It’s no secret that here in California’s Pacific Northwest the idea of deconstruction is a pretty foreign concept. What little recycled lumber there is around has usually been salvaged from rotting rail road trestles or old barns. The idea of actually un-building a house to reuse the lumber in a new house just hasn’t caught on.

But as Erin Golden reports in Central Oregon’s The Bulletin, a little further north the idea is catching on. Read “Want to build green? Demolish with care here.

green, building, deconstruction, demolition

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Finally getting around to writing about this job. After a slowdown over the winter (after the crash), things picked up again in the spring and we’ve been going ever since.

The tile is Spanish. The primary color is a dark, cobalt blue. The accent color adobe.

The job came out rather well given that tile is very unforgiving when it comes to irregularly shaped rooms. And nothing about this room was square! The floor fell 1-1/4″ from one corner to the opposite corner. Both walls headed in different directions, the opposite wall went in a third direction, and none of the walls save the exterior wall was plumb. Even given all that we managed to get it to come out decently. The owners were pleased.

Here are some more before and after pictures (some are a little out of focus, sorry!):

The rat infested insulation behind the old fiberglass shower surround.

The old floor and remains of the old shower, surround removed. Work in progress.

The old plumbing and framing for the linen closet. Entrance was in the hall.

Other end of the “slipper” claw foot and tile backsplash.

The new cabinet. That’s natural birch.

Finally, a new low-E double insulated, double hung window with natural birch trim

bathroom, remodel, remodeling, tile

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CityCenter Emerges as Leader of Sustainable Urban Development, Driving Green Economies of Scale in Multiple Industry Segments:

urban development, green economy, sustainability, building

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A fascinating look at where energy efficiency in headed in the future of today.

green, energy efficient, home, LEED

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It is often believe that “going green” costs more. Well, maybe yes and maybe no. (It depends on where you live and how much “reclaimed” material you’re willing to use, and whether you install alternative energy sources.) But one thing is for sure, the benefit is more than worth the cost because a large part of going green is about making the building more energy efficient, which significantly reduces operating costs over the life of the building. (See also my article on Building Green: Cost v. Benefit.)

Watch:

green building, leeds platnum

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The Wall Street Journal asked four architects to design an energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable house. They weren’t to worry about cost, whether or not the technology was available to make the house perform the way they envisioned, or how much this the house would cost to build. It was to be an exercise in futurism. An exploration in what bleeding edge “building artists” thought the home of the future might look like. So, what did they come up with?

How about a house like a tree?

No? Not your style? Okay.

How about a house like a reptile?

Take the full walk down fantasy lane by clicking here.

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architecture, green building, sustainable building

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Interior Sec. Salazar and Sen. Reid announce plans to fast-track commercial-scale solar power development on 24 tracts of Bureau of Land Management land located in six of the western states. Known as “Solar Energy Study Areas”, the tracts would be evaluated for their environmental and resource suitability for commercial-scale solar energy production.

Read the rest of the story here.

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Remember the big push for prefabs? There have been several iterations of the “Structural Insulated Panel” idea. Then there was the house delivered prebuilt on several trucks. All you had to do was plop it down on your foundation, hook up the utilities and sewer, and you were done.

Great idea, right? Well… Not so much. Despite the entrance of famed architect Daniel Libeskind into the prebuilt fray, Build LLC is declaring the whole prefab fling dead.

Read the whole article and their 10 reasons why: here.

architecture, rural, suburban, urban, prefab, house, home

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From Fox 16: The first U.S. Green Building Council certified homes are built in Arkansas.

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