repainting-brick-facades / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Repainting and refinishing brick facades
Exterior cladding

All about painting brick, is it a good idea and what paint to use?

Is painting brick a good idea? Bricks will absorb moisture from the interior of a home and they need to be able to expel that moisture; applying paint to the exterior can cause the paint and masonry to lift, peel or crack as it can become susceptible to freeze thaw cycles in cold climates. Beyond just aesthetics, moist...

Alternative wall coverings to drywall
Walls and Roofs

The best alternatives to drywall for finishing interior walls

Walls in residential homes are almost exclusively finished using gypsum board (either recycled or synthetic) because it is cheap and easy. It is however, not the only option for interior walls, and it has some other competition - especially in areas that may get humidity. We will start with drywall, but also list off a...

How to Insulate Exterior Walls from the Outside US Canada Ecohome
Walls and Roofs

The easiest way to insulate walls from the exterior in older homes

How to insulate house walls from the outside Adding extra insulation to the exterior walls of an older home when renovating or remodeling is a great way of improving a home's walls thermal performance and reducing energy use while reducing heating bills, carbon footprint and improving a building's comfort level. It may...

How to REPAIR DRYWALL - jam that sticky white stuff in those holes folks
Walls and ceilings - interior surfaces

How to repair drywall - fill holes, cracks and dents in walls like a pro

DIY drywall repairs are an easy home improvement that pretty much anyone can handle. Cracks and dents in drywall are cosmetic only, so if you completely screw up a drywall repair job, the only real problem would be a fresh dent in your ego. The most common damage to drywall consists of dents, minor cracks and popped na...

Gabion walls can be used for building homes
Concrete and masonry

Gabion Walls - what is a gabion cage & how to build with them?

Gabion walls are retaining walls built by stacking stone in a gabion cage or gabion basket that can serve many purposes but are most often used to create tiered or leveled ground in gardens.  They are rectangular baskets of metallic lattice filled with stones and their origin dates back to war times when they were erec...

Freshly Stained Cedar Wood Deck after Renovating old Decking to Look Like New
Decks, porches and gazebos

How to Stain or Paint Cedar Wood Decking when Renovating old Decks

How to stain or paint an old cedar deck to make it look new and last longer. Staining or painting an old weathered cedar deck can be quite different than staining a new one. First, pressure wash the deck to remove the old gray color and all the build up of grit and stains. Try to always blast the water with the directi...

Polished concrete floors and counters
Paints, finishes and natural coatings

Finishing concrete floors with silicate densifiers

Polished concrete floors are extremely durable and non-toxic; silicate-based densifiers keep them that way and make it a great start to safe indoor-air quality in a home. This is an excellent flooring option for anyone with chemical sensitivities who wants a beautiful and durable eco-friendly floor in their passive sol...

When should you replace windows
Windows and doors

When should you replace old windows?

Windows, Replace or Repair? We often get asked if it is a good idea to replace old windows with new and better performing windows to save money. Usually to the surprise and relief of homeowners we most often tell them to stick with the ones they've got. Not to say that the idea of replacing windows is always 'green was...

90 year old red pine refinished with zero VOC floor oil
Paints, finishes and natural coatings

How to find a healthier wood finish

Is Polyurethane floor seal non-toxic? In North America, polyurethane varnish is used almost exclusively as a wood floor finish, but the majority of them are high in VOC's which are detrimental to interior air quality and health. For this reason non-toxic wood floor finishing oils are gaining in popularity. There are a ...