The Green House Effect: An Exploration Into Affordable and Easy Solutions to Detoxifying Y

In The Absence of Rain...

2008-11-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

It’s not raining in Los Angeles. Every morning, I wake up, excited to see puddles on the sidewalk until I realize it’s just the neighbors, who have once again watered their concrete driveway in addition to the vibrant green lawn that is so definitely not native. In any event, water is scarce, especially clean water. Here’s a few water saving tips to keep in mind for as long as you dwell in Southern California.

There are the obvious, but often overlooked, fundamentals of water saving success: turn off the water while you are washing the dishes, brushing your teeth, shaving or washing your hands.

A few lesser known, but equally important, tips: don’t water your lawn in the afternoon. The sun evaporates a good amount of the water before it has a chance to settle in, and it takes that much more water to get the lawn happy. If you don’t make footsteps on your grass when you walk across it, it probably doesn’t need to be watered, and to grow grass that needs less water, adjust your lawn mower to allow the shoots to grow longer. Longer blades provide shade for the roots, allowing more moisture and requiring less water! (in the winter, you probably only need to water about once every five days). Additionally, layer mulch around your outdoor plants and flowers. This will help reduce evaporation when watering. Take showers instead of baths (and try to limit your shower to 5 minutes—you could save 1000 gallons of water per month!), and when you are running a bath, plug the drain and let the water begin filling while you are waiting for it to get hot. When you are waiting for water to get hot in the kitchen, collect the cold water and use it to water plants. If you have a dishwasher, use it. Dishwashers tend to use less water than hand-washing, especially if you don’t pre-wash the dishes before putting them in. Speaking of appliances, always buy energy efficient models when shopping for new dishwashers or washing machines, and when you do laundry, always do a full load.

There’s no end to the water saving tips I can come up with. This is just a beginning! For more information on how you can make your home healthier, happier and “greener,” visit my website at www.MyHealthyHomeLA.com and request your FREE copy of The Healthy House Answer Book by John and Lynn Bowers.

Ahhhh....Breathe.

2008-11-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

This week, my lungs have suffered. It feels like I only just got through the last batch of crazy California wildfires, and now here we are again. Each time the fires start blazing through the dry southern California land, I am reminded not only of all the people who’s lives are turned upside down by the evacuations and losses, but of the sad state of our air quality. The thin layer of yellowish pollution that settles on the horizon after acres of pesticide treated woodlands and VOC laced homes erupt into ash provides a stark visual memento and scares me: this is what we are breathing? And the thing is, it doesn’t stop once the fires stop. Everyday, we are breathing toxic fumes and poisons. They are impossible to get away from. And the worst of it is often indoors.

So let’s talk air purifiers. The most common type of air purification systems is portable (although more expensive whole-house filtration systems can be installed in homes with central heating systems as well). The usefulness of these units is measured in 2 ways: efficiency, and CADR, or clean air delivery rate. Look for a filter with HEPA grade efficiency, meaning that it removes at least 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles from the air, and don’t settle for anything less! CADR measures how much clean air is distributed into the room, and in order to achieve maximum effectiveness, you’ll want to purchase an air purifier that has a CADR rating that is the same as the square footage of the room. So for a room that is 10’ by 10’, you’ll want a purifier with a CADR of 100.

Another important factor is ozone. Certain electric and ionic air purifiers create measurable amounts of ozone, an air pollutant, so make sure yours doesn’t! There are some brands that claim to have a scrubber that removes ozone, but why gamble when there are plenty of brands out there that work just fine without ozone byproducts?

For more information on air purification systems, visit http://www.cadr.org/consumer/certified.html

Carpet Stinks

2008-10-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Carpet stinks. Did you know that most carpet is treated with over 100 different toxic chemicals before it gets to your house? You may think things like stain resistance, color, and odor eliminators serve you well, but it’s a high price to pay for, oh, I don’t know—your health?! Most carpets are made from synthetic materials, materials that are dangerous from cradle to grave. Their very creation causes an outpouring of toxic gasses. They offgass in your home, emitting fumes that may very well make you and your family ill. They aren’t biodegradable, and end up in a landfill somewhere where they spend hundreds of years, taking up space and resources.

But let’s focus on their lifetime in your living room. I already told you about all the chemicals most carpets are treated with before they arrive at your house, but what about the backing? Carpets are usually lined with a vinyl backing, and if you’re familiar with my articles, you’ll know how much I hate vinyl. It offgasses during its entire life cycle, which is pretty much forever. Not only that, but when vinyl catches fire, it creates fumes so toxic that exposure to one vinyl fire can result in chronic bronchial disease. And we haven’t even gotten to the glue yet. The adhesives commonly used to attach carpet come with their own set of unhealthy chemicals.

