Let’s face it—insulation isn’t sexy. It doesn’t come with cool, slick finishes or in an array of pretty colors (although pink isn’t bad). But what insulation may lack in flash, it more than makes up for in its potential impact toward creating an environmentally responsible home. In fact, insulation is the single most important material in increasing a home’s energy efficiency.

Any reduction in household energy consumption directly translates into less pollution produced by power plants. By this definition alone, any insulation could be considered a green product. But there are a lot of new green insulation products out there for you to consider.

Let’s begin with the pink stuff. The most widely used home insulator for the past 70 years is fiberglass batt insulation, popular for its low cost and easy installation. However, as anyone who has ever worked with it knows, you don’t want to breathe or touch the stuff without proper protection. Fiberglass is essentially “glass wool”. Some experts deem the product safe as long as you follow specific manufacture’s instructions. Others argue the release of airborne fibers and use of a formaldehyde binding agent creates reduced levels of indoor air quality. Responding to these claims, fiberglass manufacturers have embraced more green practices by using up to 40% recycled content and offering formaldehyde-free products.

But if you’re looking for something a little more natural, consider cotton batt insulation. Manufactured primarily from old blue jeans, the product is available in R-13 (3.5” thick) and R-19 (5.5” thick) unfaced batts. (R-value is the measure of a product’s thermal resistance) It’s treated with borate to increase pest and fire resistance, and because it’s 100% recycled and organic, there are no issues with diminished indoor air quality.

Cellulose insulation, made primarily from recycled newspapers, is about 80% recycled & organic in content and like cotton insulation, is also treated with borates giving it a Class 1 fire rating. In the event of a fire it will smolder instead of melt, thus releasing less toxic fumes. Cellulose insulation can be blown in dry or wet, however the wet application is generally considered superior due to its ability to reduce air infiltration. The cost of cellulose insulation is also generally considered more affordable than other newer foam insulators.

Spray foam insulation offers to best option for reducing thermal heat loss through air leakage. There are basically two types of spray foam insulation, open cell and closed cell. Open cell, referred to as half-pound foam, is less dense and applied with a water-based blowing agent. Closed cell, also called 2 pound foam, has a much higher R-value per inch but uses an HFC blowing agent for its application. HFC’s are global warming agents, however this chemical is largely contained within the “closed cells” of the foam thus diminishing its environmental effects until its end-of-life. There are also soy-based or bio-based foams offering a certain percentage of organic materials.

Spray foam insulations are typically 3-4 times more expensive, especially closed cell foam. But spray foam also offers the highest R-value rating per inch and superior protection against air infiltration, making it an attractively green energy saver. Spray foams are not DIY projects though; they must be professionally applied.

One final new product to mention is Aerogels. Aerogels may be the best thermal insulators in the world, providing 40 times the insulation of fiberglass. They are made from super-porous silicon foam made up of 99% air, making it translucent while still amazingly strong, light, and insulating. Although arguably, silica foam is not any better for your health than fiberglass, this product is never sold loose – it is always sold in pre-sealed window panels. Using this new product, windows may soon lap walls for superior insulating properties. In the world of design, such innovation could be a game changer.

No matter which product you use, insulating your home packs a lot of bang for your buck. The cost of your investment can usually be recouped in 3-5 years. Better insulation in a home also means downsizing furnaces and a/c units as they don’t need to work as hard. So while insulation won’t have your guests ooing and ahhing over how great it looks, properly insulating your home will save energy for the planet and save you money – money you can then spend on all those flashy finishes.

Successful rooms are more than well proportioned spaces. Scale and context within the larger home are important as is the capture of a particular view through a window or door. The even distribution of natural light that comes through the windows and doors helps to determine our comfort in a space. We fill our spaces with furniture and cover our floors with rugs in an effort to humanize empty space. We then personalize our enviroment to make it our own. Our choices range from those that shape raw space to the selection of materials that will define the character of those spaces. Somewhere along the line that represents the continuum of decisions, a material selection has to be made that sets the overall tone for each room.

