Archive for the 'Building Materials' Category

Rubber Bricks

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Found this very interesting product this afternoon - 100% recycled brick pavers made from shredded tires and plastic bottles - Made by Vast.

Seems like a great alternative to poured concrete or traditional brick. I’ll look into pricing to see what it might cost. One of the most exciting features of this product is that the [...]

Budgets: No Clear Winner

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Well, we’ve officially moved into the painful, “lose the frills” phase of the project. Because the cost of the project exceeds our lender requirements, we’ve started hacking and slashing to cut costs. A big portion of these costs? Windows.

Here’s how the math works out:
Removing 8 windows saves us a total of  $2400 in costs, plus [...]

Revised Rendering - No more Roll Up Door

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Well, to placate the city, we’ve removed our glass roll-up door. While a bit of a hit for the design, there are some functional benefits. Namely:

Standard French doors are more energy efficient
It would be easier to convert the lower level to a living space at some point in the future.
It will help the appraisal - [...]

Affordable Housing

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Check out what can happen when you’re committed to good design on a realistic budget ($51 per square foot!):

As part of my never-ending quest to find affordable housing options, I stumbled across this interesting article in the New York Times. Here’s a brief excerpt:
Mr. Flueckiger chose to build with industrial materials in homage to the [...]

Rainscreen Design

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Here’s a great guide to designing a rainscreen system. Kudos to the guys at Build Blog for assembling the info!

Marmoleum Options

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

I’ve always been a fan of Marmoleum. Not only is it a “green” material, but it’s incredibly durable and forgiving. We’ve got two dogs, and with our wet Portland winters, it makes a great buffer between our living space and the outdoors. Here’s a couple of neat options I just found on the web…can’t recall [...]

Countertops: Why Kitchen Remodels Cost So Much

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

I’ve been working with a new builder to develop a more accurate budget for the ADU project. One element of the design that accounts for a HUGE percentage of the overall cost is the kitchen. And, in the kitchen, one of the of the most expensive elements is the countertops.
We’re not building an elaborate kitchen [...]

Concrete + Glass Countertops: Fuez

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

A while back I wrote about an exciting product called “Ice Stone.” Back then, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the price of materials, but I have the sense that it’s not cheap. Still, if you’ve got the cash and can afford to be “green,” it’s a great alternative to granite, quartz, or [...]

Pavers with Flair

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Some great ideas from the UK

Eco Finish

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Here’s an interesting green floor finish from Vermont Natural Coatings.

a new studio, a new home