So what to do? Opt for hardwood, linoleum or other eco-friendly options instead of carpet. If you need a soft surface, try natural alternatives like Jute or Seagrass. If carpet is the only thing for you, look into 100% wool options, preferably those that are untreated. Look for cotton backing instead of vinyl, and try tacking down the material rather than using adhesives.

Just Because You Don't Smoke...

2008-09-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, I heard about two separate people suffering from lung cancer. Neither one of them is, or ever was, a smoker. What neither of them knew is that there is a little known, although dangerously suspect, culprit called radon.

Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas found in the soil, exists in varying amounts at different locations. It emerges from the soil and seeps into the air, in such small amounts that it is virtually harmless as long as you are outdoors. However, indoors is a different story.

Radon is colorless, odorless and virtually undetectable except by specific radon tests. It can enter a house through the basement or foundation, especially if there are cracks or dirt floors. Depending on how well sealed your house is, the particles can travel into your living space (rather than being directed outdoors) and minute exposure over time can cause lung cancer. In fact, the American Cancer Society reports that close to 10% of European lung cancer diagnoses were radon related. It is considered the second most common form of lung cancer, right after smoking.

The good news is that elevated radon levels can be successfully managed. The first step is to test your home. It’s an easy and inexpensive test and worth doing. There are do-it-yourself kits available on-line, or, if you prefer, you can locate certified radon testers through the Environmental Protection Agency website. If elevated radon levels are found in your home, radon mitigation is usually a simple process consisting of sealing any cracks and installing ventilation.

Dispose of Disposables

2008-07-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

It’s sad to say, but we have become a disposable culture. Envirowise, an environmental advocacy group, estimates that we throw away nearly 80% of the products we use after a single use.

By now we should all have an internal moral compass directing us to reusable grocery bags and coffee cups? But don’t stop there. Think when you shop. Stay away from pre-packaged snack foods and instead opt for bulk items. My daughter loves applesauce, but instead of buying six small cups in plastic containers, I buy one big glass jar, and pack it in reusable containers for her lunch. Those convenient “snack packs” create as much as four or six times as much waste. When you’re doing your shopping, don’t use plastic produce bags unless absolutely necessary—threes no reason you need a bag for two or three potatoes or a head of celery, so opt out. And if you really need a bag, use a recycled one. I keep a stash of plastic produce bags in my grocery totes, for exactly that reason.

It’s great to use your stainless steel reusable coffee cup in the morning, but use it in the afternoon, too. Next time you order water, juice or soda from a carry out restaurant, have them put it in your reusable mug instead of a throw away Styrofoam or plastic cup. Don’t stop with cups—I keep biodegradable knife, fork and spoon handy in my car. And on a side note…just because it is biodegradable, doesn’t mean it should be so easily disposed of. I reuse the same biodegradable utensils for weeks before adopting a new set.

All I’m saying is, THINK. Everyday, you run into a hundred situations where you have a choice to keep something out of a landfill. THINK. Disposability has become second nature to us, and it’s a hard habit to break. But choose glass over plastic, choose permanence over temporary and choose to keep our planet healthy.

10 Tips For A Greener Summer

2008-06-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

There’s a thousand ways to make your house greener and cleaner, but here’s a few of my favorites to keep in mind this summer:

1. Stop with the bottled water already. It leeches toxins, the water is not EPA regulated and the plastic is killing our sealife.

2. Turn off the lights. It’ summertime. Unless you live on the side of the world, you shouldn’t need them for most of the day.

3. Throw a dry absorbent towel in the dryer with your wet clothes. Or ,better yet, line dry!

4. Make your own housecleaners. There are thousands of recipes on the internet, free of charge. Or, if you’d like something a little less labor intensive, visit www.eco-me for inexpensive do it yourself household cleaner and bodycare kits.

5. Enough with the disposable grocery bags already! If you don’t have a reusable bag in your car right now, shame on you.

6. And if you must partake in the Ziploc culture, wash them out and reuse them. If you want to live a little on the wild side, visit www.reusablebags.com for all kinds of reusable options.

7. Plants. They’re pretty, and they make your indoor air cleaner. Check out B.C. Wolverton’s book How To Grow Fresh Air for information on the best plants to clean up your air.

8. Take your shoes off before entering your house. You have no idea how many chemicals are dragged into your house on the bottom of your feet, polluting your air and causing everything from allergies to hormone disruptions to cancer.

