So, you want to refinish the floors or that dresser (with potential!) you found at a garage sale. Forget the noxious odors and health risks associated with paint strippers.

aMAIZEing^TM Biobased Solvent & Stripper is a 100% bio-based solvent and stripper, derived from corn and soybeans. It and similar products made by SoyClean and  Molecular Tech Coatings Inc.’s EFS-2500 removes adhesives, paint from concrete, masonry, wood, metal and other surfaces.

aMAIZEing can also be used to remove graffiti from concrete if your place gets tagged on a regular basis. Or it could be time to move.

Home staging is the idea of decorating a home to make it more attractive to buyers. 

Not moving? Then use it to make your home more livable, attractive, and a healthier “nest” for you and your family!

The act of creating a powerful first impression can be done for a minimal investment. If you’re selling, you’ll can increase the perceived value of your home dramatically (which may result in a shorter selling time and a higher sales price). If you’re staying, you’ll create a more relaxing and comfortable atmosphere.

There are a few distinct differences between staging your home for life versus staging your home for a sale. Read on for a few tips, no matter what your situation is.

First impressions:
Whether you’re staging for your own life or staging for a sale, you only have one chance to make a first impression on visitors. Potential buyers may only be in your home for three or four minutes, so you want those first moments to be positive. Don’t forget simple yet significant improvements to your home’s exterior, like:

• Mow the lawn and trim dead branches (especially near windows and doors)
• Place some pots with colorful flowers on the porch
• Give the front door a fresh coat of paint.

Your home will now give visitors a warm welcome, whether they’re over for a personal visit or as a potential buyer.

Your stuff:
Staging for life – Staging your home is about decorating with your tastes, reflecting your individual style.
Staging for sale – When putting your house on the market, it’s important to consider the buyer. What does the average buyer need to see in order to fall in love with your home?

• Try to avoid leaving personal items in plain sight.
• Keep it clean and simple.
• Focus on highlighting the best features your home has to offer.

Less is more:
Staging for life – Ask your real estate agent or a professional stager the single greatest improvement you can do to make your home more livable. They’ll tell you to get rid of the clutter. Having a bit of organization and eliminating unnecessary “stuff” in your home, including piles of junk mail and old magazines, will help to create a more open environment.
Staging for sale – When putting your home on the market, you want it to look lived in, but you don’t want home buyers focusing on you collection of ceramic cows instead of noticing the custom cabinets you had installed. Most professionals also advise putting personal pictures away. This helps home buyers imagine your home as their home. Remember to clean out closets so they appear more spacious. Don’t forget to organize or clear out medicine cabinets, as potential buyers are likely to open those, too.

A room with a use:
Staging for life – You may have specific uses for various rooms in your home (using a spare bedroom as a craft room or office, or setting up the garage as a home gym). This is exactly how it should be. Don’t feel bound by the limitations of a room’s label.
Staging for sale – On the other hand, it’s pivotal to let home buyers see rooms as they were originally intended. Turn that playroom back into it’s original state. Perform an inexpensive and quick makeover for these rooms by hanging sheer curtains to let in daylight and replacing aging light fixtures and switches.

Freshen up:
Staging for life – We all have our routine cleaning schedules, but consider doing little extras for yourself. Touch up the paint in your lived-in rooms. Treat yourself to a few houseplants to liven up your living areas. A little can go a long way.
Staging for sale – Channel you inner cleaner and decorator. Steam-clean the carpets. Touch up the paint. Add emotional warmth with throw pillows, dramatic plants, and unscented candles.  For that “Architectural Digest” look, clear off the counters  in the kitchen and bathroom. An inexpensive way to add color is with a vase of vibrant flowers, neatly folded towels, or a bowl of fruit.

I’ve found poor seals around doors and windows of older homes and new construction alike. If you have cold spots or drafts in your home, check out this chart.

Here are common sources of energy losses and air infiltration points in the home according to Comprehensive InfraRed Thermography Consultants.

Generic winterizing tips may be helpful for you if you’re knowledgeable about the construction of your home. But even a talented do-it-yourselfer can a use professional to identify where your energy dollars are leaking out of the house.

