Greenovision

Tenants Harbor bench progress

2008-11-08T11:49:00.003-05:00

A view of the new bench stantions in place...finally ... just need the wood planks for completion...next spring....

Building a bench alongside the Seals of Tenants Harbor

2008-10-27T17:32:00.003-04:00

Its been a cool project to work alongside the wildlife of the coast. The Loons in their winter plumage eating crabs. The Osprey screeching eerily on the other shore. The tide flowing by always telling the time.

Emily has been "holding the other end of the tape", she is a real camper, never complains. The crib stone has been good rock with the proper machining characteristics, ie. takes a hammerdrill bit well, and can actually be chiseled some. I have had Mark from Marks Metal fabrication shop help me on this project, he has had some very good advice and we have got along great. Today he came out and 'tack' tig welded the stantions to the mounting plates... then I took the whole wooden jig apart that had held all braced in place for the welding opertation. After that I unbolted the stainless steel post from the crib. Emily and I cleaned up the site...took a last gaze out at the bay, the islands, the ocean, and packed the car with the pieces.... back to Marks shop where he will weld gusset plates to further brace the post and mounting plates. So its a process, not fast, not slow, but accurate.

Design on hold, westward bound

2008-10-24T09:13:00.003-04:00

When life gives you time off from career, work, professional pursuits....take it and enjoy. Lately with the collapse of the economy there has been little coming my way as to new home design/construction, or anything resembling stable work ....so instead of worring and fretting Emily and I are going to West Yellowstone, Montana to do some early season nordic skiing. Maybe by spring things will warm-up.
It has been slow, slow, slow, I have waited for someone to call me about designing or building a sustainable, energy efficient, small home.... the time is good to get out of the old oil consumptive farm house and into a new home outfit with passive energy strategies, but no one can sell there old farm house so...we are in a catch 22 situation.
Rocky mountains here we come!

Acadia 100 mile ride....a great group

2008-10-06T08:49:00.002-04:00

In between design time... Emily and I got a ride in, did the Acadia National park Century ride, it was a hoot, got to see a whole bunch of folks I have not seen in a while. Many folks I used to ride with in Portland. The day was spectacular, glistening sun on the ocean, and lakes, lots of happy cyclists parading around the park, taking the place over. I rode with some new folks from Belfast cycling team that had fast and large legs... hung on and enjoyed some punishment... rode with some folks from back bay cycle who are always fun to ride with.
The only down was not enough hydration, legs cramped a bit, but did make the climb up Cadillac with reasonable work. I was happy to see Emily on the way up as I sailed down the auto road. All in all we had a blast... if you get a chance do this non entry fee ride....many people having a grand day.

Up North in a Clay hole

2008-09-14T07:31:00.003-04:00

Well, not all design build work is interesting and joyful. Emily and I just spent a week up in Lakeville, Maine rebuilding the foundation under her camp. Several things to note about this experience are: Mainers up there are big. Everyone is big and they drive big trucks. I would say that going on a diet in these parts is eating one rather than two big macs. The folks are friendly, but if you don't go muddin' with a atv on the weekends, you might come up short on things to talk about with these folks...oh wait...the rain this summer and the prolonged mosquitoes were a few conversations I did manage with a local or two.
So, Emily and I spent the week jacking up the building, having the excavator dig us some new 5' deep footing tube holes, and mixing our own concrete. Emily got to go to Lincoln Maine Rental and rent the mixer and a sump pump. She found it very interesting. I guess they even sell dynamite there. I got to muck around in the holes and have dirt collapse on me while pick axing clay; it was great fun.
On occasion I would see that the wind was blowing across the lake and would have to give the windsurfer some crash action....
Then back to messing with the heaved up building. One thing is if you live in northern Maine, don't think that you can dig your foundation with a shovel....the rocks are too big, the clay to thick, and the frost line too deep. This is what the original builder had done; he cheaped out and didn't spent the money on a proper excavation job. In the end, he had sono ("sonah") tubes that were only 18" to 2' deep, some sitting on the boulder that the shovel found in the way. In the end, the boulders heave up in the winter, wrack the building, break windows, and make a mess for unlucky builders like myself and Emily.
In the end: job completed, new foundation that wont sag or heave, some new pain and stain, a gutter, some new drainage....and an aching back, a bunch of welts from September mosquitoes?! But, on our last day we were rewarded to one of Mainers' favorite pastimes: drinking cheap beer starting at 9 am. and burning old brush piles with the very few neighbors that there are there....yippy....then we got to get the hell out of there. Back to the 'civilized' world of Camden, Maine....its "so perfect here" said Emily with her nose in the air.