9. Keep your refrigerator full (of locally grown, organic goods, of course!). A full refrigerator actually uses less energy.

10. Use fans instead of air conditioning as often as possible.

MORE PROOF THAT VINYL SUCKS

2008-06-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

New car smells...new paint smells...new shower curtain smells: despite what you may have been trained to think, "new" smells are usually code for "toxic poisons entering your blood stream." Case in point: The Los Angeles Times published an article recently on vinyl shower curtains in which they discusse a study conducted by The Center For Health, Environment and Justice. The study found vinyl (also known as PVC) shower curtains to posess dangerous levels of chemicals that cause damage to the central nervous, reproductive and respiratory systems as well as the liver.

One of the five curtains tested released at least 108 VOCs, chemicals that infected the indoor air for as long as a month.

According to Marth Dina Argüello, the executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, "PVC is just bad from cradle to cradle...It's just not very good or safe to produce. It's a mess when you create, it's a mess when you get rid of it, and it's off-gassing when you're using it." Argüello went on to say that "in the face of scientific uncertainty you should probably act to protect rather than bring me the dead bodies. We always say: How much evidence do you need to act if there are safer alternatives?" You said it, sister.

Follow this link to read this article in completion

BOTTLED WATER: WHY IT'S SAFER TO SWIM IN THAT TO DRINK

2008-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

It's definitely summer. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and it's HOT. I don't know about you, but I try to drink at least a liter of water a day, especially when it's hot out. My body and my skin function better when I'm hydrated. But I don't think I'm alone in thinking that I'd prefer not to be poisoning myself while I'm doing all that hydrating.

40 percent of bottled water comes from city water supplies. That's right, tap water. Now, you may live somewhere where the city water supply is safe to drink, in which case you could fill up 4,000 plastic water bottles for the dollar it costs to buy just one small bottle. In fact, the EPA regulates city water supplies, sometimes testing them as often as three or four times A DAY, whereas the bottled water supply must adhere to some EPA standards but isn't necessarily tested. Both tap and bottled water have been scrutinized lately for containing trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs, but a good filter system can clean that right up.

What to do about it? Geez, that's simple. Filter your water. Yup, a simple filter system and a reusable bottle can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars and add years back onto your life. Water filter systems can cost anywhere from $30 (for a Brita or Pur filter)to $1200 (for a reverse osmosis system installed under your kitchen sink). They work to varying degrees, but any filter is better than none at all.

And don't forget a reusable bottle. This is important for all the obvious reasons: less waste, less pollution created in manufacturing them, and you avoid the mass amounts of fossil fuels emitted when you truck thousands of plastic bottles across the country. But if your moral responsibility scale isn't convinced by these global reasons, maybe knowing that plastic leeches dangerous chemicals into your water will convince you. And for goodness sakes, DON'T REUSE YOUR PLASTIC BOTTLES! As if plastic weren't bad enough the first time around, it becomes softened with multiple uses and increases the toxicity of the water inside.

If you're like me and don't want to spend $20 on a reusable aluminum bottle, simply buy a glass water bottle (easy to find in upscale grocery stores, usually about $2-3 apiece) and reuse those. I keep about five or six blue glass bottles (a little known fact-- the blue glass helps to filter the water) that I buy at Trader Joes for under $1.29 apiece on my kitchen counter. Every morning, I fill up a couple and keep them with me all day.

So drink heartily, and hopefully, with good, clean water from a glass or aluminum container.

2008-06-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Didja ever think about all the crap you drag into your house on the bottoms of your shoes? I mean, really...you spend all day dragging around the city, complaining about the brown haze that fills the sky and settles on your windowsills and door jams. The same brown haze that is made from millions of little molecules off-gassed from cars and buildings and factories and all the other crazy pollutants in our city. You trudge from your car (or the bus, if you're really serious about greenhouse gas reduction) to the market, from your car to the elementary school, from your car to the (environmentally friendly) dry cleaner, from your car to the doctor's office...then you finally come back home and remnants of your entire day accompany you on the bottoms of your feet in the form of pollution which then settles in your carpet, floor, rugs, sofas-- you name it. This is a long winded way of saying, take off your shoes before you enter your house. Your lungs will thank you.

Clean Up Your Indoor Air With Plants

2008-02-12T22:37:00.000-08:00

I’ve been looking into indoor air filtration systems, and I think I finally decided on a whole house HEPA filter installation. But that’s gonna cost some pennies, so while I’m saving, I’ll be cleaning the air the way nature intended: using good old-fashioned houseplants.

