Geothermal Community Event now booked

We are excited to have an official date for our 'Geothermal Drilling Event' set for Friday, May 7, 2010 ( betwen 12:00-3:00 with neighbouring schools visiting @ 1:302/:00 pm).). This event is sponsored by Yanch Geothermal and will include a 'once in a lifetime' chance to see a geo-drill at work digging anywhere from 350-500 feet down to enable us to use the earth's heat in the winter and the earth's coolness in the summer. We hope to have a great turn-out from the community, the schools, the neighbours and the press!

Geo drill date set and site inspection done

Paul and Mike from Yanch met with our builder and we are set to start drilling next week and demo the week after. It turned out that it is better to drill before the excavator comes and corner off the bore holes. We are pleased that the drilling can happen so fast and are SUPER excited that this is coming together!

Add hardwood floors to the list...

Although I was hoping for all of the hardwoods to be re-used, Freecycle came through again and a 10 x 10 section was removed to be re-used in a renovation. I will keep on trying ...

How much more can we recycle and re-claim!

My craigslist posting for 'free hardwoods and wooden windows' brought forth astounding results. www.toolsforafrica.com/ came and took the doors and sinks to ship to Africa for reuse and the 'soot trap' & outside aluminum windows are being reclaimed. I posted the electrical components and baseboard grills on Freecycle and now our electrical panel, stove wiring, sockets and more are being reused as well as the baseboards and crown moulding!

Oh yeah, the 11 year old shed is also being dismantled for reuse!

We are a go with Yanch Geothermal!

After talking with Adam at Yanch Geothermal, we have confirmed that the new 149 Park Home will be powered by geothermal heating - clean, efficient and green!

Reduce, reuse and recycle

In addition to sourcing green materials, we have been successful in saving several items from landfill:

1. I posted our deck on Freecycle "a non-profit organization that organizes a worldwide network of "gifting" groups, aiming to divert reusable goods from landfills. It provides a worldwide online registry, and coordinates the creation of local groups and forums for individuals and non-profits to offer and receive free items for reuse or recycling, promoting gift economics as a motivating cultural outlook" and a contractor from Barrie came down, dismantled and re-used it.
2. Next came the 4 large shrubs, again posted on Freecycle that were dug up and given new homes in High Park.
3. A friend of a friend came down from Orangeville and in 3 days dismantled our 10 x 10 gazebo for re-use on his property.
4. Next came posting our hardwoods and old wooden windows on Craiglists' 'free' section which resulted in people coming after move-out to reclaim the hardwoods, windows, doors and a 'soot trap' for the chimney.
5. A friend of ours will come to dismantle the 'click flooring' and re-use it at her place AND I am taking the wall-to-wall from the basement and one bedroom to use in the unfinished basement of the new home.
6. In addition, we are taking all light fixtures, ceiling fans, bath fixtures for potential reuse or recycle/

All said and done, even though I could not arrange to have our entire house re-located and re-used, we believe we have done our best!

Our Journey to this point - How and why we decided to go green.

Please visit http://parkhomeavenue.blogspot.com/ for our history on how and why we decided to go green.