Near where I live, there are many towns where people buy the old homes for the land, knock down the old house, and put up something new, and usually hideously large, in its place. Some of the houses, 1960’s era ranches for example, are not difficult to see go. But when people buy older houses and demolish them, my heart breaks a little.

But in all of the cases of tear downs, there is an enormous amount of waste that seems hard to justify.

Nancy Keates from the Wall Street Journal has written about the more eco-friendly option of unbuilding, something which they are doing to their Portland, OR home.

The Building Materials Association estimates that in the U.S., 315,000 to 360,000 tons per year of reused building materials are sold by reuse centers — not even 0.2% of the total waste from building activities each year.

Keates writes about how her house was painstakingly disassembled. Things that were going to be reused in the rebuild were separated out. Once that is done, “the Rebuilding Center will send in their deconstruction crew to take everything else apart. They will start with the hardwood floors, then take apart the windows, doors and even pipes — down to the house’s foundation.”

Doing this does end up costing more money than a traditional tear-down. The unbuilding at the Keates home took an additional 2 weeks and approximately $4000. Not adding to landfills, however, priceless.

Today my daughter broke a window in our sunroom. She also lied about it and blamed her little brother, which is a whole ‘nother story. I wish I could say this was an unusual occurrence, but my children always seem to be flinging things around the house that invariably hit a window.

While it annoys me, the windows in most of our house are single pane divided lights in wood frames. The glass is easy, and inexpensive, to replace. And their allowances have always covered the cost. The windows in our sunroom, however, are new. They have that “fancy” double layered glass with the special gas in between for energy efficiency. I question how well it actually works because it is cold in that room. But, I now need to remove the window and bring it to the glass repair shop and have it professionally fixed.

I have zero idea how much it will cost, but I am willing to bet that it will be more that the $10 I spent on a pane of glass at the hardware store last time. And like I say to my kids, do they have to break things faster than we can fix them?

The energy star website has information on windows and doors for your home.

Save money and energy. Installing ENERGY STAR-qualified windows lowers energy bills and saves you money over single-paned and even new double-paned, clear-glass windows.

More than just dollar savings. ENERGY STAR-qualified windows protect from the winter cold and summer sun, while also reducing condensation and interior fading.

What makes a window, door, or skylight energy-efficient? Thanks to a host of new technologies, ENERGY STAR-qualified windows, doors, and skylights keep your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, making you more comfortable.

Purchasing tips to help you buy with confidence. Every ENERGY STAR-qualified window, door, and skylight is independently certified to perform at levels that meet or exceed strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Energy-saving tips. Proper installation, orientation, tree planting, and home sealing can help you save even more energy and money!

Find Rebates. Search for local rebates in your area and learn about the 2006/2007 federal tax credit.

For old home enthusiasts, the choice between keeping original windows and replacing them energy efficient models is not an easy one. Luckily in the past few years manufacturers have noticed the need for high quality replacement windows that replicate the look and feel of old windows.

As we have been renovating our house we have made the decision to keep the large original divided light windows throughout most of the house. The back of the house where we did the most extensive of the renovations had small, unimpressive windows that were obviously added at a later date. We replaced them with new energy efficient windows and have been happy with our decision.

The chance to own a piece of history, isn’t that the reason many of us collect antiques? Well what about owning a big piece of history in the form of an 1864 log cabin currently residing in Mequon, Wisconsin.

The owner has decided to build a new house on the picturesque 3 acre property and therefor the cabin must go. It is priced at $20,000, BYO foundation.

The actual price of moving the house can be many times more than that.

Moving a house is more about the journey than the load, says Jim Dreager, deputy state historic preservation officer at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

“It’s the capacity of freeway bridges and the width of roads and obstruction of overhead lines - the cost of making those arrangements. It’s over $1,000 each time you have to drop a utility line to move a building past it. It doesn’t take too many utility lines for that cost to add up,”

A couple of years ago there was an historic house in a neighboring town that was offered in much the same way. For a year it sat there, free for someone to move to their own property. Eventually it was demolished. I certainly hope that someone steps up and buys the log cabin. It seems a shame to allow it to vanish.

