The past couple weeks I have been amazed at how many wonderful Green Twitter folk from right here in Houston are tweeting their hearts out and sharing some fantastic information and I thought I would share some of them with you.  If you know of some others that I missed, please let me know and I can add them to the list.  I LOVE meeting new tweeps.

Many of these are companies that I was not even aware existed and was really excited to find out about them.  Hope you find them interesting as well!

@MaryFrancesB
@SpotOnSeo
@NotTrashHouston
@RecycleMatch
@HoustonGBRC
@HTownSolarTour
@HoustonGreenScn
@Blockcast
@EGBHouston
@USGBCHouston
@GulfCoastGreen
@GreenHoustonTx
@KeepItGreenMaid
@GreenTheBlock
@TaigaCompany
@GreenFitNFrugal
@RecyclingRic
@EcoSocials
@EcoStarHomes

For one this is amazing because our appraisers could REALLY use this information to start PROPERLY appraising our Greener Homes.  For Two, this will allow us to tell our Home Owners in the future what features will actually pay off in the long run!

For now, the word is still getting out – I doubt that all homes with Green features are being noted as such.  There is also evidence that some of the homes are tagged incorrectly -Not even 90 days in to having these fields available there is not enough data yet to state whether or not homes with certain features definitely sell for more money than those without -

BUT, there IS enough data to show certain trends that we as Real Estate Professionals are going to start seeing more and more.

Personally I have been amazed at the number of homes in the Houston area that have Solar PV or Solar Hot Water.  The other trend that appears to grow by the week in MLS is the number of homes with Tankless Hot Water Heaters and Older homes with Low-E windows.

Each month we can start tracking more and more but for now here are some numbers on trends for new and existing homes.

Tankless Hot Water Heaters-

• 58 Resales and Rentals
• 85 New Construction

Solar Hot Water/PV-

• 3 Resale
• 15 New Construction

Insulated/Low-E Windows-

• 1850 Built Prior to 2000
• 1090 of which built prior to 1990

HVAC Greater than 13 SEER-

• 455 not New Construction

These are just a few of the new fields available and while they are not on the Public Search side of HAR.com yet – It is a relief to have them available to the agents.  I believe as we continue to track the statistics we will find that the majority of ALL home buyers want Green features – Their requests for those features are just disguised as another term.

Coming up next month?  How many of these homes right here listed will go under contract in September?

If you would like a list of any of these particular homes available, homes with any other green features or for a marketing plan for your specific property I can be reached at Steph@TurningHoustonGreen.com -

Probably one of the most popular ‘green’ upgrades that homeowners in Houston do every year is changing out their single pane windows with double pane for Energy Efficiency and to make the home quieter and healthier. Changing out your windows is also a great way to set your home apart from others when you go to sell. Home buyers are starting to look at Energy Efficient upgrades to help make their decisions on what home to buy. According to the Cost vs. Value reports, double pane windows have brought in over 72% return on investment for several years now in the Houston area. That means that if you sell your home within 12 months of installation, you will recuperate appx. 72% of that money.

The Tax Credit now for changing out the windows of you home is now 30% of the cost of the windows with a cap of $1500. Sounds great right!? Well, I suspect that there will be some angry homeowners when they go to file there taxes next year.

While this is a great tax credit if you take a look at what windows actually qualify, there are very few. I actually went to a big box store here in the North Houston area and not a single window in the store qualified. I also looked through their catalogs and did not find any that qualified.

After realizing exactly how strict the standards are to qualify for the Tax Credit, I went to local Window expert Bob Birner with Renewal by Andersen to help explain it. If you are a homeowner in Houston wanting to change out your windows, listen in to what Bob has to say.

Here is the podcast, also available on ITunes:

I was trying to find a place to Recycle Carpet.   I had heard previously that certain manufacturers would do it, but only certain kinds. I was on a hunt.

