Keep Your Cool

Have you ever looked at the back of your refrigerator? I don't do it often but I recently did a deep clean on my house and was checking out the funky coils on the back (some models have these tube-like things on the bottom). Those coils actually regulate the temperature of our fridge by drawing warm air out. But they don't work well when they're dusty. The dust bunnies on my fridge were hopping. So I gave the coils a good dusting and now I'm going to make it a habit to dust the fridge every two months. Why don't you make a a hot date with this cool appliance?

Another thing I took note of was my refrigerator's temperature dial. I think lots of us don't notice it or we're afraid to adjust it. Many households have their dials set to match the Arctic tundra. In reality, your food should be between 38 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit. So check your fridge and see if you can turn up the dial and save some precious energy.

I did a bit of research because I've been considering building a small windmill on the remodel and my own home to produce the same amount of energy that a refrigerator uses each day. I was thinking about other ways in which our fridges become less efficient. Now, even though my son no longer lives with me (yippeee!), I clearly recall his pointless trips to the fridge. Opening the fridge was an obsession with him. He rarely pulled any food out of it or closed the door, for that matter. He just wanted to stare into the thing. I wondered if he was having visions of wavy gravy while he just gaped fixedly at the shelves. Nope. "Just checkin' it out", he'd mumble as he walked away from the still open door. I think that lots of homes have one or two refrigerator grazers and gazers. On average, a family's refrigerator gets opened about 22 times a day. That's over 8,000 times a year! This amounts to a lot of cold air being lost and a huge amount of electricity being wasted. So let's all make an effort to keep our visits to the fridge to a minimum, unless we're actually planning on eating something and closing the door.

More Garden Freebies

Did you know that a tree can do all of the following?:

** Help reduce overall air conditioning use and associated costs by up to 20 percent at homes and buildings.
** Shade outside air conditioning units, allowing them to operate 10 to 15 percent more efficiently
than unshaded units.
** Provide shade that makes an attic 20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit cooler on hot, sunny days, and walls about15 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than unshaded walls, meaning less energy is needed for indoor cooling.
** Reduce the urban heat island effect, lower outside air temperatures, and cut down glare on sunny days.
** Lessen dryness in arid climates by releasing moisture through their leaves.
** Create wind barriers to help provide savings on winter heating costs.

No wonder LADWP has partnered with Trees for a Green LA to give away free shade trees to residents. The only downside is that their are no fruit trees offered.


Here’s a summary of how the program works:
1. Log on to www.LADWP.com/trees and complete the online workshop. Completion of a workshop is required to receive one  to seven trees per property.
2. You will learn about proper tree selection, siting and planting techniques, and draft a site-specific plan
based on your residence. You then sign an agreement to plant and maintain your tree(s).
3. Representatives of the Trees for a Green LA program deliver your tree(s) within two to three weeks. You plant and care for the tree(s), and reap the benefits nature’s air conditioners!

You can also send an E-mail request for additional information to    tree.program@ladwp.com


I visited the site and downloaded the Home Tree guide. It was full of interesting information, and I actually got to see the tree types they offer (starting on page 25). Some of my favorites are:



the Golden Medallion Tree (which does not require much water)









the Purple Leaf Plum (a fast grower)

the Ginkgo Biloba (its leaves have a beautiful shape and it tolerates almost all soil conditions)

the Fruitless Olive Tree (it's classic California and drought tolerant)

Good Stuff

Do you want to live the good life? Well, so does everyone.  I just discovered an incredible sitcom from the '70's about an English couple that chases this dream. Mr. Good decides to quit his job ad take his wife along with him in the pursuit of "self-sufficiency". Much to the horror of his neighbors, he purchases a goat, trades in his lawn for a veggie garden and engages in other non-conventional activities that furrow brows... Hilarious episodes highlight the confusion and fear involved in slaughtering their first chicken and the Goods' ineptitude in making goat butter. In this age of urban home steaders, I've been completely surprised by the relevance of the show. Yet, self-sufficiency has been around since cavemen first learned to tote clubs. You can watch The Good Life instantly on Netflix.

Watch this bit about a bartering blunder between Mrs. Good and the window washer:

Tile Me Something Good

 If you're looking to retile a space inside or outside of your home - I've found a great company based right here in California.