A couple of decades ago, a NASA study researched the effectiveness of certain plants in cleaning up indoor air. The study hailed spider plants as one of the most effective. Years later, BC Wolverton, a former NASA researcher, continued the study. Wolverton published a book called How To Grow Fresh Air in which he discusses the benefits plants have on indoor air quality, including the ability to absorb and breakdown certain chemicals commonly offgassed such as benzene and formaldehyde, rendering them harmless. According to Wolverton, for optimal effect one should have 2-3 plants in about 8 inch pots for every 100 square feet of floor space. In How To Grow Fresh Air, Wolverton lists the top ten plants for improving air quality as: areca palm, lady palm, bamboo palm, rubber plant, dracaena, English ivy, dwarf date palm, ficus alii, Boston fern, and peace lily. Since different plants specialize in removing different toxins from the air, it is recommended that you use a variety of plants for increased effectiveness. Bringing all those plants into your house can increase the humidity levels, making the space more vulnerable to things like mold. Make sure not to let water sit in drip plates too long, where it can breed bacteria.

No matter where you live, the air just isn’t as good these days as it was a hundred years ago. So do yourself and your family a favor, and bring something green home today.

A Second Thought About Flokati

2008-01-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well, it turns out that there is no such ting as a perfect rug. While our Flokati rugs are natural, organic, formaldehyde-free, vegetable dyed and have no vinyl backing, none of this guarantees humane treatment of the sheep from who's back the wool grew . I recently heard about a widespread practice called "Tail Docking, in which the the tail and the area around the tail are cut off with a blade in order to prevent flies from laying maggot eggs around the anus of the sheep, thus ruining the wool. This procedure is performed without any anesthesia. A similar procedure, called "mulesing" is prevalent in Australia, where Merino sheep are raised for their wool. These particular sheep have many folds in their skin, which attract more flies and leave their wool more vulnerable to infestation by maggots. To remedy this, ranchers literally slice large patches of skin from around their tales. In order to perform this procedure, the sheep are forced onto their backs with their legs restrained between metal bars, and once again, this is all done without anesthesia.

I guess the moral is, you need to pick your battles. I believe it is important to be informed-- to know what goes into making the rug that sits on your floor, and decide what is most important to you: the materials used to put it together? treatment of the animals involved in the production? treatment of the people who's labor was used to manufacture the product? carbon emissions during the production and destination processes? Choosing to make one your priority does not negate the the necessity to acknowledge the others. Awareness is a powerful tool and so, similar to what I have done here, do not be afraid to exploit it. Share what you know, keep the knowledge alive and continue to make informed and educated choices. Whatever you do, don't turn a blind eye.

The musician Pink filmed a short piece for PETA about the treatment of sheep raised for wool. It is difficult to watch but if you feel up to it, you can access the video at http://www.savethesheep.com/f-wool_boycott_update.asp

Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite: The Road To Sweeter Dreams

2008-01-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Winter is upon us and as the temperature drops it’s time to get cozy. But before you snuggle up under those covers, here’s a thought or two to consider about your mattress.

In the United States, mattresses are legally required to be treated with toxic fire retardants, usually containing formaldehyde or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). These dangerous chemicals have been linked to cancer, slow brain development, hormone disruption, asthma, skin rashes and hives. Lately, high levels of PBDEs have been found in the breast milk of North American women, making newborn babies doubly vulnerable to the effects of this chemical.

We spend a lot of time in our beds, with our mouths and noses pressed close to the mattresses and bedding. Next time you buy a new mattress, or if you are currently experiencing symptoms such as headaches, asthma, burning eyes or lungs, consider purchasing a mattress made from organic cotton or natural latex and wrapped in wool (which is a naturally fire resistant material). By doing this, you can avoid breathing in many of the fumes offgassing from standard mattresses.

Even if a new mattress is not in your budget, there are things you can do to help protect yourself against sensitivity triggers like dust mites and offgassing chemicals: use organic cotton bedding (conventional cotton accounts for 25% of the world’s pesticide use!); wash your sheets every two weeks in hot water; use an organic cotton or wool mattress cover is a useful barrier to put some distance between you and the mattress. In addition, you can consider an organic cotton futon mattress, which is considerably less expensive than a cotton/wool/latex mattress and can be a good compromise, especially for kids’ rooms. Be careful, though: even organic cotton futons and mattress covers can be treated with boric acid, so if you’d like a mattress truly free of all flame retardant chemicals, ask your doctor for a prescription and present it to your local mattress retailer—s/he can special order you a clean mattress (just make sure your smoke detectors work!).

I'm A TV Star!

