My personal "green roots" came from my upbringing by my Grandfather, who was the son of a Montevallo, Alabama dairy farmer, and my Dad, who was an ardent conservationist/environmentalist and locally popular Boy Scout Master of many years.

Following a recent experience with a post-fire incident, I stumbled across a fascinating subject that will be coming to a theater (town hall) new you within months. What began as a research on home fire safety, quickly evolved into a fairly deep look into the subject of residential fire sprinklers.

Don't dismay if your new hardwoods are cupping. Until we got really involved in remodeling I wasn't clued into the variables that are at hand in the "overnight" re-flooring industry. Cupping, among others, seems to be the most insidious of the visible phenomina that homeowner's are left with when the floor guys are long gone. Beau Blackman, of H.E. Blackman Flooring, pointed out to me that in new home construction, hardwoods are laid and "weather in" for weeks before they are finally sanded and finished.

A friend and former customer of mine picked up on a recent blog which highlighted the Benjamin Moore Aura paint. I am embarrassed that I overlooked the environmental issues involved with the newer generation of "green" paints. Aura and others of the low VOC (volatile organic compound) variety reduce potentially harmful "off-gassing" during the drying phases of the paint process. According to one study, the paint related "off-gassing" from the older paints contributes to nearly 10% of the man-made ozone depleting gases, and can be harmful to the health of some chemically sensitive people.

I am going to write a blog soon discussing the most common building code requirements that are being enforced by our local building inspectors, but one code issue can't wait another second; smoke detectors. Several of my close friends, or someone in their immdediate family have lost their homes in recent fires. Most of them have been electrical, 3 out of 4 were discovered by barking dogs or meowing cats, and by the time the fire departments could respond the fires were so advanced that at least the entire contents were lost, and one home was burnt to the ground. All of these homes had one thing in common.

It's really a no-brainer...but if you don't watch the time, you'll find yourself battling with a runaway timecard. This situation can occur with your private landscape guy, a subcontractor, or even general contractor on "time and material" projects. Even with the more credible outfits, once a timecard has been submitted and the employee has been paid, good luck on un-ringing the bell, so to speak. As spoken of in a previous article, all contracts need to have some kind of agreement, or stipulation on the scope of work, general timeframe, and perhaps a "guaranteed not to exceed" provision in the case of a time and material type of project.