us have, or have seen, cans of unused paint piled up in our garage with nowhere to go. If not disposed of properly, serious ecological damage can result. For a long time, it is […]
Financing Options
Having acquire the house, we still need to fund the remodeling. Our goal of putting more energy efficient homes in the market is to sell this property outright after the fix-up. A fall back is to lease it, preferably with an option to sell. We are considering a few options. Bank credit line. We have […]
Designing for Modern Living
Collaboration among the partners who live in different parts of the country could be challenging. Tom operates in Maine, Dave is in Virginia and his GreenEarthEquity team in Fresno, CA, and I am in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thanks to the modern day technology, it actually works quite well. We are using communication tools […]