2007-11-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

Today was our final shoot day for "Green That House." What a day! We started at 9 am with an extensive walk thru, thinking about all the things we've done over the last 4 months. From pulling up carpet and refinishing floors, to painting, to retiling bathrooms, to updated electrical sytems, to tankless heaters and water filtration, to new floors and furniture, to wallpaper and solar panels whew...utter craziness. It's been a long 4 months but in revisiting it all, I am so totally impressed with what we have done here and how inexpensively we were able to do it. It helps to have a good interior designer with an eye for sustainabiliy on your side. Looking through my house today, I realized that while I did not have ONE piece of furniture when I moved in (I got rid of it all in an effort start from a clean slate), that in my entire house there is not one NEW piece. The hours of antiquing, vintage shopping, and cruising Craigslist really paid off. I really believe in the idea of getting a full life out of anything created-- not expending extra energy, fuel, and time to create new pieces when there are perfectly good old pieces out there waiting for an new home. And to me, there is something really comforting in the history of antiques and vintage furniture.

An additional plus is that by buying older stuff, you really reduce the possibility of off-gassing in your house. Most old furniture was either made before harsh, off-gassing chemicals were a part of the process or has already gone through it's heaviest cycle of off-gassing and emits low if no VOCs by the time it reaches you. All this and it's cheaper too!

So you can see me talk about all of this-- and see the house before and after-- sometime early next year on Planet Green (a Discovery network channel set to launch in December). Tell me what you think!

Here Comes The Sun

2007-11-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Wow...that sun is cool stuffs. We just passed final inspection on our solar panels, and I can't begin to tell you how cool it is to go outside and watch the little dial spin backwards as we create energy. Today my five year old daughter Ruby went up on the roof with Joe and Alex, who live downstairs, and they all romped around checking out the panels. Ruby and I talked about why they are there and what they do, and I think she was wowed. It's been amazing knowing how much of all this Ruby is absorbing and I hope she carries it with her in the years to come.

If I were asked the one place where I had the biggest sticker shock during this entire process, I wouldn't hesitate before saying it was the solar panels. But, surprisingly, it wasn't because they were so expensive-- it was because they were so inexpensive! It seems like I am constantly hearing about how efficient and yet expensive solar panels are. I've heard that it can cost $30-50,000 to install solar panels on an average 2000 square foot house, making it a very un-cost-effective option for most people. I had written solar panels off as being too expensive for us, until I started researching them more. Actually, my downstairs neighbor Joe did all the grunt work...and then came to me with a figure closer to $8,000. Granted, this is still a lot of money-- but if you have the budget, it is a pretty cool option.

This is how it worked for us: The initial cost basis was about $23,000. However, I live in an area serviced by DWP, who offers extensive rebates for solar panels (if you don't get your power from DWP, check with whoever your electric provider is-- odds are, they offer rebates as well). In addition, we gathered together a group of people who were all interested in paneling their own homes and were able to talk our provider (Home Depot) into a group discount. Lastly, installing solar panels on a primary residence allows you a $2000 tax credit. This isn't a write-off-- it is a credit of the top of the taxes owed. So if you paid $15,000 in taxes, that number would be calculated then reduced by $2,000 for a total tax liability of $13,000. Once all these rebates were factored in, my total ended up being a little over $8,000. And to take it one step further, we applied for a Home Depot line of credit and put the solar panels on that credit, using their promotional "6 month no interest, no payment" option. Pretty cool, huh?

As an added bonus, the solar panels generate a large increase in value of our home. A recent appraisal put the value at about $150,000 more than we paid for it four months ago, largely due to improvements such as solar panels.

Here's the other thing about alternative energy options: it's not an "all or nothing" deal. You can install just a few panels at a reduced cost...or, for that matter, a wind turbine or two (at approximately $2,000 per turbine) if you live in an area that generates enough wind to make it an effective upgrade. It can be a piecemeal kind of thing, lowering your electric bill but not eradicating it, keeping it affordable and yet at the same time, helping to pull power off the conventional grid and do what you can to lower your carbon footprint. Baby steps, you know?

It's Jungle In Here

2007-10-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

We all know that trees and plants create oxygen, but did you know that they also clean up the indoor air? Certain plants have been shown to pull toxins specifically related to homes and offices (stuff that off-gasses from furniture and surface coverings found in houses), acting as a natural air filter. And they're pretty, too!

