Comments on: Reader Poll: Home Improvement http://greencouple.com/2009/01/12/reader-poll-home-improvement/ Learning to live green and live together Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:27:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tommy Vernieri http://greencouple.com/2009/01/12/reader-poll-home-improvement/comment-page-1/#comment-2955 Tommy Vernieri Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:58:21 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=491#comment-2955 You may be able to get a $500 tax credit for some of those things if you didn't alerady claim it in previous years. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits You may be able to get a $500 tax credit for some of those things if you didn’t alerady claim it in previous years.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits

]]> By: Andy http://greencouple.com/2009/01/12/reader-poll-home-improvement/comment-page-1/#comment-2954 Andy Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:32:08 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=491#comment-2954 I'll give you my 2 cents on these. 1. Attic: Attics are a terrible use of space for many reasons. Houses would be better off having a high (or slightly low but usable top floor) if there was no attic. If money was no concern, I'd say rip out your ceiling and turn the attic into a real space, even if that's only to make the floor taller. Did you say if this house was 1 or 2 floors? I don't recall knowing that. If you aren't fond of redoing your entire ceiling area, at least pack a ton of insulation in. R38 is great, but put in as much as you are willing to afford and your heating (and cooling) will be much easier to deal with. 2. Crawlspace: Do you need to use foam boards? Can you just stack haybales instead? How about soy insulation spray? This is another time where one fix will last the lifetime of the house, and even if it costs thousands it will eventually pay for itself. 3. Replace the water heater. I'd highly recommend reading up about instantaneous water heaters in combination with passive solar preheaters. I think I mentioned this before, but many states will pay for around half of a solar system (typically $4,000 before). Check out dsireuse.org. In Ohio you can recoup 30% in tax credits (up to $2k) 4. Build a passive solar backyard water heater and hot tub. Everyone needs a fun project. Do it! 5. Build a passive solar air heater. Another one time fix to last a very long time with great benefits. 6. Sewer line. I don't think this is as important. Food that grows above ground should be perfectly fine. If you were planning on growing potatoes over a leachfield, you should probably look into that - but I'm not sure it's that bad (assuming you aren't filling the septic tank with nasty chemicals). I’ll give you my 2 cents on these.

1. Attic: Attics are a terrible use of space for many reasons. Houses would be better off having a high (or slightly low but usable top floor) if there was no attic. If money was no concern, I’d say rip out your ceiling and turn the attic into a real space, even if that’s only to make the floor taller. Did you say if this house was 1 or 2 floors? I don’t recall knowing that. If you aren’t fond of redoing your entire ceiling area, at least pack a ton of insulation in. R38 is great, but put in as much as you are willing to afford and your heating (and cooling) will be much easier to deal with.

2. Crawlspace: Do you need to use foam boards? Can you just stack haybales instead? How about soy insulation spray? This is another time where one fix will last the lifetime of the house, and even if it costs thousands it will eventually pay for itself.

3. Replace the water heater. I’d highly recommend reading up about instantaneous water heaters in combination with passive solar preheaters. I think I mentioned this before, but many states will pay for around half of a solar system (typically $4,000 before). Check out dsireuse.org. In Ohio you can recoup 30% in tax credits (up to $2k)

4. Build a passive solar backyard water heater and hot tub. Everyone needs a fun project. Do it!

5. Build a passive solar air heater. Another one time fix to last a very long time with great benefits.

6. Sewer line. I don’t think this is as important. Food that grows above ground should be perfectly fine. If you were planning on growing potatoes over a leachfield, you should probably look into that – but I’m not sure it’s that bad (assuming you aren’t filling the septic tank with nasty chemicals).

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