Presidential Mountain madness

2008-08-21T08:51:00.010-04:00

Just wanted to tell about our (Emily and I) bike ride around the Presidential mountains this last Tuesday. It was a plan conceived of after we read about it last year; a 100+ miler that rides over some of the big notches in Maine and NH. We decided last week to head to Portland to see some friends, then to proceed on to Fryeburg, Maine to start out. Well, the weather report made it look in our advantage to wait Monday out....hot and humid... but with a cold front coming to bring this wonderful fall like air we have today.
On Monday night we didn't bother to check the weather report because all indications throughout the week had shown that Tuesday would be very sunny, plus we had already postponed a day. Tuesday....we wake at 6 am.....dark and cloudy...hum... well lets go... the weather will clear...
After driving towards what looked like doomsday to the N west...the rain started...hum?
We kept eating our snacks, drinking fluids, and preparing mentally for what was looking like a wet start. Arriving in Fryeburg at 9 am, the rain and clouds were very present. We drove to our starting point just across the Saco River and parked. The clouds and rain were socked in good. I said to Emily that we should just commit and get wet for a bit...it would clear soon and we would dry out. Well, Emily was not so sure....so we pumped up the tires and filled our jersey pockets with goo, and snack...and headed off into the rain. Emily luckily had brought a long sleeve jersey and I had packed a wind breaker....which seemed unnecessary when we departed Camden just a few days before.
We rode in the rain North towards Evans notch.... it was cold and windy, too. I kept thinking how it seemed kind of fun in a masochistic sort of way....knowing we would dry out quickly when the sun showed. Well, an hour into it Emily gave me the look from beneath her soggy helmet "this sucks". I said, "oh, its just blowing over the last of it...sun's coming". Well, no sooner had I said this than torrential down pouring rain, squalling winds. We kept a riding....
30 min. more and I pull over for a natural break...Emily rides up , she looks cold, slightly blue-lipped, and miserable...complaining that she can't eat her snacks because her hands are too cold to open them. I think, "oh great, this ride is already going hypothermic." I get frustrated and shoot back "you have to try harder to get the food into you or you'll never make it." Emily's look was of an angry, cornered Fischer cat. I then gave her the two choices...1. we could ride back which would mean a hour and a half of more rain going back in the direction that the storm was heading ...or 2. keep heading North...knowing clear skies are ahead, Canadian high filling in, envisioning a sunny afternoon riding about Mount Washington. She looked like she wanted to bite my head off...and rode off ahead towards Evans notch.
There is a kind of beauty to the rain-soaked world when you are suffering in it. The clouds look so low and spooky. The rain squalls so sheet like on the river like pavement. The river beside us showed how wet it has been this summer: over-flowing the banks like in the spring...everything too green for August. At a point on the ride I recognized a spot where last year we had seen deer in the woods. Emily ahead pointed to the woods... I looked in and spotted a soggy deer looking like how I felt. What ever dry clothes I had were no longer. The cycling shorts felt like wet diapers, and everyone knows how wet shoes feel. We passed a soggy hiking group of youngsters...I asked them as we whistled by, "who's more miserable?" one boy looked up with a smile, the rest looked beat, and the guide laughed.
We rode on and the day ahead began to look very long indeed... I was even feeling a bit chilled....I ate a cliff bar choosing the food as diversion strategy. We rode by a farmer's garage, all farm tractors in a muddy yard out front...rotting potato crops in the foreground... the farmer and helper look out of the garage in dismay and see us riding by soaked to the bone....I think somehow it made them feel just a little bit more fortunate to at least not be us.
