Turning a House into an Eco-Home

(Page 3 of 3)

November/December 2006
By Carol Venolia 
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I also wanted to demonstrate that we don't need a huge house to enjoy life. Many small houses feel cramped and inconvenient because of poor floor plans. A little thought and redesign can rescue a floor plan, eliminating the perceived need for an addition. My mantra became "big lot, small house."

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Other local factors become obvious once you start looking. Area realtors estimate more than half of Santa Rosa homes have standing water under the house because the water table is high and the soil contains a lot of clay. Typically, homeowners install a sump pump, which requires electricity, and I'd rather not rely on the power grid in the face of diminishing fossil fuel reserves. So for me, a reasonably dry crawlspace became a major criterion.

Do your homework

As we looked at house after house, I was surprised to find how little realtors and homeowners knew about the features that mattered to me. Even as energy prices soared, they rarely knew whether a house was insulated, much less with what type of insulation. Nor was much information provided about moisture issues, past utility bills, noise, air pollution or the history of vegetation and pesticide use on the property. For most people, house hunting is apparently a visual thing.

For me, it was the opposite. If a house had most of the features I wanted, ugliness was a plus. It just meant I could really show how much a house can be transformed with a few elegant strokes.

CAROL VENOLIA is an eco-architect who is passionate about reuniting humans with the rest of nature. She is the coauthor, with Kelly Lerner, of Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House (Lark Books, 2006), and she codirects the EcoDwelling program at New College of California (NewCollege.edu/north bay). Share your experiences with her at CVenolia@NaturalHomeMagazine.com.

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