Trim The Home in Eco Friendly Green

Gardeners who recycle garden waste and kitchen scraps enjoy good quality free compost. But, sometimes it can seem to take a while for that garden compost to be created. Maybe then its time for the addition of a compost accelerator.

Whether or not you need to add a compost accelerator to your compost bins really depends on what else is going into making your compost. You may automatically be composting waste which is in itself a great compost activator. If you do, you probably already find your compost bins create fantastic, rich compost for you in no time. If not, maybe you keep waiting and waiting for that lovely hummus smelling of damp woodland to materialize, to no avail.

If you feel like you have been waiting for your garden compost to get working for the last six months you definitely need a compost accelerator to speed up the composting process. The chances are your heap just doesn’t have enough nitrogen rich matter in it. All the organisms working to break down your garden waste into usable garden compost will be there, but in small quantity. Give them a boost of nitrogen and their activity will increase exponentially. They will multiply and work their little bacterial socks off for you.

Adding a nitrogen rich substance gives all those organisms lots of food. They work faster on all the other stuff on your compost heap, motivated by that nitrogen ‘hit’. The whole compost pile will heat up significantly after an addition of activator so all the other garden waste gets broken down more quickly.

If you add any kitchen scraps you really want the heap to get hot, to destroy all the bacteria in that food. A regular addition of a nitrogen rich compost accelerator will do the job in no time.

Ways to add a compost activator include powdered blood and bone, fish meal or pelleted poultry manure. All are really effective but not particularly nice to be around. Make sure you do not breath in any of the fine dust which comes off these bought products and wash well after using!

Alternatively (and I am afraid, even more messily), you can simply add animal manure onto the compost heap directly. This gives you another reason to keep poultry or install a super environmentally friendly dry composting toilet!

Any slow, cool compost bin can be activated in such a way. A weekly dose of accelerator is all that’s needed. For some, the most convenient form of compost accelerator is a product bought off the shelf. For others, its a stable full of horse manure! No matter which option is appropriate to your garden compost, make sure it gets a regular dose of activation!

If you have done any research on how to soundproof a ceiling from impact noise (footfall) as well as airborne noise, you have most likely discovered that a floated ceiling using sound clips and furring channels is the best way to combat these noises from above. In essence floating a ceiling on the sound clips and furring channels will offer you the best impact protection provided you add a layer of mass loaded vinyl directly to the open joists. This method of soundproofing is quite effective, yet it can be very costly to install and there is a great margin for error when floating a ceiling.

There is another method of soundproofing a ceiling from impact noise as well as airborne sound that is not quite as effective as the sound clip system, but it will offer you a cost effective solution to this problem by reducing the noise to a tolerable level.

The system I am describing is the Green Glue system. Green Glue is a visco elastic damping compound that when applied between 2 rigid hard surfaces, such as drywall, MDF or OSB and will act to dampen or change the resonant frequency of the wall board. A quick analogy is to visualize you ceiling as being a drum head, if the drywall ceiling has no been treated with the Green Glue the sound will resonate much like the sound of beating a drum head. Now if you add the Green glue to the equation you have in essence placed a finger onto the middle of the drum head and completely stopped the resonance of the drum. This is precisely how Green Glue works in a ceiling application. Acoustical Consultants and others in the field have long known that in order to achieve the best soundproofing, you need to deaden or dampen the structure above as well as the drywall. Green Glue does exactly that; it deadens the existing drywall as well as the new drywall with the Green glue applied that you screwed into the existing drywall ceiling.

