Green Communities

Demolition is pretty straightforward—you test for and then remove any hazardous regulated materials before you knock the building down and crunch it up for the landfill. Masonry rubble may make its way to clean fill or aggregate and some metals are likely to get pulled out for recycling.

Two primary types of deconstruction
Deconstruction is “unbuilding”—taking a building apart, often reversing the order of the construction of the building. There are two general categories of deconstruction.

When homes turn over, is it green to automatically turn over all of the major appliances as well? The answer is likely to be yes. Unlike many other goods, major appliances in the US over the last 20 years have gone way UP in energy efficiency while going DOWN in price. Research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories shows that between 1980 and 2001, the energy efficiency of refrigerators and freezers improved by about 60% while at the same time real consumer prices dropped by 40%!

Everyone needs fresh air; it’s just hard to figure out how much we need when we are indoors.

Some background on carpet
Most carpet has three primary components: the soft tufted face fiber, the primary backing through which the face fiber is punched, and the secondary backing (the visible back side that locks the face fibers in place). Most residential carpet installations also include a separate cushion or pad.

Once you have selected your green building products, it would be great if you could simply tell everyone, “Here—use these.” But it is rarely that simple. Everyone has project documentation that serves three purposes: getting everyone on the same page (literally), delivering information for bidding, and establishing binding trade contracts.

How do selections, scopes of work, and specifications fit together?

Enterprise Green Communities is seeking qualified consultants to expand its Technical Assistance Providers Network in response to the growing demand for specialized technical assistance designing, developing, and operating green affordable housing developments. Enterprise has released its second national Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify the nation’s leading green professionals in the residential building sector. The objective of this RFQ is to expand the delivery of technical assistance to local affordable housing developers.

We have spent quite a bit of time in this blog so far emphasizing how important process is in green building. But sooner or later if you are going to build or renovate, you have to actually select stuff, all kinds of stuff, from structural sheathingMaterial, usually plywood or oriented strand board (OSB), but sometimes wooden boards, installed on the exterior of wall studs, rafters, or roof trusses; siding or roofing installed on the sheathing—sometimes over strapping to create a rainscreen. to floor finishes to mechanical equipment.

I like to think of product selection as a 3-step process.

1 – Settle on green selection criteria

What are Scopes of Work?
Scopes of work (SOW) are part of the legal contract between the general contractor or client and the trade contractors, detailing exactly what must be done to complete his or her work and achieve the desired result, an assembly or system that works. A program of SOW connects the work of individual trades so that the work of each produces the desired result: a home that works.

I have about a half dozen green contractor attributes to consider, but let’s start with a baseline: NOT green (behind the ears…).

The paint problem
Lead improved paint’s performance; it made paint more durable, moisture-resistant, and faster-drying. That sounds pretty green. Unfortunately, lead also makes paint a human health hazard, particularly to kids. Not even close to green. Tiny amounts can permanently damage a child’s growing brain, resulting in IQ loss, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. Contrary to the myth, kids don’t typically eat paint chips; they ingest lead dust from ordinary (and frequent) hand-to-mouth contact.