Greenovations is Moving

Greenovations is moving.  Our new location will be in York, Maine at 470 US Route 1, 100 yards south of the traffic light in the center of town.  We will close the Portsmouth store March 25th and re-open in York April 10.  There will be many new products available to create a full home construction service.  Come see our “Solar House”, a display that demonstrates the best of an efficiently constructed home.

Oil Paint Performance, Latex Paint Ease

I have been doing a little painting around the house lately in addition to making preparations to move my business elsewhere.  As a result, I have had paint and paint colors on my mind a lot.  With three choices of paint to use from my stock I decided to do all the work with the very best paint I have – Naturals by AFM Safecoat.

Naturals isn’t just the best paint I have; it’s also the best paint I have ever used.  It is the one paint that doesn’t have any compromises.  If you ask anyone who has been painting professionally for years, nothing beats an oil based paint for good spread and coverage, smooth application, and durability.  But oh the mess it creates.  And the spirits you have to use for clean up.  No fun.

Then there is standard latex paint which performs well, though not as well as an oil based paint, but cleans up simply with water.  Very nice.  But it just does level, spread or bond with a surface as well as an oil based paint.

Well, what if you could have the best of both.  I was a professional painter for years and there’s only one product I know that can do that.  Naturals by AFM Safecoat.  Not only does Naturals perform incredibly well, it is also one of the healthiest paints available.  Employing phytochemistry ( the science of plant chemistry) AFM created an organic, biodegradable, water-soluble paint with a base of plant oils.  This is a pure, natural, paint, free of chemicals and petroleum.  Don’t let the Low VOC labels deter you either; this paint is healthier than every major zero voc out there.  While this paint has 1 gram per liter of a carbon producing ingredient than permitted for the zero VOC label, it has none of the toxic ingredients that don’t contribute to smog but are in most zero VOC paints.  Remember, the term VOC is an EPA term and refers only to ingredients that create Smog – it does nothing to regulate other ingredients such as ammonia and solvents that are toxic to your health.

Suffice it to say, there are a few other terrific, zero VOC, non toxic paints such as AFM’s Safecoat line or Yolo ColorHouse, but from a sheer performance perspective, nothing comes close.  Naturals spreads and levels fantastically, cleans up simply with water and is just plain easy to work with.  Cutting in trim and corners happens twice as fast.  Rolling is smooth and never sticky.  And the price is better than all the rest.  I sell Naturals for $52.   Ben Moores Aura is fixed for retailers at $62.  Mythic Zero VOC averages the same price. This is an awesome paint.  Over the last few years I have been mixing it up with my zero VOC brands when I paint, but no more.  It’s just too good to use.

Misconceptions About The Cost of Going Green

One of the great misconceptions about green building is that it costs more.  Personal experience has proven that such statements are at the very least misleading and generally down right wrong.  Even studies by McGraw-Hill publishing have shown that buildings meeting LEED certification cost plus or minus 2% of conventionally built structures.  So where does this misconception come from?

One of the first concepts to understand about sustainable building products is that there’s no crap to be accepted.  To be sustainable a product must be high quality and durable.  What leads to this huge misconception is the simple fact that you can’t find low-end garbage that is green.  There is a reason why some bamboo floors cost only $3 per square foot and others cost $5 and that has everything to do with quality.  But when you compare a truly green product to another equal high quality product without the sustainable attributes the prices are generally the same and often favor the green material.  An Eco Timber strandwoven bamboo made with low VOC waterborne finishes, urea formaldehyde free binders and FSC certified raw material doesn’t cost any more than another brand of bamboo that lacks these merits.  And Eco Timber received the #1 and #2 floor nods from Consumer Reports for three years running.

If you’re budget pushes you to go with low-end, non durable junk, that’s your choice.  But you’re not saving money because you chose not to be green.  Your’e saving money because you chose cost over quality.

The same can be said for nearly any material that goes into a home.  In some cases, you pay more for a green product because it is one of the rare products in that sector that exceeds all others.  An example of this is Breathe Easy cabinetry.  There cabinets are formaldehyde free and available with FSC certified materials.  What makes them more expensive than other standardized lines are traits of quality and durability.  Breathe Easy uses 3/4″ plywood opposed to half-inch (and even 3/8″ sometimes).  Breathe Easy also use regionally grown maple plywood, opposed to Baltic Birch which is good, but weaker and less durable.   Whatever the case, it’s not going green that costs more; it’s the cost of high quality materials and designs.  As always, you get what you pay for.

Always Research The Origins of Major Product Purchases

Three weeks ago I posted a blog titled Confessions Of A Green Compromise.  The gist of the blog was that due to a pipe break in our house while a bathroom remodel was underway our budget had to be amended.  We had to choose between properly insulating the ceiling above the drive under garage or using a super sustainable, high-end tile I sell at the store for the remodel.  In the end, we decided to insulate properly and compromise by selecting a standard grade, perhaps non green tile.

Thus began the trials of selecting a new wall tile to go with the floor tile we had already ordered.  When we did find a perfect match I did what I usually do with a product: I researched it.  These days, that’s important.  First of all, I wanted to know where the tile came from.  The company website said it was sourced, meaning imported.  So when I gave the company a call all I received was a run around.  Experience tells me that such behavior is a company’s effort to hide where the tile came from.  After several calls and the help I unlisted from a dealer we finally found where the tile was made: you guessed it, China.

As much as possible, I don’t buy Chinese products, for a lot of reasons.  First off, many products we buy are “private label” products.  These are goods designed, created and marketed in China to American (or other) brands with the offer to put a label on the product.  Frequently, American private label companies selling a Chinese manufactured good have no idea how the product was manufactured and rarely any control over that process.  So, could lead have been added to those tiles for weight, just like children’s toys?  Whose to say.  My efforts to find out from the manufacturer led me no where.  I also avoid Chinese products because I’m not confident I won’t be supporting child labor or some form of slave labor.  There may not be slavery in China, but the next closest thing surely exists.  My belief is that those who are good to people are good to the planet as a whole.  Those who are bad to people are bad to the planet as a whole.  There is nothing sustainable about that.

