10 Things to Know Before Building Your Deck

Building a deck is a huge undertaking. So, before you put hammer to nail, make sure you've thought about these design elements.

Invest in Fasteners

(1)When old decks get rickety, it's often due to failing fasteners, not the wood. Low-quality screws will corrode, discolor your deck, and eventually shorten your deck's life. Use stainless-steel or coated screws made specifically for pressure-treated wood. These screws will resist corrosion and extend your deck's lifespan. Warning: The popular electroplate-galvanized screws are not acceptable for decks.

(2)Conceal Your Support

Hide unsightly screwheads with hidden fasteners, which give deck surfaces a clean and simple look. Once the deck is complete, the hardware shown will be concealed by the deck boards. The fasteners come in many options, so check with your materials supplier for the best options.

Bonus: Hidden fasteners also make it safe to enjoy your deck while barefoot.

(3)Branch Out

Explore both wood and composite-decking options. Real wood is always in style, but hardwoods, such as ipe and jarrah, are becoming more popular because of their longevity. Composite decking is also becoming more popular because of its long lifespan and the fact that it's virtually maintenance-free. Both of these options are more expensive than wood, but the payback is in the extended, maintenance-free lifespan.

(4)Level Playing Field

Don't have enough room to spread out? Move down a level. Adding another level not only multiplies your living and entertaining space, but it also breaks up a long flight of stairs. Having a multilevel deck allows you to entertain close to the house, enjoy the shade on a second level, or soak up the sun on the lowest level.

(5)Beautiful Surroundings

Railings not only provide safety, they can also help beautify a deck. An innovative railing can turn an average deck into an extraordinary structure. Railings come in glass, metal, vinyl, composite, and cabling.

(6) Continued: http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/outdoor/decks/deck-building-ideas/?page=6

Evergreen Solar Introduces New Higher Power String Ribbon(TM) Solar Panel

Evergreen Solar Introduces New Higher Power String Ribbon(TM) Solar Panel at Solar Expo 2010 in Verona, Italy

The Company's most powerful solar panel to date

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), a manufacturer of String Ribbon(TM) solar power products with its proprietary silicon wafer technology, today introduced its newest ES-A series solar panel, a 215-watt panel that is the company's most powerful to date, at the Solar Expo in Verona, Italy, May 5-7, 2010.

The ES-A series is a range of high quality String Ribbon(TM) solar panels offering exceptional performance and industry-leading environmental credentials. This new ES-A-215 panel complements the company's current line of 200, 205 and 210 watt solar panels designed with a black frame that, when installed on roofs, improves the aesthetic appearance of solar arrays. The new ES-A 215 panel will be available for viewing throughout Solar Expo at the company's booth located in Hall 4, F3.1.

"Our new ES-A 215 solar panel continues to position Evergreen Solar as a leader in producing powerful, efficient, and environmentally-friendly solar panels," said Scott Gish, Evergreen Solar's Vice President, Sales and Marketing. "These panels are our most powerful solar panels to date with the tightest power tolerance in the industry, meaning our customers get optimal system performance right out of the box. At the same time, we are proud to lead the industry in environmental credentials with the smallest carbon footprint and the quickest energy payback of any silicon- based solar panel available today."

All Evergreen Solar String Ribbon solar panels are constructed using its proprietary wafer manufacturing technology which is the most environmentally-friendly process in the industry with virtually no wasted silicon. The carbon footprint of these panels is up to 30% smaller than that of its competitors. These solar panels also have the quickest energy payback, now as fast as 12 months for installed panels. And to round out the company's leading environmental credentials, this new ES-A panel also uses 100% cardboard-free packaging to minimize job site waste and disposal costs.

About Evergreen Solar, Inc.

Evergreen Solar, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets String Ribbon(TM) solar power products using its proprietary, low-cost silicon wafer technology. The Company's patented wafer manufacturing technology uses significantly less polysilicon than conventional processes. Evergreen Solar's products provide reliable and environmentally clean electric power for residential and commercial applications globally. For more information about the Company, please visit www.evergreensolar.com. Evergreen Solar(R) and String Ribbon(TM) are trademarks of Evergreen Solar, Inc.

(c) 2010 BUSINESS WIRE. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

Pokeberry valuable in solar production

A purple berry used by U.S. Civil War soldiers to write letters home could be used to advance solar power in poor rural areas, scientists said.

Pokeberries proliferate even during drought and in rocky, infertile soil, said David Carroll, director of Wake Forest University's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials.

When applied to fiber-based solar cells, the berry's dye acts as an absorber, helping the cell's fibers capture more sunlight to convert into power, Carroll said in a release from the university Thursday.

