Environmentally Friendly Materials

One aspect of the project was to use environmentally friendly materials wherever practical. I have the luxury of not NEEDING to use low impact materials for my own comfort, but I prefer to use them when I can. When selecting materials I generally applied the "refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle" test. Do I need to use it at all? Can I use less? Can I reuse something? Can I get the material as a recycled product? And then there were the production considerations. Can I get sustainable and/or durable materials? Then, of course, there is the pesky, "can I afford it?" question. The results are a variety of different materials from cement board siding to recycled paint.

Some of the more environmentally friendly materials used include: cement board siding, fiberglass clad windows, recycled and low-biocide paint, water based varnish, and sustainably produced flooring.

Siding

The house was originally sided with cedar shingles, covered later by vinyl siding. In the process of deciding on materials for the new addition I considered everything from going back to the original wood, to composite materials (I don't like vinyl siding, so it was never an option). Luckily I was less concerned with matching the existing "look" of the house than creating a new one that could be carried through future repairs and remodels. In the end I chose fibrous cement boards because they mimic the original style of siding but are durable, fireproof, and made from common, low-impact material. It was also preprimed and could be painted like wood.

In the end, the cost was comparable to the Hardy siding that my contractor had recommended, however it was slightly more difficult and more time consuming to install because of cutting considerations and how fast in wore out even carbide saw blades. The carpenter said that, if he were to work with it often, he would probably get a diamond blade to use.

Windows

Originally the project called for vinyl windows, to reduce costs but, in doing some research, I decided that it would be worthwhile to upgrade the windows now and prohibitively expensive to do it later. This turned out to be the single most expensive upgrade in the whole project but the benefits of having energy star windows was evident immediately and may be a good part of the reason that my heating costs, even after adding 120 sq. ft. to the size of my house, are actually LOWER than they were the same time last year. That fact alone has made me move replacing my other windows up the list of things to do for the house

What I wanted, but couldn't afford were all fiberglass frames, which are dimensionally more stable than other materials, paintable, and should last indefinitely. I settled for fiberglass-clad windows. (I doubled the cost of the windows, I would have doubled it again by getting all fiberglass)

Paints

Early in the project I had explored the availability of low-toxicity paint and found them to be readily available at both Miller Paint and Environmental Building Supply. So I set the paint issue aside until I was actually ready to paint. At that time, I also discovered that the city had a program to recycle latex paint. The idea appealed to me but not the available colors.

Once I got to the point of painting, after deciding on colors, I went back to look at the low toxicity paints, varnishes and other materials. I eventually chose Miller's low biocide paint, because of cost and, because the light colors available matched what I want to do in the new space. If I had wanted more deeply colored low biocide paint, or even plant based paints, they were available from Environmental Building Supply.

If money and or time had been no object, I probably would have chosen the all organic paint and glaze products that Environmental Building Supply has, but it is very expensive, and has quite a long curing time.

I also picked up a water-based varathane to finish the doors with. After some mental tussles I decided to go with the penetrating stain I had used elsewhere in the house, partly for consistency, but also because I already had some I wanted to use up.

On the outside of the house I started with leftover paint from my basement as a primer. When that ran out, I still had a fair amount of wood to prime and so I got five gallons of the City's recycled paint (the minimum), in off-white, because I assumed that I could use what was left over as a final coat on the porch ceiling, inside the garage and, if any remained, in the basement.

I was very happy with both the coverage and the "paintability" of it. I finally decided to use it on the body of the house as well. None of the colors were exactly what I wanted, but I thought I could get pretty close to the grey I wanted by mixing equal amounts of their grey and tan, which is what I did. It was still somewhat off from the color I chose originally, so I had to adjust my trim and accent colors correspondingly.

Mixing the paints made a wonderful mess and, in retrospect, it would have probably been easier if I simply got a garbage can and poured both five gallon buckets into it instead of mixing back and forth between the two.

Floor

There were a lot of things to consider in deciding on the floor for the main part of the addition (see floor 1). One of the important ones was what material to use. My first choice was oak to match the existing floor, but that was prohibitively expensive. My contractor recommended carpeting as my least expensive alternative but I really wanted wood. However, I realized that his cost estimate included installation. If I could install the flooring myself, the cost would come down drastically.

Eventually, I ended up selecting parquet tiles because I could lay them most easily. It also turned out that parquet was actually cheeper than carpeting if I laid it myself, helping even more with the budget.

Once I decided on parquet, I started checking out different material. Oak was still more expensive than I had hoped. I considered bamboo, cork, or one of the other unusual flooring materials available, and did a lot of research toward that end, but cost became the limiting factor. The bamboo, which was my first alternate choice, was also simply not available in parquet tiles although one supplier said they were in the process of developing them. I eventually chose Hevea, a wood that blends well with my existing oak, although it is much lighter. Hevea is listed as a Brazilian rubberwood which is grown sustainably. I did not verify that the particular brand I selected is grown that way, and I'm suspicious by nature of these things, but I'm hopeful.

Adhesive

After the fact, I decided to try and exchange the adhesive that I had gotten for my parquet floor as well. I assumed it would be as easy as finding the paint had been. Unfortunately it became a huge hairy task, which I didn't expect. The problem seemed to be with the combination of low BOC adhesive with the fact that I will be installing the floor myself. I have located and discarded several options, either because they are not meant for wood parquet, are enormously expensive, or because they are not recommended for non-professional installers. That and the fact that most sales people seem to have NO idea what I'm talking about, unlike the paint people.

Eventually I set myself a deadline. If I did not located an adhesive that I was happy with by the time the subfloor and underlayment was down and ready, then I would go ahead and use the adhesive I already had. In the end, time ran out before I found what I wanted. Obviously, I should have started much sooner on this one.