Yesterday I went out and bought a number of just such plants: peace lily, bamboo palm, English ivy, mums, and gerbera daisies are just a few. I even found some of them on Craigslist for just a few dollars. Dr. Wolverton's book "How To Grow Fresh Air" details 50 plants that have been proven to improve indoor air quality. After the recent fires, I was especially struck by the necessity to create a clean breathing environment. The smoke and chemicals in the air really made me think about air quality in a way I hadn't for a long time, and I was glad to have a book like Dr. Wolverston's on hand. It's just one more small thing I can do to help make my home a safer, healthier place to live.

More On Furniture

2007-10-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Not being as wealthy as I aspire to be one day, I could not afford to buy all new, completely sustainable furniture for my house. Instead, I decided to purchase gently used or antique pieces and try to stay with natural fibers and materials. For instance, in the photo you see here of my living room, the only new pieces are the window coverings, made for natural bamboo with a linen accent. The rug is 100% wool, the sofa is a 1960's Danish modern piece, the chairs are Edith Norton from the 1940's and the coffee table was a steal off Craigslist at $50. The whole lot was under $2000, and there is something really nice about knowing we are reusing something someone else was done with.

Let's Talk Furniture

2007-10-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of interpretations of the word "green," and a number of ways to do your part. One of the easiest ways to reduce the amount of garbage filling up our landfills and save on carbon emissions is to BUY USED! There are few times in our lives when we NEED to have anything brand new, and when it comes to furniture there are a multitude of benefits to buying vintage, antique or recycled materials. Not only does re-using usable stuff save it from being dumped into the nearest landfill, but often you can avoid dangerous chemicals simply by buying furniture that was made in a time before those chemicals were commonly used. For instance, I recently bought a dining room table manufactured in the 1880's off Craigslist. It is a beautiful piece, cost me $700) as opposed to the roughly $1500-2000 a new, sustainable version would have cost. While there is no way to know for certain what the material has been treated with over the years, I can be fairly certain that the table is safer and less toxic than a conventionally produced table manufactured present day.

Of course, buying sustainably produced furniture, using organic materials and fair labor practices is a admirable and responsible practice-- but this can get pricey, and my goal here is to show you how to do it on a budget. There are so many people who can't afford the best option, and I'm here to show you what some of the alternative, responsible choices are.

A Kitchen At Last!

2007-10-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

After what felt like months of living without a kitchen floor, I finally can finally walk barefoot to the refrigerator in the middle of the night without tracking bits of subfloor material from the bottoms of my feet. The old floor was vinyl, which, according to the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine, is "...from a health and environmental standpoint, one of the worst materials for a floor..." (Green Living, 2005). Vinyl continues to be toxic throughout its entire life, emitting harmful fumes that can cause cancer, immune disorders and reproductive disorders. Being exposed to ONE fire involving vinyl can cause respiratory disease and the International Association of Fire Fighters supports the use of alternative materials in homes. Because of all of this, one of the first things I did when I moved in was to pull out the vinyl. But I wasn't ready to install new floors yet, so the last several months we have been walking on the sub-floor, which isn't very pleasant!

I had alot of ideas about flooring, but I also had a budget. I thought about hardwood and/or bamboo, but hardwood was too expensive and I worried that new bamboo woudn't flow with the older wood floors throughout the rest of the house. I had always admired the retro vinyl or linoleum floors you find in fifties and sxties era diners, and had long thought about doing something like that in my kitchen. I did some research and found a product called Marmoleum, which is just a brand of linoleum and pretty inexpensive. LInoleum is made from a variety of all natural materials, including linseed oil, and doesn't off-gass or cause nearly the amount of pollution and distress that vinyl causes-- and it is comparably priced! I ended up buying 13x13 inch Marmoleum tiles for about $5/sq foot. My whole kitchen and laundry room-- about 200 square feet (big for a kitchen) cost me about $2,000 installed. It looks beautiful, is easy to clean and won't kill us in a fire. You can find out more on their website: http://www.themarmoleumstore.com/

Three Cheers For Flokati!

2007-09-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered Flokati. I might be a bit behind the times here, but what a great alternative to synthetic floor coverings! Ruby picked out this awesome fuschia Flokati wool rug-- 100% wool, vegetable dyed and machine washable!-- for her room, and I chose a large natural colored square one for my room. I paid $800 for the pair, which seemed more than reasonable to me. I love our wood floors, but being the top unit in a duplex I was also concerned about soundproofing, and for Ruby's room, protecting the floors I had just paid to have refinished. The Flokati was a logical solution to all our problems. I forwent the rug pad, as it is dificult and expensive to find healthy, non-offgassing rug pads. In fact, the pad underneath is commonly considered the most toxic part of a rug...so for Ruby's room, I just laid the smaller round rug on top of a larger rug (purchased second hand) and it seems to work just fine. In my room, I laid the large 8 x 10 rug over the majority of the floor and set my bed on top of it. So far, so good. So next time you're in the market for something cozy to put your naked feet on, think Flokati.