Will Green glue get rid of all the impact noise from above? Probably not, but will it make your life more tolerable? You bet it will. Green Glue is an economical and effective way to soundproof your walls, floors and ceilings from both airborne and Impact noise from the people living above you. Green Glue is effective in most condo and co-op situations and works remarkably well in lofts as well. When you’re at your wits end and need to soundproof right now, Green Glue is the fast and effective soundproofing answer. For more in depth information about soundproofing your ceiling with Green Glue, go to www.greengluecompany.com and read the many testimonials on this product and see the test that were performed with Green Glue against Mass loaded vinyl, lead sheeting, Quiet Rock and Quiet Glue. Green Glue out performs these and many other soundproofing agents hands down. Many companies such as Soundproofing America and Sound Isolation Company offer quality discounts and contractor pricing on the Green Glue. Thanks for reading. Dr. Bob. out!

Wood floors are the healthy choice; they require fewer chemicals to clean than other floor coverings, and they don’t trap dust and fumes in the fibers or grow mold in the grout. More and more people are choosing wood floors for anyone with allergies. Don’t be surprised if a doctor recommends a wood floor for your spine and joints. Wood is known to give a little and can be easier on your legs and feet.

Antique and Reclaimed wood floors are an ever popular trend in flooring. Wood that is reclaimed can provide the benefits of old growth timber with the added plus so that not a single living forest tree is sacrificed. This is where living green comes into play.

Reclaimed and Antique wood can be milled to look like new, or sometimes consumers look for wood with nail holes, bolt holes, and other fastener marks which make these characteristics part of the appeal. The old lumber will have rustic character marks from many years of use and exposure to the elements.

Many of the floors come out of buildings about to be demolished or in the process of being refurbished. Antique wood flooring can be reclaimed from lumber salvaged from dismantled old barns and buildings. Antique and Distressed wood floors are prized for their beauty, stability and patina. Antique and distressed wood is usually from salvaged vintage homes, barns and structures.

A rustic wood floor will have more of the natural character such as knots, distinct color variations, possible insect marks, surface checking and varying grain patterns. Reclaimed or Antique flooring usually comes from the old growth forests from our early American history. Today they can still be found in floors in old homes and historic structures in many parts of the country. This wood displays character unmatched by any artificial means. Wide Plank flooring can also come from newly sawd old growth lumber. The use of wider widths and longer lengths will reduce the number of end to end seams in the floor which creates a historical authentic look.

Much of this vintage recycled timber comes from old growth forest and was used to construct old buildings. This vintage lumber has unparalleled architectural quality and character, not to mention beauty.

Some antique wood flooring is sometimes called country hardwood flooring and is made from salvaged oak, maple, cherry, hickory, walnut, chestnut, white oak and other vintage reclaimed woods.

No two floors are exactly alike and usually can be found in random widths. Reclaimed hardwood flooring may contain characteristics inherent in aged wood, including cracked knots, slight surface checking, insect and nail holes, weather checking, and color variation.

Benefits of using Reclaimed and Antique wood flooring: A floor made from antique wood has beauty and defining character that cannot be found in newly sawd timber.

Recycling wood is an alternative to cutting down trees. This is good for the environment.
Reclaimed wood has been transformed by nature and time which is a link to our past. Having a piece of history in your home can be very satisfying.
The character and patina of the wood cannot be duplicated.
Older growth wood is denser and more dimensionally stable than new growth wood which are traits more desirable for wood flooring.
Certain species such as American Chestnut can only be found through reclaimed wood suppliers.

What about Antique Wood over radiant heat?

The use of radiant heating systems is growing in popularity throughout the United States, especially under wood floors. Radiant heat is an excellent heating source. With proper acclimation and installation methods, Reclaimed and Antique wood is an exceptional choice over radiant heat.

Radiant heat is healthier for the wood than alternative heating systems. The heat is evenly distributed throughout the floor at a low temperature. Each board is exposed to the same amount of heat and does not encounter uneven drying.

Radiant heating actually replicates the natural process that antique wood has experienced. Wood that was used to support a factory, barn or building was exposed for decades to a regular increase and decrease in temperature and moisture. In some cases, the timbers from which the boards were cut have been slightly expanding and contracting for over a century in their previous installation. Radiant heat, with its low temperatures and even distribution affects the wood flooring the same way, but the impact is much less dramatic with Antique or Reclaimed wood than newly sawd wood because it has already been through this cycle for years!

