repairing our front-loading washing machine

broken shock absorber

We've generally loved our front-loading Kenmore/Sears washing machine. It doesn't use much water or electricity, gets clothes cleaner, and leaves clothes dryer than our old top-loading machine ever did.

But for a while, it's been behaving strangely. It was vibrating a lot during the final spin, occasionally spilling water from the hose, and sometimes making a whomping noise audible in the rest of the house. Still, it was getting clothes clean, so I didn't worry about it too much. Then last week it stopped in the middle of a cycle—it had tripped the GFCI breaker, and resetting that didn't do any good.

That meant I actually had to do something about it—at least after some hours at work, then taking the half-done laundry load to the nearest laundromat to wash. I took the front panel off and immediately noticed the broken shock absorber-type thingy that connects the drum to the frame. There wasn't a great puddle of water or anything else obviously wrong that I could see, so I let it sit while I got some replacement parts.

After it sat and dried for a couple of days, I tried it again, and it was ready to go. My theory is that it splashed itself during one of its violent episodes. So I unplugged the washer again, and set to replacing the shock absorbers. The old ones were challenging to remove, and the new ones almost as challenging to put in. Fortunately the parts came with instructions which helped, but it still involved a lot of awkward reaching, grunting and pushing and pulling pieces to get done. I ended up taking the back off, too, which helped get access to the plastic pins that hold each end of the shock absorber.

I also took the opportunity to clean out the water inlet filters. The hot water (which we don't use much) was pretty badly clogged. It was also interesting to note that there's a lot of empty space and some cement blocks (attached to the drum, to reduce vibration) inside the washer. And interesting to note that the replacement shock absorbers use a different design—I don't think we're the only ones to have this particular breakdown.

In any event, $35, some banged knuckles, and a test cycle later, the washing machine is back to its wonderful self.

solar in California

There was potentially big news for solar in California. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decided that PG&E and other utility companies have to pay homeowners for excess solar power. In the past, it's been simple net-metering, and any excess was used to offset their bill. Now PG&E has to pay a market rate for the excess. In theory that means solar panels can be paid off sooner, and eventually even make money.

Why isn't this huge news? Because the price was set based on daytime wholesale electricity rates paid to power plant owners, which fluctuate daily based on market conditions. That means when supply is low and demand is high, all is good for power producers. But much of the day and much of the year, California has an excess of electricity available, which means low prices, sometimes even negative.

Part of my day job is writing software for a small power plant, one piece of which is a program to monitor the energy price through the day. The price is set by the California ISO (CAISO), and is affected by supply and demand, loss, and transmission costs. After deregulation, companies like Enron gamed the market, resulting in power shortages, rolling blackouts and high prices. CAISO is designed to hopefully eliminate that possibility in the future, in part by always making sure there's more than enough power to meet the demand.

This year in particular, prices have been relatively low in part because demand has been low due to cooler than normal temperatures (until last week), and in part because of higher supply. Why not just dial back production if there's too much? Some generation is hydroelectric, and generates 24x7 depending on water flow, which has been higher this year. Even fossil-fuel based plants that can be adjusted up or down usually can't be adjusted that quickly, so there's generally a large excess.

The other factor is that solar is still a tiny portion of the power generated in California. Yesterday, for example, solar in California accounted for 4,142 MW hours of power, mostly between 8AM and 7PM. That's out of total system demand of 602,261 MW hours, or less than 0.7% of the total. A residential solar install is going to be a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction. All that means that with prices set based on market rates, the payment amounts are going to be very small.

As noted in the article, some people think this is fair, while others think the price paid should be higher to encourage further solar development. What's the right answer? I don't know, but in the short-term this doesn't change much, even for most solar owners. We still don't have solar power, but now that our neighbor's big tree is gone, it may make sense.

urban homesteading

I'm still not 100% done with the stairs to the carport, but they're fully functional and passed the elderly mother-in-law test. I still need to add more spindles to the railings, and some more lighting, but the stairs and railings are there.