Butterflies in Your Bathroom

2007-09-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Did you check out that cool wallpaper in the bathroom photos below? It's made by Mod Green Pod and is vinyl free, and the designs on silkscreened on using non-toxic, water based ink. Oh, and totally wipe-clean-able!

The High Price of Tile

2007-09-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

Wait! Before you run off to the new, neighborhood "green living store," read this post about my experience buying tile. It seems like there are boutique "green" home stores opening up everywhere these days. I've spent a fair amount of time organic interior design and home furnishing shops over the past six months, and while there is no doubt they are convenient, I believe you pay a premium for this convenience.

I needed to tile my bathroom. The existing tile was hideous-- stained, outdated, and cracked. I thought about creative ways of saving it, but in the end, new tile was our destiny. My first stop was Epoxy Green in Venice. I browsed the different tile options with my designer, Kishani () and priced the different options on recycled glass bathroom tiles. Prices ranged anywhere from $25-45/sq foot. The tiles were nice, but still, the prices seemed steep. Kishani suggested we take a quick look at what her favorite stone and tile shop had in stock, thinking that maybe they offered a recycled glass tile option without the high price tag of a specialty store. Afterall, recycled tile should, in theory, be less expensive.

Thank god for my designer. We headed over to Royal Stone Tile, in West Los Angeles, where a very nice-- and super cute-- salesperson named David brought out samples of their recycled glass tile options. Glass ranged from 25-100% recycled material, and prices were substantially less expensive. I settled on a nice lavender/gray mosaic at under $3.00/sq foot! At about 80 square feet of tile, I saved close to $2000. Granted, the tiles at Epoxy Green were nicer tiles, but for someone on a budget concerned primarily with environmental responsibility, this was an important discovery.

Shop around! Research the options, know what you want, and look beyond the one-stop high end "green" boutique store to find it. It worked for me.

More On Water

2007-08-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am so happy with our filter systems! I used to cringe everytime I saw Ruby swallow a mouthful of bath water, but now I sleep easy knowing that the water coming out of our system is free of cancer causing toxic chemicals. Not only that, but the filter systems have eliminated our need to buy water, and I can't tell you what a relief it is on my conscience to know that I no longer contribute to the mass amounts of plastic water bottles filling up our landfills and leaching poisonous chemicals into our drinking water. I bought a few bottles of VOS water in glass bottles and everyday I fill them up at my kitchen sink and carry them around with me. No plastic bottles, no waste, no trucks driving across the country to deliver water to us-- just me, my filter and a glass container. Love it.

Clean Water At Last!

2007-08-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

One of the most important aspects of creating a less toxic house for me from the very beginning has been cleaning out our water. To me, getting clean water into your house is the first step in creating a clean and healthy living environment. Water is such a staple of our lives, and we use it in so many ways every day, so to allow such contanimated water into our homes on a such a regular basis is not right. Los Angeles' tap water, according the Natural Resource Defense Council findings in 2002, has elevated levels of radon, trace amounts of arsenic, and several other carcinogenic chemicals depending on what part of Los Angeles you live in. I began researching water filtration systems and spoke at length with our plumber, Michael Levey, about different options. We settled on a mid grade filtration system for the whole house, manufactured by Aquapure, which will pull the chlorine and several other chemicals out of all the water supplied to the entire house. This includes our bath water, water we wash our clothes in and do our dishes in, hose water and even toilet water. It is important to me, because even though we don't drink any of this water, it is impossible to avoid absorbing it, through either our porous skin or accidentally swallowing it when we shower or brush our teeth. At the kitchen sinks, we put in an even more substantial reverse osmosis filter, which uses a pressure system to do a thorough cleaning of the water (Sparkletts uses a similar reverse osmosis system in filtering their water). The water that comes out of our kitchen filters tastes amazing and with the reverse osmosis system installed we can be confident that it is, most importantly, clean. The reverse osmosis filter was about $800 installed-- not a bad price to pay to clean water on demand. The whole house filter was a little more expensive-- about$3200 installed, but for it was an important aspect of our "healthy" house.