Fireclay Tile features a Debris Series that offers over 100 glaze colors and contains over 60% recycled materials. My free samples have a really beautiful warmth and they're obviously of high quality. Plus, they're made using locally sourced post-consumer and pre-consumer waste materials. The Debris Series qualifies for LEED points and comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, designs, patterns and blends. Check out the pictures of their Charcoal Colombra design, Crafstman (in Sea Blue) and BiColor Basket Weave Blend

Fireclay Tile has a well-designed and easily navigable website, so watch some of the company's charmingly, clumsy videos. These folks are the real deal!

Get your own free samples too. Call them at (408) 275-1182 or fax at (408) 275-1187. You can also email: info@fireclaytile.com


While I'm on the subject of tile: if you're in the Southern California area and wishing to see some truly inspirational, handmade designs you must visit the spectacular  Adamson House. 

Rain Drops Keep Fallin' on My... Garden Bed

Some of you young'ns may not get the reference. But besides movie watching, I've been doing a lot of thinking about plumbing and rainwater capture.

The State of California Energy Commission reported that water-related energy consumption in California accounts for nearly 20% of the state's electricity, 30% of its natural gas and requires about 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel every year! One inch of rain falling on 1,000 square feet of rooftop produces more than 600 gallons of water. Los Angeles average rainfall per year is just under 15 inches. This means that a home with a 1,000 square foot roof can harvest almost 9,000 gallons of water each year. This home's roof is a bit larger (approximately 1,600 square feet considering the garage). I was convinced that I should capture those 24,000 precious gallons each year. Just for reference, the average load of laundry uses 44 gallons. Over an entire year, the average family uses about 6,000 gallons of water for laundry. Rainwater capture would far exceed all of your water use in terms of laundry. Another illustration of the quantity of good ol' H20 you can collect: one square foot of tomato plants requires approximately a 1/2 gallon of water each week or about 26 gallons of water each year. Even if the eventual owners plant 10 square feet of tomato plants. Their captured rainwater will provide for these plants almost 10 times over!

Back to the nitty gritty - there are three options for rainwater storage: above ground, ground level and below ground. I'm deciding where we will put our 3 rainwater storage tanks. One will capture rainwater from the garage and the other two will capture rainwater from each side of the home. I haven't decided which type of tank to purchase and will post more on my research later. If you're looking for a free tank, visit: http://www.larainwaterharvesting.org/

Our garage tank will be above ground and I will box it in with wood siding to match the garage. The higher the tank, the better the head pressure when actually using your rainwater via a hose. That means we won't have to waste electricity to pump the water to a higher level. We have this option for the garage because there is space and it won't be as conspicuous as it would be on the side of the home. The home's tanks will be underground on each side of the home that has gutters and downspouts. You can check out this illustration of how one homeowner has designed her system.

Rainwater capture is a huge boon to gardeners who want to use a bit of this "free" resource on days when you can't water in our desert environment. Moreover, 40% of Los Angeles' drinking water comes from groundwater. Using rainwater and allowing it to return back to the ground replenishes our groundwater supplies. The $120 that the homeowner will save each year is not a huge amount. But her conscience will be singing in the rain!

Garden Freebies

The city of Los Angeles is offering residents subsidized compost bins at discounted prices. Plus, they're giving free workshops explaining how to convert kitchen and garden scraps into rich earth instead of dumping scraps into non-decomposing garbage sites.

The two models being offered at remarkable discounted prices are the Earth Machine ($20), a non-turning large model (one of which I own) that holds up to 80 gallons, and the Bio-Stack ($45; normally $100), a three tier design that converts natural waste into compost in 12-16 weeks.

For more information, call (213) 485-2260.
The L.A. Bureau of Sanitation also provides free mulch (and sometimes compost) in 9 different locations that are open to the public throughout L.A. Just bring your own shovel, bag or pick-up truck to take as much as you need. Some sites even deliver! Mulch protects soil from erosion, reduces compaction from heavy rains, conserves moisture, maintains a more even soil temperature, prevents weed growth and keeps fruits and vegetables clean.
It also keeps feet clean, allowing access to garden even when damp, and lends a polished look to the garden.

Learn how to mulch a tree.

To get your free mulch, visit: http://san.lacity.org/srpcd/mulch_giveaway.htm

HARDwood Decisions

Bamboo is the cool kid on the hardwood block. Cork is also pretty popular. I specialize in hardwood floors and a beautiful floor is a beautiful thing. I'm old school and not so easily taken in by the promise of a renewable or recycled resource.

