While this post has little to do with Green Building, I wanted to point out a few features of the house to show that you can still have some amazing spaces and features while building Green.
We wanted a Meditation Room designed into our space and Architect Kelly Mitchell gave us exactly what we wanted. The room is about 11′ X 13′, with a small closet. The room was built with a feng shui sense, so the interior door to the hall has a glass panel, and the door to the upstairs balcony is basically a wall-sized slider. The room will have a wall-mounted TV (energy star rated!) and the sound system will share a channel with the studio. And before you say, “TV in the meditation room?” keep in mind that the Meditation Room will also be used for yoga and tai chi so the TV will be used to watch and follow instructional videos!
The room is a very basic open space (see the photo above), but we added insulation on the wall it shares with the living room to cut down on noise. We also had to design and have constructed a special jump duct vent to help reduce HVAC noise and to allow us to place the HVAC return in the ceiling.
The Meditation Room gets little-to-no direct sunlight in the summer and just a bit in the winter. It also shares the upstairs balcony with the living room….it will be a great get-away!
Yesterday we were lucky enough to meet David Rodriguez when he showed up at the house with architect Kelly Mitchell and our Green Consultant, Sean Garman (who also happens to be Kelly’s husband). These three know each other through their association with the North Texas Chapter of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). David is our local USGBC Board Chair, and he also writes a column for the Builder Insider periodical (their future website is here), focusing on green building practices. David was viewing the project and interviewing Kelly and Sean for an upcoming article….and I was pulled into the interview. Fortunately it will be a print article because it was Sunday and I was dressed for rummaging around a house under construction not for an on-camera interview.
In the photo left to right is me, David Rodriguez, our architect Kelly Mitchell and our Green Consultant (and LEED – AP) Sean Garman. Robert took the photo.
In an earlier post I mentioned that we were going to have a tour by a group of students from the University of Texas School of Architecture. This morning UTA Assistant Professor and Green Building Maven, Jane Ahrens, brought by 40 students who are attending her Architecture and the Environment class (the timing was pretty good - we had just finished putting up drywall yesterday and were preparing to start the tape/bedding process today). There were good questions and many enthusiastic students. The first photo is the intro to the house out front. The second is a Q&A session that was had at the end of the tour in the upstairs living area.
As you’ll recall, this tour helps us with our point in the Awareness & Education LEED category (AE1.3a). We hope to have another one of her classes back when the house is completed in a couple months.
I attended the Dallas AIDS Arms LifeWalk last week. One of the booths there was occupied by Recycle Revolution – a new company dedicated to helping out businesses (including apartment complexes) recycle. Their handouts are informative and specific about what they can and cannot do (the website includes the same information). I couldn’t find any information on pricing, but I’m sure they’d be more than willing to talk to you. I’ve heard from several apartment dwelling friends who found it frustrating that they were left out of the recycling movement unless they were willing to haul their stuff to a city recycling site…which is totally inconvenient!
Let me know of other companies who provide this service. And if you have first-hand knowledge, let me know how it’s worked out for you.
By the way, the logo attached to this post is the property of Recycle Revolution.
I caught this great blog entry outlining tips to make your home a bit more energy efficient as you move into winter. Check it out.
Visit this site: www.sustainlane.com.
It’s a ranking of cities based on their performance in 16 areas of sustainability. Dallas is listed as #24. Austin is #13.
I think I mentioned before that we are renting the house next door to the lot we’re building on. Our neighborhood is heavily wooded and the rental property has over 60 trees on 1/2 acre….plus lots of shrubs (and weeds). We’re also about 1/4 mile from a creek. We have a fair amount of wildlife in the area even though we’re right by Love Field inside the Northwest Highway loop of Dallas.
Long story short: Our rental is really falling apart, and as you can see from the photos, we’ve had raccoons and a opossum in our attic. And in true environmentally-friendly fashion, we had them caught and released by a reputable wildlife handler. Our landlord wanted us to place poison in the attic to kill them, then expected us to dispose of the carcasses….that wasn’t going to happen.
Our landlord’s handyman came by this past weekend to close up the hole in the attic so no more critters can visit that closely.
Just heard from Texas Campaign for the Environment: a new law (Texas House Bill 2714) went into effect in Texas on 9/1 which states that ”all companies selling computers must offer free and convenient recycling of their old computer equipment.” TEC is on the forefront of environmental activism in Texas. They do great work and are worthy of your support!
Visit the Texas Campaign for the Environment’s website to learn more about this particular law and the other great work that TEC is involved in.
Hey folks, we have been featured in a blog entry by Courtney Curtis on About.com:Green Living. She highlights our Green Deconstruction and generally gives us a great recommendation. Go check it out! Thanks, Courtney!
I’ve found one great Green Blog resource and one great Green Blog:
Links are also in my Blogroll on the left nav bar.