The decision making process was more dificult than one might imagine, because water filtration systems pose a little bit of a Catch-22 situation. There are so many different interpretations of the word "green" and sometimes they are in conflict, as with the idea of water filtration. Clean water is important, but in filtering water one wastes water. The way a filtration system works, it pushes tap water through a filter and in the process of doing so, some of the water escapes and is normally routed directly to the sewer system. So to make a gallon of clean water, you often waste anywhere from 1-2 gallons of regular tap water. This was a problem for me, because although I wanted clean water, water conservation is also an important issue on the table and we are trying to do our part in honoring California's natural, relatively dry environment. The more extensive the filter system, the more water you must waste during the filter process-- so that with a reverse osmosis filter, which really cleans out the water, you waste more water than with a less advanced system where you might only be filtering out the chlorine, for instance. This is what helped us make our decision to only install the reverse osmosis in the kitchen where we would use drinking water, and go with a less intense filtering system for the rest of the house. In any event, I wasn't comfortable with the amount of water we were going to be throwing down the sewer system (up to hundreds of gallons per month) so I consulted Michael again. He agreed that it would be great to find a way to use the water that was being flushed into the sewer, and helped me create a system to collect the unused tap water in a container, which we periodically dump on our lawn instead of using sprinklers. It was a perfect solution.

Floors

2007-08-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

I lifted up my carpet and it turns out I have some beautiful wood floors underneath. Only, they're 80 years old and in need of a little touch up. Traditional wood finishes can be very toxic and I didn't want any part of that, so I began to explore other options. My first call was to Christine Werba at Plan-It Hardware. She recommended a product by a company called Aura. I had my brother Jake, who was going to be helping me unleash the natural beauty of the old wood floors, price the Aura finish. It did end up costing a bit more-- maybe a total of $200 or so-- but to me, it was worth the extra expense to know that we wouldn't be off-gassing dangerous chemicals. Jake sanded the floors and then waxed them. They turned out beautifully, although they have a very raw look to them-- they don't have the shiny varnished look that wood floors often have after a good refinishing. The look isn't bad, and I actually really like it, but if you are looking for a glistening floor I would look around at other non-toxic products (I know there are others out there).

Tankless Heaters

2007-08-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

Things are moving right along, and we just installed our Noritz tankless water heaters. We are very excited about these-- not only do we never run out of hot water, but they take up less room and because there is no tank that continually needs to keep water hot, the energy output is significantly less than with a traditional heater, not only making us feel environmentally responsible, but saving us money as well! The heaters we chose are the 751 series, which are capable of putting out about 9 gallons of water per minute. This is important because even though we don't need 9 gallons per minute right now (the heater will only put out the water we actually use, so just because it is capable of putting out 9 gallons/minute doesn't mean we are actually using that much water) these heaters will be capable of handling more water output if we added a bathroom, which is something we have thought about doing down the road. The biggest expense on these heaters is the initial purchase and installation, which can run anywhere from about $3600-5400, but once installed they are warrantied for 10 years and tend to last up to 20 years (nearly twice as long as a conventional heater, which has a typical lifespan of about 12 years). The maintenance is minimal and can be done by the homeowner-- it really just consists of flushing out the tubing inside (instead of a tank, there are tubes that the water runs through to heat up) with vinegar every six months or so. A plumber can do this also, for about $120. So even though the upfront costs aren't cheap, in the long run you end up saving energy and money.

Dual Flush Toilets

2007-08-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I never knew I could spend so much time talking about toilets. A toilet is a toilet is a toilet...or so I thought. It turns out there are these ultra cool dual flush toilets that not only look pretty neat-o, but conserve water as well. An old toilet might use up to 3.5 gallons of water everytime you flush, but these dual flush toilets we got from Caroma (www.caromausa.com) use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. And if that weren't good enough, there is an option for even less-- that's where the "dual flush" comes in. Our super cool toilets have a an option for "liquid waste" flush or "solid waste" flush. The solid waste uses 1.6 gallons-- the liquid waste only uses 0.8 gallons of water. Pretty, cool, huh?

Phase 1 Begins!

2007-07-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Phase 1 of our remodel project has begun. Our house was built in 1926, and while there has been some updating during the last century, it seems as though there is a lot we need to do to bring it up to current standards. Our general home inspection revealed some pretty crummy galvanized piping that was quickly approaching the end of its life span. I called several local plumbers to get estimates and discuss approaches, and settled on Michael Levey Plumbing in Los Angeles. Michael and his crew have been great. When I told Michael about "Green That House" and our plan to undertake a "Green" remodel for a reality television show, he seemed almost as excited as me. With his help, we were able to research different types of piping (unfortunately, there was no real "green" option out there-- however, copper seemed like the best alternative because it doesn't off-gas or rust, it's less labor intensive to install, and its long life span means we won't have to replace it for decades), and have begun discussing water filtration systems, tankless water heaters, and dual flush toilets.