"They're weeds. They grow on every continent but Antarctica," Carroll said.

Newly developed fiber-based solar cells can produce twice as much power as current flat-cell technology and are less expensive to produce, he said.

"It's a low-cost solar cell that can be made to work with local, low-cost agricultural crops like pokeberries and with a means of production that emerging economies can afford," Carroll said.

Google Go's Green with Wind Turbine Investment

Google Go's Green with Wind Turbine Investment
Emission reduction, green spaces, and renewable energy are some of the most talked about topics of the 21^st century. With the recent passing of Earth Day, and the undying rally for improved green efforts worldwide, some industry giants are making a large footprint.

 

Oddly enough, it isn't the work of highly regarded green organizations (i.e. – Greenpeace and Global Green USA) that's capturing everybody's attention, but surprisingly enough extremely large technology companies, like Google for instance. Recently, Google stated that it had invested $38.8 million in two North Dakota wind farms [1]. – "On Friday we made our first direct investment in a utility-scale renewable energy project — two wind farms that generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 55,000 homes." Rick Needeham, (Google's Green Business Operations Manager), wrote within that Google is greatly interested in discovering new opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects that really ”push the envelope."

 

It wasn't enough for Google to be the world's biggest search and advertising company; it's evident that they truly do want to power the globe. Although, this isn't the first time that Google has made a large investment in green energy. Back in 2007, Google dove into clean-tech fray, clearly stating that it would spend "hundreds of millions of dollars" to create alternative energy sources that are cheaper than coal, which as we know it is the world's dominant fuel source and pollutant. They included that their effort RECTC (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal), would consist of wind power technologies, solar power, and more.

 

It's sometimes tough to make the connection between search and alternative energy, but with Google at the forefront of campaigns like this, it certainly makes me feel a bit more comfortable. With enough energy to power nearly 55,000 homes, Google is making a tremendous impact on sustainability for our planet. Non-profits and other similar collaborative units have been doing their part in supporting green initiatives since the beginning of the movement. For instance, Niranjan Shah and Globetrotters Engineering Corporation work closely with the USGBC (US Green Building Council) to improve building standards and provide LEED based architecture. Although, it's the unpredictable, long tail efforts of cash cows like Google that are helping substantially. 

Much like the individual,

businesses must play 

their roles in promoting 

sustainability.

 

Google entered into green technology development in startup companies and its own consumer energy tracking tools, although, they hadn't quite moved into actual working energy fabrication. This could infer future investments by Google, perhaps leading to the acquisition of their own wind powered turbine that would facilitate their own business needs.

 

Posted by Scotty, Scott's Contracting, Green Builder St Louis "Renewable Energy" 

People are Starting to Fix-Up Their Homes

The New Rules of Remodeling

by M.P. Mcqueen
Tuesday, May 4, 2010

provided by


You may have noticed the lines at home-improvement stores getting longer or heard the whirring of buzz saws in your neighborhood. After years of economic recession and housing-market malaise, people are starting to fix up their homes again.

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      According to an April 15 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, annual spending on remodeling is expected to accelerate this year, with nearly 5% growth over 2009. "This year could produce the first annual spending increase for the industry since 2006," the peak of the housing boom, says center director Nicolas P. Retsinas.
      But the forces driving today's action couldn't be more different from those during the boom. Back then, people wanted to renovate their places so that they could trade up to bigger homes, or because their home equity was soaring and they wanted to reinvest some of the spoils.
       Now, the opposite is happening: Many people who bought during the boom years are accepting the reality that they won't soon be swapping up for a sybaritic spread. Their mortgages may remain above water, but after years of falling home prices, their equity is so low that the transaction costs of buying a new house would leave little for a down payment.