Let's take a look at bamboo first. Sure, it's a grass and grows more quickly than those hairs in Uncle Ivan's nose and ears... BUT even carbonized darker bamboos are softer than Black Walnut (considered a soft hardwood). Spiked heels wreak havoc on these floors. Got a dog or children? As my mafioso friends would say: "Fuggetabout it!" It's difficult to trash a wood substitute that matures in about  three years, regenerates without replanting and requires minimal pesticides, but if I don't trash it, your house guests will thrash it. Moreover, bamboo isn't as green as many manufacturers would have you believe. Bona fide forests are being cleared to grow it and fertilizers are being used to increase crop yields for this monoculture.

So, let's examine the world of cork. It's made from the bark of the cork oak. Some manufacturers recycle wine corks to make their corks tiles and floors. Others use fresh bark which is harvested by peeling it away from the trunk and branches every 9 - 12 years. These manufacturers claim that bark harvesting does not necessitate the felling of the tree. The cork oak should regrow its bark within a decade. As these trees can live to 200 years or more, it means that the cork can be harvested many times over. Cork offers a springiness and give that hardwood and bamboo simply do not possess. Plus, it's hypoallergenic because the wood is mildew and mold resistant. There are lots of drawbacks to these floors though - they're more expensive than bamboo, you can't mop them, they become discolored when in direct sun and they will give way to heavy furniture and become damaged if the furniture doesn't have coasters underneath. Like bamboo flooring manufacturers, cork flooring manufacturers are under no obligation to use environmentally friendly practices, so the onus is upon consumers to do their research.

Now oak takes about 120 years to grow to maturity, and that's what I currently have to work with in the home. The original flooring from 1923 is still durable enough to reclaim, although I dare not sand it. The flooring is too thin to be sanded and staining would add cost to my project. So instead, I'll screen and urethane it. Screening is done with a buffer that uses sandpaper with holes in it that resemble a window screen. This allows wood dust to exit without plugging the sanding screen. Screening is a way of cleaning the surface of a floor up without removing too much wood. There are different grits of screen just like sandpaper. We'll use approximately 100 grit screens for this gentle job.

The flooring in the halls, however, must be totally replaced. Even though hardwood floors are more expensive than bamboo and cork floors, it will still be cheaper and greener to patch the hallway with 1/2" by 2" white oak strip flooring.  All said and done, the materials to patch, screen and urethane our existing floors will probably run us around $400. This is a heck of a lot less than ANY other choice of materials - green or otherwise.

Just for your information:
Installation fee for hardwood or bamboo flooring is approximately $4 per square foot + glue.

If you're looking for reasonably priced flooring materials, someone I trust is: ggwoodfloors.com

Spring Cleaning (and Greening)

Summer's coming but, technically, it's still spring and I'm attempting to clean up some of my dirty habits.

GREEN UP # 1
My mother would frown, the aunt's may whisper... when they hear I wash my clothes in cold water instead of hot. I've tried becoming more aware of my environmental impact with easy changes like this. Simple switches are huge money and energy savers, though. Washing machines produce over 500 pounds of CO2 a year when run on hot water. Clothes get just as clean and may last longer when laundered in cold water.

GREEN UP #2
Cleaning products that many of us grew up with off-gas. I know, it sounds kind of foul, and it is. The products throw off Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can affect your home environment and your health. Home cleaning products can make the air in our houses 2-5 times as toxic as the polluted Los Angeles air I breathe outside each day! In effect, just by cleaning with mom's tried and true products, we're contributing greatly to our city's smog problems. So check out a few tips that I've tried to put into practice:

There are so many "green" products out there. Be a discerning consumer when confronted with these buzz words:
Biodegradable: This is an unregulated term that's only meaningful if it specifies the amount of time it takes for the product to decompose, as most substances will eventually biodegrade over time given the right conditions, such as sunlight.
Non-toxic: There's no official definition or third-party verification for this claim. Don't trust it.
Organic: Household cleaning products aren't regulated by the Organic Foods Production Act, but some of their ingredients, such as plant oils, can be labeled "certified organic."

For more info, see ecolabels.org.