The last stretch before Evans notch has some down hills before the big climb. They were not the fun down hills today as a rooster tail of spray off my rear wheel gave me a very cold enema. But, hey, the clouds did seem to be breaking up with a patch of blue sky intermingling with swirling dark clouds, and blowing rain. The fields and woods had a rainy greenness to them. We head up the notch...heart rate rising and sweat of the brow...climbing felt good as warmth came back. At the outlook at the top I pulled over...time to get out of these wet socks and wring out. Emily pulled up, looking a bit better..." will that help?" she asked. "Well not for awhile, the wind and descent should dry them out eventually" I said and then made up some bullshit story about having had to dry socks on the handlebars on some other past misery ride...hoping to ease the tension. So, Emily wrung out her socks ...ate a cliff bar and we rode off, down the notch...the wind blew into us we gripped our bars with slimy cold hands in slimy cold gloves, and descended, down, down, down, no real sun, just clouds and wind.
We popped out on rt 2, crossed the Androscoggin river, and had a drying windy ride toward Gorham. The North road is really very nice cycling, slightly rolling, no real traffic, farms, camps, and views of the Presidentials to the south west, of course through the clouds. As we rode on, I felt the socks on the handlebars...still wet.
The stretch coming into Gorham the wind blew hard into us, the logging trucks whistled by and we both looked forward to getting off the bikes for a needed break. Cumby's- what a wonderful place, out of the wind and in the patches of sun that fell, the air pump and payphone against the building, a few dumpsters around....a place to take off soggy shoes, shoe liners, and the pavement felt warm on the bare feet. Emily went in to do a diaper change....she was day two of "that time of the month" to add to the already many difficulties of the day. We fueled up, got some gatorade, and put on the almost dry socks and shoes....
"So what do you want to do, Emily? Stay with the plan and head north for the Jefferson Notch road into the wind and a dreaded huge hill right out of Gorham. Or should we run with a tail wind and blow back over Pinkham notch...and fail our Century ride plan?" Just after I said that the flag before us snapped even harder in the wind. Emily said lets keep going as planed. Are you sure....? Yes.....Now there is a girl who likes a punishment.
Heading out of Gorham the traffic was thick, tourists and hikers drying out from the night and early morning soaking were everywhere. It felt cold, fall was already in the air, the break was good, yet, I needed to warm up, the legs felt the cold and the 45 miles behind us. Well, we got what we wanted: a warm up...that hill out of Gorham on rt 2 goes on and on....with a head wind...the next 10 miles into a wind, and the clouds didn't seem to want to go away. I could see Jefferson notch ahead, the clouds whisking over. I slowed to let Emily get a draft in. We got to the frontage road that the dirt Jefferson notch road starts from. It was nice to be on a country road again. Mile 52
The Jefferson notch road is a piece of work. It climbs for 7 miles all dirt, up and up. Well constructed with a beautiful crown to it, the road was in great shape, not too lose, thanks to the recent rains. I stopped to see how Emily was faring...she seemed more up now ...her "stump leg" was gone, or the wooden feeling of cold feet in a cold shoe. I said "We are doing it ...we are getting there." Emily looked almost happy....all was good...until I banked the next corner...yikes...the dirt road went straight up for as far as you could see, some early red leaves falling in between, and around the next corner more of the same, and the next. I was doing well, my heart rate was getting gradually higher every turn, my bike had just enough of a low 1st gear that I could make the grades without falling over. The road had just the right grade to allow the "roadie" passage. I stopped at the base of one steep grade to let Emily catch up...or truth be told, to avoid a heart attack. Emily rode up to me. "Have you had to get off yet?" I asked. "No," she said ...her bike has a third chain ring or "granny gear"...lucky her. My bike had a chain that is a bit stretched, so if I let the rear wheel spin out just a bit, the gearing skipped. So, I had to keep in the "sweet spot" over the handlebars to be able to pull with the arms....but not too far forward...hard on the back. The last few switch backs are text book, I thanked my history of mountain biking. And finally ahead I could see sky, the summit, and the sun threw a few rays through the hardwood reddened leaves...Ahh