Finally, I ran across this company:

Name: Southeast Carpet & Recycling
Street: 5926 South Loop East
Houston, tx 77033-1018
Phone: (713) 734-3775

That was all of the information I could find.    Couldn’t really find a website other than one that was a directory. It kind of peaked my interest, so I decided to call.

I said:

‘I ran across your information online and it says you do carpet and recycling. Do you recycle the carpet?‘

The response was:

“YES! We recycle carpet AND padding.”

Wow! Ok. I explained why I was calling and that someone would be in touch with them and as I was about to hang up the Gentleman said:

“Oh, and we will PAY 4 cents per pound on any padding to be recycled”

Oh my. Wow again!  Now, that’s not a whole lot but if you take in to consideration how nasty and grungy carpet padding can be that has been down for years and years…that could add up.   BUT more than anything, it’s an incentive! That would likely pay for the gas to drop it off atleast!

So who else is out there around town that has a program like this?  Besides the City of Houston and Un-Incorporated County Recycling Centers are there ANY that you are aware of?  Are there any that offer some pretty neat incentives like PAYING for what you turn in?

What a great concept.  I’m hoping that some of my readers can help make a larger list here.  I would be happy to create another page that includes Recycling Options in and around Houston.

I have a confession. Sometimes I like to think of myself as smart. There are many smart people, right? I have a degree. I made it thru 12 years of the military, that’s gotta count for something. My home state is world famous for “Yankee Ingenuity”. Smart right? Well, Not… So… Fast! I’ve been learning ALOT this last year after opening Green Builders Source. So many things that a laymen’s understanding didn’t do justice. Let me share my latest discovery! CORK!

Seems, my layman’s understanding of cork was woefully inadequate! Sure, there are the cork boards, the underlayment of engineered flooring, and then my personal favorite, the wine cork! Yummy! But it wasn’t until 1999 that I had even HEARD of a cork floor. Tile? Yup! Wood? Of course! Marble? Have you seen the Duomo in Florence? But Cork? Apparently it was all the rage in Europe! And I just lived in Europe for 5 years? How could I miss it? How?

Well, being the ever curious, I started to pay attention every time information on cork was available. Jump to 2008 and Cork is now a top player for any green building project. The top green choices almost always start with: Cork, Bamboo, Linoleum, and locally manufactured tile. Many don’t know why Cork is on the “Short list” for Green. Bamboo is obvious as it’s a grass, it can be harvested and rapidly renew its stalks for a future harvest. Tile is sustainable, that’s green. Linoleum is very natural and long lasting. But Cork? The harvesting of Cork is not yet as well known nor is how and from where it is harvested.

Cork comes from the Cork Oak. A medium sized tree that can be found in southern Europe and northern Africa. An interesting piece of information that is quite indicative of our vocabulary is all trees generate cork as a layer between the old growth bark and the living inner plant cells. It is a major component of the tree bark that protects the inner growth cells and sapwood from disease, insects, and damage. (note this… it protects the tree from bacteria, insects, and damage) It can be harvested from any tree, but only the Cork Oak is commercially viable due to its thickness and ease of harvesting.

The harvesting is equally interesting and truly a sustainable commodity, if not entirely practical. A Cork Oak does live an amazingly long time, upwards of 200 years. However, the first harvest cannot be taken until the tree is 20 years old. This harvest is of poor grade and it is not till the cork has been harvested an additional 3 times, or when the tree is 50 that high grade cork is available. This thought quickly squelched my desire to create a Cork Oak orchard in Texas given my level of attention and interest would surely expire before the first harvest. I did entertain the “second generation” idea, but my children would probably be so bored of hearing of the future harvest, they surely would be interested in more rapidly rewarding endeavors. Maybe Bamboo is more our “speed”? That said, the following harvests can be made at 10 year intervals. This allows 15 or more harvests from one tree! Truly a quest for a forward thinking entrepreneur. Very forward thinking!