When my 7yr old son was a baby he was obsessed with the kitchen cabinets. Every day he would go over to them and grab a hold of the knob and pull the door open. The safety locks we had on the doors allowed the door to be open slightly. He would open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, that half inch of space until his little arm got tired.

One day I came into the kitchen and noticed that the door was missing. All of the opening and shutting had caused the hinges to give way. I only wish that I had a secret camera to have seen his expression when the door came off in his hand. The funny thing is that he didn’t take anything out of the cabinet. Instead he took the door away with him and I had to go search the house for it.

Most of us parents are familiar with the tiny plastic plugs that go into outlets, the doorway gates that turn homes into a track and field event, and the cabinet locks that turn our kitchens into Fort Knox. But what about the other things inside of our homes that pose a safety hazard.

Parent Wonder has a list of 101 Childproofing Tips for Parents. Most of them are very basic, but for a new parent who looks around their house and feels overwhelmed it might be a good place to start.

Good Housekeeping Magazine has an article listing the best and worst childproofing products. I really liked this list. Any parent knows the feeling of standing in the aisle at your local big box baby store with an entire row of products and having no idea which one to chose, or why a certain one was superior to another similar one. Good Housekeeping has taken the guesswork out. Print this list off and take it with you the next time you need some cabinet, oven, or toilet locks. Or even better, print it off and include it with your gift at the next baby shower you attend. The new parents will surely thank you.

Many new parents are turning to so-called childproofing professionals, who will come out to your home and asses your individual home and needs. Professionals like this one featured in this South Carolina newspaper.

Is subway tile a trend that is on the way out?

When you are doing a remodel, whether a kitchen or a bathroom, you are spending a quite a bit of money. You want to make sure that after a few years the choices that you make are not the equivalent of avocado green appliances.

I have been trying to walk the line between choosing things that I love without choosing things that will quickly be dated. But it is difficult at times. A lot of the things that I really like are popular right now, but so it the historic type of house that I live in popular. Pedestal sinks, hexagonal floor tiles, subway tile walls, claw foot tubs… I have all of these things. But the tubs are original to the house. And I am certain that before a previous owner thought it was a great idea to put in a dark faux wood vanity with pink sink and matching pink toilet, that there would have been a pedestal or wall hung sink.

Our third floor bathroom is original and has an adorable wall hung sink, wainscotting on the walls, and a clawfoot tub.

But back to chosing the tile. Will subway tile look dated in a few years. I honestly don’t think that it will in older homes. Maybe in new construction, but even then I think that done well it will be a classic look which is timeless.

A more modern application of the subway tile is to install it with all the grout lines. Running bond pattern, meaning the grout lines are staggered, is a classic look. And I love Cardiff also makes a subway tile that is smaller in size, 2″ x 4″ instead of the 3″ x 6″ that is standard, and comes mounted on a 12″ x 12″ mesh sheet.

Subway tiles are not just available in white either. While I prefer the more subdued colors, subway tile can be purchased in virtually every color under the sun.

What is the price of living in an ongoing renovation? I don’t mean the monetary cost. The cost in time, time that might have been spent doing something else.

Every weekend we spend time working on our house. Time that could be spent elsewhere, relaxing, preferably with a drink with a straw in it…

David Giffels and his wife have spent 12 years renovating their home.

The strain on their marriage, as Mr. Giffels admits in his sweet and funny book, “All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House,” which will be published next month by HarperCollins, has not been inconsiderable. Weekends, vacations, time Mr. Giffels might have spent with his two children, have been given over to such projects as removing, cleaning, and re-caulking the 733 windowpanes in the house. (He counted.)

And yet, they are still not done. The Giffels do not believe in credit cards and other than their mortgage, they have no debt. This means that they do not embark on any home improvements until they have the money. What a novel idea! Quaint, even. My mother, a product of the Great Depression, doesn’t believe in credit cards either.

How long did projects like re-caulking 733 window panes take?