Emily came into view, she actually smiled....Yeay! and we did the cliche Borat "high five". We were now on the way to heading home, the worst behind...or so we thought. Once over the notch heading south down into the Washington mountain bowl, where the cog railway starts, the weather got cold and wintry....the clouds allowed no sunlight through. Ahead as the road dropped steeply off and I could see the other side of the valley or Crawford notch in the distance through the swirling clouds. I began racing down the mountain dirt road. Instantly the brake levers were cold and almost sticking to the fingertips... I got down on the drops to get better leverage on the brakes. I pulled over....I wanted to give Emily this advice. When Emily came around the corner she had a disgruntled look and pulled up along side and said ..."I have stump foot again." I got a bit pissy again and retorted in a smeerish sneerish snide way "I have been waiting 5 minutes....what's taking you so long? Do you want to hang around here and freeze....Let's get on with it. Hanging around isn't going to make it any better." She gave me that look like "what a dink". I felt bad. I rode off. I said to myself as descending...she is doing really well, be easier on her, she is on her way to completing her first 100 mile ride. Keep things "up," Greeno. And then I started seeing how incredible this Notch is, the road runs parallel to a river for a long time, waterfalls, and pools, it would be so nice on a hot day.
So, the notch road pops out and crosses the cog railway access road and becomes the Clinton road, a tarmac road, bumpy, but consistent, which works its way to Crawford notch. As a matter of fact, it ends at the top of Crawford notch....no further climbing needed to begin the long decent back down towards Attitash, Jackson, and eventually N. Conway. We could see the valley ahead in complete sun...as we zoomed down the Crawford notch I hit sick speeds, and locked out the arms for the cross winds ...I had fear that Emily might forget this technique ...like a worried boyfriend....I looked back and she was whipping right along behind me. I hit the big chain ring and the wind now blowing down the notch at 25 to 35 mph gave a massive boost to the tiring legs. I was thankful to be descending with this tail wind rather than ascending into it as I had done on a ride in the past with a Jeffery Boulet character, where it took us 2 hours to ride 25 miles up this windy notch.
The oak trees caressed by afternoon light, blowing about in the wind as a foreground to the valley was so beautiful, I was so happy. As we approached the turn for Bear notch ...our original plan, I almost entertained the thought of climbing this notch. Then, I quickly remembered that my chain skip would make it suck, and also reminded myself that once I turned out of this tail wind, up the grade, I would have some suffering legs. Best to take mother nature's gift of this awesome tailwind and blow back home to the car and get off this aching ass. I pulled over at the turn off, and Emily agreed quickly. She had a natural break behind a semi rig that advertised a west coast chopper or something mundane....I broke out a goo and prepped myself for the long haul back...must have still had over 20 miles to go.
Well, the rest of the ride was a lot of traffic, luckily a good shoulder, and running out of liquids. Stopped at the scenic vista coming into N. Conway...took a natural break, got some water...I remembered it feeling like a long way from here back to Fryeburg....and it didn't feel any shorter this day. The drivers were lunatics, always being selfish, and with no courtesy of understanding of the bicyclists' dilemmas: pot holes, broken glass, getting cut off, etc...
Once on the east road back to Fryeburg, that feeling of being about done... the euphoria, the certain feeling of victory started to set in giving the legs that boost. Rounding the last corner on the home stretch, the corn in the western sunlight was very romantic... Emily and I pulled up to the car, dismounted and hugged and kissed... took an after-ride picture and reminisced about our ride......103 miles- not all fun, but certainly the adventure we had needed for a while. At this point, the goals and objectives were: buckets of spaghetti and meatballs, beer, and a bed at Bondo's in Portland.