Contributed by Martha Amram 

Ah, Eichler homes — a truly California mix of indoor and outdoor living. But sometimes this comes at the price of dis-comfort. Many Eichler owners complain of being too hot in the summer as the sun bears down on their patio or atrium. And too cold in the winter as all that glass conducts the warm air out.

Typical home improvement suggestions to increase comfort are to add insulation in the walls and replace your single-pane windows with double-pane. Both will save energy, but lack an element of “fun” we crave. And the expense! Here are a few different ideas:

Close off the atrium or patio.

Some Eichlers wrap around their open courtyard. It’s a simple matter to add the final wall and some kind of roof covering. The roof area can be covered with an innovative skylight option. I’m a big fan of putting skylights over the atrium, because it makes the area useful during the rainy winter months, so we get more use out of the whole house. We installed a Rollamatic Roof. Our energy efficiency tests show that it doesn’t leak warm air at all. This means the glass windows facing the patio or atrium no longer conducts warm air to the outside, saving energy and money.

Oh, and the courtyard floor has now moved indoors. It can be heated with a simple add-on such as Warmfloor™. 

Add awnings for shade.

A recent study showed that shading windows on the south and west can substantially reduce air conditioning costs. While our air conditioning days are minimal, homeowners can increase comfort by shading windows and patio areas in the summer. East-facing patios, for example, can heat up in the morning and release that heat all day long, raising the house temperature in the afternoon when the sun is blazing down from the west.

Sale shades provide wonderful trapezoidal shapes for shade, a style that fits with the contemporary Eichler look. Sunset Magazine even recently featured an Eichler with a sail shade.

Add blinds to your single pane windows.

Cheaper than replacing all those famous Eichler windows with double-pane, blinds can help reduce heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. Their effectiveness will depend on your lifestyle. Here are reasons that blinds may or may not work for you.

First, blinds reduce heat gain and heat loss when they are closed. But, as Eichler owners, we like our open indoor/outdoor feeling. So, blinds depend on the good habit of actually pulling them down. Will you really do it?

Second, blinds are an imperfect seal. They let hot air in, and cold air out. They will reduce heat transfer, but not as effectively as a double-paned window. Will you mind? If blinds are a solution for some of your windows, look for those that have R values (insulation factors) of 2 or more.

Match your choice of blind to your purpose. Some styles are optimized to save heat in the winter. Other styles are optimized to provide shade in the summer. There are even shading blinds that you can look through, keeping the best of both worlds — Eichler’s feel of outdoor living while cooling the house in the summer.

I love living in my Eichler, but I want to save energy too. Let’s keep looking for fun ways increase comfort.

Martha Amram is the CEO of GreenNow USA, a Palo Alto-based firm that helps homeowners save energy and water. During the home visit, GreenNow collects data and performs tests that help homeowners identify where their water and energy spending is going, how much is wasted, and the next steps to energy and water efficiency – from good habits to new appliances to home improvements.

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Last Tuesday’s 5.6 earthquake prompts the usual post-game discussion: are you ready for the Big One?

The newspapers are full of “how ready are you” polls. But, really, have you protected your most important assets (your home and family) as much as you can? Some companies are rising to meet your needs.

National Building Inspectors has created a limited inspection specifically designed to determine if any damage has occurred as a result of this quake. The inspection period is November 2007.

For a longer term outlook, strongly consider safety valves for gas lines. Contra Costa County requires an approved seismic gas shut-off device (motion sensitive) or an approved excess flow gas shut-off (non-motion sensitive) to be installed after the gas meter plus excess flow gas shut-off devices at each gas appliance.

It’s not yet a requirement in other counties, but it’s certainly a good idea in earthquake country.

Thanks to Earthquake Plumbing for the illustration and background info.

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As in any area of the real estate industry, for “green” to be viable, it needs to be as competitive as the alternatives. In order to be relevant, while standing out and being true to our purpose, our blog has a broad definition of “green.” Our definition originates from the blog’s url: value and comfort.

In value, we want to show that  being green not a burden — it adds to quality of life.