Plus, here are a list of some cleaning ingredients to avoid:
Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs), common in detergents and disinfectants and are suspected hormone disruptors.
Ammonia is poisonous when swallowed, extremely irritating to respiratory passages when inhaled and can burn the skin on contact.
Butyl cellosolve (aka butyl glycol, ethylene glycol monobutyl) is poisonous when swallowed and a lung-tissue irritant.
Chlorine bleach (aka sodium hypochlorite), an all-purpose whitening agent, can irritate the lungs and eyes and in waterways can become toxic organochlorines.
Diethanolamine (DEA) can combine with nitrosomes (often-undisclosed preservatives) to produce carcinogenic nitrosamines that penetrate skin.
Phosphates soften water for detergents but contribute to algae blooms in our waterways which can kill off fish populations in our rivers, lakes and oceans.
Sodium hydroxide, found in drain, metal and oven cleaners, is extremely irritating to eyes, nose and throat and can burn those tissues on contact.
Sodium lauryl sulfate, a common sudsing agent, can penetrate the skin and cause contact dermatitis.

Fencing Lessons

Sometimes it ain't easy to come up with the green to build green. Other times green is so hideous it's like a conspiracy against ecological consciousness - take the Smart car for example. Ok, excuse the aside...

Although green building is supported by many federal, state and local tax incentives sometimes it's difficult to find out to which agency you must apply or send evidence of your greenness. And sometimes, there just isn't a tax break for certain projects. Replacing the fence is a tough one. I wanted to get LEED points, but I couldn't reclaim any of the few pieces of wood from the original circus tent-cum-psychedelic rusty-nail-nightmare-fence that originally ensconced the home. So I have to purchase wood.

There are more varieties of sustainably farmed, reclaimed and faux wood than you can imagine. The variety, coupled with the myriad of finishes and astronomical cha ching, left me half blind with ears ringing. The labels are tough to decipher when purchasing sustainably forested wood. Many companies don’t tell you what that means – is each felled tree replaced with 3 or 10 new trees? Are they fast-growing tree types? Is the factory that fells the trees conscious of water conservation and their own carbon footprint? Only 10 percent of the world’s forests are certified sustainable. There's huge concern about illegal logging and forest destruction in other countries. Lots of people are concerned about older trees in certified forests being felled and replaced by young and degraded tree types. Choosing which wood to buy for a fence is like trying to figure out whether you should buy a non-organic, locally grown apple or choose the organic one that comes from a different country.

Price is often the determining factor. I knew I could save if I opted for a non tongue and groove fence. This means that each vertical plank of wood is not fitted together perfectly with the next plank. On the other hand, tongue and groove planks fit so snugly that they offer more privacy with their ability to prevent light to shine through the spaces between planks. Some homeowners are quite picky about their fences and consider a tongue and groove fence an absolute necessity in terms of aesthetics and privacy. Other people are less persnickety and don't mind raw cut wood that hasn't been planed. Considering the craftsman style - which highlights the connection between artisan and simple materials - I figured I could make any choice in material work. I went with sustainable redwood. I initially wanted the fence to have a typical craftsman ratio of 1:3 in terms of horizontal planks capping vertical planks. Again, I had to consider price. In order to create this look of 1 3/4 feet of horizontal planks perched atop 4 1/2 feet of vertical planks, the materials and installation would cost $1,300 or 35%% more. This just wasn’t feasible since an actual roof, floors and doors are higher on the priority list for the finished home. Now that I made that sacrifice, I figured having a more rustic look could also keep a few more coins in the ole coffer. Rather than choosing smoothly planed wood, I selected rough sawn planks with a simple horizontal cap. Smooth, tongue and groove planks were $6.50 per plank and rough sawn planks were $2.80. This is a substantial difference in price.

At the end of the day, my grand total for 100 feet of fence was $2,455. My friends at Westhills Fence Company gave me a great deal. I'm sure they will do the same for you. Give them a call at (310) 313-2254.

