Our new front door

Well we have so many people to thank for this whole project, not the least of which is Jim and Drew Hubbell(www.hubbellandhubbell.com)! Drew (our architect) arranged for Jim (his father and master artist and builder) to sell us (at a sweetheart price) the most beautiful front door hand made by Jim. Ilisa (and sometimes but rarely Joshua) volunteer with Jim in Tijuana building a school and gardens for the local kids (http://americasfoundation.net/colegioesperanza/rosablanca.index.html). Thanks to the great relationship Ilisa has with Jim, he wanted us to have an original piece of his as the centerpiece of our house remodel. And going with our eco philosophy, we are the 3rd family that will get to have this front door, and hopefully not the last. The door has thick 4" x 6" solid wood framing, with a handmade mosaic translucent center made from surfboard resin, gold, flowers and other pieces. It also has a handmade handle and nob from copper and other metals. It really is amazing, and we are so lucky to get this. Now from the moment people enter our house they will instantly get the feeling of art and natural materials melding together to symbolize our home.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

The 3 R's of Recycling are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Now I know that in a remodel there will have to be some garbage. But in terms of overall impact, we figured that remodeling our current house still has less impact than purchasing a new one, since much of the house materials will be reused.
So in our eco philosophy, we wanted to make sure that wherever possible, anything we were not re-using for the remodel would at first try to have other use, by garage sale, Craig's list, Habitat for Humanity Donations, and local recycling services. The last place we wanted our materials to go was the city landfill.
Our contractor said he was on board with the philosophy, and did he best to organize Habitat to try to take many of our kitchen goods (cabinets, appliances, fixtures, etc), but apparently Habitat can get new products donated, and thus had no need for our slightly used products. Now the spin Ilisa says, is that this is one more case of evidence that we had a well outdated kitchen, and yet another reason we HAD to remodel.
We were able to save some of the wood beams and joists that we will either use for our concrete framing, or have Ish refinish and use for decorative accents in our new vaulted ceiling.
I am not blaming the Contractor for not doing more here, just trying to learn the lesson that before you start the project, one might want to look up more avenues for recycling, and not put all your eggs in a basket like our Habitat hopes. Our contractor also has started finding what surplus materials (such as a shower and kitchen fixture) he can re-use (many of these are brand new).
We did find a local recycler called EDCO (http://www.edcodisposal.com/), and hopefully our contractor will see what this organization can do for reusing or recycling some of our goods. He also mentioned that he contact our local Waste Management, and they did say that many people often go through such dumpsters for good freebies. I will also look into our local free cycle organization and see if anyone nearby would like to go dumpster diving.
We are now finding some speed-bumps in our process (we had expected this). We know that one of the big goals of this project was for us to learn some useful lessons that we could provide to others who want to get involved in a similar project so that other might not make the same mistakes.

I'll probably start a section on the right where we list the lessons learned for easy access for all visitors. Thanks everyone, and Bill I hope no hard feelings. We really do appreciate all the wonderful work you have done so far.

Appliances - Cooktop

So we have to finalize all the wonderful appliances we will be installing into our new modern eco-kitchen. It funny, I've actually gone to all the major vendors (Sears, Home Depot, Pacific Sales etc.) and asked them: "We're remodeling our kitchen, and would like to pick the most environmentally products to use, what would your recommend??"
Well you can guess their response, but basically they said "well we've never had anyone ask that question before, I'm not sure!" Luckily I have my Carbon Busters reference book which has helped with generics, and does the best of any resource for rating different household components, but needs updating for 2007-2008 items. Also there is nothing there for Cooktops and Ovens other than gas is usually more efficient than electric, but induction cooktops are best.
Now, our goal is to eventually be environmentally neutral impact. That's quite a lofty goal, but as LT said on 60 minutes last night, "You've got to aim to be the best ever, or you might never come close". So our philosophy with electric vs gas, is that we can always add more solar panels to count for the added electrical needs, but Gas is a non-renewable resource, even if it is more efficient. But for things were massive BTU's for heat is necessary longer term, for now we will be getting an instant hot water heater, and the most efficient Gas Furnace we can find.
One more efficient and reliable water and space heaters are available, we will convert to those then.

So the photos on the left are of our BOSCH cooktop and Wall Oven / Convection Microwave units we will be purchasing. Now I don't expect people to get the top of the line units like we have here (will cost over $5k for the entire setup), similar appliance are available in a middle of the road market and all in one range/oven that could keep you in the competitive $1700 realm. Our only excuses for going high end, is that we are in a high end neighborhood and for re-sale value should keep it all comparable, and I'll admit, Having these BOSCH units are damn COOL!
They do have some eco friendly features I like such as:
POWERBOIL°
This function brings ingredients to the desired heat level faster than ever.° Simply set the desired cooking level, then press the “P” button.° The POWERBOIL heats the pot at the maximum setting, then automatically reduces the heat to your preset level, with no worries about accidental boil over or burning.
PRECISIONSIM°
PRECISIONSIM gives you 10 increments of heat adjustment below 25% of the element’s rated power level, so you can precisely set the heat for ideal simmer results without fear of burning or scorching.° Perfect for delicate sauces or melting chocolate.12" Triple Element° This large element has three maximum power settings: 1050W, 2200W and 2700W.° This allows you to apply high power for more rapid boiling, use an extremely low setting for delicate simmering, and utilize different pan sizes with maximum efficiency.
Convenience°
2-Stage Hot Surface Indicators° Warming Zone (All Elements)
COUNTDOWN Timer°
Bosch has designed independent, built-in timers for each element, which conveniently display the set time in the control panel for easy reference and can automatically shut off each element for easy timed cooking of multiple dishes.° They can even be used as a general purpose kitchen timer.

I'll post the rest of the appliances soon.

-Joshua

All Packed up and Now Starts the DEMO!!!!

So its been a crazy last couple of weeks of packing up everything. We built a shed, and got too play lots of box and furniture tetris (Egel deserves a high score!), and moved out to our winter rental. We kept the Fridge, Dishwasher, Washer/Dryer, kitchen faucet and most of our bedroom, dining room, and family room furniture. All this had to get stuffed into our attic, new shed, and garage. This was no small task!

Immediately on Monday December 3rd, they started pulling down the walls and ceiling. Here we got to get our first look at what the open living space will look like. We also got to make our floor look like another planet.
On Tuesday, Habitat for Humanity will be coming to take all the cabinets and appliances for use somewhere else. Our goal is to recycle as much of the materials as possible, and limit our landfill impact.

Now we have to pick all our final appliances and finalize the design of the cabinetry so we can go to production. We also have to finalize all our finishing materials with Ish of San Diego Paint Works and Greenmaker Supply of Chicago. At least we're moved out and can focus on this. Happy Hanukkah everyone!

-The Goldmans