Off the Wall
Panels Help Keep Mold at Bay
Monday, July 16, 2007
Molds like to munch on paper. So one way to prevent mold is to remove that tasty snack from your walls.
DensArmor Plus paperless interior drywall is a mold-resistant interior gypsum panel featuring a glass-mat surface on both the front and back for interior protection from moisture.
For areas of high humidity, DensArmor Plus provides the added benefit of a moisture-resistant core. According to the manufacturer, the wallboard panels scored the highest level of performance for mold resistance under a standard test method, indicating no mold growth in a 4-week controlled laboratory test.
The paperless drywall panels cut and fasten like traditional gypsum drywall and carry a three-month in-place exposure warranty. They have received GreenGuard Indoor Air Quality Certifications, which recognize indoor products that have low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
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Roll Out the Barrel
Metal Roofs Hit the Beach
Friday, June 29, 2007
If you love metal roofs but didn’t think your oceanfront home was a candidate, there’s good news from Follansbee. Their TCS II coated stainless steel is armored with a patented alloy, an electrochemically bonded coating of tin and zinc applied to both sides of stainless steel.
According to the company, TCS II exposed for five years at an oceanside test stand showed no signs of red rust. Researchers at California State University exposed samples to a 5% salt spray for over 12,500 hours with no evidence of corrosion. Other metal roof materials showed signs of corrosion in less than 1,200 hours, and no other has reached anywhere close to the 5,000-hour mark.
The metal develops a soft patina after exposure to the elements but is not degraded by heat or UV light and never needs to be painted. TCS II can be adapted to use in barrel roof applications, as shingles, and as specially constructed sections in flat or spherical shapes.
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Tool Thyme
Botanical Style for the Handywoman
Friday, June 08, 2007
You’ve never looked so good hammering a nail or clipping a rose as you will with these ‘’pretty useful tools’’ from the Victoria and Albert Museum Shop.
The gardening set is a must-have for the stylish gardener - the hand trowel and cultivator is decorated with the vibrant Cray chintz design by William Morris. The Daisy tool set includes a combination hammer (with 4 screwdrivers in the handle), slip joint pliers and a 6-in-1 screwdriver all printed in a gorgeous “Daisy” design by William Morris, a naively drawn image of meadow flowers.
The firm of Morris & Co. designed and produced a wide range of glass, tiles, furnishings and textiles which went on to become synonymous with the Arts and Crafts movement and the Victorian era as a whole. “Daisy” was the first wallpaper pattern to be issued by the company in 1864.
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Now You See It …
Now You Don't. The Disappearing Wall
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
It’s a wall! No, it’s a door! With the NanaWall folding and individual panel sliding glass door systems, it can be both.
NanaWalls are structural glass walls that blend the divisions between the outdoor and indoor spaces. Walls can be fully or partially opened, or completely closed. If you’re looking for a ‘’Wow!’’ effect, this will do it.
Folding systems are panels connected together in a train. When open, the panels remain in the plane of the opening and stack 90 degrees to the track. With individual panel sliding systems, each panel is supported by two carriers and moved independently into position. Panels can be stacked outside the plane of the opening and into a parking bay. The arrangement allows multiple options including swing doors and double French doors.
All NanaWall systems have been independently tested for air infiltration, water penetration, structural perfomance and forced entry.
Five of the systems are manufactured here in California; the remainder are produced in Germany by Solarlux, NanaWall’s partner company. Contact NanaWall for the name and phone number of local sales representatives and installers.
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Less then Zero
Paint So Safe You Could Eat It
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
But why would you want to, when it looks so great on your walls?
Green Planet Paints is a boutique color house that makes paint in small batches using clay-based pigments developed by the Mayans over 1,000 years ago. They use environmentally responsible ingredients — no petrochemicals and no synthetic dyes, just clay pigments and soy resins. So when they say their paint is zero VOC, they mean it literally, unlike some other paints that can be called zero VOC because they fall below the EPA’s limit of 5 grams per liter.
The environmental footprint of a zero VOC paint can also include synthetic materials to control flow, skinning, settling and so on. The folks at Green Planet like to compare the difference between their paint and standard commercial paint to “the difference between home-made spaghetti sauce made from fresh organic tomatoes, organic virgin olive oil, garlic and herbs fresh from the garden, and salt and pepper. Now compare that to a bottle of conventional canned sauce. [It] may contain all kinds of ingredients such as sweeteners, color stabilizers, thickeners, and preservatives you would never choose to add to your own sauce.”
Green Planet keeps its paints simple and even displays the ingredients right on the can. The range of vibrant and subtle colors include Tandoori Red, Aztec Gold, Glacier Blue and Wasabi Green. The closest retailer is Greenspace in Santa Cruz, or you can purchase online at greenplanetpaints.com. The site has a cool feature that lets you drag paint chips onto a “whiteboard” and compare them side by side.
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Fescue to the Rescue
New Material Puts Green Back in the Driveway
Monday, January 15, 2007
It’s a lawn! It’s a driveway! It’s actually drivable grass — a new take on the old dilemma of how to combine aesthetics and environmental considerations with the demands of the automobile.
Drivable grass is a concrete grid made up of 2? x 4? mats. You fill in the grid with soil, plant grass seed and soon you have a green driveway. Because the surface is permeable, it allows runoff to soak into the ground where it can be absorbed and filtered. And a swath of green is always more appealing than a swath of concrete or asphalt.
Do-it-yourselfers can install drivable grass or contact Soil Retention of Carlsbad for a list of local installers.
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