Ultimately, we found a tile from Crossville made with 30% recycled content, made in Argentina.  Crossville was able to answer most of my question about how the tile was made, under what conditions, and why they chose to source the product there.  Certainly, I would have preferred an American made product such as Fireclay, but unforeseen problems that hit our budget forced us to change our plan.  We will be using American made Squak Mountain Stone and Ultra Touch insulation is already in the wall behind the new shower.

Everything I just mentioned is in reference to the wall tile we are using for the shower.  The real kicker of the story is that when I picked up what I thought were Canadian made tiles for the floor, I saw stamped on each box the words, “Made in China.”  After all that.  Of all people, I should have been able to avoid this.  I give public lecture that cover this subject after all.  Unfortunately, I had let my guard down when selecting the material.  Like so many people, I was duped by a common marketing game.  Right on the sample tile there was a label that read: Anatolia Tile From Canada.  The woman selling thought it was from Canada, too.  I can live with that I thought.  Canada is real close.  Anatolia tiles according to the website is from the Toronto area.  What neither of us knew was that Anatolia simply imports tiles as a private label.  The lesson here: your salespeople rarely know the origins of these products.  You have to research products yourself.  I do for every product at my store, but I’m an exception.  I don’t carry 30 lines of tile and 10 wood floor brands, etc.; I carry a niche of sustainable goods.

We did send the tile back to the distributor 30 miles away that sold it to our local shop.  Yes, I can hear the grumblers about carbon footprint, but to me, voicing your objection, speaking through your dollars and telling companies that uncontrolled products are not acceptable is a sustainable action of great value.  Travel miles account for 2 to 5% of the embodied energy in most materials. (Far less than most people think.)  A lack of ethic or commitment to human and planetary health accounts for 100% of bad stewardship of the planet.

Winter Break Hours

Greenovations will close early Saturday, Feb. 18 @ 2pm and remain closed through Wednesday, February 22nd for winter break.  We will re-open Thursday, February 23.  Please check in with us again.

Reclaimed Sorghum Straw Meets Custom Woodworking

Love custom woodwork, but want a more modern appeal in your home?  Made from reclaimed sorghum chaff, kirei board offers a lightweight, durable and extremely environmentally friendly product that is sure to bring a comfortable, yet modern feel to your home.  Whether you’re looking for a coffee table, cabinetry, wall covering or a bar, kirei can fill almost any niche in your home.

Sorghum is a genus of grasses typically grown in tropical and sub-tropical environments.  The United States is now the leading producer of Sorghum (about 12 metric tons a year), which has significant commercial value for use as food, livestock feed and in the production of alcoholic beverages.  It is now being used by several breweries as a grain substitute in gluten-free beers.  The harvesting techniques used by sorghum growers typically generate a lot of waste from unused stems.  This is where Kirei comes in.  Although sorghum can be composted, there is too much to break down in a reasonable amount of time.  Farmers can sell off the stems for use in kirei board.  This not only provides an additional income for the farmer, but saves space in their fields and provides the construction market with a sustainable wood substitute.

The sorghum stalk is cut into various thicknesses and held together using a no-added-formaldehyde and low VOC adhesive.  The arrangement of stalks in each kirei board provides a unique grain pattern that is sure to be a conversation piece in your home.  Click here for additional information.

Love The Term Green, Hate The Term Green

For a variety of reasons, over the last couple of years I started to develop a dislike for the descriptor “green”.  This, of course, should seem quite odd.  I am a green business owner and I named my business Greenovations, after all.  But with the over use and excessive misuse of the term I was developing a sense of snobbery towards it.  Like any good thing that gets diluted too much too resemble its original self, green began to feel passe, meaningless and bland.  Everything these days is green, after all, and every company has some sort of statement validating their green-ness to the not so weary, typical consumer.  In fact, most consumers, lacking the knowledge or motivation to verify claims will fall prey to bogus statements and ambiguous green labels.

So for the most of two years I have been favoring the word sustainable over green.  Sustainable had seemed to cover more ground, while at the same time being less susceptible to green washing.  And yet, at the same time, the term green has developed a greater meaning and as a result I have learned to appreciate the word again.  These days, for those committed to a green lifestyle, the word green has grown to include more factors than eco-friendliness.  The term now seems to encompass the additional concerns of human health and fair labor practices.  Green is about health when you really think about it; a healthy planet, healthy people, healthy practices – they’re all connected.  At the same time, clear correlations between sustainability and labor practices have been identified.  Generally, those companies willing to abuse employees through poor working conditions and poverty level wages have been shown to be equally likely to have no concern for the environment and no concern for human health.  Just the same, companies committed to the environment have been show to be committed to their work-force, as well.  So, I think it’s awesome that green has grown to include issues of fair trade and fair labor.  Even concerns of human health were once secondary to eco-friendliness when defining green.

I don’t think this is a new phenomena, however.  For a long time now, businesses like Greenovations have required our products to meet all of these criteria, but now the growing meaning of the term green is becoming more mainstream and will need to continue to grow as more people adopt green, genuinely or dishonestly.  Every product I sell is produced by companies that provide good working conditions and fair, livable wages, such as EcoTimber and UltraTouch insulation.  Even the few import products we have such as Mexican made Premier sinks meet these standards.  A lot of that has to do with simply seeking out products made right here in the USA or places like Canada and Europe where working conditions and wages are required to meet a fair standard.

Green is growing in more ways than one.  What more can I say.