My gun is ready to caulk

I have this mysterious water leak in my basement laundry room and just when I think I have found the source and fixed it, I find water on the floor again.  The exterior wall where the water seems to be coming in is on the side of the house where the rain usually hits.  It is also the wall with the electric meter, dryer vent, a window and other entry points for wiring.  We have already caulked around the dryer vent and around the electric meter where the concrete had crumbled and was no longer doing its job.  I took a good look at that wall and noticed a gap in the window sill mortar joint.

To fix the gap, I bought some silicone caulking that is for concrete.  The kind I bought has a 30 minute rain ready time, which was good because we have been having a lot of rain.  I checked all the window sills and found a couple more that needed repair that I took care of as well.

This caulking does not clean up nice with water and I found my hands were covered in a sticky film.  I rubbed some sand on my hands and that got rid of the stickiness.

I also have a crack in the garage floor where moisture seeps up into the garage.  Since I have almost a full tube of caulking left, I will use it to fill that crack too.

Green highlights:

•  preventing water damage 

Have checked your window sills lately to see if there are any cracks and gaps?

-TJ

The Project - Part 4 - Electrical

Receptacles and Light Switch
Since the panelled walls were shades of brown, the receptacles and light switch were brown.  We replaced them with white Decora and donated the brown ones to Habitat for Humanity.

Light Fixtures

The existing light fixtures were 4 wall sconces with amber coloured glass hurricane shades that I did not like.  I could have replaced them with new wall sconces, but I didn't want to spend that much money on wall sconces when I would prefer not to have sconces in the first place.  Since rewiring would have been expensive and not something we could do on our own, we opted to keep what we had.  We found small lamp shades that fit the existing fixtures perfectly and we donated the glass  hurricane shades.  I really like the way they look now and the new shades cost less than what we would have had to pay for 1 new sconce.

Power Bar
We got a Smart Strip to hook up our electronics.  I had heard about these but didn't really understand how they worked.  You plug the main device like the television or computer into the main plug and that controls the power to the other components like the dvd player or printer.  When the main device is turned off the others get turned off as well.  This reduces power usage and will save money on your energy bill.  There is also a plug that isn't controlled so you can plug a lamp or other item in it and it will not be affected by whether the main device is on or off.

Timer
We got a timer for the dehumidifier.  It is programmed to run during off peak time for hydro so we are paying the lowest electric rates when it is running.

         Green Highlights:

• donated items
•  reused light fixtures
• smart strip for reducing energy usage
• using a timer to save money on hydro usage

Do you use a smart strip for your television or computer?

-TJ

Reusable containers

Often, products we buy come in pretty or practical containers.  With a little thought, once the product is used up, these containers can be given another purpose.  This will save money by not having to buy a new container and it reduces waste.

reusable containers

  The green container was for body butter.  Now it is in the office and holds paper clips.  If you want, you can cover the words around the lid with washi tape for a fun look.  Check out your local craft store, like Michaels, for washi tape.  There was a big sticker label on the lid, but it peeled off perfectly without using water or anything.

The container with the pink lid had cake sprinkles in it.  Now it is used for beads.  The sticker label on the front of this container did not come off so well.  I used a drop of Goo Gone to get off the sticky residue.

These containers could have been recycled in the blue box, but why throw them out when they can be used for something else?

Green Highlights:

• reusing containers
• reducing waste
• saving money

What containers have you re-purposed once the product was used up?

-TJ

The Project - Part 3 - Panelled Walls

What to do with the panelled walls

One of the reasons we have left the panelling is because, as far as panelling goes, it is nice panelling.  The problem in this basement room is that the panelling makes it dark.  We had a couple of options. 

Option One:
Remove the panelling and and install drywall.  This would be costly buying panelling and we would need help installing it.  We would list the panelling on Kijiji to try to sell it, but if there are no takers then it would most likely end up in the landfill.     

Option Two:
Paint the panelling.  Painting the panelling is something I hadn't wanted to do because it is nice panelling, but this is a cost effective option.

Our Choice:
We chose option two and painted the panelling.  The cost and labour savings and the fact that there was no waste generated made this our first choice.  My daughter chose a soft grey paint from Benjamin Moore called "bunny grey" in a pearl finish.  We discovered that the lines in the panelling and the knots had to be painted individually before using the paint roller.  That took extra time to do, but then the rolling went quickly.

The paint we bought at Benjamin Moore is low VOC (volatile organic compound).  When I first heard about low VOC paint, it was promoted as having little or no odour.  I didn't think the odour was a big deal and we could always open the windows.  I have since learned that they are harmful and contribute to air pollution.  I like to reduce or eliminate VOC's in my home where I can, so we now use only low/no VOC paint.