A Post on Compost

I have a problem: every time I'm in a public restroom and I see an empty roll of toilet paper, I'm tempted to pocket the cardboard cylinder to add it to my compost pile. I no longer just see trash - I see carbon or nitrogen. A 2:1 balance of carbon material (brown leaves, paper, stale bread, straw and wood shavings) and nitrogen material (fruit rinds, vegetable scraps, dead flowers, coffee grounds and tea bags) is essential to a successful compost heap. I've realized how difficult it is to get my hands on abundant sources of carbon in the city. I don't have enough fallen leaves in my yard nor do I waste enough bread to rely on those sources of carbon to feed the microbes in the compost. I'm also reluctant to use pages from newspapers with colored inks - just don't trust it. So I've taken to begging neighbors for their discarded phonebooks (when was the last time you used one?) - being careful not to use the colored pages, of course.

I've actually got two compost bins: a tumbling one and a stationary earth machine. Tumbling bins turn your waste into rich soil far more quickly than stationary heaps (about 1 month rather than 3 months plus). Even though my Suncast tumbler is turning out copious quantities of earthy gold, I've got a few bones to pick with the manufacturers. I nearly sent a letter of complaint after struggling to put the dern thing together - yeah, I'm a contractor and I had trouble assembling this highly unwieldy apparatus. I had to read and reread the instructions and wield some fairly uncommon tools. The contraption also has a rather unfriendly latching lid which requires too much torque for my wife's tiny wrists. So if you're looking to avoid garden work or at least share the load with family members who can't bench press 200 pounds, this device may not be your best bet. I must say though, that the Suncast tumbler gets the job done in a jiffy and is an excellent choice for the apartment dweller since it needn't sit upon dirt.


So I've vented and now I'll just gush. I'm like a pig in poo - checking on the creatures who spend their entire lifespan in this bin. I've never seen so many fruit flies! It's completely fascinating to feel the heat coming off of the pile, which is supposed to be caused by the oxidation of carbon materials - but I'm not really quite sure what all of that means. I do know that my compost will be a nice addition to my clay soil for many reasons though: it's a soil conditioner, a fertilizer and a natural pesticide. I know compost piles are never perfect and I'm constantly adding a little more of this or that, leaving the lid off so that heat can escape... rubbing a rabbit's foot and standing on my head... Though composting has been around since the Romans threw their first toga parties, this is a fun experiment that's only just begun for me. As soon as I get the hang of this whole thing I think I'll try my hand at making my own compost tea. Perhaps I can coerce my daughter, the tea lover, into taking on that challenge - wishful thinking. Here's a picture of her with her fingers in the puddin'.

A Reason To Celebrate

You're not alone when you reach for the bubbly or just a regular old bottle of red to celebrate a milestone or simply to rejoice that you've gotten through another day of the daily grind. Well over 10 billion corks end up in a landfill each year. Although cork is natural, reusable and biodegradable, the majority of wine corks are tossed. This is sad considering it takes 25 years before a cork tree is mature enough to be used. Mature corks can be harvested just once a decade thereafter. Fortunately, things are starting to change.

In 2008, Amorin, the world's largest maker of natural corks, launched a project called ReCork America to recycle corks in Northern California. The program has salvaged more than 5 million corks, which have been incorporated into new goods, including shoe soles and flooring.
 
Now, a number of Whole Foods stores in California serve as collection points, and eco-conscious wine shops and restaurants from coast to coast are contributing corks. To find a collection spot nearby, check out ReCork's website. Or, if you've saved a large quantity (15 pounds or more), you can ship them directly to ReCork (pre-paid shipping label provided).

Rub a Dub Dub

Everyone loves a clawfoot tub. I'm considering this roomy 67" cast iron model for the home. I found it on a great website:


http://www.classicclawfoottubs.com/

Did you know that Cinderella's not the only character with a pair of slippers? The gently sloping backrest on a freestanding tub also goes by the same name. Both sides of this tub are angled for double the pleasure and double the fun, so it's called a double slipper model.

Now some of you may be furrowing your brow at the prospect of installing a tub into a home that's supposed to save energy and precious resources - like water. We do live in a desert after all. Well, there will be a shower too. And don't forget that I'm installing a grey-water recovery system. Every time you pull the plug, you're watering the tomatoes. Stay tuned for an explanation of how water goes from tub to shrub.

