This year's most popular environmentally friendly project? Window replacements, according to a study published by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials.
The study surveyed service professionals in the top 50 markets as ranked by the U.S. Census and examined service requests.
Window replacements showed a sizable increase, up 81 percent as compared to 2009. And although the study showed that more than half of Americans who undertook home improvement projects thought about using green alternatives, only a few actually implemented a green or eco-friendly alternative.
Salvaged building materials are a booming business. And sometimes the price of those "antique" or "professionally finished" pieces can make you choke. Why not refinish your own salvaged pieces.
With a little elbow grease and a sharp eye for solid materials, you can have a one of a kind home improvement artifact that takes recycling to a whole new level.
In my little corner of the world (semi-rural Ontario), there are plenty of sources for old barn materials and demolition scraps. That suits my semi-rural tastes perfectly.
If you're an urbanite who leans more towards the contemporary, keep an out the construction and demolition sites near you. It's amazing what you can do with some scrap metal, glass and concrete.
When you're installing new windows, Low-Emissivity (or Low-E for short) styles are almost standard. They will cost you somewhere around 10 to 15% more than traditional windows, but you can count on shaving 30 to 50% off your energy losses, which will also shave down your utility costs.
What Is Low-E, Anyway?
Low-Emissivity windows have a transparent metal coating on the inside or outside of the glass panel that does some funny things with UV rays.
Low-E windows were originally designed for those of us in more northern parts of the world, developed to cut down on our heating costs by reflecting the solar rays back into the room as they try to escape. The coating acts as an insulator, cutting down heating costs with the added bonus of reducing condensation during those icy winter months.
Big news - literally. USA Today reports that the Empire State Building is going green, one window at a time. As part of an effort to go green, the 6,514 double hung windows are being replaced one at a time in order to save about $4.4 million a year in energy costs.
"If you can retrofit the Empire State Building, you can retrofit anything", says Kevin Surface, president of Serious Materials. Very true.
Here's how windows are being replaced: Each night, workers remove scores of windows from their frames on the building's office floors. They wheel them to the workroom, where the glass panes are detached from their sashes, pulled apart and carefully cleaned.
