Questions

My wife has almost died several times and we found out it's from extensive formaldehyde and other toxin overdoses from our manufactured home and now she has lupus. We are wanting to move and would like to make this move as green as we can afford. We are looking at recycling used shipping containers to build a home with. One of our problems is that there are 10 in our family. Does anyone have any suggestions and/or help and/or information? Would Building Green TV be interested in doing a show(s) about this? Thanks.

Hi,

I would like to know if there are any "green builders" in my area.
I'm interested in the straw bale homes.

Thanks,
Judy
Albuquerque, NM

Despite my love of sailing (noted in below post) ; ) I spent the weekend landlocked in beautiful south-central Virginia discussing greywater with our contractor. (That is, when I wasn’t getting fat on all the yummy Amish food we bought: dinner rolls, goat cheese, pickled beets, zucchini relish and oatmeal cookies. Yum.)

The land perks, but because of the soil conditions I am trying to best approach the greywater as if it didn’t because of concerns for the stream (way below) the site.

It looks like we *are* going to be able to dig deep enough for rainwater cisterns (a separate topic) but I was having trouble explaining my idea for what I want to do with greywater and finding the "proof" of what other states/counties have done to back me up. (I am hoping to completely avoid a traditional septic field as that does not have peak performance for greywater- we will be using a composting toilet so the blackwater is separate, and using gravity to irrigate downhill where the land plateaus before continuing downhill to a creek...)

I keep a list of greywater manuals, etc. on http://www.greenmodernkits.com/greywater.htm

But what I found tonight is more food for thought:
http://www.enviroalternatives.com/toiletgraywater.html

Does anyone have any other information/resources to add? Anyone else building/using greywater treatment/fields?

Using hay is great for thermal protection,but squirrels and mice love it. How do you protect against a home invasion? Once they are in, they have a ready made mansion.

Hello,

I am a teacher at a school in Toronto and the students have started a school-wide program to green the school. One of the projects they are keen to pursue is building a large green wall. While the principle of the wall is easy to research, the name of the material the plants are to be set in is not so easy to find. We have looked around and have not had any success in finding what the best media is to set the plant roots in- does anyone know what the fibrous material is?

Thanks in advance,

Dr. Seth Halvorson
www.dragonacademy.org

Student Green School Project Website:
www.greendragonproject.blogspot.com

After my first book "Unwrapping the Hook&Build™ Building System" (http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=19116&92120739-26490aaa), I was asked by friends and colleges to write a follow-up about the use of the Hook&Build Building System for the Shell Housing idea, and other modular structures. They believe that there is a great need in the industry, especially in large housing developments to provide a building technology which is not only economical and green, but also of high quality, affordable, with flexible R-values, and a very long life expectancy. More importantly, these structures can be erected very quickly and enclosed with very little effort, and without getting into the problem of labour shortage. A shell house can be installed in less then a month.

Please see my web site under: http://web.mac.com/wwilbert1, and click on top of the site on 'Shell Housing' for more information on this idea.

My question to the members of BuildingGreen is: Do you feel that this kind of idea would create interests in the building industry, especially in larger developments.
Your input is very appreciated, thank you. Wolf

I'm looking for a recommendation on the type of glazed tile for my new project. It is a passive solar addition to my cape house in southern vermont. The new insulated concrete basement covered with a concrete floor will form the basis of my heat sink. I have the following questions:
1. Does the floor need cracking mitigation due to thermal expansion or will steel reinforcement suffice?
2. Is there any specific tile grade, color, surface texture recommendations to cover the concrete floor. This floor will be connected to my current living room (for expansion purposes) which has thin hardwood flooring stapled to hardibacker substrate. I intend for the new trombe floor and the existing living room floor to be seamless and covered with the tile in question.

Dear Kevin,
My husband and I have purchased a one acre lot in Shadow Hills, California. We have done extensive planning to build a house on this lot. We plan to use only green materials, have solar panels, solar water heating, have a gray water system, use permaculture gardening methods, as well as other environmentally conscience systems. Our hope was to document the process as you did, in order to share and inspire others to build in the same fashion. We plan to as well, be our own contractor/owner builder. Do you have any suggestions?

I am trying to do some research on Carbon Credits. Has anybody delt with a Carbon Broker or with these Carbon Credits before? I am a little lost since they seem to be incredibly popular overseas but not so much here in the US. Please help!!

Thanks!

I would like to know if there is anyone that lives near the fires that occured this last October in the San Bernardino, California mountains?

Hi, Kevin.

What will be next season's project?

Hi - hope you are doing well

Your program on PBS twice mentioned the use of fly ash in your concrete.
I think I understand the purpose of fly ash in concrete but can you please
tell me the concrete mix formula you prefer? I usually think of these things
in parts per cubic yard. One formula provided to me elsewhere is - 6 bag,
6 slump, and 6 fly ash, remainder in sand and preferred aggregate. My
preferred aggregate is 1/2 to 1 inch flint rock.
But i became interested in your formula after one of your guests mentioned
fly ash for a second time.

Thank you
Wayne

I am looking for information of companies and techniques in dealing with Soil Remediation for soil contaminated with Cr6+. The project is large in size and would be viewed as a 2 year timeline, with multiple locations which may require transportation of a mobile facility. The Cr6+ is in particle form, and we are looking to hear from individuals or companies that have dealt with such a situation and the method that they feel has worked best in the most effective manner in remediation of the soil, cost. and time.

Mark Wilbert

I lack understanding of lime and cement mixtures for applying scratch,brown and colored finish coats.

Can anyone supply any information on the best ways to study for the LEED Certification exam for New Projects? good study materials? study tactics? any information or suggestions would be of great help. Thanks!