How to make home eco friendly?

[Lovenest]

We are building a 800sf apartment over my parents garage.
Is there anything we can do to make it eco friendly?
Like flooring, windows, appliances?

Thanks!

Erin

[Boobs]

So much depends on your budget, obviously.
What about bamboo or reclaimed wood flooring?
Make sure you get Energy-star rated appliances if you can.
Just living in such a small home is really great for the planet.

[mgilleran@earth-co]

I would say the first thing is to make sure that you have proper ventilation since you are over a garage (carbon monoxide, fumes from stuff stored in garage, etc) . That can be a very dangerous situation of not built correctly. I second the energy star rec. If you can afford argon-filled windows they are a huge help. We didn't splurge on them, but my brother did & it is amazing how they are warm to the touch when it is 30 degrees outside. Use materials that don't off-gas, low VOC paints (Sherwin williams has a good line). Wood floors are a better choice than carpet. As prev mentioend, bamboo is easily renewable. But even using cabin grade oak is better. That is irregular & slightly damaged wood that would be discarded if not used. If you have gas, a tankless water heater is great (they heat on-demand). But if you are all electric like us they are actually very inefficient. They take three breakers to operate! You can also use 6 inch exterior walls instead of 4 inch. You'd be surprized how much this saves on heating & cooling. It is a little added expense for framing, but well worth it.

[eden/averymum]

there are heaps of resouirces around sustainable building. so there si lots you can do. I don't know alot about it, I'm stuck renting for now so it hasn't struck me to do much research but I think I have some links saved....

trying looking here
http://eco.barkingcrickets.org/

[Lovenest]

Originally Posted by mgilleran@earth-co

I would say the first thing is to make sure that you have proper ventilation since you are over a garage (carbon monoxide, fumes from stuff stored in garage, etc) . That can be a very dangerous situation of not built correctly.

All the flamables will be put in a little shed on the other side of the yard.
The car in there are antique cars and will not be driven daily just on nice weekends. We will have a dorr that goes upstairs at the bottom in the garage, stairs leading up to the apartment. Any ideas how to keep fumes at a minimum?

[mgilleran@earth-co]

It sounds ike you have thought things through. I would suggest moving chemicals out of the garage as soon as possible to let things "air out" really well before you are living there. I would make sure that the door leading upstairs is sealed tightly. It wouldn't hurt to have another door at the top of the stairs to give you a double barrier. What is the roof of the garage like? How will you be adding your second story?

[Lovenest]

It will be all new... The current garage will be pulled down and we will rebuild everything.

[mgilleran@earth-co]

If you are starting all new that sounds great. You can make sure that the floor is air tight. You will need a solid ceiling surface in the garage. Drywall/sheetrock would be great if you can afford that. It seals off nice & tight when finished. I would also insulate the floor of the apartment. Youalso have to pay attention to seal around outlets in the garage (within the walls, you can wrap them in insulation making sure that non of it is touching exposed wires) Fumes could travel through an outlet, into the wall cavity & out an outlet in the apartment. I would wrap the apartment outlet boxes too. Just think of anywhere gases could flow. My dad did this kind of stuff, but he passed away in January so I am trying to remember everything I saw him do.