Once that's done, I probably won't have as many DIY projects to blog about, so I plan to blog more about urban homesteading. I was inspired in part by Novella Carpenter here in Oakland, who wrote Farm City: the education of an urban farmer and runs Ghost Town Farm. I've also found inspiration from City Homestead here in Oakland. They don't have much in the way of an urban or city homestead yet, but they both feel strongly about local food and are taking steps in that direction. Quite a bit further along are my friends at Casa Decrepit in Alameda. They grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables, and have kept chickens for eggs for a number of years.

But the real inspiration of where to head is from Root Simple (formerly known as Homegrown Evolution) and authors of The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City. Back when I was first reading Farm City and started following various urban homesteading blogs, Root Simple was one of the first and best I came across. K didn't know I was following their blog at that point, but came home from a business trip with a book for me -- The Urban Homestead.

For me, it's not about saving money (though that's a bonus), it's about knowing where your food comes from. That's a large part of why I became a vegetarian over a decade ago -- the idea of factory farms and having no idea what's going into your food, and a process that's damaging the environment -- it's clearly not sustainable in the long run and not very healthy in the short run.

Rain Barrel Review

Doubtless some of you were expecting dancing rain barrels, with feather headdresses and sequins, or given their watery connections, an overhead shot of them dancing in a pool. That would most commonly be a rain barrel revue. Alas, this post is a bit more prosaic though hopefully quite a bit more useful. We've got two different varieties of rain barrels and I helped some fellow Oaklanders with a third, so when Retro Housewife Goes Green tweeted wanting to know about rain barrels, I decided to finally post this.

Great American Rain Barrel

First up is the Great American Rain Barrel (GAB), which reuses food-grade plastic barrels. We got this one one because I wanted to better control the rain water that comes to the entry side of the house. Even before I built the addition, some construction flaws with the original house led to water being an issue. The GAB comes with all the fittings and parts you need except an overflow hose (it includes the elbow fitting, just not the hose.) It's fairly easy to set up, though fastening the inside fittings takes some doing. (I highly recommend bracing the barrel before you try to wiggle inside it.) I don't like the fact that it's plastic, but I do like the fact it's made from a reused food barrel and that there were color options available. As with most rain barrels available, multiple barrels can be linked to collect more water. The only problem we've had with it is overflow. If it's raining really hard, or if the small holes in the lid are partially blocked with debris, more water comes down the downspout than can get into the barrel. That results in water splashing over the edge rather than making it into the barrel and out the overflow hose.

Specs:
60 gallon capacity, linkable, ~$169

Pros:

• includes all fittings
• colors available
• reused food barrels

Cons:

• pricey
• lid clogs easily
• doesn't include overflow hose
• shipped from MA

Rain Water Solutions

Next up is the Moby from Rain Water Solutions. These barrels are made from recycled plastic, and have a custom shape. There are some color choices available though the non-black options cost a bit more. I got two of these through a City of Oakland program which sold them at a large discount (22% of list and no shipping) to residents. The design holds slightly more water, but the big difference to me is the lid. Instead of 16 small holes to let water in, the entire lid is slightly funnel shaped and leads to one large hole in the middle. There's plastic screen over the hole to catch debris and keep insects from breeding in the water. But the large hole makes it much less likely to clog, or clog enough that the overflow doesn't work. Again I'm not wild about them being plastic, but at least it's 100% recycled plastic. Reuse (theoretically at least) is better than recycling, as it uses an item that's already been manufactured, but recycled is better than made new.

Specs:
65 gallon capacity, linkable, ~$199 (black)

Pros:

• includes all fittings
• colors available (though cost more)
• recycled plastic

Cons:

• even more pricey
• shipped from NC

Obviously given the program through the city, the price was much more attractive for us, and the shipping was theoretically more efficient since they shipped a whole truck load of them.

