Biospheric Resonance

With no end in sight to the current housing market contraction, anyone looking to sell a house is under increased pressure to make the property stand out in a positive way in order to improve the chance of getting a decent price for it within a reasonable time. At the same time, measures taken to achieve that goal must not be too high of an investment to make if they are to generate the desired return.

Despite the dismal economic climate, many people are getting passionate about wanting to live in a harmonious, ecologically sound,  and healthy environment. They are still willing to pay a premium to get it.

It is possible to do a number of low-cost tweaks on a property that give it a dose of green credibilty and make it more appealing to those home  buyers. The landscaping is the easiest area to achieve an immedate  impact. Standard property management practices tend to make a place look ugly, barren, and cheap. Without spending much more, your home could get a smart, chic, luxuriant look that draws the attenton of potential buyers.

If the property is still to be renovated before putting it on the market, there are also many ways to breathe some life into the house itself, both inside and out, to make it virtually shout healthy, wholesome, and ecofriendly, and again, the expense need not exceed that of a conventional approach.

If you are a homeowner or real estate professional needing to sell, does this sound like something that could be of help to you? Does there seem to be a demand for homes with “green curb appeal” in your market? Have you had any experiences, whether positive or frustrating, with selling into this niche? Would you be interested in learning how to tweak properties this way? Or how to develop new ones from the ground up with this factor in mind?

Tags: green building, green credibility, green curb appeal, healthy homes, housing crisis, landscape construction, landscape maintenance, real estate, real estate marketing

If you’ve ever done any painting in or on your home, or followed the developments in the world of house paints, you know that conventional paint made from synthetic chemicals is not very healthy stuff to spend time with. Both during application, when it’s very obvious by the jarring smells, and more subtly for many months to even years after, these materials waft all manner of toxins into the air you breathe.

Today’s commercial paints have come a long way toward reducing the amount of hazardous solvents compared to a few decades ago. What’s less well known is that some of the resins, pigments, mildewcides, and miscellaneous other additives still used in these paints can be just as harmful to your health.

Nowadays there is yet another option. Many different kinds of traditional paints from the pre-industrial age have been revived and improved by modern-day chemists and process engineers to give you the best of both worlds. In common with their ancient counterparts, they are made entirely or almost entirely from natural ingredients, such as flour, milk, linseed oil, clays, mineral and plant-based pigments, natural waxes and resins, etc. One of the main differences is that lead is of course no longer used.

There are both water and oil based types, and even hybrid varieties based on a linseed oil emulsion in water. For walls there is a wide range of water based and oil emulsion paints to choose from, depending on the type of space and the desired effect. Traditional limewash can also still be found. Though it has the disadvantage of not being washable, it does have an antiseptic influence on the space as well as reacting with and neutralizing certain air pollutants. When it starts looking dirty, it is simply wiped down and reapplied. All the paints mentioned in this paragraph tend to have a pleasant odor or almost none at all and no hazardous vapors whatsoever. Some brands are so innocuous that the recommended way of disposal is to let remnants dry out and then place them in the compost pile, where they will biodegrade completely.

From my extensive painting experience with every material under the sun, I recommend a linseed oil paint for all woodwork such as doors, windows, and trim. Though this contains solvents  that are classified as VOCs, they are very different from the mineral spirits and other VOCs used in alkyd resin paints. The most commonly used are tree turpentine and citrus oil. Even with these you need to take care while painting to have plenty of ventilation, but they are much more pleasant to work with than alkyds. They take about three times as long to dry, which you won’t like if you’re in a hurry, but it also results in much less sagging and streaking in the final result.In contrast to synthetic paints, real natural oil paint also nourishes the wood and remins somewhat breatheable, so that small amounts of moisture trapped in the wood can still slowly dissipate.

Aside from being kinder to your health, a home painted with natural paints looks better, smells better, and feels better.

Tags: decorating tips, green building, healthy homes, healthy lifestyle, natural paints, organic paints, sustainable design