Was your home built prior to 1978?  In Dallas, TX  over 70% of  existing homes were built prior to 1978. So why is that date so important you ask? Well…. 1978 was the year lead was banned as a substance to be used in paints and finishes. Prior to that, lead was used heavily in the production of paints and therefore a large percentage of homes built prior to 1978 have lead-based paint.

The EPA is finally taking a hard stance on lead safety rules. On April 22, 2010, the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) regulations became effective and will be enforced by the EPA. This means contractors working on homes built prior to 1978 must meet the EPA guidelines for projects that might disturb lead. Contractors must seal the work area, post warning signs, and clean using special equipment. They are required to be certified through the EPA and can be fined heavily if there are infractions.

Many homeowners and real estate agents still don't know about about these new regulations and what it means for their properties, that's why I've decided to write this article.

So why is this important for you as a homeowner or real estate agent?

Lead can affect children’s brains and developing nervous systems. This can result in learning disabilities, reduced IQ, and behavioral problems.  Pregnant women exposed to lead can pass the poison along to their fetus.

Lead can cause hypertension, high blood pressure, and other dangerous and painful ailments.

Lead dust is the most common way people are exposed to lead. It is invisible and toxic. People can also be exposed to lead through lead paint chips and lead found in soil. Lead paint was banned in 1978 for use in residential dwellings.

Lead dust can be disturbed through remodeling and can endanger you and your family.

How do these regulations affect my property?

If you are planning on remodeling your pre-1978-built home, be sure to consider the safety of your family above all.
Our advise: Do not attempt to do the project yourself until you understand the dangers of lead and how to handle it. Only hire a contractor that is certified by the EPA. A certified professional went through EPA training and knows how to keep you and your family safe. Be sure to ask contractors that you interview if they have been trained to perform lead-safe work practices and ask to see a copy of their certificate. They should also provide you with a brochure entitled “Renovate Right”, which was published by the EPA and contains valuable information about lead.  Remember, your health and that of your family is the top priority.

More information on the details of the new regulations can be found here.

http://www.epa.gov/lead/index.html

EGC Custom Homes is a EPA certified firm and all our superintendents and trade contractors have been certified and have undergone the mandatory EPA training. So if you decide to hire us for your project, we can ensure that proper safety practices are followed – not just by us, but also by our trade contractors -to keep you and your family safe.

Written by:

Marc Kleinmann
Principal/Lead Project Manager
EGC Custom Homes & Renovations

When looking for a flooring product to put in your home, you might want to consider this alternative, instead of traditonal flooring. Today's average consumer is interested in healthy living and looks for products that support this ideal. Natural Cork is one of those products

Natural Cork is environmentally correct as well as improving health and comfort for human indoor living. In our homes, Natural Cork floors create a warm, comfortable, resilient surface that is gentle underfoot, is anti-microbial, will not spread flame, and is inherently resistant to molds, mildews, and common pests. From harvest to production to installation, cork is environmentally sustainable, non-toxic, and healthy.
 

Natural Cork floors contribute to satisfying LEED credits for Rapidly Renewable Resources, Recycled Content, and Low Emitting Materials under the LEED Rating System. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings as administered by U.S. Green Building Council. USFloors is a member of the USGBC.

The determining factor for indoor air quality is the quantity of noxious emanations from volatile organic compounds in adhesives and finishes. Natural Cork floors are produced with adhesives and finishes from European manufacturers and meet the E1 standard, a European test method to measure formaldehyde emissions. Natural Cork core board material that provides the structure for the cork veneer is also formaldehyde-free.

Cork wall tiles provide excellent thermal and acoustic insulation. They are also resilient: marks and indentations typically disappear within a few minutes. Cork is naturally fire resistant, and also resists mold, mildew, and microbial growth. Suberin, a naturally-occuring substance in the cork, also repels insects. Long-lasting, easy to maintain, and non-toxic.

http://www.usfloorsllc.com/products/natural-cork-collection/cork-maintenance/green-building-with-natural-cork/

I recently completed a large custom door project where the designer specified many selections from 3form glass company. As I started to research the product further, I found out that they use post consumer recycled products in their glass/ design products, and also exemplify what it means to be a responsible manufacturing and production facility. Not to mention, designers and architects love their designs that are truly unique and you will not see anywhere else.

3form continues to innovate and expand its offerings of aesthetically refined low impact products. Their mission is to design beautiful materials that demand less from the natural world and are kind to people. Never satisfied, they are continually developing ways to further reduce the impact of their products and the way in which they produce them.