DIY solution

Last, but not least, is the DIY solution. Given the title of my blog, you might have assumed I'd try this first. I probably would have, but I kept putting it off because of other DIY projects (like the addition and the kitchen remodel), and in the back of my mind I've been planning a larger, more elaborate system to store more water since it doesn't rain all summer here. That didn't happen, so my experience with DIY rain barrels is more limited. I did help the good folks at City Homestead with a platform for their converted wine barrels. These are locally sourced (less than 50 miles), reusing materials, and non-plastic. Others have used reused food grade barrels (very helpful, step-by-step instructions) like the ones the GAB uses. There may be other options in your area depending on where you live. The hardest parts of the DIY option are (1) finding a source for the barrel (2) getting the fittings to work with it. But the upside is that not only can you get the barrel locally, you may be able to get it for free or at least for very cheap. You'll still need to get the fittings, and those will cost you $10-$25.

Specs:
55-80 gallons, linkable, free-$120

Pros:

• cheap!
  
• sourced locally
  
• reused barrel

Cons:

• finding a good source can be hard
  
• you have to find and install the fittings
• wood barrels won't last forever
• may not handle high volume well
  

So there you have it. As with many things, there are trade-offs to the different approaches: cost, greenness, difficulty, et al. With any of these, some may be more important to you or not an issue (e.g., if you live in MA or NC). But hopefully this provided a useful comparison.

Dual Flush Toilet Conversion

The rains finally seem to have stopped for the summer. This winter was an El Niño year, which helped make up for the previous years of drought. But that means that it's time to get ready for fire season, so I've been busy pulling blackberries and weed-whacking the yard. Each year usually gets a little easier, but this year the growth has been above normal with all the rain we've gotten.

I took a break from that to fix the toilet in the original bathroom. It's a 1.6 GPF toilet that I installed some years back that's worked fairly well. Lately the fill valve sometimes doesn't shut off, which can waste a large amount of water if it goes unnoticed. I decided to replace the flush mechanism at the same time with a dual flush conversion kit.

I saw a similar product at West Coast Green last year, then saw them install one on Ask This Old House. On the HydroRight website they claim it can be installed without tools in 5 to 10 minutes. That's true, though it requires a pencil and a measuring bucket plus a few minutes to calibrate for optimal water usage.

Replacing the fill valve with their HydroClean valve took a little longer, though not much. The hardest part was removing the old fill valve and required a wrench. Installing the new one was very easy. The nut to attach the new valve underneath is even self-calibrating: you just turn it until it clicks once or twice, and it's properly tightened.

My only concern is the long-term durability of the valve and flush mechanism. They seem well designed, but they're all plastic. That's pretty common for toilet parts these days, but does give me pause. The manufacturer, MJSI, offers a 5 year warranty on both, though hopefully it will last longer than that.

enjoying the sun

As usual, Star was unimpressed. She was too busy enjoying the warmth and sunshine.






Hey, FTC! I didn't receive any thing in exchange for this review. Though I'd be happy to if MJSI wants to give me something :-)

Home Energy Efficiency

blower door

Greetings if you're coming from Jetson Green! An article of mine on home energy efficiency was just published there. I had a home energy audit done recently and wrote about the results. In short it was well worth doing. For DIYer types, it includes links to some useful docs on the Energy Star website for better sealing your home.

power usage: first observations from PowerMeter

We've started getting data from the TED 5000 and Google PowerMeter. They display the same data, but in different ways. The TED 5000 web page gives more detailed info, but PowerMeter makes it easier to compare your current usage with past usage.

First, let's look at a fairly typical day's usage in PowerMeter:

In the wee hours of the morning, you can see a regular spike about every hour or so. That's the refrigerator coming on. Around 6:30AM you can see the radiant heat in the bathroom coming on, lights, the coffee maker, etc.

The other thing of note is the darker green band at the bottom. That's the "always on" power consumption I mentioned last time. It's only about 85 watts, but since it's always on, that adds up -- over 2kWH per day, which is more than 20% of the 9.7kWH per day we averaged last billing cycle. With our other source of info, the Kill-a-Watt, I've found about 25 of the 85 watts so far. Unfortunately nothing in that 25 is easy to get rid of, but I'll keep checking to find the other 60 and see what I can eliminate.