Starting Off On The Right Foot(ing)

All homes sit on a footing. Not all footings were created equal. Our home's current footing is of the inferior sort  - there's a picture to prove it. All footings run around the perimeter of a home. Newer ones are made of concrete with steel (rebar) embedded. If you reside in a very old home, this may not be the case. Your house may be perched upon a brick foundation with a beach sand mortar or some other type of a footing which is no longer deemed safe. Inferior footings cause greater settling or uneven downward or upward movement of a home. This will result in interior and exterior cracks - and that's no joke. Plus, you could have doors and windows that don't open and close properly. If you live in California or another earthquake prone state, you should be particularly concerned about having a solid footing. The footing locks the home into the earth which helps reduce movement and damage. A good footing should be coupled with proper shear walls with hold-downs. A shear wall is a wall in a home that has plywood anchored to the studs, the top plate and the foundation (from the ceiling down to the foundation). A hold-down anchors the shear walls to the foundation. After that very brief and non-technical explanation of footings and shear walls, let me tell you what I'm dealing with.

Our present footing is too narrow for the home and it's not deep enough. We're digging underneath the existing footing without destroying it. This saves money and time. Then we're pouring a wider and deeper concrete footing with rebar. This has to be done in sections and we'll install lots of hold-downs and shear walls around the house in the process. In our case, the hold downs will anchor our shear wall to both the existing and new footings.

Energy Star Goes Above and Beyond

You know that cute little blue star that we see on all kinds of appliances today? It's the Energy Star logo and it's actually a joint program between the Environmental Protection Agency  and the U.S. Department of Energy. Energy Star has helped saved enough energy just in 2009 to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 30 million cars. Moreover, Energy Star appliances saved users nearly $17 billion on their utility bills.
Let me get to my point. I'm sure you are all aware of Energy Star's Appliances. But did you know that cool or green roofs are now earning the Energy Star label? Yup. Über reflective Energy Star roofs:

• reflect more of the sun's rays. This can lower roof surface temperature by up to 100F, decreasing the amount of heat transfer into a building.
• can last longer before needing replacement, because high temperatures, among other factors, shorten the lifespan of roofing materials. Cool roofs also help lower the air temperature surrounding houses, which helps fight the "heat island effect"—increased air temperature (2 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit) in cities versus rural areas.
• can help reduce the amount of air conditioning needed in buildings, and can reduce peak cooling demand by 10-15 percent. 

So I should buy an Energy Star roof, right? It's the perfect time to install one since the house needs a roof anyhow. BUT and this is a supersized-MacDonald's-rear-end kind of BUT - these roofs cost a pretty penny.

They are approximately 50% more than what you'd pay for the composition itself on a standard roof. The installation costs are the same for Energy Star and standard roofs. So I ran the numbers on the house to calculate my yearly savings with an Energy Star roof. I also took into consideration the 30% federal tax credit that people receive when they install an Energy Star roof.

If you too are trying to figure out what's what in the world of cool roofing, you've also got to think about:

-- engineered lumber for framing (engineered wood is made from wood fibers bound with adhesives, resulting in less wood waste than solid-sawn lumber).
-- low or no formaldehyde strand board.
-- recycled newsprint or recycled newsprint and agricultural fibers for roof decking to eliminate waste.
-- Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) for building a roof. This reduces the amount of framing lumber and cuts energy losses.
--roofing felt made from recycled paper products reduces landfill and saves on the demand for natural resources.
--metal roofing from recycled steel or aluminum utilizes wastes and saves energy, and the durability reduces replacement and maintenance costs. 
--shingles made from recycled materials such as sawdust, cement, recycled rubber etc. puts waste to good use and provides lasting performance.
-- using different materials depending upon the pitch of your roof. Solar Reflectance Index requirements for an Energy Star rating are different for low and high pitched roofs.

So, I'm still in a quandary. I know it's the green thing to do, but I've got a budget to consider and lots of other projects and tasks to finish before using up all of my cash. So let me know, what do you think I should do?






A recent picture of our ceilings after the exterior and interior have been stripped. I wonder what will cover those rafters...

I'm In Heaven

Bungalow Heaven, that is. This is a landmark district of Pasadena that is saturated with Craftsman bungalows. In the early 20th century, lots of folks from the midwest decided to visit Pasadena because of it's lovely climate and, slowly, many people began to permanently settle in the area known as Bungalow Heaven. Instead of building large, Victorian homes, many families built affordable single-story structures suited to the warm climate, with verandas for outdoor entertainment, overhanging eaves and multiple windows to provide shade and cross-ventilation in the days before air conditioning. Typical Craftsman built-in cabinetry was also a space-saving innovation for these modest sized homes.

