Top tips to make the most of your home and garden, with Mother Earth in mind
LISA KADANE

You’ve heard it all before: Recycle your bottles and cans. Change your furnace filter regularly. Turn off the lights when you leave a room.

Chances are, you’ve made some of those small changes in your home. Why? Because small is not only beautiful, it’s manageable and realistic for busy families. When you “act locally,” in the comfort of your own abode, you also save money and — bonus — a teensy speck of the planet.
“When people take baby steps and see some of the changes, they get empowered,” says Ashley Lubyk, the co-ordinator of the Clean Calgary Association’s Healthy Homes project, a program that provides free home visits to help Calgarians create safe homes with small eco-footprints.

Think “weekend project,” says Anand Mishra, a regional research adviser with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in Calgary.


We’ve sussed out a handful of small changes that anyone can make in each room of the house, to start making the green dream a reality.

Odds are, your home has some air leakage. Apart from drafts that you might feel on a cold, windy day, you can find evidence in the insulation in your attic or behind walls. If it’s dirty, you know you have air movement.

The most common spots for air infiltration are windows and doors, as well as any direct vents to the exterior, such as extraction fans, dryer vents and vent stacks that lead into un-insulated areas like attics. One way to detect air leaks is to use a stick of incense near the suspect areas. The incense smoke will indicate air movement.

Check your windows and doors to see if you need new weatherstripping. You should also remove the trims and casing and make sure there is enough insulation.
If you have drafts near your chimney, firebox, flue or furnace vents, you must use a special product that’s rated for high temperature. Standard spray foam or caulk is flammable.

Check your television cable jacks, telephone lines, dryer vents, behind electrical outlets and switch plates, plumbing stacks — any point where conditioned air might escape. The goal is to restrict the air from flowing freely in and out of your home.

Spray foam insulation will fill small gaps and voids around windows, doors or vents. It’s easy to use — maybe too easy. Since it expands on contact, people can use too much around a window and actually put it out of alignment.

Caulk can be used to seal gaps that are less than one half inch (1.3 centimetres) wide. Make sure you use the right grade and type. Depending on the area that is being caulked, there are products for interior, exterior, low-and high-temperature use. Some of the factors to consider when choosing the right caulk are flexibility, durability, whether it can be painted, temperature, water resistance and price. Caulking is engineered for different purposes and what might be great for sealing around your windows isn’t what should be used around your shower door.