Here’s a summary from the Canada/Portugal Chamber website:

Given that a cork oak produces cork tissue until it is 150 or even 200 years old, during which time it may be stripped 15 to 18 times, and that the average ages of trees presently in production is 85 years and that the area under plantation is growing by an average of 4% a year, cork production can look forward to a rosy future in Portugal. There are at present more than 600 industrial facilities operating in Portugal, employing a labor force of about 15,000. Cork products were exported in 1990 to the tune of 80,433,356,000 escudos (corresponding to 105,516 tons). In the same period natural cork stoppers accounted for 55% of total cork product exports. At 44,614,694,000 escudos, this trade is worth more than the export of Port Wine.

This only further clarifies that the commercial leaders in cork production are in Europe and Africa with Portugal producing 50% of the world’s supply. Don’t let the scarcity of the harvest locations fool you, however. Cork has a plethora of qualities that make it very desirable. It’s elastic in nature and near-water impermeable. It has low thermal conductivity, low density, fire resistance, and good energy absorption, antimicrobial, and resistant to insects, mold and mildew. (remember how it protected the tree as part of the bark?) All these factors make cork an excellent product for wine stoppers, sports equipment, sound management in musical instruments, and more. However, these qualities sound amazingly grand for use in construction.

Cork cells are comprised mostly of air. This trait makes each cork cell act as a balloon or a gasket. Additionally, the cell walls contain a waxy substance called “suberin” which enhances the impermeable wall to liquids and air. The product qualities that are found from the features of cork are: reduced sound from dropped items or walking, cork has a natural feel, it insulates against temperature changes (It has an “R-factor” of 2.6), it is low maintenance, extremely durable, and above all, it looks great. I found during my research for this article that there are cork floor installs that are still in use today over one hundred years old! One is a church in Chicago that had cork flooring in 1890 and is still in use today! And I just learned that The Library of Congress has cork flooring installed. Did I mention the sound absorption! Libraries and museums love cork. So do child care facilities. Not that I quote “Bob Vila” much, but his website had this to say about cork: “Finished cork flooring can have the look of textured hardwood… the soft give of carpet, and the easy maintenance of vinyl….cork feels softer than hardwood and warm underfoot, making it an obvious alternative to carpet.

Because of its cellular composition, it is extremely durable and resilient. This makes it much less affected by impact or friction than hard surface floors such as wood, laminate or tile. One feature that I always get questioned on is its resilience. I too worried that such a “soft” product would fall victim to high heeled shoes and the like. Apparently that “elasticity” that I mentioned has a “bounce back” factor of 40%! So, no worries about your high heeled shoes! Once the pressure is off, the cellular structure returns to shape very quickly.

Ok, so now we know it’s water resistant, insect and bacteria resistant, resilient, durable, quiet, and insulating, what do you have to do to get some? First, there are suppliers all over including Green Builders Source. Check all your options, inquiring about thickness, colors, patterns, pre-sealed, and quality. Second, there are two options for installation. Your cork floor can be installed as glue down tiles or as a floating floor. The glue down tiles uses fewer materials, but requires a near perfect floor for installation. The floating floor with interlocking tongue-and-groove edges is easier to install, and repair, and ready to walk on, thus making it a popular flooring choice.

For the floating floor planks and tiles, the cork floor looks like any engineered hardwood. There is a wear surface made of a factory applied, UV rated varnish or sealer, a veneer of cork oak bark, a cork core, a moisture resistant hard rigid core, and a cork underlayment. This layered solution provides the best of both worlds. The price is on par with other engineered woods or ceramic tile, so any alternative should put cork within the same budget range.

Once you have decided on cork, and you think you have a source, before you install it, you better have a maintenance plan. Every floor requires maintenance right? Well, yes, that is true, but cork is a low maintenance floor. The good news just keeps getting better with this flooring, doesn’t it? The catch? There isn’t any. Pick up loose dirt with vacuum, broom or “swiffer®”. The most important step is to Damp mop. Do NOT Wet mop! Do NOT let water stand on the floor. Then spot treat any tough to clean areas. Water is cleaning solvent enough. If you have to add something, nothing more abrasive then a drop or two of dish soap. Given all the water-resistance of cork, the seams of the flooring would swell under standing water.