A summer away from the blog

2008-08-20T14:02:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since I last wrote a blog entry, I have been not on the computer much....out building and doing in the world. I spent the better part of the spring and summer finishing details on my folks home. Put together some of the exterior details that I couldn't get to in the dead of winter. I took apart the garage that was on site and recycled much of it in form of a new garage minus the normativeness of the old. So I will work to get some updates online on my website as soon as I can.

Was my design ripped off?

2008-05-02T08:11:00.007-04:00

Have you ever designed something that you put your heart and soul into and later found out someone was taking credit for your hard work? This is common place in the architecture and design fields where citing sources is seldom practised. Unlike most other scholastic fields that must follow strict ethical principles of citing sources (bibliographies and such) the design fields follow a more informal approach where there are few rules as to piracy and theft of design from other designers. Why is this? Well... so much of the architecture and design fields function off of a daily rip off of others ideas during the design phase, it is part of the lifestyle of designing. A designer is constantly seeing others ideas in magazines, coffee table books, etc, etc. The designer may not even be aware that he/she is pirating an idea, for this visualization is often internal, or that their new contribution to the idea/design makes it different or unique. So this sort of thing is really part of what it is to be a designer or architect.
However, mischief and deviousness begins to occur when a designer knowingly takes full credit of a design when another designer was active in the same project they they built upon without citing that designer. When this sort of lack of respect and ethos occurs it turns the world of design into yet another world of abuse and scandal opening up a can of worms. Once a designer has been violated in this fashion he/she becomes cynical, and guarded. It is at this point where they often become secretive, bound by legal contracts. The openness of the design world as an art form loses the transparency, the collaborative process and trust that once made it a unique and wonderful field.
Perhaps some of the most savage purveyors of such mischief are the egotist architects/designers who believe that it is not necessary to acknowledge those who actually build their projects(elitists). Sure their concepts give rise to a product, but it is the craftsman, the everyday labor that goes into the building that makes that project come to reality. It is with this sort of disrespect that makes individuals guarded, jaded, and disconnected. I have witnessed this sort of separation in the world of design and construction. It divides the builder from the architect/designer and in the long run creates dysfunctional relationship.
In the end we work should work together on projects. The project is only as good as its weakest link, it is through respect of the collaborative process and the individual that all links are strengthened.

Prefab=globalization....not good

2008-04-11T03:18:00.000-04:00

Everywhere I look, every single design website/magazine , all of them are pushing prefabricated homes.....why? Why do we continue to outsource everything...even our own homes. Why do we insist on factory made even when we know what it all means...china.china.china...increased transportation of objects, the devaluation and demise of local craftsman,local material use, and and the associated lack of appropriateness to site, region, local weather and spirit.
What is wrong with local, homemade, in our back yard? Is it that local equals boring? It doesn't have to be.
In this time prefabrication of whole homes not just the windows is the wrong direction for our planet. We need to put the reins on. The more we give up on our local resource base, talent, and know-how the more we admit that we are lost, that we can't even create the world we want to live in with our own hands, with help from our friends family and community. Its these close ties that need to be nurtured; not devalued.
When we chose to order from catalogues we are admitting that our local resources are inadequate or are exhausted. The more often we give up on providing for ourselves the more needy we become.

SoPo and codes galore

2008-04-06T13:39:00.003-04:00

A rendering of proposed dwelling in S.Portland, Maine

Working in South Portland Maine on a project for a client I am again confronted with the codification of the residential sector. The modernist zoning sublime, a system like a dinosaur of sorts already passe'. 250 unweldy pages of codes stacked like cord wood all telling the land owner what to he can do with his chunk of land.

and here it comes, globalized architecture

2008-03-24T13:25:00.004-04:00

Maine falls victim to believing that globalization of building codes is a good thing. The following link shows a general acceptance that simplifying the building codes of Maine's varying regions to a monolithic 'one code fits all' system .
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=177484&ac=PHnws

Building codes are all good right?

2008-03-06T08:30:00.002-05:00

Portland Maine, a town trying to be a city, has recently adopted the International Residential Code. The IRC is a rather globalist style code system that breaks down the country into different zones, it is really quite generalized when you consider it tries to handle the whole country. It is an engineers sublime in a sense, everything is turned into a number, a force, a zone. It is a system that insures the dumbing down of architecture, the loss of regional common sense and it creates a need for revision and amendment according to local town environments and needs. However, once again Maine is sheepishly following the times and allowing this sort of modernist coded agenda eclipse local knowledge and practicality.
In the long run this IRC system is flawed much like the globalised NAFTA ecconomy.
Who is going to implement it? Who is going to check up on the contractors and insure that they are complying....Portland has so few residential building code enforcement officials, they are going to be hard pressed to make it to many of the job sites. Would it not be better to spend the time and money on programs that assist builders to making correct decisions rather than hiring more "police officers".

The modern code system creates such redundancies that it is very difficult to be creative or to be able to afford much more than a codified box. Between modernization of electrical systems, insulation, heating systems, radon venting, fire suppression systems etc. the home owner, designer and builder is left with a spent budget. In other words there is no budget for creative and inspirational design. This explains the modern-day boringness found in most homes. In order for your remodeled or new home to meet modern codes for insulative values it must be able to re-enter the earths atmosphere without burning up. A remodeled home goes from a R value of 5 to R-48 in roof systems. Of course in this day of a looming energy crises we need to tighten up the building but to what point is it overly tightened?

