"how to install siding"

how to install siding / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Interior design and furnishing

How do you create a healthy home office? With Biophilic interior design

...to have an entire room dedicated as your office or whether you’re coping with a makeshift desk in the corner of your living room, you have numerous ways to build biophilic design into your everyday life and office. Read on to find out how… Natural light and fresh air help healthy homes This is a big one. Natural light ...

Tiny house

How can I put a tiny house on my property legally in the USA ?

...to help them realize there is a new trend towards smaller homes, and to find creative ways to make sure having one on your property is legal. They are a great advocate for tiny home owners across the USA, and work hard to get the law changed where needed, and to give people access to this affordable type of home. To a...

Grants and incentives

Free home energy audits in Canada

...how to design a home for thermal comfort. So even if this isn’t about tapping into an energy saving green home tax credit, it is money that will likely be returned to you in very short order. How do you do an energy audit? You would need to hire a professional to conduct an accurate energy audit, but in the absence ...

LEED Homes

The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) measures the environmental benefit of the LEED for Homes program.

...to power 54,307 homes in Canada for a full year. Home water conservation strategies that resulted in saving over 3.3 billion litres, the equivalent of 1,336 Olympic sized swimming pools. Recycling over 2 million tonnes of construction/demolition waste, or enough to fill 639,642 garbage trucks. Installing 100,239 sq met...

Insulation and soundproofing

How to choose between open cell and closed cell spray foam and which is best?

...toxins in. When to use open-cell vs. closed-cell spray foam insulation Really this depends on a lot of factors, most of which are your personal priorities. If your priority is to have a sustainably built eco friendly home, or very safe can non toxic air quality, honestly that would be never. Other deciding factors are...

Walls and ceilings - interior surfaces

Wood ceilings or drywall - how to choose your ceiling material & what's the difference in cost?

...Installing wood on ceilings compared to drywall: Drywall installation goes quicker than wood, or at least seems to at first, but that is only the first stage. You still need to mud the joints (three coats plus touch ups) then sand it, dust it, prime it and paint it. And you will have better luck finding a talking unico...

Lifestyle and environment

Save money by washing clothes in cold water - especially as it can wash better!

...how my mom does it! Let's get down to the nitty-gritty of getting laundry clean in cold water: Does cold water remove stains better than hot water? You might be surprised to learn that not all stains respond well to warmer temperatures. Warmer water often set the stains into the fabric, making them nearly impossible t...

Flooring and stairs

Natural non-toxic hemp flooring by HempWood & Tennessee Wood Flooring

...to cure long enough can cause adhesives to fail. There is also the consideration that adding a toxic adhesive to a non-toxic floor board sort of defeats the purpose of investing in a healthier more sustainable option to protect indoor air quality. So if you do plan to glue flooring we recommend sourcing a zero VOC flo...

Wall assemblies - new construction

Larsen truss wall systems with double-stud construction & extra insulation for new homes & energy efficient home renovation

...to do an energy-efficiency home retrofit, as you can mount them to the existing siding creating what is effectively a double-stud wall design, and even extending this up onto a roof to create a seamless envelope of exterior insulation (and therefore cathedral ceiling) covering all of the walls and roof. Larsen trusse...

Heat pumps, geothermal and AC

Heat pump efficiency explained - The definitive guide to SEER vs HSPF vs (S) COP heat pump ratings

...to choose a heat pump, as part of that decision it's good to understand how heat pumps work and how to compare them to see which heat pump is going to be best for their needs. SEER vs HSPF vs (S) COP Heat Pump Ratings relative efficiency for the higher COP ratings How to size a heat pump, are ratings all I need? Siz...

Efficient home design

A High performance home on a shoe string budget, almost Net Zero Energy

...torage. Windows and skylights are positioned to take full advantage of the natural light from the southern exposure, and are detailed with extruded wooden frames that accentuate their placement and views. To provide comfortable living in a small space, the Warburg house is essentially divided into two halves, a public ...