Now let's move to a less typical day -- laundry day:

Note that the scale has been stretched from 0-1.5kW up to 0-5kW. That's because running an electric dryer causes a huge increase in power consumption. You can see the dryer running for two loads, plus a little secondary run after each to get rid of the last bit of dampness. This is a big vote for line drying your clothes to save energy. It takes longer than just throwing everything in the dryer, but clearly can save a bunch of power consumption since the sun is free.

For more detail about power consumption, you can also view the TED 5000 web page for your device:

There's a live dashboard that shows your current power consumption, power used since midnight, etc. You can also view historical data. But the most useful is the graphing tab, which lets you see your energy consumption in near real-time, with more detail than the PowerMeter gadget shows. You can click on the graph to show the power consumption at any given time on the graph; that's how I determined the "always on" power was about 85 watts. The fourth tab allows you to set up load profiles when certain equipment comes on. My first trial with that wasn't very successful, but I'm going to try again to profile the refrigerator and some other appliances.

So we haven't saved any energy yet, but we've got a lot more data about how to go about doing that now. Some of it, like line drying clothes is even pretty easy to do (at least when the weather permits) -- no fancy gadgets required.

So I Forgot...

Today I finished insulating the attic. Or at least finished getting one layer down. If you've been following for any length of time, you may be surprised that I'm only now getting to that. When I bought the house, there was no insulation (except for a bit of Kimsul around the main vent stack). Over the years I put insulation in most of the attic, but about the time I was getting to the dining room and kitchen area was when we were deciding to build the addition and remodel the kitchen. So those parts of the house have sat without insulation in the attic, and well...I forgot about it.

On Wednesday we're having a home energy audit, and it occurred to me that I'd never finished insulating the attic. So after a late start (thank you, Daylight Saving Time), I went and measured to figure out how much more insulation I'd need then made a trip to Home Depot. Ideally there'd be R-30 or better everywhere, but the odd joist spacing means there are some gaps, and the design of the roof means it gets pinched (as well as divided oddly, since the rafters don't match the ceiling joists) at the edges. But now there's at least R-25 in most of it except an area I used up some R-19 in. My plan is to put a second layer across the whole attic (well, except the edges where it won't fit) cross-wise. The energy audit should be detailed enough to give me some idea of how much that will help. But regardless, it's nice to know there's finally insulation in the whole attic, after 16 years of living here.

I got the power!

Google PowerMeter widget

Actually, we got the Google PowerMeter. K is a technical writer for Google and we're now the proud owners of a TED5000 and using PowerMeter.

There was a control period where we weren't seeing the data, but now that's passed we'll be able to use the PowerMeter to figure out more of our electrical usage. We haven't had data long enough to get much yet, but one thing is clear already: we should try to reduce our "always on" power. It's not super high, but well, it's always on, so it adds up. I was trying to think of everything that contributes to that:

• thermostat
• water heater thermostat
• various clocks
• DSL modem
• router
• microwave (clock)
• TV
• cordless phones
  
• assorted wall warts

The TV is EnergyStar rated so hopefully doesn't draw much when off, but it's probably non-zero. The water heater is a gas-fired on demand heater which has circuitry to decide when it needs to come on. In any event, between the PowerMeter and our Kill-A-Watt we should be able to figure out what's using power and cut back some.

Installing the TED5000 was fairly simple, but it does require opening your electrical service panel and attaching clamps over the main feed wires. It was a little tricky to get it to fit and still get the panel closed, but not too bad. Google and TED recommend hiring an electrician for the hookup, but given I've run most of the circuits in the house, I felt comfortable doing it myself.

TED dashboard

I'll be posting more as I figure things out. Much of it should be applicable to your electrical usage, too.

Rain Barrel Ready!

rain barrel

One of the things planned for the new front porch was a place to put a rain barrel. Given the weather patterns here in California (rainy winters, dry summers), there's a limit to the usefulness of a barrel as it won't get refilled from roughly May to October, but every little bit helps. Today I cut the downspout and added an elbow to get it ready.

