Asphalt shingles/ Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...Asphaltshingles:Asphaltshingles© Ecohome We’ll start withshinglesto get it out of the way, because choosing an eco-friendly, durable roof covering starts first with dismissing any idea of installingasphaltshingles. High-embodied energy, rarely if ever recycled, they deteriorate rapidly with UV rays, e...

...asphaltshinglesare the most commonly used roof covering and last about 20 years, so by our math we assume these will last 40-60 years. We welcome anything that takes market share away fromasphaltshingles在住宅的生命周期中，它们是对环境影响最大的建筑材料。cost-effec……

There has been a steady evolution in the way we build homes over the last couple of decades, and the old standby wall recipe of 2x6s, fiberglass insulation and polyethylene doesn't measure up anymore with building codes, nor the trend towards high performance housing. One aspect of wall assemblies that is garnering ...

The best tips to save money & reduce bills? First of all, the best way to reduce bills & save money is to spend as little as possible for the maximum return , as not everyone who wants to be 'green' has a wad of bills they can throw at the latest and greatest renewable technologies for sustainable homes. So where sh...

There are many manufacturers of heat pump water heaters on the market, which, rather than heating water with an electric coil as a normal electric hot water tank does, employ an evaporator to extract heat from the air (either interior or exterior) and use it to make hot water. The byproduct of an air-to-water heat p...

Should I Renovate, Remodel or Rebuild? This very question comes up a lot for me during site consultations with clients . Some people buy an old home, maybe inherit an old home, or are just tired of living in an old home and aren’t sure of the best course of action. We toil over the same decision with old cars; somet...

Top Tips for preparing a home for winter Extremely low temperatures over winter can test your home in many ways , and sometimes your house will return a failing grade. Even brand new homes built to code can see failures of their building envelopes, windows, doors and ventilation systems during winter, a simple failu...

Crawlspace insulation - be careful to get it right A crawlspace comes with all the downsides of a basement, but it is just too low a space to be functional either beyond the folded plastic christmas tree and a couple of boxes of baubles. Unless there is a good reason for it, going through the process of pouring a fo...

...asphaltshingles, and because of their poor durability they may spend only 15 or 20 years on your roof before heading to a landfill. A properly installed green roof has a longer lifespan thanasphaltshinglesand will absorb and retain a large portion of storm water, which otherwise would end up in sewers needing to ...

...asphaltshingle roof is ‘cheaper’ for the initial install, though it is more costly in the long run since every 20 years or so we have to strip our roofs, send another load ofshinglesto a landfill and buy new ones. That is whyshinglesare the single greatest ecological catastrophe of the home building industry, and ...

...asphaltshingles, and they will better withstand extreme weather events – (high winds, heavy precipitation, hail etc.).Asphaltshinglesare only cheaper the first time you put them on. By the second install in as little as 15 years later, the cost will catch up to what you would have paid for metal roofing. Over the l...