Go Green

I realized that I haven't done a stellar job at letting you all know what we are doing differently with this house, compared to the average house. (As this is more Jesse's alley)

So, from the beginning...

-We used a 50% blend of recycled concrete for the footers, walls and slab.

-We used a concrete wall system that uses minimal concrete, as portland cement requires a high level of energy to produce and emits very high levels of carbon during it's production.  This wall system also has a really high R-value (insulation). 
**Interesting fact: "The manufacturing of Portland cement is responsible for about 5 percent of human-caused emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide." -From THIS New York Times Article.

-We have chosen to use formaldehyde free floor joints. 

-We spaced our floor joists as far apart as we could in order to use less lumber.

-We used engineered lumber (produced with leftovers from other wood productions) for the subfloor and the joists to avoid large dimensional wood, which usually comes from older, slower growing trees. It also provides for a stronger, more stable system. 
-The insulation slabs we used on the floor were all salvaged.
-We chose to use radiant heat which provides a very efficient,comfortable, low temperature heat from either a geothermal or solar system.  It is also duct-less heat so it won't blow dust or allergens throughout the house, to provide cleaner indoor air quality.

We want this house to be as healthy as possible.

Unfortunately we don't have all the money in the world so we can't do everything that we would like, but we are doing our best at making small choices that will have a big impact.

I will try to do better at informing you of these things!!