They produce materials that: 

• Contain high levels of recycled content (Varia Eco-Resin & 100 percent)
• SCS rapid renewable and sustainability harvested materials
• GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality certified (Varia, Chroma, Alabaster.
  

3form has long demonstrated a progressive stance on minimizing their environmental footprint. As the breadth of sustainable initiatives increased, they sought an individual to coordinate and lead their overall environmental efforts.

Erika joined 3form in the summer of 2007 as the Sustainability Coordinator. She leads 3form in achieving their Path to Zero goals, a set of aggressive and concrete initiatives to minimize the environmental impact of 3form product and processes. Erika also expands and deepens the culture of activism and stewardship among the several hundred 3form employees. She has also led efforts to establish an Environmental Management System, reduce energy use, commit to publicly reporting all greenhouse gas emissions, and spearhead a number of community volunteer and outreach efforts.

Erika is a LEED Accredited Professional and holds an honors degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Brown University, along with a Masters Degree in Environmental Policy and Communication from the University of Utah.

Additionally, 3form does extensive human-factor testing and commits substantial resources to improve and create new products that enhance the quality of human life, including: 

• Flammability / toxicity testing for safe interiors usage
• Insulation Performance for thermally efficient buildings
• Safety Impact testing for safety and security applications
• Air Quality testing for clean air and building quality
• Design with concern for end of life: reusability, recyclability and safety

Exceeding industry expectations, 3form has set distinctly aggressive goals for minimizing the impact of not only their products, but of their processes. Collectively they refer to them as our Path to Zero.

• Waste – We will stop sending manufacturing waste to landfill.
• Energy – We will be carbon neutral by 2017.
• Product – We will continue to increase the recycled content in our products.

3-form products and solutions help you earn LEED* credits in five categories. They are proud to be a member of the USGBC and their materials are ideal for LEED certified commercial buildings. They also provide detailed information on how 3form products and processes can help you achieve LEED certification in your next green project, so check them out!

photo credit: Terren in Virginia

 If you're going to hike in the snow, you'll probably want to wear your wool socks. Not only do they insulate your toes from the cold, but your socks will still do a good job if a little snow or slush gets into your boots. That same principle applies for insulating wall cavities in places where sheep's wool is plentifully available.
But a new technology promises to make lamb's wool an even more practical choice for the building industry, as U.S. manufacturer SayrCo prepares to introduce WEKA semi-rigid insulation panels to market. The product is essentially a wool-based interior sheetrock with some serious R-value and other environmental benefits…Think of it as ‘sheeprock.'……….
The manufacturing process is rather simple and low-tech. Freshly shorn wool is thoroughly chopped, washed, and then mixed into a binder that includes quicklime and other natural ingredients designed to fortify the wool's natural fire, mold, and vermin resistance. The resulting slurry is then pressed into 4' x 8' or 4' x 12' sheets, air dried, and covered on both sides with the same type of heavy paper used in gypsum board.
The lightweight WEKA panels have an R-value of 6.5, and they can be mounted 3 deep on the indoor side of exterior walls to produce an R-19.5 assembly without stuffing any additional insulation into the cavities. As a result, builders can use 2 x 4 rather than 2 x 6 studs, and also eliminate the thermal bridging that is typical when conventional batts are used.
Installing WEKA panels is no more complicated than installing drywall. The panels use the same tape, mud, fasteners, and adhesives as conventional sheetrock while providing drywall and insulation in a single step.

Energy and costs savings through insulation

The WEKA panel is replacing conventional insulation and drywalls with one single rigid sheep's wool panel.
This results in reduced material and installation costs.
Up to 44% of a homeowners utility bills are due to heating and cooling costs, this panel can reduce your operating costs by more than 60%.

Natural Characteristics and Benefits of Wool

Wool is improving in-door air quality by absorbing certain air contaminants. Wool can absorb large quantities of formaldehyde (commonly present in buildings). Furthermore, wool can absorb and release moisture without degradation or significant loss of thermal resistance (up to 40% of its own weight). The insulation panels are made of sheep wool that has been treated with a natural stabilizing solution to provide pest and fungal resistance. The panels are efficient in preventing the formation of mold and can reduce existing mold through high alkalinity and by simply absorbing the humidity or condensate in air conditioned rooms. The high pH of 11 is stopping the growth of mold.

