| Oftentimes, when we speak of recycling a house, we're talking about
carefully dismantling it: de-nailing boards, cleaning bricks, sorting materials
and transporting them to some place for storage, transporting them to some
other place to be used, and finally reassembling into a new structure.
While that's a lot better than it all getting bulldozed and sent to the
dump, or worse still, being left derelict to rot while the city's suburbs
sprawl ever-further, it still requires a tremendous amount of labor, energy,
and materials to recycle in this way. Whenever feasible, it makes the most
sense to just "reuse" a structure, i.e., renovate it. Even if that
renovation is a complete overhaul from roof to foundation, there is the
potential to save a lot of embodied energy. But it's not something you
can do as a volume builder-- old homes are unique in their needs and require
a combination of careful attention, skill, creativity, and good humor when
things don't quite fit.
Admitted dumpster-divers Barshia Cohee and Joshua Drews met while working on their Master's at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture. Their first project together was a broken-brick mosaic patio for the backyard of their Victorian basement apartment, built entirely from the debris of a nearby warehouse demolition. |
After years of general contracting in California, including earthquake
foundation retrofits, bathroom and kitchen remodels, and various
"green" design/ build projects, they made the move to Austin in 1998.
Armed with a fair array of nail guns and power tools, they decided
to tackle their first whole-house renovation on a boarded-up Victorian
bungalow without plumbing or wiring, but with plenty of holes in
the floor.
From their initial walk through the forest of leaning houses on the local "fixer-upper" real estate market, to the mystery smell under the porch, to the finishing touches which never quite seem to be done, join these owner / designer / builders for a slide show and recounting of the trials and tribulations they faced as they labored through their first Texas Summer, as well as the enormous rewards they gained in the renovation of their century-old home in central Austin. Joshua and Barshia will talk in depth about the green products they used, collecting and "dancing" with available salvage materials, project financing and pitfalls to avoid, and the decisions they made to both modernize and maximize the vernacular design wisdom the house already had. The presentation will be a colorful and unique case study of urban revitalization from two folks who believe in "The Joy of Building." |
Announcements
| Texas Renewable Energy Roundup
Green Living And Sustainability Fair Education/Products/Services
September 29-30, October 1, 2000
Organized by
WEB SITE:
Contacts:
"Self-Sufficiency For the new Millennium"
A UT Informal class will be taught by SBC member Paul Breaux at the UT student Union building from 6:30-8:30pm on Feb. 22 and Feb 29. The course number is 8202.501 and costs $30 for non-UT persons. This class is an overview of passive and active solar techniques as well as green building and other efficient design techniques. Included is a tour of Chez Soleil, a completely off-grid house near Cedar Park. Call Paul at 249-1976 for more information. Free Water Heater Wrap
I was going through some old Green Building information and noticed that you could get a free water heater wrap if you were a Southern Union Gas customer. After an amazing amount of calling the number the city provided and
then getting transferred to ten different people, my fiancee, finally found
out that she 'really' had to call Southern Union. So, here is the
number to call 370-8682. They said that they have not had a lot of
request because of the warm winter we were having, and that the wraps are
in storage, so lets get a bunch of people to call, and get them out of
storage.
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C.O.A. Green Building Seminars
All seminars are from 12:00 - 2:00 pm at Town Lake Center 721 Barton Springs Rd 1st floor Assembly Room. Call CJ Boggs 505-3700 no earlier than two weeks in advance to reserve a place. Topic, time and place are subject to change, so always call to confirm about 2 weeks in advance of the date given in the given in the schedule. February 18th Forest Protection and Lumber Use
Book Sales
The Sustainable Building Coalition has taken on selling books. This is being done to help educate the public, provide a good source of sustainably oriented books for our members and help raise money for the SBC. Please support the SBC. 10% off the list price to current or new SBC members. Title List
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