Pricing

Generally speaking, the price of reclaimed flooring is a bit higher. Pricing for uninstalled wood can start at $5.95 a square foot and can top the $22.00 mark. The price of recycled Antique and Reclaimed lumber will vary with the size, grade, length, quantity, and surface character of the material and whether the material is purchased in its existing condition or re-manufactured/milled to your specifications. The cost of recycled lumber is generally more expensive than new lumber of the like grade and size. If the lumber goes through the re-manufacturing process, it will add nominally to this cost base to offset the expense involved in cleaning, de-nailing, re-manufacturing and grading. The process of turning the reclaimed lumber into flooring can be lengthy and involves considerable time, money and expertise.

In conclusion, reclaimed wood floors are becoming increasingly popular due to some consumer interest in historic preservation and also to advance the green building design. These woods often offer superior quality from wood that grew slowly and is often more dense than faster grown wood.

Vintage and antique reclaimed wood adds to the warmth, character and atmosphere of a country home. This wood has character from abundant natural traits. Some planks are generally wider boards and have a character and charm that display an instinctive sense of harmony and spirit of country living. A feeling of history from a time when using solid wood flooring was the way a home was built.

If you already have a Reclaimed or Antique wood floor or are thinking about purchasing one, just think a little bit of American history is now or can be part of your home. What an exciting concept!

The sun have supplied heat and light to the human race since the early days – it radiates more energy in to space each and every second we could possibly ever utilize. The only real question, of course, is whether we can take advantage of that energy.

Solar hot water heating is a possible way of hot water heating system that will need little routine maintenance, makes use of the free power from the sun, and may be cost-effective.

To improve solar savings, give some thought to making a water system which uses solar domestic hot water, a fuel fired hot water heater for back up, and hydronic heat for the homes heating, closing the loop on the greatest energy consumers in your house.

Solar hot water heating utilizes panels that will collect sunlight the sun’s energy to heat water or fluid for use in place heating, area cooling, or hot water demands. This technology is mostly utilized in industrial and residential settings.

Solar hot water heating are especially beneficial to situations where lots of people are using hot water on a regular basis: hotels, healthcare settings, nursing homes residences, as well as small-scale private corporations.

There are 3 forms of system for solar hot water heating which are widespread today: The flat plate model; The integral collector; The evacuated tube solar collector.

Buying solar energy can be an investment decision later on for the natural environment. Through the use of solar energy to heat household hot water you’re making an effort to minimize our reliance on fossil fuels simultaneously increasing the energy efficiency.

Investing in a system during the time of new development is actually a good option. Most of the time, electrical savings from the solar hot water system are more than the price of the system.

Solar heating panels are among the most economical approaches to decrease your bills and create a beneficial share for the natural environment. The truth is the volume of air pollution lessened by setting up a domestic solar heating system is comparable to getting one truck or car off the road.

Solar heating is among the most well-known environment friendly most safe choices over standard energy sources.

Hot water heaters are utilized in each and every home and business office to heat water for day-to-day use. Using Solar heating panels for producing heat on your home yields clean electricity utilizing solar energy.

Solar heating systems not simply rock because of the maximum performance, but due to their outstanding adaptability, keeping in mind its simple and inexpensive installment. Solar technology is appealing.

Solar heating systems fall under 2 types: passive and active. Passive systems make use of the suns rays to heat an area immediately, keeping the heat in a bulk of concrete, rock, or water.

Solar hot water heating requires absolutely no special routine maintenance after mounted and is also due to last above 20 years without malfunction.

Many people have set up solar water heaters within their properties and companies and most of which think it as a wise investment.

Harnessing solar energy implies that we live in a better, eco-friendly, much less polluted planet, that people spend less for the energy demands, and that we greatly help the environment by evading the hazards to it manifested, for instance, from the oil spills which are currently so recurrent nowadays.