 Environmental advantages

According to Christian Tasser, the developer of WEKA, a similar product has been used in Italy for 10 years, and it has proven thoroughly stable and free of any issues. From that experience, Tasser can point to an important IAQ benefit: stabilized sheep's wool can absorb up to 40 percent of its own weight in humidity and water content, and then release it when conditions dry out. “It takes the humidity out of the room, and at the same time it neutralizes any kind of unwanted fungi or pests,” he said. “The wool also controls any air contaminants such as formaldehyde by drawing it into the wool, and it stays there.”
In addition, Mike Peterpaul of SayrCo aims for high environmental standards on the manufacturing side. “We're working with sheep farms within a 100 mile radius of our plant,” he said. “The energy footprint to manufacture the product is very, very low. The wool is naturally dried after it's washed, the water will be recaptured, plus the whole process has a very low carbon footprint,” he said.
Peterpaul expects to start shipping WEKA in quantity by August or September, 2010. He is looking to launch it through a network of 100-200 green oriented distributors. SayrCo intends to support the rollout with local advertising that draws builders, contractors, and consumers directly to those dealers.

Low Carbon Footprint

WEKA panels require no thermal treatment or chemical processes, which minimizes the energy input during the production of the panels. The WEKA panel is fully recyclable after the lifetime of the building.

LEED Points:

 -Thermal Comfort (2pt)

-Rapidly renewable material (1pt)

-Innovation and design process: light, recyclabe (5 pt)

-Optimize energy performance (2pt)

-Use of local materials 500 miles: FOB Athens,PA (2pts)

One of the broadest spectrums of product lines when finishing out your home comes when selecting countertops. One way to narrow down your options is by choosing a material that is more sustainable. Many natural products are deceivingly more harmful to nature than their artificial counterparts. A way of exceeding a natural product is by the reduction of virgin material through upcycling. The book Cradle to Cradle defines upcycling as “the practice of taking something that is disposable or downcycled and transforming it into something of greater use or value.”

Almost any product can be recreated into an usable surface. EnviroGlas, headquartered here in Plano, has wisely used abundant glass waste in their city to create a highly sustainable terrazzo product. They use 100% post-consumer recycled glass and it’s produced right here in the metro! 3form, Vetrazzo, and IceStone have similar products that upcycle polyethelene and glass waste. Eco by Consentino is an exciting new product that contains 75% post-industrial and post-consumer recycled content bound by corn oil resin. Its use of waste materials that cannot be used in any other industrial product gives them approval from numerous environment certifiers. It is also headquarters in Texas.

Avoid metal counters unless they are recycled. Mining for steel and aluminum bares a heavy burden on the environment. Alkemi, utilizes 60% post-industrial aluminum and polymeric resin to give you a metal product while minimizing waste and destructive mining.

Stone is a facet of nature but the means by which it is extracted for the earth is not. Granite is preferable to marble due to its regional quarries and energy requirements. Quartz, soapstone, sandstone and slate are closer to the surface and thus less impactful. Be mindful the mining fields do not endanger animal wildlife. Composite stone products like those from Squack Mountain Stone bind recycled products with a fibrous cement to resemble soapstone.

Paper, wood, and ceramic products can also be sustainable but often carry a negative perception. So when selecting a countertop; consider the extraction and production process, recycled content, durability and air quality so you can regard its beauty as well as its resourcefulness.

A coalition of sponsors introduced an emission standards bill in early September on Capitol Hill.  Broadly based on the California Air Resources Board’s CARB rule that began last January, this legislation would mandate a reduction in formaldehyde levels in composite wood products–particle board, plywood, and medium density fiberboard.  The EPA says urea-formaldehyde can be toxic, allergenic, and carcinogenic.  It is a VOC (volatile organic compound) that can cause anything from allergic reactions to cancer.  Hopefully, this legislation will pass and the EPA can enact a mandate effective as early as 2011.

Where would I find formaldehyde in my home?  It is commonly used as a drying agent for adhesives in composite wood products such as plywood, MDF, flooring, cabinetry and doors.  Compliance labels may show a product as no-added formaldehyde, ultra-low-emitting formaldehyde, or formaldehyde-free.  The word “added” is due to the fact that small levels of formaldehyde occur naturally in wood.

Be sure to know what compliance you are quoted.  While many producers have already made the change, many are resistant due to the added cost.  The good news is, once there is a mandate, it will be a level playing field and the safer products won’t be passed up for budget reasons.

There are do-it-yourself tests for formaldehyde levels in your home but I recommend finding a professional for an accurate test.