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       In short, they are stuck.
"People have seen their down payments kind of wiped out," says Harvard economist Jeremy Stein. "They are locked into their house. They can't really move, even if they thought the other house was cheap and a good deal."
      So these people are making their homes more comfortable for a longer-than-expected stay. Setting aside old calculations of how much a particular improvement will add to resale value, they are making smaller tweaks that can make a big difference in livability. You might call it "psychological return on investment."
     Nowadays, say real-estate agents and contractors, smaller projects like updating kitchens and baths and humble attic-bedroom conversions are more popular, while two-story master suites and $100,000 kitchen blowouts are decidedly out of fashion. Hidden improvements like insulation also are on the rise, as people realize they won't be able to pass on their drafts, leaks and other problems to the next guy. Tax credits that expire in 2010 are enticing people to make energy improvements, too.
     One of the most cost-effective improvements, say contractors, is removing a wall to create an open kitchen-dining area. The project "makes the kitchen feel bigger and the kitchen and dining room more usable," says Sarah Susanka, an architect and author of "The Not So Big House" book series. "It's such a simple thing to do." It can cost as little as a couple of thousand dollars, according to David Merrick, a home remodeler in Kensington, Md., but can run much higher if plumbing and electrical work are involved.
      A surprising number of people fall into the category of being above water on their mortgage but anchored to their property. According to First American Core Logic, at least 24.5 million borrowers in the U.S. have home equity of less than 25%, and of those, 13.2 million are above water. Considering the 9% in commissions and fees that typically come with buying and selling a house, as well as the typical 20% down payment on the new one, it is easy to see why people aren't house-hopping like before.
      This applies even to affluent professionals. Paul Sorbera, an executive recruiter in Greenwich, Conn., is seeing it firsthand among his clients. He says many financial-services executives "bought $2 million homes in the good times and have $1.3 million houses now because of the price decline. They have some money in the bank and can afford their current living standard, but moving is very impractical for them."
    Economists, whose models often assume the rationality of hypothetical consumers, say remodeling makes sense for such people. "If they don't have a lot of equity in their houses and can't move, they should have a propensity to improve rather than move," says Richard K. Green, director of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate. "When you renovate, you save a lot of transaction costs."

Web sites such as Remodelormove.com offer calculators to help consumers make the decision.

Kate Anderson, 42 years old, of Sunnyvale, Calif., a technical writer and homemaker, and her husband, Scott, 43, a vice president at Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ, News), say they considered buying a larger place to accommodate their growing children, a daughter, 10, and son, 8. But they surmised that buying and selling now would be too expensive. "We didn't think it was worth the whole sale purchase expense … just to get a few extra square feet," Mrs. Anderson says.

Instead, they opted to fix up their 1950s-era tract home, worth an estimated $750,000. Most houses in their neighborhood with new kitchens and baths sell for up to $850,000, she says. While their home "is a little squished," they chose to "gradually improve it," she says.

In December, the Andersons remodeled their kitchen, putting in hardwood floors, cherry cabinets and stainless-steel appliances, ripping out a closet and expanding a doorway to improve the flow. They also installed new incandescent ceiling lights and under-cabinet fixtures, which Mrs. Anderson says she especially loves.

Because they made no major structural changes, they kept the cost to about $50,000, a bargain in the pricey Silicon Valley market. It wasn't easy to hew to that budget, though; the couple decided to ditch a garden window over the sink and self-closing drawers, which would have added several thousand dollars to the cost.

      Even in the ever-grander suburbs outside Washington, people are thinking smaller. A few years ago, Mr. Merrick, the contractor, says, more people were doing two-story additions, and most people who remodeled kitchens made them larger. Now, "four of the last six kitchens I did, the footprint stayed exactly the same," he says.

     Home-improvement retailers are seeing a clear trend toward smaller renovations. Craig Menear, executive vice president of merchandising at Home Depot (NYSE: HD, News), says there has been strength recently in projects involving simple décor updates such as ceramic tile, interior paint, faucets and bath fixtures. At Lowe's (NYSE: LOW, News), customers were drawn to products to update flooring, cabinetry and countertops during the last few months of 2009, the most recent period for which data are available, spokeswoman Maureen Rich says.

    Part of the reason, of course, is money. With home prices slumping, there is less equity for homeowners to tap. An April 20 survey by American Express (NYSE: AXP, News), the first of its kind, found that 72% of affluent homeowners planned to make improvements to their houses in 2010. But they expected to spend an average of just $11,500. And most respondents planned to pay for their projects with cash; just 16% planned to use debt.
Banks also are making credit less available than they used to. Keith T. Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com, a mortgage-data firm, says that before the housing bust, banks would often lend for projects based on the value of the house after completion of the project, but they are less likely to do so now because "there's no guarantee the improvement or the market will lead to price appreciation." The result: even affluent homeowners aren't able to borrow as much as they used to.
     With little reason to expect huge price gains in the housing market in the next few years, some homeowners are thinking especially long-term. Diane Ausavich, a remodeling contractor in Milwaukee, says a pair of physicians, as part of a bathroom renovation, recently installed a barrier-free, walk-in shower and higher countertops in their three-story lakefront home built in the 1890s. They did it "so that as they get older they can wheel in and out with a wheelchair if they should have to," Ms. Ausavich says. The homeowners are in their mid-40s and, "being doctors, I'm sure they see the gamut," she says.
     Likewise, Marge Kumaki, 57, a marketing and public-relations consultant who resides in Silver Spring, Md., says she and her husband decided to do some basic upgrades on the post-World War II split-level home they have owned for 21 years after their two children left the nest for good in 2007.
     She says she would prefer to move to a new high-rise condominium in downtown Bethesda, but that they decided to stay and renovate because it is more cost-effective and they like where they live now. Last summer's severe thunderstorms, which flooded their finished basement and required repairs, spurred them to get started.
     Ms. Kumaki says they are planning to spend in the low $30,000s to update the upstairs bathroom, kitchen and family room.
     But the couple have decided to hold off on another dream. "I've always wanted an addition, since it is a split level and you can go up or down," she says. "I'd like another level on top, but that's the future."