Those praising the IRC are architects, builders, and code enforcement personel who argue that it simplifies the system. Those professionals argue that by adopting one code system in all towns it reduces the examination of the varieties of code systems that are in place i.e. BOCA, IBC, IRC, and a long list of other building code acronyms. This is a myth....there will always need to be amendment by each town and there will be the latest year code book, IRC 2004, IRC 2008, etc., etc.. As an example lets look at Radon gas....In the IRC Maine is lumped into a high risk radon zone....this means all new construction has to include radon venting systems below grade. If you know anything about radon gas it precipitates from ledgerock, it rises up through the ground and can become trapped under your basement concrete slab, then seep in and cause the occupants cancer ....that is if you build over ledge....what if you build where there is no ledge immediately below? According to the IRC your builder will have to install radon gas venting systems because it dumbs down critical thinking. Even more what if your designer is smart and keeps everyone above ground, or there is no basement dwelling, which is really the best sense, the building still has to have this radon venting....these redundancies are expensive, and unnecessary.

My point is yes there need to be codes as guidelines but lets not dumb down the issue. There is no replacement for local knowledge. Codes are meant to be guidelines not the end all decision. The IRC is just another code, it will not solve all of our building dilemmas ....thoughful designers, and builders with local understanding will...there is no replacement.

Contractor licensing in Maine = more useless laws

2008-02-19T18:24:00.010-05:00

A word or two today about a somewhat mundane topic yet a necessary one, contractor licensing.
Recently Jon Hinck a local politician in my town of Portland has chosen to create a bill that was reported in The West End News
"...would create the Maine Home Contractor Licensing Board, which would oversee the licensing and collection of fees. Under the legislation, any contractors and people who perform residential framing, roofing, siding, insulating, window work or chimney work would require licenses. It would also require the adoption of a model building code.
The bill would also help make sure that contractors who take money in advance can be found and their customers reimbursed when a job is not completed in a workmanlike and reasonably skilled manner."
Sounds good right? Sounds like these thieving darn contractors will finally be controlled right? Well lets just take a look into what State Licensing will do to the contractor. First it will require more money to do contracting work, more money up front to pay for the license, then the bonding, then the contractor liability insurance, then the lawyer fees, on top of the contractors piles of bills for tools, permits, and transportation. Licensing narrows the players down to who has the money, the ability to deal with regulation and bureaucracy. Why is it that politicians think that more laws are going to insure our safety and security? James Fenn a student at Brigham Young University attempted in his thesis dissertation to examine the subject and found that: visit his thesis at http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd708.pdf
"Contractor licensing is a form of occupational regulation whose purpose it is to protect the consumer, the contractor and the industry. This is accomplished by minimum guidelines and standards for obtaining a license. It is still difficult, however, to measure the overall effect of licensing on the construction industry because of intangible benefits such as increased confidence and improved reputation. Yet, in order to have a regulatory system that benefits all of society, states must be able to measure how well licensing is serving the intended purpose for licensing."

As a builder with a masters degree in Architecture I have built homes in states with and without contractor licensing. My opinion is it is more bureaucracy and without affect. From my experience going through the licensing to be a contractor in the state of Montana it amounts to money...paperwork... and more money to the builder ...(Oh but they do give you a sticker and a badge to show you are a good scout). I did not see a more diligent building code enforcement, but what I did see were more builders with licensing as a credential, and its not like these builders were doing a whole lot differently except charging more for their services.
Perhaps one of the more abstract and less discussed topics concerning licensure is how it filters those who do the work in a negative way. Much like the licensing to become an "Architect" it exasperates many of those with the more creative talents, many of those types and I am one of them are sick and tired of "the System" of false credentials. What I have found is the types that put up with these bureaucratic hurdles are the types that are good at, studying and doing what they are told to do. They are usually not the creative types. This is why so much of the "designed?" and built world today lacks imagination. The designer and builder become rule followers, they get good at complying. This might be fine if it is routine maintenance work but what if the project involves creative thinking, or original thought?
Please keep in mind a license doesn't make someone more compliant, it just makes them have to charge more. I wouldn't support the creation of this law when there is not proof that it will even work. With building code enforcement offices already maxed out and undermanned it seems unlikely they will be able to assist in enforcing the new contractor license rules. "those unreliable contractors" I for one am tired of hearing it....if you want a decent builder....research the field of building, know what you are looking for, it is like going to an auto repairman, show that you know the difference between a spark plug and a radiator hose....thats empowerment! Good old fashion knowledge.

