remodel my house

I have been enjoying researching my green home remodel and will continue to do so as the project proceeds. It seems at each step, things need reevaluation. I started the project with the idea of using concrete and insulated concrete forms. I went to a home remodel show and talked with representatives and thought it was the way to go. When I talked to individuals and builders, I found that for what I wanted, it was not the right fit. My bankroll and project are on the small end, so adding on with sticks it more appropriate. I will be adding solar to my home as I wanted to do in the beginning. My research has been interesting and surprising, which is often the case with any research project.

My entire effort has been delayed by family matters. Hope to get things in order to put the research to the test, finialize the loan and break ground.

It seems that I have dealt with everything but the house this week. The kids and their school/life issues. The spouse and his issues. Work and multiple issues in this time of economic troubles. Perhaps these catalysts are the reason for my bad headcold. Where did I ever find the time to get a cold and the weather being perfect for gardening – I do not know. So what do I know… I did talk to one builder/contractor that is familar with the house and neighborhood. He suggested not to do a second story over the garage, thinks it will be hard to blend with the existing house. I am not convinced, I think we can modify plans – the reason is efficiency. Really want to use the least amount of materials and have maximum amount of energy efficient living space. So we are still in the planning stage. Takes a lot longer than I want, but I know you can’t rush a good thing.

This week the plan is to get the house plans on paper in front of the builder to get input.

Deciding just what we can afford to add and remodel to the house, is harder than I thought. I have talked to one builder/contractor and will be talking to at least 2 others to get an idea of the cost of our project. The best resource for builders has been friends. A couple of friends gave my names and feedback on their builder/contractors. It has been hard to concentrate on the home remodel when the weather is so nice and I want to be in my garden. I have been riding my bike around the neighborhood to look at roof lines and this is very enlightening. Lots of homes have added on and some look world’s better than others. I know I will makes some mistakes, but I am hoping to keep it to a minimun by using others mistakes as learning for me.

This week I will get estimate from builders and focus on keeping plans manageable.

This week has been a bit frustrating with the remodel planning. The interest rate at home bank not as good as I had hoped for. On the up side I found a local fellow that mills wood from his property to be used in local building. If it is not too expensive I sure would like to use local products. He is hard to get a hold of, so I am still working on this one.

This coming week, I am going to visit with another bank and see about financing.

This week I attended a Green Home Expo and learned of many products to remodel and create an energy efficient home. I found more information from face-to-face conversations with people at the home show than I have on my Blog search. My wiki and blog search has been slow and not as informative as I would like.

At the home show, I learned the newest and greatest information about building – “Insulated Concrete Forms”. It is the new way to build the “envelope” of the house, the walls. It seems to be the most efficient at keeping the house temperature at a constant temperature, the heat inside in the winter or the heat outside in the summer. If radiant floor heat is used with the insulated concrete forms, the cost of heating the home was very low. I want to look into combining solar energy to heat the water that runs throught the tubes that run through the floor for the radiant heat. That would be great!

I spoke with a mortgage company about refinancing the home and getting some money to remodel. Interest rates are very good now and I hope we can secure a loan. I will be speaking with a different bank tomorrow to see what we can borrow to make the remodel happen.

Home remodel table-to-table products (composter). This week I searched in vain for my “inexpensive” yard composter. Alas, I was too late, and they were gone in three locations. The good news is my local waste collector announced that we can add kitchen scraps to our yard debris cart. So, although I will not see the rich compost develop for my yard, at least it will not go to the landfill.

I have been researching products for energy-efficient home remodel, and am considering cement countertops. Plenty of contracters can do cool cement walkways and patios, not so many do countertops. I toured a local store remodel that used cement countertops and like the look. They recycled glass into the cement, so it has an interesting color and pattern. Anyone have any insight into cement countertops?

I am finding a lot of websites talking about concrete not cement countertops – whoops.

I am finding blogs to be most useful just to read. In my search to better use technology, I find the blogs on tools like Jing to be most helpful.
This week I am going to talk to the bank about a remodel loan. Yikes!

This week I have been concentrating on finding energy efficient items for my home. EnergyTrust of Oregon has been very helpful. They provided me with energy saving tips, new faucet and light bulbs. I can start making changes to my home to save energy, even before the grand remodel. I have a kitchen aerator to install in the kitchen. I purchased laundry detergent for cold water washing, and have switched to washing all clothes in cold. (Saving energy and money)

My home remodel is spilling outdoors. I am determined to compost our kitchen waste, and I found a deal in the newspaper for a compost bin. (I was not really composting much before, I didn’t have a dog-proof place.) Saturday, I will pick up my new composter and our home will be sending less to the dump and more to our composter.

This week – new compost bin. Look into “remodel home tour” that will be in our town next month. Will be good to look at other house and ask them how their remodel went.

Yesterday, I attended a pre-earth day celebration with lots of energy saving ideas. There were 4 different solar companies to toot the benefits of adding solar to your home or remodel. I learned that there is a lot more than just panels to solar energy – how the house is positioned, where the windows are located? etc.

I want to incorporate solar into our home remodel. I am hoping to do both passive (heat the water) and active (make electricity).

There are big tax incentives to “go solar”, right now. I want to take advantage of the tax breaks.

I spoke with a local builder about the general cost of remodels. I guess the next step is the bank – how much can I borrow? YIKES!

Yesterday, I attended a pre-earth day celebration with lots of energy saving ideas. There were 4 different solar companies to toot the benefits of adding to solar to your home or remodel. I learned that there is a lot more than just panels to solar energy – how the house is positioned, where the windows are located? etc.

I want to incorporate solar into our home remodel. I am hoping to do both passive (heat the water) and active (make electricity).

There are big tax incentives to “go solar”, right now. I want to take advantage of the tax breaks.

I spoke with a local builder about the general cost of remodels. I guess the next step is the bank – how much can I borrow? YIKES!

To research for remodeling our home, I started by reading a lot of magazines. I am fascinated by the energy-efficient homes in the magazines, yet many of the magazine-homes are too expensive.

I went to see family out of state and found myself analyzing how different relatives had remodeled their homes, the good, the bad and the ugly.

As I started looking online for remodeling ideas, I found it to be overwelming. Thank goodness, I found www.noodletools.com which led me to “chose the best search” that led me to “infomine” which led me to “this old house video library” which led me to many great ideas. One the best ideas is using a pellet stove for the heat source. Through the site, I found that we can get a $1,500 tax credit by purchasing a pellet stove 2009-2010.

I am still searching for “green” remodeling ideas. As I search, I am surprised by all the ideas out there. Still in the dreaming stage, I am enjoying looking about the possibilities.