Meet Snoop

Here in South Florida a German Shepherd is learning to sniff out Chinese Drywall. Snoop will be one of the first dogs in the country certified to find Mold and Chinese Drywall in Homes.

This K9 Detective is being trained by Bill Whitstine of the Florida Canine Academy for All American Plumbing and Construction of Fort Myers, FL.

This is not the first time a dog trained by Bill has received attention. His Mold Dogs have been featured on CNN, Newsweek, HGTV and Extreme Home Makeover.

Recent News

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently outlined (pdf) what homeowners must look for to identify bad drywall in their homes, and then how to corroborate their observations with chemical laboratory work.

The step that most people are waiting for is guidance on the proper way to remediate a home because it’s unclear exactly what needs to be gutted or thrown away to rid a home of problems, whether a house can be treated to render drywall problems inert, or whether a home must be torn down.

“We hope to release the remediation protocols this spring,” said Dr. Warren Friedman, senior adviser to the director of the office of healthy homes and lead hazard control at HUD.

Local News

A million dollar guarantee is being given to Charlotte county families moving into homes built with Chinese drywall. AbissoCleanse gives a 100% guarantee that at the completion of their protocol your home is completely free of all residual compounds resulting from corrosive drywall off-gassing.

January 15, 2010

Ofuro Vasca by Rapsel

I think with all this cold weather nothing would be nicer than soaking in a hot bath completely immersed in water up to my chin. If you agree you’ll want to check out this Japanese style soaking tub from Matteo Thun.

Traditional Ofuro are small wooden tubs with high sides. They are not for bathing. You shower before you enter the Ofuro to leave the water clean for the next person.

The Ofuro Vasca, produced by Rapsel, is made entirely from larch wood (beech). The wood is carefully dried, shaped and joined together creating a soft and inviting bath. Compared to the typical round shape of the Japanese Ofuro, this European version is elongated.

January 10, 2010

Bic Biro Recycled Chandelier

This fabulous chandelier made from 347 Bic Cristal pens and 347 paper clips. It is on display at the Science Museum of London as part of the exhibit Plasticity – 100 years of making plastics. The exhibit celebrates the ingenuity involved in creating “the first truly man-made material,” as well as its modern substitutes, while looking at the environmental implications of this discovery and plastics’ subsequent spread around the world.

The Bic Biro Chandelier was made by Spanish design company enPieza Studio. This is not their first light made from recycled pens. They have created a table lamp named the Volivik 50 from various color Bic pens and the Volivik 77 pendant light from orange pens.

The chandelier reminds me some of the chandelier made from plastic coffee stirrers that I mentioned a while ago on KitchAnn Style. The pens in the close up view also seem to be full of ink so I am not sure they were not purchased solely to make the lights.

January 5, 2010

Ceiling Fans and Winter

Ceiling fans are generally associated with warm weather usage. However, when a ceiling fan is in the reverse motion (winter mode), the upward flow of air will push the warmer air trapped at the ceiling back down to earth making your feet feel as warm as your neck.

Check the blades of your fan. While most manufacturers orient the blades so revolving clockwise will send the air up, some are opposite and send air down causing “wind chill.”

If you have a home with a high ceiling, the fan speed can be increased so the warm air is able to reach the living space. The forward summer setting may work better for tall rooms with high fan positions. Just make sure in both scenarios a downdraft isn’t causing discomfort for the people below.

Without a ceiling fan pushing the warm trapped air, the ceiling of a room could be 15 degrees warmer than on the floor. Using ceiling fans in the winter could save you as much as 10% on your heating bills.