Eventually I'd like to have a big tank under the deck that gets fed from multiple downspouts, but for now I'll have to settle for this 50 gallon one. It should get its first test Saturday night, and the overflow system some time after that as the forecast has rain on and off all next week.

Blog Action Day: Global Warming

Global warming. If you haven't heard about it, you've been living under a rock. If you don't believe it's happening, you're probably living under a rock. And even if you don't believe it's happening, the rest of the world does, and that's going to impact you when resources start getting short.

While small things won't save the earth, they're a step in the right direction. And here's some small steps you can take.

(1) Eat vegetarian one day a week (or one more day a week than you already are.) Raising meat, particularly beef and pork, generally have a horrendous effect on the environment. The good news? It's cheaper to eat vegetarian and better for your health.

(2) Stop drinking bottled water. Tons of petroleum products go into the manufacture of the bottles, and the water is less regulated than tap water. The good news? It's cheaper to use a refillable bottle.

(3) Walk/bike/take public transit one (more) day a week. The good news? It's cheaper and you'll get more exercise.

(4) Seal your home better with caulk and insulation. The good news? It's cheaper than paying the utility and you and your family will be more comfortable.

See? No messy mercury-based CFLs or buying hybrid cars or anything. All stuff that's easy and cheap and good for you. So even if you don't believe global warming is happening, you win.

West Coast Green

This week in San Francisco is the annual West Coast Green conference. I'll be covering parts of it for green building blog Jetson Green. There promise to be lots of interesting innovations in the field of green building and design.

I'm particularly excited about seeing the SFH40 from Green Horizon Manufacturing, a self-sustaining temporary building that can be sent anywhere in a shipping container to provide emergency housing. After FEMA's mess with the trailers following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this looks to be a major step up. It features solar panels, a fresh waster supply, waste water treatment, and is built from 100% recycled materials.

I'll also be keeping my eyes open for new do-it-yourself friendly materials and technologies. Let me know if there's anything new you've heard of that you'd like me to check out at the conference.

Oakland: DIY Resources

Note: I've made a couple of additions to the list since originally publishing it. Thanks to Jessica Reeder of Charles and Hudson, and Artemis of City Homestead.

View DIY Resources in a larger map

Do-it-yourself blog Charles & Hudson covers a variety of topics. One nice feature they've got is DIY city guides for various locales. Oakland and the SF East Bay aren't yet covered, so I've created one for Oakland. Some people are into DIY to save money and some into it to have control of how 'green' their project is. A great way to do both those things are the 3 R's of green: reduce, reuse, recycle.

So without further ado, here's my guide to do-it-yourself resources in the East Bay, centered in Oakland. This is by no means an exhaustive list; if you've got a favorite DIY resource in or around Oakland, let me know and I'll add it.

Tool Libraries

Oakland Tool Lending Library 510.597.5089
5205 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609
The Oakland Public Library system has a great tool lending library in the ground floor of the Temescal branch. There are a wide variety of tools you can borrow for free. Open to Oakland, Piedmont and Emeryville residents.

Berkeley Tool Lending Library 510.981.6101
1901 Russell St., Berkeley, CA 94703
The Berkeley Public Library system's tool lending library at the South Branch. Open to Berkeley residents and property owners.

Salvage Stores

Habitat ReStore 510.777.1447
9235 San Leandro St., Oakland, CA
The Habitat ReStore is a great resource. You can buy new and used building supplies for less, and your purchases support Habitat's mission of eliminating poverty housing worldwide, and useful items that might otherwise be discarded are made available.

ReUse People 510.383.1983
9235 San Leandro Blvd., Oakland, CA 94603
The ReUse People specialize in deconstructing buildings so the materials can be used again. Not only do they have doors, windows, cabinets, etc., but they've got reclaimed lumber and some one-of-a-kind architectural elements, too. If all that wasn't enough, they're next door to the Habitat ReStore, so you can check both places with one stop.

Urban Ore 510.841.7283
900 Murray St., Berkeley, CA 94710 510.841.7283
Urban Ore is not just a source of salvaged building materials like windows, doors and sinks, it's a treasure trove of all sorts of things that can be salvaged or repurposed. It's all part of their goal of "ending the age of waste."