Pretty amazing, hun? I know that in the time it’s taken me to finish this article, I’ve walked the house twice to see which room would look best in that new Green Builders Source Cork Floor! It’s a toss-up between the children’s play room or the kitchen. I’ll keep you posted.

To see samples for your own home or business, stop by the store!  Give a call and we can sit down together and go thru all the different and beautiful options you have with Cork! 

Angelique Grado
Green Builders Source
25700 I-45 North, Suite 101, Spring TX 77382
www.GreenBuildersSource.com
281-298-0400
angelique@greenbuilderssource.com

References for this page came from: Wikipedia, Nova Cork, Natural Cork, Bob Vila, Canada/Portugal Chamber, TexasParks.org, and several .edu sites.

If any of my readers have a home, ideally built prior to 1985, and are curious as to what it would take to fix it up we would love to hear from you.  Here is a breakdown of what we will be looking at:

• What it would take to ‘green’ it up
• Cost to do so
• Loans available as though you were going to purchase it

Now, if you would like us to use your home we would like to take some pictures as examples and of course there is no obligation to do any work but it could be a good opportunity to find out how your home sizes up if you are considering something like this.  Maybe you are thinking about selling your home and would like to advertise it this way?

Here are some others that we are looking for also if your home is newer:

• Green Kitchen or Bath Remodels
• Whole House Rehab- basically to gut it almost to the frame
• Energy Remodels

We would love to use your home as an example, with no names or address included of course!

Again, this will all be hypothetical-no work will be done but an estimate of cost will be available.  Will any of you let us borrow your home for an hour?

Feng Shui is an ancient system of aligning a home’s design with the invisible life force known as Chi.  It was practiced in China for over 3,000 -5,000 years, before the Communist regime made it illegal.  It is a tool, that homeowners in America and all over the world are discovering as a way to improve their lives.  In Feng Shui, a home can be divided into nine life areas.  These include our Work, Relationships, Family, Health, Money, Service, Children, Knowledge, and Fame.  When people begin to discover that taking control of their lives means taking control of their surroundings, they are going to need options that include Feng Shui and Green building. 

Much emphasis has been made recently among builders to incorporate Green building into their home designs.  In fact, I suspect that pretty soon, it will be difficult to sell a new home that has not been designed with some level of Green building.  However, if a home is built with attention to the “Green” details, but ignores the importance of Feng Shui principles, there will be an overall lack of design harmony and this can lead to all sorts of problems.   

You may be asking yourself why “harmony” and balance are so important.  These are two words that start to sound pretty generic unless we add some real life examples to your understanding.  We have to take a step back and consider the impact of how a place makes us “feel” when we enter it.  This is essentially what Feng Shui is about.  Does it feel inviting, peaceful and pleasant or does it make you feel like your brain is being scrambled?  How could your financial success be impacted by one versus the other?  How about your love life or even your health?  If you think that these things are immune to the design of your surroundings, think again. 

How does a newly married couple with no debt experience a home that is missing two life areas that relate to money and love?  Two failed businesses and a divorce in less than six years might sound coincidental unless you recognize the impact of the home’s design flaws.  Even though the house was built with the highest attention to energy saving that was available at the time, it was not enough to save the businesses or the marriage of the couple.  My point is that building Green and not fusing it with Feng Shui principles is a mistake.  Divorce and business loss may be on the rise, but the marriage between Green building and Feng Shui is one that is poised to stand the test of time.

For more information about Logynn and building homes using Feng Shui and Green building, go to www.greenfusionfengshui.com or call her directly at 281-235-2382.

The Green Building Movement is moving forward like crazy in Houston right now.  For the moment, it sometimes seems that the consumer demand is by far outpacing the construction from Developers and Builders. For this reason, it can be tough to tell people exactly where to find a ‘Green Home’ and at the same time, there is a home out there for everyone.

