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{Re}habitat
Learn how adaptive reuse and upcycling can add hip design to your home, apartment, or yard with the Go Green channel's {Re}habitat series. Follow host Rachael Ranney as she shows you how to repurpose salvaged and found materials, adding fun and function to your space without breaking your budget.
Depending on the age of your home, you may have single-pane windows or double-pane insulated windows. Replacing a broken single-pane window can be easily accomplished by a homeowner with the right tools, materials, and a little time, over the period of a week or so. However, if a double-pane insulated window breaks, you will need to replace it. You should contact the manufacturer of the window and replace the affected wooden glazed sash or vinyl window glass pack. If you cannot locate the manufacturer, you should hire a local glazier to replace the broken glass with a custom-fit sash or glass pack.
Much to the chagrin of many Spanish bar owners and restaurateurs, 2011 rang in the New Year with strict (and controversial) anti-smoking laws on January 2. For Spain and its “live and let live” attitude, these new regulations mark the end of an era for the country and its strong café culture of tapas, beer, and smoke. While the country is dedicated to eliminating smoke-filled spaces, Madrid is taking it one step further by actually creating healthy air one neighborhood at a time – starting with the Vallecas neighborhood south of the city. After years of ongoing development and poor city planning, the city council of Vallecas realized that the area was severely lacking in green areas. The city of Madrid (along with the European Union) launched a competition looking for architects that could create a viable social design that reflected the community’s environment-friendly goals.
Nonprofit Helps Communities to Rebuild After Disasters
During the Kosovo refugee crisis in 1999, the husband and wife team of architect Cameron Sinclair and journalist Kate Stohr realized that not many architects were involved in rebuilding after the war. So the couple formed Architecture for Humanity, a not-for-profit design services firm originally located in New York City that helps communities to rebuild infrastructure devastated by human or natural catastrophes.
Ceramic tile is an ideal choice for walls and floors in any bathroom. It’s durable, impervious to water, and comes in an almost limitless selection of colors and styles. Tiling a custom bathroom with your own hands is a rewarding project for an experienced do-it-yourselfer. Join our host, Jeff Wilson, as he offers guidance on installing wall and floor tile in the second installment of Buildipedia's custom bathroom series.
FleX House by Team Florida
Although Florida is known for its picturesque, sandy beaches, it is also a heavily populated state, and it's growing. Finding a sustainable model for living in this hot, humid climate is a priority for students of four universities who comprise Team Florida, an entrant in the 2011 Solar Decathlon. Like other Solar Decathlon teams, it is a multi-disciplinary one, and each school brings specialties to the table: University of South Florida brings architecture, engineering, and clean energy research and communications; the University of Florida brings interior design and construction; Florida State University brings engineering and net zero expertise; and the University of Central Florida brings solar energy research.
You already know the basics of sealing: you do it every time you zip up your jacket or lift your collar against the wind. Sealing a home works on the same principle, reducing air infiltration through the walls, ceilings, and floors to save energy and stay comfy. Just as you do a jacket, it’s best to button up – or seal – the shell of your home, or the “envelope,” as the exterior of your home is called in trade parlance. Older homes may have had no sealing done at all, and not all builders of new homes do a great job of sealing a house, even when sealing is required by today’s energy codes. We researched the best products and spoke to several experts to learn how to tighten the envelope of your home, save energy, and keep out the cold.
Effective air sealing comes with workmanship. No matter what brand of housewrap you choose, you will be wasting your money unless you install it carefully. Getting the installation right is not hard, but it requires a basic understanding of how housewrap works. Detailed installation instructions can be found on manufacturers’ Web sites and often at the lumberyard or home center where housewrap is purchased.
If your interior doors are severely stuck, rubbing, scratched, have holes, damaged beyond repair, or just don’t fit with your style, installing new prehung doors will sharpen the appearance of any room in your home and provide easy, daily operation. Installing a prehung door after removing an existing door isn't as difficult as you might think. With some patience and a little know-how, installing a prehung interior door is a project any DIY'er can do.