Environment Canada has information on VOC's that you can check out at Volatile Organic Compounds.

We love the way the walls turned out.  You can see the wood grain and that gives it a homey feel.  The light colour and pearl finish of the paint really brighten up the room.  We were thrilled with how much brighter the room is now.

Green Highlights:

• panelling did not end up in a landfill site
• used low VOC paint
• brighter room means less electricity needed for lighting

Have you ever painted panelling?

-TJ

The Project - Part 2 - The Demo

Getting rid of carpet without it going into a landfill.

Some of the less becoming features of the family room are the carpeting which consisted of 4 different sized pieces and the popcorn ceiling.  There is also the panelling, but we will cover that in a later post. 

  

Carpet
I posted the carpet on Kijiji to give away for free.  I had 2 people wanting it in less than 15 minutes after posting the ad and many more after that.  I suggested that it could be used under a drum kit or for a child's play area.  It wouldn't be a big deal if the child spilled on it or drew on it with crayon like one of my youngsters had done in the past. 

Once we rolled up the carpet, I noticed a stain on the underside of one of the pieces that I wasn't aware of before then.  The first couple people saw the stain and walked away without taking the carpet.  When I contacted the next person that was interested, I mentioned that there was a stain on the back before they came to look at it and they took it no problem.  I have found that when I post ads on Kijiji, it is best to mention a flaw in the item before they come and then they aren't taken by surprise.

I am pleased that someone else could make use of the carpet we no longer needed and that it didn't go to the landfill.

Popcorn Ceiling 
Our family room is in the basement and has a 7' ceiling.  The popcorn made it shadowy, not helping to brighten the room and it turns out it wasn't even white, but a grey colour.

There was a time when popcorn ceilings were made with asbestos.  In the late 1970's, it was banned in popcorn ceilings, but if the product had already been purchased it was grandfathered in and was allowed to still be used.  So ceilings installed up into the mid 1980's could still contain asbestos. 

I was pretty sure ours did not contain asbestos, but to be on the safe side, we had it tested.  I sent a sample, along with a cheque for $25 plus tax, in the mail to LCS Laboratory Inc in London.  I had the results in a matter of days - and we were asbestos free!  We wrapped bandannas on our heads and we covered our faces with a mask or bandanna and away we went.  We sprayed water on the popcorn and then used a putty knife to scrape it off.  I was surprised at the amount of dust that had collected on the ceiling and we didn't even know it.  When we ran the putty knife across the ceiling, the popcorn would hang down on the dust.  Now that the popcorn is gone, the room feels less closed in and looks much better.

Green Highlights:

• carpet was given away on Kijiji
• kept the existing ceiling
• popcorn ceiling was asbestos free

Have you ever removed a popcorn ceiling?

-TJ

The Project - Part 1 - The Purge

Dealing with the stuff in the room

The first thing we tackled was the stuff sitting in the family room.  Surprisingly, a lot of the stuff collected in this room was already set aside to be donated, but it was never followed through.  So, we sorted what we will donate and set prices on what we plan to sell on Kijiji.  We labeled boxes and bags with the name of the organization we will be giving the donations to, so they will be ready to go.

We will also be getting rid of some furniture.  There is a TV cabinet that we have posted on Kijiji and we will be selling the sofa and matching chair.  Before the sofa and chair are posted for sale though, we need to remove any items that have fallen down inside them.  I should have started with the sofa because now that the chair has been cleaned out, the sofa seems like a much bigger job.  I felt like I was a magician pulling things out of a magic hat cleaning out the chair.  I found toys the size of my hand, play jewelry, barrettes and even the key to the freezer.  That key has been missing for years.  Why didn't I think of looking in the chair for it??

We will also go through all our movies and games that were stored in the TV cabinet to decide what we will keep and find new homes for the ones we will get rid of.

the dark family room - the flash makes the room look bright when it is not

Green Highlights:

• reuse by donating
• reuse by selling on Kijiji

Do you use Kijiji or Craig's List or is there another site you like to use to sell stuff?

-TJ

The Project - Introduction - Family Room Renovation

My daughter and I decided we are going to do a low budget, DIY update to our dark, cluttered family room.  The catch with this reno is that we want to do it green!  Our plan is to reuse or repurpose as much as we can by shopping second hand stores and Kijiji instead of buying new items and we will donate or sell what we no longer need, keeping as much as we can from going to  the landfill. We will also be looking for other ways we can be green in this project.

Come along for the ride as we head into this green adventure we affectionately call "The Project."

 Do you have a project you would like to do "green?"

-TJ