One item that makes it difficult is because ‘Green’ means something different to everyone.  Some believe that it is the materials being used to construct the home, others mean a High Performing and Energy Efficient home while some want Organic Gardens and Rain Water Capture.  All of which are phenomenal Green Features.

Let’s go over some price ranges to know what you are looking at right now, today, when it comes to buying Green.  This is not a reflection on what I believe Green is, this is what I am actively seeing in Houston’s Green Home market.

Homes under $175,000-  This price range happens to be an extremely active one.  The Green Features that are easiest to find at this price point are Energy Efficiency.  Based on the Year Built some will be more efficient than others.  Other items such as Indoor Air Quality, Rain Water Capture, Gardens, Materials Used, etc. can be difficult to find still.  However, when I search through homes for clients and potential clients this is something that I keep in mind.  These are also items that are easier to change after you purchase the home.  Keep in mind, the ‘bones’ of the house are hard to change…along with being expensive.  The ability for the home to be Energy Efficient is the beginning and possibly most important anyhow.  What makes Energy Efficiency Green is that the CO2 released is considerably less than that of a home built not Energy Efficient PLUS, it saves you money on Utility Bills.

Homes from $175,000 to $400,000- Now we can get in to some ‘Greener Features’.  At this price point you can find Higher Efficiency Air Conditioning Units, Solar Panels on New Construction, Healthier Products used inside the home, larger yards for Organic Gardens and so on.  There are many builders out there staying ahead in this price point in most areas of town.

Above $350,000- At this price point a Home Buyer could consider building to a LEED level depending on the features that you desire.  This is where it helps to know the inventory, builders, developers that are actively looking to Green up their product.  Many of the new construction homes available at an extremely high performing and Green level have just recently broken ground or are about to.  I will get in to retrofitting homes in another part of the series.  There are also existing homes with some’ ‘Green Features’.   Again, it depends on what you are looking for.

As homes become available and more builders begin new projects, I keep my list of homes updated.  However, it is important to find out what features are most important to you, the home buyer, when looking at what is available.  It is also important to know what options you have when looking and that is where efforts are being placed when viewing with buyers.  This could mean that remodeling or retrofitting a home is the best thing and most cost effective approach to take.  It all depends on your needs as everyone is different.

As we move through this series I will touch on different options available for homeowners while wanting to go Green.  In the mean time, to stay up to date with new and upcoming developments you can subscribe by text on the right side of the page, or send me an email with details on what you are looking for through the Contact Us link at the top.  I would be more than happy to help with what options may be available for you.

Regardless of price range, it is possible to go Green with your home in Houston right now.  Any shade of Green is a positive one.

Discovery at Spring Trails is coming along quickly now!

For an update, The Discovery Center is near completion and I now have pricing AND floorplans for one builders and floorplans for several others.  If any of you have been following, I now have those available to share.  One builder can now actively write contracts to build and others are taking first choice on lots.

On a more exciting note, I have been contacted by several people wanting to take a peek at what is going to be offered out at Discovery!  On June 7th I will be out there to give a tour to my regular readers and anyone else who is interested in knowing more about EcoMagination and Discovery at Spring Trails.

If you would like to be placed on the list for an invitation when the time of day is worked out, shoot me an email and I will keep you posted!

Shade House Developments
Matt and Tina Ford are focusing on Multi-Family Construction in the Heights near Downtown Houston and combine and fascinating approach combining Passive and Active Solar. They have been highlighted in publications like Dwell Magazine for their achievements.
Contact: Matt and Tina Ford
Phone: 713-545-8473

EnviroBuild
EnviroBuild specializes in Residential and Commercial buildings. Primarily those with ICF’s.
Phone: 281-847-0044
Contact: Pat Wickers

KeyFortess Homes
KeyFortress Homes specializes in ICF construction in the Houston area.
832-755-2891
Contact: Phil Ogburn