Thursday, February 10, 2011

Here Kitty Kitty

We decided to get a kitty cat at last, we may have over done it!
(Seen in the middle of the night via our stealth camera....was hoping for some deer, maybe a coyote, or this guy/girl)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

EnGuard™ - GlassFree Insulation Technology

After building my office on the second level of our workshop (pictures to come) we had a huge battle with insulation. Trying to find an eco-option was a miserable experience. Using any kind of denim or recycled content was 5x the price of regular insulation. But beyond the cost was attaining any of these alternative options. They were no where to be found. Dow create a great eco-friendly insulation option but only sell it on the east coast. Shipping huge batts of insulation, not an option!!

So we decided to go off to the DIY center and try the Bonded Logic Ultra Touch insulation, which was a nightmare. You have to blow it in and it went everywhere, covered everything, was hard to breathe and you had to install and then wait a few weeks for it to settle and then return and top it off. Not a good system. We would have loved to do spray foam, which is what we want to use for the house, but for such a small area it wasn't worth getting someone out to do or buying/renting the equipment.

We ended up going with the nasty pink stuff for the walls and rigid insulation for the roof but chose one that uses a high % of recycled content, there must be some kind of compromise, right, I was freezing in this office. So it is insulated.

But there is a new kid on the block - EnGuard. Made from recycled content ( a mix of post and pre-use) it just hit the market. They look like big foam batts like you would jump on in gym class and you can install sans gloves, masks, eye protection, breathing apparatus, ventilation that includes removing the roof - just 2 hands and half a brain. Check! Doesn't it look like she is having fun.

Price wise its about $0.72 per sqft. for the R13 and R19 and R21 options are coming out. The regular pink stuff is about $0.50 per sqft but add in the installation headache and all the safety equipment you need - ridiculous.

The only thing I can't figure out about EnGuard is where to the buy the stuff - so far it looks like the east and south is it....Don't these people realize that more green building is going on in the west. Hopefully they will get the message soon (after they receive my 238 emails).