Some ski time for me

2008-02-13T08:30:00.003-05:00

A day off from working before the storm soaks our snow

Green Buildings?

2008-02-09T08:08:00.001-05:00

...... Architects are
idea people.
We have concepts and
make designs that embody or implement them. We present them as clearly and openly as possible, and can only hope that others will find them useful to their ends, and build them. LEBBEUS WOODS

Green buildings ...do they exist or are we playing with words and trends again? It seems since William McDonough & Michael Braungart book Cradle to Cradle hit the book shelves there has been a wide range of mis-information about "green building". I am not saying that McDonoughs book was off the track....actually it is dead on, what I am saying is that it started a trend of marketing the idea of "green building". Today one can look on the web and find a bizillion sites claiming to be green builders, architects, designers....it is a catchword now for expensive construction.
To give an example of the dilemas that Green construction faces one only need to look as far as their own bathroom. The bathroom is a perfect example of a green place that only gets greener and greener without non green products. Mold and mildew are the enemies builders face as a consequences of climate on buildings. If you need varification that all mold is not always our friend see
http://www.inspect-ny.com/mold/moldsymptoms.htm
or: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionellosis

Legionnaires' disease Philadelphia, 1976

The first recognized outbreak occurred on July 27, 1976 at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where members of the American Legion, a United States military veterans association, had gathered for the American Bicentennial. Within two days of the event’s start, veterans began falling ill with a then-unidentified pneumonia. Numbers differ, but perhaps as many as 221 people were given medical treatment and 34 deaths occurred. At the time, the U.S. was debating the risk of a possible swine fluvaccinationCenters for Disease Control and Prevention mounted an unprecedented investigation and by September, the focus had shifted from outside causes, such as a disease carrier, to the hotel environment itself. In January 1977, the Legionellosis bacterium was finally identified and isolated, and found to be breeding in the cooling tower of the hotel’s air conditioning system, which then spread it through the entire building. This finding prompted new regulations worldwide for climate control systems.

In the climate of East Coastal Maine where I live there is a serious war we wage with Mold because of moisture associated with condensation. Much like the bathroom example our homes and buildings are similar, they fill with moisture. The hidden moisture that causes so many mold and mildew problems occurs in the walls and roof systems of our buildings. This is because of the temperature difference that occurs between the outside and the inside of the home. The outside in the winter is cold, the inside is warm, and vice versa in the summer. This temperature difference causes condensation much like the steam filling the bathroom during a shower. So how does a builder handle the difference in temperature....insulation.... the more the better in order to keep the condensation zone towards the outside of the building. The best way I have found to stop mold growth in the wall cavity is to use a blown closed cell foam , is this an example of a green product?
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/ask/poly a link to find out about PolyUrethane foams like Corbond pretty much gives you the idea...its not too green....but it really works in keeping the moisture out because it is closed cell foam meaning like a plastic bag it keeps moisture out. The added flame retardents are at issue as well and cause horribly caustic vapors when burned. So there you have it try to stop mold and you are up against a fence. How to do this without toxic materials has been an issue that the building world has struggled with.

I am not suggesting that it is impossible to build without toxins, what I am suggesting is that to build with longevity and human health in mind becomes very difficult. The toxins that off-gas during the curing or burning of foams and urethane sealants, VS mold, rot, mildew.....
As a builder and designer I struggle with these issues....and I can tell you in order to make a non toxic home we might have to go back to deer skin teepees. Longevity is to defy rot....to defy rot is to be toxic or expensive; a paradox of sorts.
I strive to make healthy buildings, I strive to make them affordable and lasting. I strive to not be a hypocrite and a liar.....

Sustainable design?

2008-02-07T21:05:00.001-05:00

Just some musing this morning about sustainability....there are some fads out there right now in the design world, one is called prefabrication. The other is affordable design and build. Dwell magazine is filled with these two notions. I have thought about these notions over the years of building and designing of homes. I would like to just note some of my findings and thoughts.
The building and architectural professions have often viewed prefabrication as a way to bring innovative design to any location and in theory with economy. Most notably Ikea has exploited this notion and with huge results world wide.

