Re: environmental initiatives
From: kchung (kchungnomad.tor.lets.net)
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 10:13:08 -0600 (MDT)
Your question came just as I was about to ask it!

Riverdale Cohousing, in Toronto, is an expanding retrofit community.  We
want to be environmentally responsible, but many of us need more
information on how to carry this out in action.

My partner and I will be taking on our group's third house Nov 1.  It will
be our ongoing "retirement ptoject", to put it mildly.  The many
renovations (on an extremely tight budget) and repairs provide an
environmentalist's dream for promoting environmentally friendly materials
and technology.

Can you, Jason, or anyone else, suggest products (Canadian, or available
here) or ideas for us? - 

Among our chores:

We will be rebuilding a staircase when we can (it was mangled in a reno 50
years ago).  

Caulking
Windows
Wallboard
Paint
Wax for hardwood floors (when we rip up the old broadloom)
Tips on rain barrels (We are asking the City too)
Decking (yikes, that rotten deck has to wait until next summer!)

Termites (they're in the neighbourhood, but so far  not in our new-to-us
1922 house) - By the way do they climb live vines?  Can someone reccommend
reading material on these critters?

Attic insulation
Exterior doors & storm doors
Stucco
Adding showers to ancient bathtubs
Sound reduction between the main floor and the apartment on the second
floor

Can a composting toilet of some sort be put in a basement bathroom? (It
will get a lot of traffic, as we may use the basement as our interim
common space on a part-time basis)

And anything else an old house needs...

All suggestions gratefully received.

Kate Chung
Riverdale Cohousing
Toronto

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