East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse 510.547.6470
4695 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609
The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse is an ecological treasure trove of art & craft materials, educational supplies, vintage furniture, home decor, paper goods, fabric and more. The mission of the East Bay Depot is to divert waste materials from landfills by collecting and redistributing discarded goods as low-cost supplies for art, education, and social services.

Ohmega Salvage 510.204.0767
2407 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA 94702
Just up San Pablo from EcoHome Improvement and the Ecology Center is another nice salvage store, Ohmega Salvage. They specialize in architectural salvage, unique doors, windows and other fixtures that are often one-of-a-kind items.

Green Stores

EcoHome Improvement 510.644.3500
2617-2619 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA 94702
EcoHome Improvement has a wide variety of green building materials, including cabinets, countertops, paint and flooring. EcoHome Improvement has a friendly and knowledgeable staff, who are always looking to add more items to sell. They consider not just the manufacture of materials but the transportation of them and other factors, as well. While many of their items are expensive, realize they're also high-end items, so don't compare, for example, Vetrazzo countertops (which are made here in the Bay Area in Richmond) with laminate countertops from a home improvement chain.

Learning DIY

Building Education Center 510.525.7610
812 Page St., Berkeley, CA 94710
The Building Education Center teaches a wide range of courses, from Landscape Watering Systems to Installing Windows, Doors and Skylights, plus hands-on workshops like Electrical Wiring and Stucco Repair. Or take it all in with the Homeowners Essential Course, a 2 month, 17 session course that covers just about everything about building, repairing and maintaining a home.

Habitat for Humanity East Bay 510.251.6304
2619 Broadway Oakland, CA 94612
You may be asking yourself, "why is Habitat on this list?" Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide, building houses with mostly volunteer labor. They don't just hand you a hammer and let you loose, though. Habitat East Bay instructs volunteers with what they need to know to build safely and correctly. It's also one of the greenest Habitat affiliates in the country, so there are opportunities to learn about green techniques and technologies, too. I've volunteered with Habitat for more than 13 years, and largely with what I learned there, I designed and built the addition to our house that's chronicled here on DIY Insanity.

Ecology Center 510.548.2220
2530 San Pablo Avenue, Suite H, Berkeley, CA 94702
The Ecology Center was founded back in 1969 to promote environmentally and socially responsible practices through programs that educate, demonstrate, and provide direct services. They teach a variety of courses, including organic gardening, urban chicken raising, and greywater and rainwater systems.

Hardware Stores

Markus Supply Ace Hardware 510.832.6532‎
625 3rd St., Oakland, CA 94607
When you just need some basics, your nearest hardware store is your best bet. But if you need a wider selection of items but don't want to go to the box stores, Markus Hardware may have what you need.

Ace Ellis Hardware 510.653.4365
5424 MLK Way, Oakland, CA 94609
If you're looking to browse the aisles, head somewhere else. Ellis Hardware has most of what they sell on huge shelves behind the counter. Describe what you need, and they'll get it for you, or tell you where you can if they don't carry it.

Lumber Yards

Piedmont Lumber 510.658.1826
351 40th St. Oakland, CA 94609
Piedmont Lumber is a full-service lumberyard, with lumber, drywall and and other building supplies. And they've got a classic sign.

Economy Lumber 510.261.6100
750 High St., Oakland, CA 94601
Economy Lumber is another full-service lumberyard. Besides all the basic building materials, they've got a window and door showroom where you can order windows and doors of all sorts.

Plumbing Supply

Moran Plumbing Supply 510.652.7437
415 40th St., Oakland, CA 94609
Just up 40th from Piedmont Lumber, Moran Plumbing Supply carries everything for plumbing, from pipes of all sorts to sinks and toilets. They've got a helpful, knowledgeable staff.

Rubenstein Plumbing Supply 510.444.6614
2800 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA 94608
Rubenstein Plumbing Supply is another good plumbing supply place. I bought our dual-flush Toto toilet there.

