Updating with Green

When we moved into our 75 year old Craftsman home this summer, one of the first items on the list was to paint the kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as soon as I hoped. First of all came the rotten wood replacement after the new roof had been installed. Then my closet rods began to separate from the back of the wall and we had to have the closet rods reattached with stronger braces. Then we discovered the dryer was venting to the crawl space under the subfloor. Knowing that is a fire hazard, we had to reroute the dryer venting to the outside hot water heater closet. Which we discovered had a door with a hole rotted though it. Now that door (which was so old they don't make that size door any longer) opening had to be widened and the siding cut off and a new standard door replaced it.

Those are the "unexpected items" that popped up within in the first three months. Now I can concentrate on more of the cosmetic items on the list. First, painting the kitchen cabinets.

Being a Certified Green Building Professional with AHBA and Green Specialist with NAR, I was excited to begin doing something "green" that was not expensive after spending the thousands of dollars on the above mentioned surprises. I expected the low VOC paint to be about $25-$35 per gallon, but was pleasantly surprised to only pay $15.00 for the Olympic paint.

Low VOC (volatile organic compound) may help reduce the amount of chemicals emitted, resulting in a healthier home improvement. When we used regular paint in the past, we were adding toxins to the indoor air quality. This can lead to some damaging health problems, some which are asthma, headaches and respiratory infections. Paint, lacquers, paint strippers, adhesive removers, carpet, cleaning supplies, pestidies, wood preservatives, furniture, and cabinets as all have these polluants.


In today's marketplace, all of these items can now be purchased without these damaging compounds or with a very low degree of them. Well, we may not be in a global warming trend with this weeks past weather, but we have certainly polluted our homes and our bodies to some degree making things faster and less expensive and we and our families are suffering for it now with allergeries, mental disorders and lung disease.

When you do have the chance to make changes in your home, please think about the "healthy choices" that are available to you.