Construction Junction

Next time you need construction materials, check out Construction Junction in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze. Construction Junction is "Pittsburgh's only non-profit building material reuse retailer." They accept donations of new or used building materials and resell to the public. Items available include windows, doors, flooring, hardware, cabinetry, etc., with new materials added frequently.

Construction Junction also hosts a large recycling center for materials including cardboard. When I visited this weekend I found exciting pieces from a church deconstruction, including pews and statues.

CMU Solar Home -- check it out!

Yesterday at Construction Junction (more tomorrow) I discovered the CMU Solar Decathlon Home -- CMU's entry to the 2007 Solar Decathlon, to be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. October 12-20 (check the website for specific shedule details as the homes are closed at times).

From the Solar Decathlon website: "The Solar Decathlon is a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design."

Pittsburghers don't need to wait until October, though, to check out the CMU entry. You can view it from behind its gates any time at Construction Junction. I was told yesterday that it will be open for tours on September 20th -- I'm hoping to confirm that date and will post when I do.

The Solar Decathlon is sponsored by the Department of Energy.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Sometimes Replace

When the time comes to replace that worn-out, unrepairable washing machine, consider a front loader. Less common in Pittsburgh but everywhere in Europe, front loader machines typically use about 1/2 as much water, are gentler on your clothes while getting them cleaner, use less electricity, hold larger loads, and have twice the service life of a top loader. The spin cycle spins clothes much faster, so clothes come out nearly dry. Some models even include a heating element, so you can "sanitize" towels, for example, with almost boiling water. If you're cramped for laundry space, the units can often be stacked, or you can create a countertop across the washer and dryer to be used for folding.

What About the Worms?

My three children always worry about the worms which get paved over when someone paves a driveway. I worry about the absence of ground for absorbing rain, and removing that much more grass from suburbia. I'm intrigued about GrassPave(2) which is a system in the ground over which grass is planted. The grass can then be driven over. I'd love to know how it would hold up in a Pittsburgh winter, and what I would do when I need to remove snow -- can I shovel it? Or use a snow blower?

Let there be light

Pittsburghers see only 43% of the sunshine possible if all our days were sunny (US Census information, 2000), compared to 68% in sunny San Francisco! Especially with winter coming, bringing light into our homes becomes a priority. Polycarbonate panels continue to pop up in use in lots of creative ways -- bringing light into and through homes as exterior cladding, roofing, and interior wall material. September 2007 Metropolitan Home features a home by Richard Williams (his own) in Chevy Chase, MD, in which he uses polycarbonate panels by CPI Daylighting as both exterior and interior surfaces. Richard raves about their qualities, including UV reduction, thermal-insulation, impact resistance, and ease of installation.

The panels seem to be fairly environmentally friendly, some are even 100% recyclable, and one impact stands out in this climate -- swapping carbon-fuel provided electric lights for natural sunlight!

Dwell -- "Pittsburgh Steeler"

Now I'm really anxious to meet architect Harry Levine. The house he designed for Jeff Walz, now at Google, and featured in the October 2007 Dwell which arrived today, is exactly what "Steel City Modern" is all about. What beautiful modern architecture, rooted in Pittsburgh tradition. I love the use of the steel frame, prefinished sheathing and galvanized roof all from recycled scrap by Nucor.

By writing the steelcitymodern blog and by including readers and visitors in our own home remodeling journey, though, I hope to help introduce the power of good design and sustainability to such people as the visitor to Walz's home, who demanded of Levine, "Are you responsible for that godless building?"

Thursdays

I can't wait for Thursdays -- the House& Home section of the New York Times arrives. Today's featured a ranch home renovation in La Jolla -- exactly the sort of renovation we'd like to undertake in the Steel City, but hopefully for a more reasonable price, with some additional space. I really liked the conversion of large windows, combined with pivot hardware from Rixson, to create front and back doors that pivot. I am also intrigued by the use of honeycomb polycarbonate (Lightben from Bencore) for countertops -- does anyone know how this holds up for a family with three young children? I'm also very interested in the use of polycarbonate as an exterior or interior wall material. Using reasonably priced materials in an innovative way could really help bring modern architecture to a more affordable point.