The New Remodeling Rules

During the bubble, homeowners sought the biggest, splashiest home improvements to boost resale value. Now they're doing smaller projects that deliver a similar result for far less money.

Supplied by Scotty, Scott's Contracting.  Green Build Design's from Start to Finish. Contact

  Article Found Here:http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109389/the-new-rules-of-remodeling

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$10-Per-Square-Foot Earth Sheltered House

Mother's $10-Per-Square-Foot (or Less!) Earth Sheltered House
Is it possible to achieve food and energy independence on one acre? Well, with imagination, hard work, and the right one acre, we think it can be done . . . and that's what this project is all about. Of course, providing most of the basic needs for four people from such a small piece of ground is a tall order. Still, we think it's a goal worth pursuing, and we're hoping that in this series of articles about our lowcost homestead we'll be able to help some of you in your struggles to increase your self-reliance . . . by doing some of the experimenting for you.


In previous installments, we discussed our initial plans for the project,the construction of the building's shell, and its waterproofing and insulation . . . as well as some special energy-related "extras". This time, we'll concentrate on the interior, specifically the fine cabinetry which complements our home's kitchen.

Until you've actually built, or been involved in "costing out", a residence, it's hard to comprehend how much cash it actually takes to finish the heart of a home. Yet in dealing with a dwelling as personal as our Lost-Cost Earth Shelter (and who'd deny that any owner-built home absorbs some of the character of its creator?), we felt it would be almost sinful to skimp on the soul-pleasing amenities, even when faced with a very stringent budget.

We also believe (and we're confident that this opinion would be shared by many owners-to be) that the kitchen area serves as a significant focal point for our home's entire communal zone . . . not just in that it's traditionally a place where the family gathers informally, but because—considering the openness of our dwelling's design—its use as such is more a matter of fact than choice.

We're here to demonstrate, one last time, that energy-efficient housing can be inexpensive....

Given these circumstances, it wasn't too difficult to justify the expenditure of time, in lieu of monetary resources, required to handcraft the kitchen cabinets you see in these photographs. Believe it or not, much of the foundation material that went into the cupboards could be termed junk, with the remainder being dressed from rough lumber or, in the case of the surface laminate, purchased outright.

On the other hand, please note that we're not about to suggest that a novice woodworker with a minimally equipped shop could easily duplicate the caliber of craftsmanship revealed in these furnishings. So, in an effort to accommodate the beginner on a budget, we've come up with an alternative cabinet plan. Though not quite as pleasing to the eye as the former design, it is a whole lot easier and less time-consuming to build yet results in a serviceable and attractive fixture.

ONE SLICK. . .

To make the most of our 240-odd square feet of kitchen space, we decided to install an 8'-long counter along the southwest wall, adjacent to the line of windows. Rather than just build a straight row of cabinets—which would have encroached on the usable floor area, leaving an all but useless gap behind the counter—we chose to facet each cabinet module so that, as a group of three, they would match the contour of the wall behind them. continued

If you are interested in Green Building on an Investment Property Check out the Benton Gut Rehab Blog Series-Benton Gut Rehab Green Blog Series

Part 1: History

Part 2: Stone Foundation Repair

Part 3: Tuckpointing the Brick Walls pt 1

Part 4: Tuckpointing the Brick Walls pt 2

Part 5: What were they thinking?

Part 6: Paint Pro Tip #35

Part 7: Repairing Water Damage-Exterior Wall

Part 8: 1st Floor Weatherization

Part 9: See the Difference a Little White Paint Makes

Part 10: Interior Framing-Plumbing-Laundry Room

Part 11: Kitchen Framing Tip #36-Benton Rehab Project

Part 12: Water Main Repair- Benton Rehab

Part 13: Benton Rehab Project Drywall Installation and Tip: Number 1172