By Trish Holder

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the fairest thermostat of them all?”

This question came to me a few days ago as I was searching for reviews on the new Nest™ Learning Thermostat™ – a product I encountered at the AHR Expo in Chicago a few weeks ago.   Looks is what kept coming up as a positive for this new thermostat, an innovation developed by Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, of Apple iPod and iPhone fame.

It is a pretty nifty look, I’ll admit.  But it wasn’t the looks that impressed me so much when I sat down the with a company representative at AHR; it was the concept.  You see, the Nest is marketed as a self-programming thermostat and to me (someone who has to ask the kids which buttons to push to record a TV show) that was exciting.  Mind you, I have programmable thermostats and in terms of ease-of-use have found them to be about as intuitive as a Rubik’s cube.  I hate them.  So when the folks from Nest told me that the Nest learns your habits and programs itself for the efficiency given these habits, I was pretty intrigued.

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Tell me you’re not addicted to convenience and I’d have to call you a liar.

Our culture LOVES convenience: Clap on Clap Off, drive-thru, timers, DVR. We can’t wait for the next great invention. I wonder why, after a century of popularity, “convenience” hasn’t made our lives more stress free.  And then there are the “disposables”: wipes, brooms, contacts, razors, forks, plates, underwear…spouses.  Why, the medical industry alone has made disposable a veritable quest. The only thing my doctor touches me with that is reusable is his stethoscope. Even that thingy-majiggy used to check my ears has a disposable liner.

It you’re going to live green you’re going to have to make it convenient because the last thing Mother Nature wants to be is your greatest burden. Since our society has not made environmental living the easier choice that leaves us holding the recycle bag.

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By now, my regular readers know that I am not a fan of imported granite.  As far as I am concerned, granite has been mistakenly idealized by homeowners as a maintenance-free surface material — a myth that plenty of builders have been more than willing to perpetuate only because granite has become more affordable than ever – thanks in no small part to cheap, overseas labor. Worst of all, some granite peddlers have had the audacity to market granite as an environmentally friendly product simply because it comes from the earth.  So does oil, by the way.

All that said, I know that some people simply will not be dissuaded from their love affair with granite.   And that being the case, I’d like to offer up a more environmentally responsible option:  Scrap.

Why not use a smaller-size piece of granite from the scrap yard of a local countertop fabricator as the top for a bathroom vanity?  Better yet, why not pop this scrap piece of granite, which might otherwise be bound for a landfill, atop a used dresser? Perhaps one you find at a yard sale or something collecting dust in your attic?

That’s what I did and I love it.

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In our previous blog, our homeowner, “Madeline” and her contractor “Fred” confirmed the source of her BIG BAD Mold problem – the result of a bathroom renovation that Fred completed 10 years earlier.  Here’s what they found:

1. An improperly installed shower liner had left the area beneath the shower floor and all surrounding areas exposed to excessive (you could say buckets) of moisture.
2. The tile in the shower had been applied directly to sheetrock instead of cement board – a big no-no.

There was no question that Fred and/or his crew was at fault.  As Madeline described it, a “sickened look” came over the contractor’s face when he saw what lay below and behind the shower tiles.  He saw the problem immediately.

Now, Fred knew how to complete a proper shower install.  The problem was, one or more of his hired help didn’t, and it was at this crucial juncture that Fred had his back turned. The result was tens of thousands dollars of mold and structural damage.

Time to Buy A Lottery Ticket, Madeline
Now here’s where I’m going to interject and say that Madeline, despite the fact that one part of her home was completely infested by mold, is one of the luckiest homeowners I know.

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In our previous blog, “Madeline” had discovered she had a mold problem – a BIG BAD mold problem.  The source of the moisture leading to this situation seemed to be the master bathroom shower, where a firm hand press against the tile proved that the wall behind it had indeed gone soft.

After getting some idea of the magnitude of the mold growth problem in her home, Madeline’s first scream for help was to the insurance company.

“Does our insurance cover mold damage?” she asked.

“Mold?” replied the adjuster.  “Oh no.  You have no mold coverage.”

(Gulp.)

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“Trish, there were mold hairs on the closet wall that were as long as my finger,” she said, her face contorting in displeasure as though she were recalling a gruesome crime scene.

I tried to visualize what “Big Mold” might look like, making a mental magnification of the worst refrigerator discoveries of my life.  All I could think was I never wanted to see such a site in person – and certainly not growing on the walls of my home.

Who was this unfortunate homeowner with a fuzz factory growing inside a closet?  She prefers to remain anonymous, but for the sake of this article we’ll call her Madeline.

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