Great Lake Green Conference

The DeVos Place convention center at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan will host the state's first Great Lakes Green conference and exhibition. Events on Thursday and Friday are focused on builder topics and those on Saturday are catered to homeowners and consumers interested in green products and services.

If you get a chance to go I'll be there working the LEED for Homes booth on Friday. Also please stop by some of our friends booths like The Home Inspector General booth, Mike Holcomb will also be giving some great seminar and is probable one of the most knowledgeable persons I know on green building. Bauer Power Booth, Mark Bauer's booth will show the latest in wind and solar technologies he also will be giving some great seminars. Vanbeek's Custom Wood Products booth will have a amazing display of sustainable cabinetry such as Kerei board, Sunflower seed board, Bamboo along with FSC certified Lumber. L & H Adhesives booth will showcase the Bonded Logic Ultra Touch natural cotton fiber insulation made from blue jeans. R-Value Concrete Structures booth can answer all your ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) question Jake will also be giving seminars there. There are over 100 booth to visit hope you get a chance to stop by and see us there and some of our friends.

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Energy Audits are they worth it.

After meeting so many people at the Home & Garden show this last weekend and hearing them all telling me about there utility bills being $500 to $1,200 dollars and wanting to know what they can do to make there home more energy efficient. I told them sometimes replacing old, leaky windows with new, energy efficient windows may help, but you need to take a step back and see how your home is really performing before you spend any money on windows, insulation, roofing, etc. My advise to all of you is have Mike Holcomb from the Home Inspector General come test your homes. Mike can perform a “energy audit” to find out how well your home is performing. If your home has leaks, where are they? As part of Mikes energy audits he performs thermal imaging where he takes a picture of your home to see where the heat is leaking in vivid color. Mike can also preform a blower door test where a 15-20 mile per hour wind is simulated in your home to see where air (and heat) is leaking from. Without knowing how your home performs, you could be throwing your money out the window. I recently read a energy audit report Mike did on one of my remodel clients project and I was amazed at how detailed his report was. I believe Energy Audits are worth it and would recommend you get one done before you start any remodeling project.

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