Interiors

Paints, finishes and natural coatings

Finishing concrete floors with silicate densifiers

Non-toxic and durable finish for polished concrete floors, especially when using natural beeswax floor polishes for the Eco-friendly Green Building choice for finishing a concrete floor beautifully. Polished concrete floors are extremely durable and non-toxic ; silicate-based densifiers keep them that way and make…

Kitchens

The Cosentino ECO is a kitchen countertop made of recycled plates, bottles and mirrors - video

The ECO brand kitchen counter from Cosentino is part of the quartz family but is made with 75% recycled materials for sustainability and durability. Healthier kitchen components - countertops If you're into healthy green homes like we are here at Ecohome, there's a lot to think about when choosing a healthier…

Interior design and furnishing

Flame retardants in furnishings - an unnecessary and serious health risk

Flame retardants are found in almost all manufactured materials. They pose a serious health risk yet are virtually useless for preventing fires. With the intention of reducing the speed at which flames can spread, fire-retardant compounds are added to almost all the materials we furnish our homes with: children's…

Walls and ceilings - interior surfaces

Choosing the best drywall - video

Drywall may all look the same sitting in stacks in the store but they are very different in performance, strength and ecological impact. How to choose eco-friendly drywall: There is a lot more to choosing drywall than one might think, and as it finds its way into pretty much every building made, a lot of resources…

Bathrooms

Efficient toilets for LEED homes

The three considerations of a toilet are water efficiency, performance and aesthetics. Toilets usually account for about a third of the indoor water use in a home , so toilets that carry the EPA WaterSense® label are a great place to start looking . Then comes the choice of either single flush or dual flush- it's a…

Flooring and stairs

Slate tile installation - video

Slate tiles for finishing bathroom counter, floors and shower stalls. DIY video guide on how to lay tiles yourself We have finished the bathroom counter, floors and shower stalls with a dark slate tile. Slate is a natural stone, so its surfaces have more character and inconsistencies in texture - and at times…

Flooring and stairs

Cork flooring installation - the eco-friendly flooring choice, with "how to" video

Looking for a non-toxic Flooring Material that is a renewable, sustainable & Eco-Friendly green flooring product choice? Try Cork. The pros and cons of cork flooring Cork is a renewable resource, harvested from trees without killing them . Although it comes from far away (mostly Portugal), its carbon footprint from…

Basement finishing

Basement renovations: How to prevent mold when finishing basements

Why are basements moldy? Because we build walls so they can't dry. Simple changes in wall design will result in mould-free durable basements. Basements don't have to be moldy, that is the first thing to realize. It's easy to build a basement better, or to finish an existing basement correctly , we just need to…

Bathrooms

EcoVéa: recycled and cleaned shower water

This Quebec made closed-loop water and heat recovery system makes showering ultra efficient. After recently posting a story sharing the brilliance that is the Swedish Orbsys water and heat recycling shower, it was brought to our attention that there is a homegrown Canadian variety as well. The EcoVéa shower by…

Flooring and stairs

Marmoleum: a healthy and durable flooring option.

Marmoleum is not just your grandmothers floor anymore, this healthy, durable flooring is an excellent choice for even the most modern of homes. Remember linoleum? Meet marmoleum! Remember linoleum, that durable but boring material found on most kitchen and bathroom floors of older homes? These days, its called…

Kitchens

Pricing green kitchen countertops - there's never been a bigger choice of sustainable kitchen counters

Make an informed decision when picking kitchen counters - think about cost, but also durability, and how your choice of materials will affect your health. How to price a sustainable kitchen countertop? As a professional cabinetmaker, I have often been asked how much a kitchen costs . There is no accurate answer of…