Our family's journey building our first house, as green as we can make it, on a budget, in Naples, Florida.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Bathroom Floor Tile Picked and ordered!
Sorry I could not get a good picture of our tile, but it is a green pebble tile. This will be used in the Master bathroom.
A roof to sleep under and a septic system to... well you know
| before |
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| After.. blinding isn't it? |
The roof was finished in an astounding 3 days!! We chose a metal roof.
Here is some information on the product we went with:
Cool metal roofing is a sustainable building product for several reasons:
- Energy Efficiency. The radiative properties of cool metal roofing reduce the amount of heat transfer into the living or attic space below the roof, which in turn lowers air conditioning costs and energy production at the power plant. Studies have shown that a cool metal roof can save a building owner as much as 20% in their cooling energy costs. In addition, by reducing energy production at the power plants, greenhouse gases that are emitted in the production process are thereby reduced. Many metal roofing systems are Energy Star labeled and meet other cool roof requirements in codes and standards.
- Durability. Metal roofing has the greatest ability to perform over a long period of time in a wide range of weather conditions. Its proven longevity virtually eliminates the need to use future raw materials to produce roofing.
- Recycled Content. Most metal roofs have a high recycled content ranging from 25-95%, depending on the type. This is in stark contrast to conventional roofing materials which have much lower recycled content. The recycled content of metal has proven to be important to state and local municipalities listing metal as “green” in their solid waste districts or departments of natural resources.
- Recyclability. Metal roofing is 100% recyclable at the end of its useful life. This helps to eliminate the waste stream to landfills, where most conventional roofing products end up. Each year about 20 billion pounds of old composition roofing shingles are dumped into US landfills.
- Weight and Strength. Depending on the type of metal roof product and the gauge, metal roofing can be 1/8 the weight of conventional roofing shingles. As a result, metal roofing puts fewer loads on the structure and foundation design and extends the life of a building. The inherent strength of metal, combined with the light weight, provides building owners with the option of installing metal roofing directly over old roofing materials.
- Safety. Metal roofing and the exterior paint systems used with them are safe materials that pose no health risk. The surfaces are inert, with no gas emissions or allergens. The material is non combustible, and tested for wind resistance, fire resistance, and hail resistance.
A. Steel is the world’s most recycled material. New steel made with recycled material uses as little as 26% of the amount of energy that would be required to make steel from raw materials extracted from nature. Steel is produced using one of two processes; the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) or the electric arc furnace (EAF). According to the Steel Recycling Institute, the total recycled content to produce steel in the BOF process is about 30%, and the total recycled content to produce steel in the EAF process is about 95%. Recycled content can also be calculated in terms of “post-consumer” and “post-industrial” terms, which are often required in green building rating programs. The Steel Recycling Institute describes these calculations in detail.
| This is the guys digging the hole, the big cement looking box to the left is our septic container |
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The Drywall is complete!!
After (what felt like) a long time the drywall is up, mudded, and all ready for paint!
On the schedule for this week:
1. Roofers (weather allowing)
2. Paint is arriving
3. Stucco guy (for bottom quarter of house)
4. Top 3/4 of house will be hardy board
| This is our bathroom tile.. |
| The master closet and bathroom |
| the boys room |
| The second loft |
| The master bedroom from the far corner, to the left is the closet and bathroom |
| Looking up the stairs from downstairs |
| downstairs looking out the back door |
| from the corner looking at the kitchen |
| the kitchen (island to the right) |
| the door leading to the garage, to the right is the pantry |
| I think this is the boys room?? |
| The boys loft |
1. Roofers (weather allowing)
2. Paint is arriving
3. Stucco guy (for bottom quarter of house)
4. Top 3/4 of house will be hardy board
Sunday, April 22, 2012
House Paints have been chosen!!
We have chosen the HGTV Paint at Sherwin Williams:
HGTV® HOME by Sherwin-Williams Interior Paint
HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams Interior Latex is designed for the discerning homeowner who is looking for a quality, easy-to-apply, zero VOC*, interior latex coating.
We chose the NO VOC interior paint.
We chose the NO VOC interior paint.
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| Top: The front Door, Middle: the exterior, Bottom: interior |
Saturday, April 21, 2012
We have some mudding going on...
Our mudder has been hard at work mudding all the dry wall in the house this week and he will be hard at work next week also. But painting is scheduled to start going on the walls next week and the hardy board on the outside soon after... We are hoping to move in March 19th!!
| Looking at the kitchen from the front door |
| looking at the stairs from the kitchen |
| The boys loft |
| the front room |
| The boys room |
| The laundry room |
| The boys bathroom |
| Looking down the stairs |
Thursday, April 12, 2012
We have rooms!! and a roof??
Progress is moving along. We had drywallers at the house all week hanging the drywall and they will (hopefully) mud everything today (Thursday) and tomorrow.
The tin for the roof arrived yesterday (Wednesday 4/11) and they should be there today to put that on...
Possible moving date....??? Beginning of May??
The tin for the roof arrived yesterday (Wednesday 4/11) and they should be there today to put that on...
Possible moving date....??? Beginning of May??
| our roof?? |
| The laundry room upstairs |
| The boys loft |
| This is the master bedroom |
| The boys bathroom upstairs |
| Alex and Nathan's room |
| Luke's Room |
| Downstairs looking into the kitchen |
| downstairs kitchen and bathroom |
| stairwell... with dirty husband and son :) |
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