Your walls alone are not adequate to protect you from the sound, pests and weather outside. They are not as tough as you think. It is necessary to have a blockade between walls to keep the pests, cold and dampness out of the house and the heat and sound in. Some kind of insulation is already fitted in most of the homes, but they all aren’t created equally.

Many of the older homes are prepared through fiberglass insulation. Though fiberglass is low-priced and to some extent effective in controlling climate, but it saves small amount of energy and offers minimal protection. It can also be unsafe for your health. A touch of fiberglass makes your skin sore and itchy and inhaling a sharp fiber can lead to serious health problems. They can create scars in your throat that can cause more problems.

Spray foam insulation is an alternative to traditional fiberglass and it helps to construct very strong barriers between the outside world and your home. Spray foam solidifies as a spongy substance, as it is liquid polyurethane. Given that it applies in a liquid form, spray foam fills even in the tiniest cracks and enters the whole surface that is being treated.

While fiberglass can be easily torn, chewed, or easily displaced eventually, spray foam sticks everlastingly to that area. Its strength and texture makes it difficult for anything to enter through it. Even mold and water are discouraged to seep in and cause damage. Thus spray foam insulation is a better and safer alternative to another material.

The benefits of spray foam insulation also comprise of the betterment of soundproof walls. Loud voice is dampened by the broad surface. It can also be applied on floors and ceilings.

Spray foam is also called as ‘green material’ because it keeps the home warm during winters and cool during the summer. This way it saves far more energy than fiberglass.

Recyclable and renewable resources are also used to create spray foam and this way it helps in contributing to our environment and to the economy. Initially it seems to be expensive, but this insulation gradually helps you in saving money in the long run, as it increases the value of the home and saves a lot on your electric bills. Spray foam insulation is a safe, green alternative to other insulation materials with various benefits.

photo: Brian Teutsch

My aunt recently re-modeled her house and wanted to use products that were low VOC, or NO VOC due to her allergies and asthma. When it came to paint we did research and found that Pittsburgh paints (a division of PPG coatings) have products that fit her needs. After looking at PPG we found out that they also use green practices at their production facilities, which means they do not just sell the products, but that they are also doing their part to be responsible.

To achieve its goals of being both a fiscally sound and environmentally responsible firm, PPG has re-engineered many of the manufacturing processes at its paint facilities to minimize energy consumption, improve air and water quality and cut waste. These initiatives include…

1) Each paint manufacturing plant has an active recycling process that includes the re-use of wash water from the production process, the re-work of obsolete inventory, and the recycling of raw material containers and packaging. Other packaging goods — such as plastic and stretch films, super-sacs, cardboard and pallets — are recycled or recovered by suppliers, secondary users, scrap dealers or through third-party contracts.

(2) In 2008, PPG was the first national paint supplier to initiate a recovery program for five-gallon plastic pails used for water-based products. Empty and dry pails are returned to company-owned stores, consolidated and sent to distribution centers for shredding and recycling. In addition to its environmental benefits, this program reduces customer costs by eliminating the need to pay for empty-pail disposa

(3) All gallon pails used for latex products are made from 100 percent recycled polypropylene, and are 100 percent recyclable.

If your goal is to “build green”, be it through meeting local or national VOC regulations, qualifying for LEED points, or consciously attempting to minimize the overall environmental footprint of your building, PPG can help. From residential to commercial to new home construction, PPG’s Pittsburgh and Porter Paints can supply every type of project with a “green” product solution. We offer products that meet the most stringent environmental standards which require either zero or low VOC coatings while delivering the performance you’ve come to expect.

Simply look for the following logo when trying to identify which PPG paint products are considered green and can help earn LEED credits.

Photo credit: Resinart

ResinArt has manufactured flexible mouldings for over 40 years, becoming the largest manufacturer and industry leader in quality and delivery. ResinArt recently introduced a newly formulated product that is LEED compliant and meets qualifications for green building certification programs. Listed below are a few new reasons to specify BMC’s DuraFlex by ResinArt.

• Zero VOC emissions – certified to meet or exceed US EPA standards
• 100% Mercury free – compliant with US EPA initiative QPPT-2005-0013
• Formulated to work with environmentally friendly water-based paints and stains
• Available in 100’s of stock and custom trim profiles

For more information you can read up on LEED compliance, specifications, and finish recommendations.  BMC West and ResinArt are happy to provide another superior product for the evolving building industry.