New (OLD) Home

by Rachel on March 4, 2010

Life has been hectic lately, hence my lack of posts. My husband and I just sold our home and are in the process of goingthrough home inspections and lots of coordination and paperwork. We were lucky in this dismal real estate market to get our full asking price (pending the home inspection, keep your fingers crossed)! Our move-in date to our new place is April 1, kind of. I say kind of, because it’s not that easy, we purchased a fixer-upper, about 1 mile from our current house and we will begin construction as soon as we have the keys.

In the meantime, my husband, Connor and I will be staying at his parents house while construction is underway. The house was built in 1950 and has had little to no updating since it was built. Our inspection yesterday went well, all things considered. Our rennovation will be limited to how much money we have to roll into construction, but we know that our first order of business is the kitchen. We’ve toyed with the idea of completely removing the small kitchen and relocating it to the garage. We also need to consider whether or not to add central A/C and how we are going to repair the old windows and doors.

Now, as you may have figured out, I plan to have the construction be as “green” as possible. We don’t want to break the budget going green, but we want to consider health as a number one priority. Many of the materials used in new construction use formaldehyde, which is a toxic material. I would like to used low to No VOC products and formaldehyde-free products. I would also like to create as little waste as possible from our rennovation. For example, I would like to salvage the old windows rather than replace with a vinyl window that has a lifetime of only 10 years or so.

My main concern is not only the environment but the health of myself and my family. Too often home renovations fill our homes with toxic gasses and I do not want to compromise the health of my family for a few dollars saved. My research so far has led me to a local green building materials store near DC, which I plan to take a field trip to so that we can begin to get some ideas and find the best and most affordable options for the job.

I would love to hear if from you if you’ve recently rennovated a home with “greener” options and what your experience has been with prices and performace.

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Article by Rachel McFadden

Before motherhood I had an appreciation for our planet, but once I knew that I was bringing a new life into the world suddenly my urge to live a greener life was much greater. I knew that I must do my part to help create a beautiful place for my future generations to live. I take steps each day to reduce my carbon footprint. This blog is dedicated to documenting the changes I make in order to help others do the same.

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  • rich

    Your concerns about formaldehyde are unfortunately very well founded. I’m currently in a 1963 project house and was surprised to learn that particle board used as the original carpet underlayment was still rising the room air to 93 ppb formaldehyde. When it came to kitchen cabinets, my first choice was a product that was specifically labled “zero ppb formaldehyde off gas” sic. When I tested it was the worst product I”ve found in over a year at over 2,100 ppb inside the cabinet. The only good news is it would be diluted some by room air. Anyway I would strongly recommend testing of products before purchase.

    Passive ACS badges are only $39 each and simple to use. I’d tell a vendor that you will buy their product provide it passes the test.

    One suggest that I would make is to incorporate fresh air into your ventilation system. This will allow you to recover some of the energy by using a heat exchanger and will allow you to have fresh air. Most people don’t realize that commercial building are required to have a complete air exchange every hour. Yet energy efficient homes that have far more pollution sources take up to ten hours to have one air exchange.

    The California Air Resources Board’s report published December 15, 2009 states:

    “Nearly all homes (98%) had formaldehyde concentrations that exceeded guidelines for cancer and chronic irritation, while 59 percent exceeded guidelines for acute irritation.”

    The executive summary:
    http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310exec_sum.pdf

    The full report:
    http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310.pdf

    The principal researcher’s power point presentation:
    http://iee-sf.com/resources/pdf/ResidentialVentilation.pdf

    The only media coverage was published the day before Christmas and it would seem nobody read it:

    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2009/12/two-of-three-california-homes-had-excessive-formaldehyde-levels/1

    The introduction of fiberglass wall insulation, double pane windows, and/or vapor barriers such as Tyvek for energy conservation combine with laminate floors, MDF doors & trim, plywood and particle board for improved resource utilization in either original construction or added during subsequent ‘upgrades’ contributes significantly to the problem. Combine these practices and you have the perfect storm. This is what we have been doing over the past decade.

    The Feb 2010 Synergist has a cover article on indoor air quality. I can send you a pdf if you send your email address requesting it. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that it is available on the internet.

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