From the category archives:

Home Improvement

Tweet Relative Humidity is part of indoor air comfort Your Turn:  How come I’m comfortable with the air conditioning temperature but my husband keeps complaining that he’s still hot?   Maria, Fayetteville, NC My Turn: To a green builder, your family’s comfort is a critical part of indoor air quality. It’s said Americans spend an average […]

Tweet What IS true green vs. greenwashing? This label in a duct cleaning company ad caught my eye last week. Got any idea what the image means? I do and now, you’ll know….

Tweet By Joanne H. Shawcross I once  had some friends get married and they combined two apartments full of stuff into one house. What a design ‘train wreck’  that was – A maroon sofa with a turquoise coffee table… Don’t feel bad if you’re a person who has difficulty with coordinating colors in a room. […]

Tweet About 90 percent of the power used by a traditional light bulb creates heat, not visible light. That’s why, as a kid, I could make Teddy his favorite brownies in my Easy Bake Oven. These days though I want my bedroom to be lit for reading, not heating, so I banned incandescent light bulbs. […]

Tweet 2011 tax credits help you have a greener home Yippee! For the third year in a row, you can get federal tax credits (and more) for your green home building or remodeling. Many people mistakenly believe the $2,000 federal tax credit for new, energy-efficient homes ended in 2010, but Congress extended the perks through […]

Tweet By Joanne H. Shawcross I used to have a college friend that had the cutest apartment in an old Victorian, but it had some of the ugliest radiators you’ve ever seen. Let’s say you have a room at home that has something you want to ignore or hide.  It could be a ‘bad bookcase’ […]

Tweet The calendar says it’s the first day of autumn, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Stifling heat has stubbornly plagued our Carolina Sandhills area all summer.  And if the forecast for highs in the 90′s continues, this week will mark 100 days of 90-degree plus weather in 2010. Now That’s what I call […]

Tweet Your Turn: I’m interested in using a solar tube to light a half bathroom. It sounds like a smart way to capture free sunlight. We are building a one-story addition onto the north side of the house where there’s no sunshine in any season. Is it still possible to get enough natural daylight? I […]

Tweet By Joanne H. Shawcross I love old-fashioned hardware stores. Unfortunately, they are becoming rare, so you may never have shopped there. I was lucky enough to grow up when every town had one. Ours was named “Durfee’s,” in a building not so wide as it was deep and dark, zig-zagged with long shelves jammed […]

Tweet Here’s What They Said: Renovation Project Makes Old House Environmentally Friendly Click thru Photos 8 to 15 Many Thanks to our Green Partnership Sponsors and Companies for such great efforts on our 2010 Green Remodel Idea House: General  Contractor:       Showcase Construction Plumbing fixtures:           Moen – shower room Plumbing fixtures:           Kohler – […]