"The IKEA Concept is based on offering a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. Rather than selling expensive home furnishings that only a few can buy, the IKEA Concept makes it possible to serve the many by providing low-priced products that contribute to helping more people live a better life at home.

The IKEA Concept guides the way IKEA products are designed, manufactured, transported, sold and assembled. All of these factors contribute to transforming the IKEA Concept into a reality." -IKEA Catalogue

Ikea has instilled this idea of design for the masses ( a modernist notion); however, one must look further than the glossy images in Ikea's catalogs. One must cut through the veneer of an Ikea cabinet to begin to understand the full implication of their core material and I am not just talking about toxic, cheap, glue based particle board. The idea of affordable prefabrication is based on industrial method or factory work. I must propose a few questions as to factory work to get to the heart of the issue.
What are the implications of factory work in the modern day? What does factory work do to local economies, and do the products made in these factories fulfill sustainable standard. Lets keep with Ikea as an example to answer these questions. Ikea is able to create an affordable cabinet through using factory mass produced production method. The product is constructed not where we live but elsewhere. We never meet those who assemble these cabinets or see how they live. We never see what they use for materials, what the composite of the cabinet is made of or where any of materials come from. It probably just as well because it is not pretty process, nor are these products really happily made. China ,as we know, is primarily where most mass produced products come from. If the product does not directly come from China some part of it does like say the door hinges or the knobs or the glue. By fabricating cabinets elsewhere, the product may initially be cheaper , but they must still be transported, and transportation requires fuel. As we know, the burning of fossil fuel contributes to global warming.
The issue that the consumer is not addressing is what happens in our home town when we buy "cheap " products from afar. Every time we buy an Ikea cabinet we are saying no to a local cabinetmaker. Every-time we say no to a local crafts-person we debase local craft and we insure that local craft dies off. Not only do we chose to lose this local craft, we are also saying no to local materials that would make this cabinet. In Maine we have woods, we have mills, and we have lumber yards, but not for long if we keep purchasing objects from afar. Our local economies depend on us to continue purchasing. When we harvest and use local materials, we are aware of two things: we see the woods being cut down and we see what the oblject is made of. In other words, we are 'in touch' with our resources or the diminishing of them. The problem with prefabrication is that we lose touch with the resources being consumed and the production of them.
When we use local resources we are in check with consumption, we are in check with over consumption, we are buying local or keeping our valuable economies alive, our local skill base alive. Furthermore, often these materials blend in to the surroundings, they are less likely to be alien to 'place' and often make sense environmentally. As an example when I built a home in Liberty Maine I had choices all along the way as to choosing local materials or materials from away.
For the beams I could have chosen para-lams which are essentially beams made out of glue and wood chip, or I could chose locally harvested and milled Hemlock. Through out the process of choosing I had to look at a variety of parameters....Strength, availability, cost, and sustainability. What I found is that Para-lam, because it is a corporally made material, has the ups and downs . Its ups are that it is engineered....or that it is rated and is consistent. It is easy for an engineer a structure or to plug numbers of loads values and get a final figure to know if the building will stand. The down side is that it is not local, the product has to be transported, and the company has a lot of overhead because of environmental standards it has to uphold....i.e. glues,glues, glues,...OSHA ,OSHA,OSHA (occupational safety and health administration), ceo's also need to make buck too. This made this product expensive! And do I want building filled with more glue? So back to the local hemlock, I found a mill close by, and the owner would delivered the beams himself, plus it was two thirds the cost compared to the para-lam. In the end I used the Para-lam sparingly where I knew main carrying beams needed to be consistent (dimensionally,straight, without knots) and used the hemlock everywhere else. It is this sort of decision making that a designer/builder must embark on. There are products that are technological ones like thermal control units, windows, insulation which most likely are not made in ones home town and these must be ordered but there are also products that are local should be used if possible.

I think I will continue at another time with the affordable design build topic....I need to take a break
Oh yeah check out. a 20 minute video about choices .... consumer and factory http://www.storyofstuff.com/

and compare this to
http://franchisor.ikea.com/showContent.asp?swfId=concept0

Hello world

2008-02-07T20:53:00.000-05:00

This is a test of Greenovision's blog.