GRID Alternatives

up on the roof

Today I volunteered with GRID Alternatives, a non-profit that installs solar panels for low-income homeowners and provides community members (like me!) with training and hands-on experience with renewable energy technologies. We were prepping some of the Habitat homes for GRID's upcoming solar-a-thon, where they'll install panels, inverters and wiring for 16 homes. It was a short work day because most of the prep work got done last week. We installed a few safety clips on one roof, and others sorted tools and supplies. After a bit, a delivery truck arrived with the solar panels, inverters and cutoffs for the install. We inventoried them to make sure everything was there, then moved them into one of the houses for storage. Pretty much everything is ready to go for the solar-a-thon, which is good, because they're expecting 250+ people for the event.

Our Electric Bike

Not much to report on the house. I connected the last outlet and the light switch in the dining room (it was behind the boxes for the kitchen cabinets) and put the last piece of sheet rock in. This week I hope to finish taping and mudding it.

our e-bike

One thing I've been doing lately is biking. A while back we bought an electric-assist bike. It's been great, and has us riding more than we did with regular bikes, in large part because of the big hills around here. I think some of you who are more in to green stuff might be interested. I wrote more about it on my Oakland blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

To Say Nothing of the Kitchen Sink

Nothing too exciting to write about. Yesterday I finished hooking up the vent for the range hood. This afternoon I spent cleaning up the dining room so I can move forward with that. It's been full of cardboard, boxes, pieces of styrofoam, etc. from the kitchen work. Everything (including the kitchen sink) had packaging. Some a little, some a lot, but it all added up to a substantial amount of cardboard. K had cut a bunch of it up before to go in the recycling bin, but there was still a fair amount left. Some of it I'd used to protect the plywood underlayment while installing the cabinets, and some had been re-used for various tasks before that, but most of it was just waiting to be recycled. I even have a potential lead on recycling most of the styrofoam. Each of the cabinets had styrofoam on the corners, and numerous other things had pieces here and there, so it added up to a fair amount. The catch is that they're waiting on some new equipment, and so can't accept donations right now. But better than into a landfill.

Kitchen Widgets

towel bar

Along with the big stuff like countertops and cabinets, there's a lot of little stuff that often goes into a kitchen, like a towelbar. I spent a lot of time searching for alternatives to the $90 Swedish-made brass ones and $3 steel ones, and finally found this beauty on Amazon for $22.

plumb bob how-to

I was impressed with the instructions. They instruct you how to make a simple plumb bob to help hang the bracket vertically, though they don't describe it as such. I've used various items including washers, chalk lines, and actual plumb bobs (thanks, Pete) as a plumb bob, but for something this short, I just use a level. But the idea of taping a coin to the instructions to get a vertical line is brilliant, and since many folks don't have a level or necessary understand their usage, it's probably better they don't describe what it is your doing, just tell you to do it.

I was less impressed with the massive plastic clam shell packaging it came in, but that's unfortunately all too common these days. And I would have preferred something U.S. made, but this was the right size, style and price.

ain't she lovely?

Another recent addition to the kitchen was a new compost bucket. We've always composted, even though haven't had a garden to use the compost in recently. It's long been in a Tupperware container, which works, but shows you the moldering fruit and veggie scraps piled on the coffee grounds, and is not the most appetizing thing to see on your kitchen counter. So I found this bamboo compost bucket, also on Amazon. It has a dishwasher-safe plastic bucket inside, and a simple filter in the lid to reduce odors. And it looks great with the new counters.

Roger, Houston...

Roger Houston. Insanity Base, here. We have counters.

And they're beautiful. It took a good chunk of the day for them to install the counters, and cutting out the hole for the sink made a ton of dust, but we're very happy with the end results.

The only problem now is the sink. We'd been planning on reusing our old cast-iron sink because it's in OK shape, but now with the new cabinets and beautiful new countertop, the sink looks a bit more banged up and stained than we remembered. And looking at the faucet, the same will be true for that if we replace the sink.