So I attended the recent Bungalow Heaven Home Tour in the hope of being inspired and spending a nice Sunday afternoon outdoors. I didn't expect a lecture on William Morris, the English reformer, poet, and designer who initiated the craftsmanship, simplicity, and quality materials associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. But I certainly wasn't wowed. Nevertheless, it was nice to see so many quintessential elements of the movement on display. Everywhere I turned, I saw exposed beams and river rock foundations and impressive chimneys. Most of the homes were truly in harmony with their natural environment. The bungalows included low horizontal lines to integrate interior with exterior, expansive porches and  French windows to invite the outdoors in. California Craftsmen had a mish mosh of influences and I could see lots of Spanish and Japanese flourishes in some of the cottages that I toured.

As a whole, I was sorely disappointed by the tour. Many of Heaven's denizens must be turned off by the hordes of earthly mortals that want to sniff around this Craftsman empyrean. I suppose I wouldn't want curious souls stomping on my garden, treading on my hardwood floors, inquiring about the source of materials and touching my hand-crafted moulding and cabinetry. I think all the truly magnificent homes probably had sage owners who kept their doors closed. I did get a peek at some kit homes which were interesting predecessors of modern-day pre-fab buildings. In the future, I'll skip the formal tour and just walk around the area. Maybe I'll try to befriend one of the homeowners and ask for a private tour.

For the time being, I'll have to continue looking at photos in my various books on Craftsman architecture and the Arts and Crafts Movement. Currently, my favorite page turner is Craftsman Style by Robert Winter and Alexander Vertikoff.

Time to Squeeze

If you're not interested in making lemonade but you've got a lemon on hand, why not buy yourself some time? Bedol is a company that is making eco-friendly timekeeping possible with a simple squeeze of lemon and a splash of water. Their small, water-powered clocks and alarm clocks don't require batteries, chemicals or external power. All you need to do is fill the tiny tank with tap water and add a squeeze of lemon juice. After that, you've got an accurate clock for up to 3 months - no pollution created and no added electrical cost. Plus, you won’t lose time when changing the water because of their clever built-in memory chip! At under $20, this is a great gift for green friends and design geeks alike. Curious about how it works? Read this article.

Spoiled Soil

I'm at Starbucks this morning and no, I don't drink coffee. The barista gives me a sympathetic smile as she hands over a hefty Hefty bag of spent coffee grounds. She too lives in the area and has clay in her backyard instead of real soil. Oh, the pain!

Since first setting foot on the property, I suspected that the soil was less superb (check out the picture of the garden), but I wanted to investigate. I didn't want to install a grey-water recovery system to enrich soil that was no good... So, I did a pretty straightforward test that you can all do at home:

 The Squeeze Test

In general, soils are classified as clay, sandy or loamy. Clay can be nutrient rich, but slow draining. Sand is quick draining, but has trouble retaining nutrients and moisture. Loam is generally considered to be ideal soil because it retains moisture and nutrients but doesn’t stay soggy. To determine your soil type, take a handful of moist soil from your garden, and give it a firm squeeze. Then, open your hand. One of three things will happen:

1. It will hold its shape, and when you give it a light poke, it crumbles. Lucky you—this means you have luxurious loam!
2. It will hold its shape, and, when poked, sits stubbornly in a ball shape in your hand. This means you have clay soil.
3. It will fall apart as soon as you open your hand. This means you have sandy soil.

Look at my impressive souvenir from the squeeze test. This is a ball of petrified clay - so I know I've got even more work ahead of me. If you can learn about your soil’s texture, composition, drainage, pH level and mineral density, you will avoid disappointing results that can occur when your soil is unsuitable to produce even the hardiest of weeds.

I also did a home soil test on 9 separate areas of the garden in order to map the nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and pH levels of the garden. Overall, there were little to no nutrients in the soil - probably because of the poor drainage of clay. Amazingly, the soil was slightly acidic - which many plants like.

Which is why I'm now at Starbucks picking up large soil particles (spent coffee) to introduce into this soil which has the finest clay particles this side of the Mississippi. Coffee grounds are also supposed to be great for growing roses - take note rosarians. So if you've got fine textured soil and would like to fix it for free, go to your local Starbucks and let them know when you'd like to pick up coffee grounds. One caveat: some Starbucks are better than others about follow through and not putting old filters into the mix... but hey, it's a free service.

