Latest Posts

USGBC 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition : Small, Green, Affordable

Final registration (5/31/2010) and project submission deadline for USGBC 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition: Small, Green, Affordable. The Salvation Army has teamed up with the U.S. Green Building Council for this year’s competition. The competition challenges entrants to design an affordable, 800 square foot green home for an elderly client in New Orleans. The Salvation […]

Going Green May Reduce Your Taxes

4/5/2010 EPA issues a Going Green Tax Tip: IRS Tax Tip 2010-66 When you invest in energy-efficient products, you may be saving money on both your energy bills and your tax return. The Internal Revenue Service wants you to know about these six energy-related tax credits created or expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment […]

Newer Homes May Be Affected By Toxic Drywall

Up to 60,000 homes in the US may be affected by allegedly toxic drywall that was installed from 2001 thru 2006. The drywall was imported from China during the housing bubble to handle demand. The drywall releases gases that can corrode metals in a home, including copper gas and water pipes, copper wiring, air conditioning […]

Training Room Echo Problem

“We have a new training room that has the following dimensions: 8′ High, 40′ Long, & 18′ Wide. The walls are dry wall, the ceiling has the typical tiles, and the floor is concrete covered by thin vinyl tiles. Also, one 40′ long wall has a white board all the way across it. The echoes are quite awful in this room. What would you recommend doing to reduce the noise?” Taking care of the echo in the room is actually quite simple, but there are a few options […]

Attention Renovators: EPA Will Require Additional Training

An EPA protection order that goes into affect April 22, 2010, will require additional training for contractors that perform maintenance, renovation, or repair of child care establishments and homes built before1978. The order states: Beginning April 22, 2010, no paid job can disturb painted surfaces in pre-1978 homes or child care facilities unless (1) the […]

January Construction Employment Numbers Released

January employment numbers are released, showing construction related unemployment has soared to 25%. This is up from the same time a year ago at 18% and two years ago at 9%. Construction projects as a whole are down, but there has been a slight increase in residential project starts.

Soundproofing an Office Ceiling

“We just moved into a newly built-out office suite. We have a terrible problem in that we can all clearly hear conversations in adjoining offices. We also have a bad echo in the offices.” Before you begin to look for options for blocking the sound, you need to find where the sound is leaking out, or leaking out the most. Without doing this, It would be like trying to plug a leaky fish tank without knowing where it were leaking […]

Home Theater from Scratch – Design and Soundproofing Products

“My basement home theater will be constructed starting in April. What’s the most economical way of soundproofing my new home theater?” Sound proofing is something that has to be approached as a unique, construction and situation based situation and what may work in “Room A” might not work in “Room B”, there are simply too many variables […]