Being green at home provides value to the earth, the housing industry, the inhabitants, and the homeowner. It ties into the concerns over global warming, sustainability, and saving money. It also ties into making investments in both time and materials that will add value above and beyond the immediate cost.

As we tell by all the venture capital money going into new, clean technologies, being green can also be profitable. We want our green homes to be worth more than the alternatives.

The value of energy efficiency can be measured empirically. People’s stories with also reflect value (hopefully increased, although we can gain by we learning from others’ mistakes). Esthetics, outdoor living spaces, and familiarity all create value and comfort.

Comfort can be physical and mental. Principles of ergonomics and universal design are specific to the physical comfort of individuals. “Green” meets health concerns, be it with proper mold remediation, reducing draftiness, or improving indoor air quality. Some cultural concepts, like feng shui and vedic sciences, are based on living in harmony with our environment. These also add comfort in conscious and subconscious ways.

We’re not interested, necessarily, in a feel-good blog. Our writings reflect the conflicts and trade-offs that we deal with every day — the thoughtfullness that goes into trying to be green. As the industry changes, we will define ourselves again and again. The blog is also an organic process.

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There are some new eco-ordinances in them thar Los Altos Hills! Some buyers will be delighted, others may go elsewhere. Before you buy or remodel, here are five new ordinances you should know about.

1. Development area credit for solar power
2. Development area credit for permeable surfaces
3. Open space
4. Estate home setbacks, and
5. Eucalyptus tree abatement.

1. Solar
Ah, solar. It’s the right thing to do here in Northern Cal. It’s especially attractive with the current state tax credit and development credit from Los Altos Hills. It works like this: A hoimeowner who installs 500 square feet of solar panels on the roof receives 500 sf of development credit on the lot. That’s enough for an additional tennis court or extra decking around a pool.

While 45 projects applied for solar panel permits over the last 12 months, only two asked for the LAH credit. I have to wonder how long the town will continue to offer this credit since homeowners are going solar without town incentives.

You can check out LAH Town Hall’s Solar activity online.

2. Permeable Surfaces
Synthetic grass is not the astroturf of yesteryear. This stuff is surprisingly close in look and feel to the organic matter. Plus it’s practically maintenance-free and saves in your water bill. Los Altos Hills offers a development area credit for using permeable surfaces like pavers and synthetic grass.

Homes on a hill lose significant development area to the paving requirements for a firetruck turn-around area. Permeable surfaces help with erosion control and have a more asthetically pleasing and rural feel than asphalt. Homeowners get a higher percent of development area credit for using materials of greater permeability.

Sorry, your artificial lawn can’t be used as a front yard. The neighbors get jealous of the green look all year ’round and have a tendency to use much more water and fertilizer to keep up with the Jones’. The town doesn’t endorse any particular brand, but some names you may encounter are Waterless Grass, NewGrass, and ForeverLawn. Check with your landscaper to find out what they recommend. (if you need a landscaper, let me know.)

3. Open Space Easements and Pathways (Don’t Fence Me In)
LAH maintains an open, rural feel. There are minimum one-acre lots, protected creeks, no sidewalks, and oak tree protection. Open space and pathway easements may be granted to the town to preserve woodland habitat for wildlife and trails for walking and horseback riding. Openings in perimeter fences allow larger wildlife (cougars, bobcats, and deer) to pass through developed lots that would otherwise have been obstacles to seasonal water sources.

Granting open space or pathway easements allows a homeowner to participate in maintaining LAH’s greenbelt without incurring a loss in property value.

4. Estate Home Setbacks
If you could find a 1.5 acre flat lot in the hills, the permitted house could be about 10,000 sf. On occasion, a buyer can put together four to five acres and construct a substantial estate. It’s hard to imagine it having a rural feel. LAH is considering increasing the setback provision for estate homes over 10,000 sf. It’s not an approved ordinance yet.

5. Eucalyptus Tree Abatement

Those 50′ towering trees with shredded bark and limbs heavy with pungent blue-green leaves. You love them or hate them. They’re quick growing, provide shade, and mark property lines. The oils that give the tree its distinctive smell also make it highly flammable. A shallow root system means that the entire two tons are more prone to fall when the ground is saturated.

