Govertson Home
Here are the updates we received from the Govertson’s during their 2010 Cool Green Home Remodel.
Update #1 “It’s Starting!”
It is starting! We have now had an opportunity to meet with many of the fine folks who are participating in the 2010 Cool Green Home (the ones working on our house anyway, there are many others) and I am blown away, not only by the scale of this prize, but also just what nice people they all are.
Here is a bit of the rundown so far:
Floor: We had such fun with Marilynn out at Carpet Brokers. She is so lovely. We are getting a new cork floor in our living room. It is gorgeous. It is a bit hard to imagine our nasty white carpet (WHITE, for real, we have dogs and sons and a sledding hill. Our white carpet is downright gross.) being replaced by this gorgeous green product. I think I might be in love with this floor and cannot wait to boogie down with my boys on it. They are also very excited about the prospect of a floor that is conducive to Kung Zhu battles (those of you with 8 year old sons know what I mean, for the rest of you it is a strangely popular mechanical hamster battle.)
Siding, Dennis from D&N Siding is about as nice of a guy as you can find. We looked at both aluminum and Hardie Plank siding and are going with the Hardie Plank. It allows us leave the existing siding, and then add insulation and then add the siding. This means our walls will be thick and warm! Hardie also allows us to continue to improve the house as we go and has an amazing ability to last.
Up next: Lighting! Roofing! Plumbing! Insulation! Electric! Painting! Oh, my!
Update #2 “Beside Ourselves”
How amazing was it to come home from vacation to a freshly sided house? Yep, we pulled down the drive and D & N Siding had wraped our house with insillation, taped all the seems, felted and sided our home. It was so warm and cozy in there.
They also listened when Paul said he had been planning on adding eaves to the house (our roof ended right at the wall, giving our house a very boxy appearance) and those amazing guys built it out and even used the reclaimed lumber we had been storing for that very purpose.
As they wrapped up their amazing work, we got a chance to visit with them. SUCH NICE and talented people. They cleaned up every day. They did an amazing job. They were lovely to have around. And our boxy house now has a bit of Craftsman flare and is cozy and beautiful. Thanks D & N Siding!
Update #3 “Totally Floored”
Floored. Totally floored.
Holy Cow. Our new flooring went in this week and I can hardly believe the difference it makes. Our very, very gross white carpet (again, WHO puts white carpet in a house. Especially one that is a rental for years. And then houses kids. And then houses people like us?) was torn out this weekend. While it was empty in there we touched up the paint in the room, Paul trimmed out the window and we turned the kids loose on the drawing wall. Normally it is just markers but since we had no flooring, they got to work their magic with paints too. It is just what the wall needed.
But then our friends over at Carpet Brokers (thanks Marilyn and Bob!) sent over the AMAZING cork flooring to warm up (it needs to adjust to the room temperature before it is worked with) and we started to get giddy. It is really gorgeous.
The installer, Stan showed up and worked so fast and so precisely. The floor was all down in one day. Even the transitions from the kitchen and the bull nose at the top of the stairs are just perfect.
I must take a minute to tell you about this cork floor that we now hang out on. It is warm. It is soft. It is durable. It is about the healthiest product out there.
We are so lucky to call this floor ours.
Amazing!