My next adventure will involve increasing the nutrient levels of the garden. Get ready to enter the odiferous world of composting!

It's a Dirty Job But Somebody's Gotta Do It...

Guess who? Alliance Environmental Group Inc. will be doing the less than dainty job of cleaning up the hazardous waste in the house. There are many guidelines that must be followed in order to safely remove hazardous waste. Because Alliance has been doing this for over 50 years, they are a company I can trust to create a safe environment for residents and neighbors. Since the future inhabitants probably don't have any desire to produce children with three eyes, Alliance will first remove lead paint from the exterior of the house. As if this weren't enough, they will be removing asbestos ridden, 80 year old vinyl flooring from the kitchen floor (that's ancient stuff for you tweeting surfers of the net). In order to remove these materials safely, Alliance seals the home and creates a negative pressure to insure that hazardous particles are contained. The Alliance team dons fancy lead dust respirators and haz mat suits to boot- watch out VALENTINO! This keeps workers at Alliance from ingesting and contacting the nasty things that lurked in the old home.










An unfortunate example of stucco on top of the original wood siding of the home. Good riddance!

Weekend Errand: Recycling Batteries

RECYCLE - even your granny does it. Batteries disposed of in municipal landfills and trash incinerators can disperse heavy metals and other toxic substances into the air and water. California takes battery waste prevention and recycling seriously. Our state has designated all batteries as hazardous waste and requires that they be recycled or taken to a household hazardous waste collection facility.
Consider these two points before running out to purchase that economy pack of batteries:


1. Rechargeable batteries last longer than single-use batteries, which means fewer batteries for disposal. Alternatively, you can purchase long life (10 year!) 9 volt lithium batteries on batteryjunction.com for a fraction of the price that other sites offer the product.

2. All batteries have a finite life span, but there are steps you can take to prolong the life of your batteries.

To find a recycling center for single use batteries near you, check out  Earth911.

Accidents Happen

I have recently undertaken the grueling task of stripping all of the doors in the home in the name of reclaiming wood. This will take weeks and weeks of slow-going work but I've become obsessed with the idea of preserving the house's integrity and reusing as many of the home's original materials as possible. Kermit was right: "It's not easy being green". I started off with a door that had a large window in it. It was kind of cheating because it had less surface for me to cover. After two days of wearing a lead dust respirator, wielding my very heavy heat gun to remove a myriad of hideous hues and applying a citric acid based stripper afterwards, I finished my first door. I thought now that I had an acute case of carpal tunnel from toting that monster of a gun that I was ready to tackle the old bathroom door. The paint on one side of the door was strangely cracked on bottom half. I had no idea what could have caused that cracking, but I would soon find out. Even with my heavy duty respirator on, I smelled the very strong stench of urine. Apparently, all that cracking was the result of many, many years of man-splashing. Stripping stinks!

Just Say No To Junk Mail

Get off junk mail lists and stop those annoying catalogues from being delivered to your home. You'll save trees and the frustration of carrying loads of paper straight from the mailbox to the recycling bin. Use Precycle to rid your home of junk mail and fruitless free offers. It's a one time fee of $36; plus, they'll plant 5 trees for your new membership. Check out Catalog Choice for free to curtail unwanted catalogues as well. You can also try to beat these bothersome paper-wasters at their own game. Send back your unwanted mail by simply writing RETURN TO SENDER on the parcel. The companies will usually take you off their mailing list.

Gnarliest Fence Ever

What's the grossest thing you can think of? Perhaps the long, goopy hair ball that you manage to pull up from the shower drain every year or so with the end of a wire hanger? Well, that tangled assemblage has got NOTHING on the fence that we've mostly finished demo-ing. Composed of what looked to be wood from Naoh's ark and 40 year old tarp, this home-made enclosure was really a piece of work. Yeah, it was hard work pulling out ancient plastic sand pails, possible forensic evidence, and other bits and bats while dodging rusty nails and other instruments of torture. The previous owners did a proper job constructing this fence that incites fear. I was surprised that I didn't find a dead body stuffed between the layers of tarp, decaying tree limbs and tangled rope. I simply don't know how the neghbors have put up with this eyesore for such along time. I can't wait to install a new fence to house a craftsman home with some integrity.