Going Green

Here’s a very simple lesson I recently learned in doing things green. It also involved saving me a lot of money! Always a good thing! I needed an interior door replaced. It was an odd size so I knew it might have to be custom ordered. One day last week I finally figured out that I might have to hire someone to go off Island to find me the right sized door. That very day I was stopping by Granny’s Attic to drop off some clothes I had outgrown, (at my age you know
w h i c h way I outgrew them). I happened to glance over to their housewares area and what did I see? Doors. Lots of doors.

I called a handyman friend of mine and said, “Can’t we just recycle a used door?” He said that maybe we could if he found one that fit. He called me later that day to tell me that he found a door that was exactly the size we needed and it still had all the hardware on it and was in excellent shape! “How much?” I asked. He laughed, “four bucks.” What a deal! He painted it to match the rest of the room and it now is hanging proudly.

Saving money is good but being able to reuse appliances, home furnishings, and building materials saves natural resources and is also doing your part to help save the Earth. There are several used building supply places in the Seattle and Tacoma area in addition to our own Granny’s. All it takes is a little time.

Built Green is a recognized program of the Seattle King County Master Builders Association. They certify green building and remodeling. They also do training and promote the use of environmentally sound design and construction. If you check out the Built Green handbook for contractors you will see that they recommend resources for the reuse and recycling of building materials, deconstruction debris and site preparation materials. They offer resources for places that accept almost everything for recycle. If you want to find that list go to their website at builtgreenwashington.org and check out their resource library or go to the construction recycling directory at www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/greenbuilding/documents/CDLguide.pdf When doing a construction project or remodel project, participating contractors get bonus points toward green certification for recycling and re-using materials. The certification plan includes obvious stuff like sinks and light fixtures, but also gives credit for roofing material, sheetrock, metal, and cardboard. They also get points for reusing materials in the new project. I recently toured a home for sale that had been remodeled entirely with recycled material. It was stunning! Beautiful glass tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen counter tops, recycled Mexican floor tiles, wood flooring, railings, lighting fixtures, cabinets and some one of a kind items like hand made ceramic sinks. It was all the more beautiful because no trees were cut, no oil and gas burned for materials to travel from other places, and no factory toxic waste created from the manufacturing of goods. Think about it folks, it’s worth the effort.