The shallow root aspect was tragically brought to light when a branch of an uprooted Eucalyptus fell onto a passing cyclist in 2006, instantly killing him.

There are more than 600 varieties of Eucalyptus, none of them native. Los Altos Hills has identified five varieties that the commission considers a danger, the most common being blue-gum. If any of the trees on their list is within 150′ of a project, it will have to be removed. Check with an arborist to see if the property you’re interested in (or own) has these trees.

Thanks to Los Altos Hills Planning Commissioner Ray Collins for the update. For more information, call Los Altos Hills at (650) 941-7222.

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Here are the Top Seven things a mortgage company can do, on their dime, to reduce your global ecological footprint and reduce your home’s carbon emissions:

1.  Free rating or assessment of how green your home is and how it can be improved. Examples of rating systems include California’s Build It Green, Built Green of Colorado and Washington, and the residential LEED certification. See if your local Green Building Program has a rating system.

2.   Provide additional incentives or loan discounts for green home improvement.

3.   Purchase carbon-offsets on your behalf, through CarbonFund, The Institute of Ecosystem Studies, TerraPass, or other organization.

4.   Plant trees. Lots of them.

5.   Contribute part of profits to environmental or real estate reform

6.   Help you monitor your global ecological footprint. You may need a conversion calculator.

7.   Take the pledge lead by example by being a sustainable, carbon-neutral business.

Thanks to Tomek Rondio of MortgageGreen for his input for this post.

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With all the interest in green homes, it’s not often one comes on the market. That changed yesterday, with a beautiful, century-old Craftsman now for sale at 120 Waverley Street in Palo Alto. This home blends the character of an old home with modern comfort and conveniences.

A Palo Alto firm Topos Architects remodeled this home following LEED Residential standards. They claim that, had the rating been available when the home was completed, it would have qualified for a LEED Gold rating.

How does this home qualify as being so green? Much of the existing building material was re-used within the remodel. Recycling efforts for the unusable material far exceeded Palo Alto’s requirements to minimize landfill.

Energy efficient design exceeds the California Energy Commission standards (Title 24) by 3%, reducing the owner’s energy consumption and utility costs. This is enhanced by passive solar design and tracked through an innovative Agilewaves resource monitor, making it a smart house as well.

Building components that create the energy efficient envelope include highly rated windows, exterior doors, and insulation. Interior energy savers include the furnace, air conditioner, ventilation fan, water heater, toilets, and lighting with a lighting control system. Energy Star rated appliances (refrigerator, clothes washer, and dishwasher) add the finishing touches.

If you’re ready to move into a green home, the $3.15 million price tag is a good value for the neighborhood. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, there’s a tear-down in a nearby neighborhood for almost $2 mil. You can still have your green dream home – it will just take longer to move in.

I see gray piles of crushed concrete as I’m driving by construction sites, looking like gigantic abandoned sandbox projects. We’re likely to see more of these piles as green concepts permeate the building industry.

According to the Concrete Network, recycling concrete from demolition project can result in considerable savings since it saves the costs of transporting concrete to the landfill (as much as $ .25 per ton/mile), and eliminates the cost of disposal (as high as $100 per ton). This savings to the contractor also results in greater environmental benefits, such as protecting natural resources, fewer pollutants from the transport of materials and reduced impact on our landfills.

Palo Alto’s “construction and demolition” program requires 90% of concrete and other inert solids be diverted. Santa Clara requires 50% to be recycled. San Jose, most of the cities within San Mateo county (and the County itself), and nine cities in Alameda county have also implemented these reuse and recycle programs.

Recycling of concrete is a relatively simple process. It involves breaking, removing, and crushing existing concrete into a material with a specified size and quality. The goal of a green remodeler is to use as much onsite as possible, says Iris Harrell of Harrell Remodeling.

Concrete Technology gives five applications of unprocessed recycled concrete, then five different applications after processing, including new concrete. So concrete really can be recycled into more concrete!

The photo is at 3270 West Bayshore as seen from 101. Other concrete piles can be seen at 899 Charleston and at Page Mill and Park. All are in Palo Alto.