“Years,” Mr. Giffels says. “This is where I’m glad I wrote the book 10 years later, it gave me a perspective of all the time it cost: All my vacation time, all my possible spare time, a number of years of my children’s growing up I gave to my children’s house. And once you get in it, you can’t get out, you can’t sell a house in that condition. When all of a sudden you realize what it is costing you in your life, it’s too late.”

And yet Mr Giffels says that they would do it again.

I am looking forward to release of his book next month. Maybe it will remind me of why we chose our house.

This is a nightmare for all of us involved in extensive home renovations and also living and raising families in those homes. I can not even imagine a government agency coming into my home and telling me what I had to do, or face criminal prosecution. Especially in light of the fact that their requirements would most likely do more harm than good.

This week I came across this article online about the Ellis family living in Wellesley, MA that is being forced to do lead abatement in their home.

Court cases involving lead paint are fairly common. By law, the state Department of Public Health must inspect any home where children have blood lead levels of 25 micrograms per deciliter or higher. And if lead paint is found - as it almost always is in old homes - the state can order the homeowners to address the problem, taking legal action if deemed necessary

This case is unique in many ways. First off their 4 year old daughter tested high for lead months before they moved into the house. The family blames a charm necklace that the little girl like to suck on. A necklace which was made in China. Secondly, the family owns the home they live in. Most of the time it is a negligent landlord situation.

As I wrote on the topic of lead paint several months ago:

Turns out there is another more common source of lead dust now– home renovations. Most children now are in fact poisoned during renovations when lead dust flies through the air, through knocking down old painted plaster walls, pulling off old trim, sanding old painted floors. Ah, my own personal hell. I joke with my children that I am going through all of the effort to protect their precious brain cells and IQ they better be thankful. But really it is a serious matter.

It used to be thought that lead poisoning was primarily an issue for children living in housing projects where upkeep by an absent landlord was an issue. Now it is becoming increasingly common for children of middle and upper-middle class homes to become exposed to high levels of lead dust through extensive renovations of older homes in the urban core.

This family in MA did not have any home renovations going on. Yes, their home has lead paint in it. I would challenge anyone to find a house built before 1950 that does NOT contain lead paint.

The Department of Public Health is requiring that the Ellis family delead their home. The family is refusing to do it. Deleading is dangerous because disturbing the paint creates dust and airborne particles. You can’t contain everything. Even the meticulous contractor mentions this in the article. If the lead paint is ENCAPSULATED, it is best to leave it alone.

If you want to remove all the lead paint in a house built before 1978 you will probably have to gut the interior as well as tear off all the siding. But most lead paint is fine. Afterall, most of us grew up in homes that contained lead paint in them somewhere and I daresay that most of us turned out okay.

The cost of such a process factors into this also. The Ellis family has received estimates that say it will cost them $100,000 to delead their home. They will also need to live elsewhere while this process takes place.

One of the commenters said:

I agree with the sentiment that you’d think parents would do anything to protect their children, so why not fix the lead issue?

BUT, it’s not that cut and dry. The law was established to protect children from lead poisoning., yes. But they don’t get the lead in their systemts just by living there, otherwise adults would be at risk as well. They get it by means of ingesting flaking paint, usually in old, not updated, homes. And if this home is well kept, with no flaking paint, then the risk is minimal at MOST. And I believe the parents have a right to determine if they want to live with that risk. The cost of deleading a home is not insignificant, and as their home is 5000 sq ft, that is going to cost a fortune (I think they quoted upwards of $100,000, plus they need to move out for a period of time and live elsewhere). Just because they bought s $1.3 mill home, does not mean $100,000 is chump change. AND, I’ve heard of cases where families moved for a long period of time and spent life savings while their home was deleaded, only to move back and STILL have the child’s lead level too high. Then what?

Then what indeed? Where does it stop?

Families in Massachusetts also report being discriminated against when it comes to finding rental property due to the restrictive lead paint laws. Of course most landlords would not come out and say the reason that they don’t want to rent to families with children is because they fear being held liable should the child be lead poisoned.

