Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Living Green Solutions: Home Maintenance and Consulting


Our services provide a full range of property management maintenance specializing Green Home Makeover systems and caring for both second and full-time homeowners from house sitting to personal assistant and home concierge services.

Our property management service is customized and we tailor our responsibilities to each individual client's needs. As well as our own services, we have a reliable and responsive group of contractors with whom we work. We are experienced in second home set-up and all the various details involved in property management and services.

We understand the constraints of distance and time in caring for a second home and strive to help you fully enjoy your investment and vacation time by offering a full range of services to care for your property.

Services

  • Weekly or bi-weekly security checks
  • Open and closing for arrival and departure
  • Airport shuttle
  • Personal services, mail pickup, bill paying,
  • House Sitting
  • Snow and Ice Removal
  • Building Interior
  • Landscape Maintenance
  • Construction, new, remodel or repair
Maintenance
  • Window cleaning
  • Carpet cleaning
  • Housekeeping
  • Power washing
  • Painting
  • Special log home maintenance
  • Spring and fall cleanup
Private Concierge and Home Party Planning
  • Guest shuttle pickup and delivery
  • Live entertainment
  • Photo and video services
  • T-shirt design custom printing and embroidery
  • Promotional services, print and electronic
  • Tents, canopies, tables/chairs, banners and signage
If you have a specific request, let us know! If we can't provide the service we will find reliable vendors, contractors and specialized companies that can. Request Visit for Free Estimate. Call 406-871-6282



LIVING GREEN at Home. We can Help!


Doing your part by Living Green at home is easier than you might think and the results are far-reaching. The more energy efficient your home is, the more money you'll save and the bigger your positive impact on the environment.


According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), minor changes in energy usage by Americans in 2017 resulted in a savings of $22 billion and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the amount created by 29 million cars.


Make a few changes in the following areas, and you can reap the economic, health and safety benefits of going green. Read these eco-friendly living tips and learn what going green can mean for you.


ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES


Audit - To be successful in saving energy at home, start by having a home energy audit conducted by professional Home Energy Auditor. Such a procedure involves having your home professionally inspected to see how efficiently it uses energy and to identify areas in the home where improvements can be made. According to the EPA, such improvements can save significantly on monthly energy bills


Cooling and heating - About half of your energy costs go toward heating and cooling. It's simple to reduce your energy footprint and improve air quality, which is good for your health.
  • Change your filter every three months 
  • Have your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC system) tuned up yearly 
  • Seal your heating and cooling ducts and check your roof insulation. 
  • Install a programmable thermostat
Limit lighting - Considering that lighting accounts for about 15% of your home's electric use, making changes in this area can result in substantial energy savings.


  • Replace incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs,which last up to 10 times longer and use 75% less electricity. 
  • Consider occupancy sensors that turn lights off when you leave a room to save energy. 
  • Outdoor motion-sensor lighting also saves energy and improves safety. 
  • Windows - According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Envelope and Windows 
  • R&D Programs, windows in the United States cost consumers approximately $35 billion per year in energy. Today's energy-efficient, insulated windows could cut that total by half.


WATER


Stop leaky faucets - A dripping faucet may seem harmless, but you'd be surprised at how much water is lost. According to the U.S. Geological Survey's Water Science School, one faucet that drips 4 drips per minute wastes 138 gallons of water a year.


Replace old toilets - Toilets manufactured before 1994 use up to five gallons per flush compared to 1.6 gallons for newer toilets. According to Savingwater.org, replacing an old toilet can save up to 10,500.

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Study Finds New Homes Are Toxic

Sources of Formaldehyde: Home purifier expert

A year ago we complained that energy efficiency was obviously a good thing, but not at the cost of air quality and the health of occupants. 


Energy-efficient houses are built to be as airtight as possible, filled with materials and cleaning products that release all kinds of hazardous chemicals, and yet there is no legal requirement for heat recovery ventilators.


Now Linda Kincaid at Green Building Elements points us to a new study (pdf here) from the California Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board that finds that 67% of new homes do not meet the minimum California standard for air changes; it seems that nobody opens their windows or runs their kitchen exhaust fans enough to adequately ventilate their homes.


And to nobody's surprise, "nearly all homes had formaldehyde concentrations that exceeded guidelines for cancer and chronic irritation, while 59 percent exceeded guidelines for acute irritation."


67% of homes don't meet the minimum code standard.

The abstract concludes:

New single-family detached homes are built relatively airtight, can have very low outdoor air exchange rates, and can often exceed exposure guidelines for air contaminants with indoor sources, such as formaldehyde and some other volatile organic compounds. Mechanical ventilation systems are needed to provide a dependable, continuous supply of outdoor air to new homes, and reductions of various indoor formaldehyde sources are also needed.

60% exceed levels of formaldehyde high enough to cause significant irritation and cancer risk.

That's why we have said that we need to ban formaldehyde and put a heat recovery ventilator in every green home. But the results of the California study show that it isn't enough; heat recovery ventilators should be mandatory in every new home. 

There is an inherent contradiction-the greener the home is from an energy point of view, the worse it is from an air quality point of view. That is why it is so important to use building materials that don't out-gas, to avoid cheap particle board or other materials that give off formaldehyde, to use green cleaning supplies, and if your windows are closed for most of the year, to install a heat recovery ventilator.


The California study makes it very clear: Every new house needs an HRV. It should be the law.

More on Air Quality in Houses

Big Steps In Building: Ban Formaldehyde

Get a Heat Recovery Ventilator if You Seal Your House Up Tight




My Dream Home Turned Into a Toxic Mold Nightmare

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