We're considering recoating the sink, but we haven't been able to find any place local that does actual recoating (vs. painting like Miracle Method.) Anybody know of a place in the East Bay that recoats sinks?

glacial kitchen progress

Progress on the kitchen has been slow, or at least feels that way. I've been finalizing the layout of the cabinet design and getting estimates. Since the cabinets are major part of the expense as well as the look of the kitchen, and I can't do it myself (without a major learning curve to learn cabinet making, and a lot of time), I'm getting three estimates. I can't blame the weather (which was glacial...there was ice on the bird bath the other morning), though that has kept me away from Habitat for several Fridays. I can't even blame jury duty, since the case settled while they were calling role, so it only took a few hours out of my day.

The first estimate is from Home Depot, which had a very helpful, friendly guy help me finalize some details while he was inputting the cabinet specs into their system. KraftMaid makes nice cabinets, and has taken some green steps, but doesn't specify FSC-certified lumber and would be shipping the cabinets all the way from Ohio. They ship a lot of cabinets, so there's some economy of scale, but still not the best thing.

Another estimate is from a local green home improvement store, EcoHome. They're a great shop, with a huge selection of eco-friendly paints, flooring, cabinets, countertops, etc. We got our bamboo flooring from them, as well as all the paint we've bought in the years since they opened. They have a company make the cabinets locally, using FSC-certified wood and low- and no-VOC finishes. This will definitely be the greenest option, but probably the most expensive.

The final estimate is from a local cabinet shop here in Oakland, H&H Cabinet. They were the last on my list, so the drawings were pretty complete by the time I got to them. They've got a small showroom above their shop which is only staffed some of the time, so the hardest part was getting over there when it was. This may be the cheapest option, but we'll see.

I'm hoping that EcoHome's estimate will be reasonable enough that we can go with it. They're super-knowledgeable, always looking for new and better options, and have done a lot of work figuring out the trade-offs involved in the various options. With the recession, they've been adding more variety to the products they carry. Instead of purely high-end stuff that's as green as possible, they're also carrying some more modest stuff that may not be as green. Regardless of whether we get the cabinets from them, we'll probably get the flooring (probably natural linoleum) and countertops (maybe Paperstone or Vetrazzo; the latter is made locally).

I'm also hoping this will all be reasonable enough that we can splurge a little on some art. We recently went to a local (as in around the corner) open studio. Turns out the house with the funny sculptures in front (a couple doors over from the house that burned a while back) belongs to a local artist who works with copper. Kenneth Griswa does some very high end installs, but also does some more modestly priced work, too. His portfolio includes some boffo copper backsplashes and range hoods as art. They're decorated using a variety of techniques, and are in a word, amazing.

In any event, the basic design of the kitchen is done. It's got the classic work triangle, and despite any limitations imposed by costs, it's going to be 1000% better than our old kitchen. It'll be twice as big, with lots more counter space and storage, and open to the dining room (via a large doorway and half height walls at the counters), so it'll feel even bigger.

Ooo...we're trendy

According to builderonline.com (via Charles and Hudson) our house is pretty trendy and has features that will help boost its value with buyers. We have their "10 Things You Must Put in Your Next House" list pretty decently covered:

1. Radiant-heated bathroom floors - check
   
2. Butcher block countertops - nope
   
3. Glass tiles - considering for the kitchen
   
4. Dual flush toilet - check
   
5. Low-flow showerheads - check
   
6. On-demand water heater - check
   
7. Water re-circulator - considered, rejected for now because our water usage is low
   
8. Folding patio-door - maybe if we had a bigger house...
   
9. Central vacuum - nope
   
10. Excellent insulation - check -- I've blogged about this before (1, 2)

That's 5 yesses and 1 maybe without evening trying in an addition and remodel. Of course, we're doing the work on the house to make it what we want and to reduce the resources it uses, not to increase the sales value. The nice-but-not-million-dollar view from the bedroom is for us, not the next people who own the house. But it's nice to know the work isn't detracting from the value of the house. The economy is doing that well enough on its own.