The use or function of a room will determine whether or not a single material takes primacy or if the materials need to balance one another. Think about a bathroom and tile and stone decisions weigh most heavily. A Kitchen, on the other hand, usually requires a balance of several selections. In a Library, the cabinets and bookshelves create the bones for the space. In choosing those finishes then, the millwork decision goes a long way towards determining the personality of that room.

The personality of a room is often a reflection of the personality of the client; occasionally a client has preferences but more often than not, we’re asked to make material selections that are appropriate in terms of both function and character. I selected English Brown Oak recently for a clients Library because of it’s inherent character. Oak works well (meaning a cabinet maker can work with it) and for a client interested in the texture that a relatively open grained wood species delivers, oak is an appropriate choice. Although a great many interiors and a considerable amount of fine furniture has been produced from both American red and white oak, English brown oak is unique in color and it is the color of this specie that is its specific signature.

All woods show a variety of color. Unfortunately, when finished, most American oak has a tendency to look either pink or green – unless it’s been stained so dark as to look the color of espresso. In fact, a great amount of oak furniture produced in this country was “fumed” – actually ammoniated – in an effort to disguise some of its natural character and give it a color closer to the rarer honeyed tones of English Brown Oak. Naturally brown with a color range that moves from honey to walnut, the color of English Brown Oaks is a result of a fungus that attacks something like one in five hundred European oak trees. No damage is done to the structure of the wood but the color is enhanced.

While it’s true that rare things have their own value, if you’d like to invest in a wood selection that is beautiful in its natural, neutral brown color and if you’re looking for a wood that will subtly age to a darker and richer tone, you should consider English Brown Oak.

English Brown Oak

With winter right around the corner, have your furnace or boiler serviced before you’re stuck with a cold home and frozen pipes. A clean, well-adjusted heating system will provide better efficiency and prolong the life of your system. It’s recommended to have the system checked annually. Here are a few tips to keep your heating system in top working order:

1. Test your system before the end of October. Make sure the system turns on and warm air flows out of vents within a few minutes.
2. Replace your air filter.
3. Check all heat registers for debris.
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY, be sure to test your carbon monoxide detector. If the CO detector is hardwired, be sure it’s on a battery backup to ensure protection in the event of a power outage. You should have one detector per floor and at least one in the hallway outside any bedroom.

When having your furnace serviced, make sure the contractor checks for the following items:

1. Have the combustion chamber checked for holes or corrosion and cleaned for soot buildup.
2. Check the exhaust fuel pipe for holes that could leak carbon monoxide into the home and have the damper checked for proper draw. If the pipe is corroded, it should be replaced.
3. Make sure blower motor is clean and in good working order.
4. Make sure the heat exchanger is inspected thoroughly for defects or cracks.
5. If you have a boiler unit, make sure the pilot and burners are clean, pumps are oiled, the combustion chamber is clean and burning efficiently.

The key to an efficient, long-lived heating system is annual maintenance. Be sure to get it checked before you’re left out in the cold.

This is a great time of year to plant spring blooming bulbs. Here are a few helpful hints to get you started in the right direction.

• If you choose to use more than one variety of bulb mixed in a bed it is most effective if they have similar bloom times.
• Deer and Rodents typically do not bother Daffodils, but they love Tulips
• For a naturalized look, mix bulbs, toss them throughout beds, and plant them where they land.
• Where squirrels or other rodents can be a problem apply a layer of deer netting over tulip beds at planting to prevent the bulbs from being dug up and eaten. This can be removed just before the foliage begins to emerge in spring.
• The general rule of thumb for planting spring bulbs is to plant two or three times as deep as the bulb is tall. For example, if your bulb is about 1” tall, plant it 3” deep.
• Muscari, Scilla, Crocus and Galanthus (Snow Drops) can be effective for creating a layered look when used in conjunction with other major bulbs, like Tulips and Daffodils.
• Don’t forget about Allium! With their large purple balls atop up to 3’ stalks, they are early summer stunners!