In Massachusetts, a state law passed more than 30 years ago says that children under 6 years old cannot live in apartments that contain lead paint on certain high-risk surfaces, such as windowsills and baseboards. And if children suffer lead poisoning, landlords are legally liable. But state law also clearly says that landlords cannot discriminate against families with young children because their apartments are not deleaded. The only way landlords can comply with the law is to delead their apartments, a process that can easily cost $10,000 per unit. (There are some exceptions: Landlords who live in the building and rent out only one other unit, as well as some elderly landlords, are allowed to refuse families with children.)

In January of this year, I wrote about the link between lead paint and the decline of function in older brains.

In March of this year the EPA issued new requirements to keep children away from the hazards of lead paint.

For the past 20 years granite has enjoyed a relatively uncontested reign as the high end counter top surface of choice. Recently, however, new innovative products are popping up and causing people to rethink their choices.

When a material is found in apartment complexes and tract homes, “it’s been done to death,” said Ellen Hanson, an interior designer in New York.

The trend now, designers and suppliers said, is toward warmer and softer materials used centuries ago, like wood, copper and soapstone. For a more modern look, glass, composites and recycled materials are being used.

I wrote a few months back about recycled paper countertops, which I love.

(photo courtesy of NY Times)

Ice Stone is a newer product that is made from 100% recycled glass in a cement matrix, diverting hundreds of tons of glass from landfills each year. They operate out of a renovated, day-lit factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, creating U.S. jobs for workers in an eco-friendly, safe and respectful environment.

Sales of quartz composite surfaces, also known as engineered stone, by manufacturers like CaesarStone and Silestone, have steadily increased over the past five years. I am not overly fond of either of these products. To me it just doesn’t have the same cache as granite, soapstone, or wood.

I love soapstone. Particularly they way the it feels when you touch it. It also reminds me of middle school science lab which had soapstone counters. So perhaps part of the appeal for me is a wistful nostalgia for the good old days of the asymmetrical hairstyle and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. My husband does not share this love. So the soapstone is off the table, or cabinet as the case might be, for us.

Looking for a little gift to give someone just buying their first home, condo, or even going off to live in an apartment alone for the first time? Look no further. DIY Quick Fix has come to the rescue.

When my husband and I bought out first home, a fixer-upper that would have been more efficient to have demolished, we owned a hammer, a couple of screw drivers, and perhaps a wrench or two. Other than hanging pictures on walls, we had no idea what to do with even those limited tools.

We quickly learned. But a book like this one for the very clueless novice would have been perfect for us.

In the style that we have all come to expect from DK publishing, the book is filled with step by step photos, detailed instructions, and a spiral binding that lays flat. You can follow along in the book while you are making the repairs.

The book covers topics like:

patching drywall

fixing a bad paint spot

removing a cracked piece of tile in the shower or on the floor

fixing a leaky copper pipe

fixing sticky or creaky doors

replacing a broken wall outlet

Providing quick-fix techniques for tackling the most common DIY home improvement problems-from freeing stuck windows to repairing burst pipes- this handy book features step-by-step sequences, combining close-up, annotated images and clear instructions that are easy to follow while completing the tasks at hand. Each sequence explains the problem, considers the options, and discusses the technique that follows, with tool and material requirements for every job. Presenting solutions to problems occurring in every part of the home, DIY Quick Fix is a must-have for every first-time homeowner or novice DIYer put off by the market’s large DIY manuals.

The trifecta of the green movement is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But how does this apply to the home renovation?

One company, Green Demolitions, is navigating a previously untapped market.

Green Demolitions works with professional, insured contractors who carefully remove and transport donated kitchen cabinets, countertops, appliances, fixtures and building materials.

Green Demolitions establishes a tax deduction for the donor, by reselling the items, and providing the donor with the resale amount.

Buyers save 50- 75% off their ‘new’ kitchens. Most importantly perfectly good cabinets, appliances, counter tops, sinks, etc do not end up cluttering a landfill.

All the proceeds that Green Demolitions makes go to Recovery Unlimited, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to All Addicts Anonymous (AAA) for all addicts and all addictions including alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food, depression, anxiety and anger. Owner Steve Feldman set up this non profit charitable organization to help a program that had helped him in his youth.

Recycling Luxury for Recovery… sounds like a deal in which everybody wins.