Abe Louise Young’s letter requesting Natural Home & Garden’s advice on greening her house reveals a thoughtful woman trying to make a difference in her community. A Uni­versity of Texas poetry fellow making a pauper’s income, Abe invested her life savings to purchase a 1955 cinderblock house, remodeled in 2002 with the addition of two wood-framed rooms. She specifically bought a home in Austin’s East Side knowing that she wanted to be a good neighbor and a positive presence, not a gentrifying force, in this historically impoverished and racially segregated neighborhood. “I am committed to living in this lovely, rag-tag neighborhood come what may—and want to do so in as green and creative a manner as possible,” she wrote.

Although she loves her home and feels grateful for the abundance in her life, Abe wants to make some improvements. Creative materials and thrift are important to her, as well as a sense of calm and sacredness.

Ode to insulation

PROBLEM: Abe’s home is hot and humid in the summer. While her front rooms stay cool, her back rooms—made of wood studs—get hot through the walls and ceilings. The main culprit is radiant heat entering through the roof.

SOLUTION: Installing radiant reflective sheeting to the roof’s underside can block this and protect the air conditioning system and ductwork. Reinsulating the walls isn’t an option on Abe’s budget, but she can plant trees on the south side of her home to shade the walls, and she can augment the attic’s small, ineffective gable vents with a continuous ridge vent and clear air pathways for the existing soffit vents. I also suggested she make an insulated box out of foam board and reseal the weather stripping to reduce heat entering through the attic’s pull-down stairway. Fortunately, Abe can take advantage of Austin Energy’s low-income energy audit, weatherization, and rebate programs to pay for additional attic insulation, leaking duct repair, caulking and weather stripping, solar window screens, compact fluorescent bulbs, and carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.

Sonnet to stingers & squirrels

PROBLEM: A wasp nest near Abe’s back door threatens her as well as the neighborhood children.

SOLUTION: Rather than using chemicals to eradicate the insects, I suggested she knock down the nest and run inside. Although the wasps will hang around in frustration for a day or two, they’ll eventually build a new nest somewhere else—typically an area away from rain and sun such as under a roof overhang.