Walking through a "green home" like the Museum of Science and Industry's Smart Home exhibit in Chicago, it's easy to get caught up in the very visible oohs and aahs.
There's the chandelier made of salvaged motorcycle hubcaps, the heated radiant subfloors and the recycled glass kitchen countertops that incorporate red traffic lights.
Laura Reedy Stukel, an Illinois real estate agent, is the first to admit the gut remodel she did last year of what was a 1966 colonial doesn't produce those same oohs and ahhs. In fact, visitors look around the home and ask what exactly makes it so green.
The way the house works -- not the way it looks -- is specifically what captured the attention of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, which named the house the "green improvements" winner of its biannual Home Improvement Challenge. The family's green renovation will be featured along with the winners of other categories in the magazine's September 2009 issue.
Reedy Stukel and her husband, Ray Stukel, began their renovation with an energy audit and then the couple mapped out their project goals -- energy efficiency (with less reliance on air-conditioning), product durability and the use of locally made products.
"We actually had a chart," Reedy Stukel said. "If it was going to cost a lot more and not give us a lot in those areas, we passed on it."
Reedy Stukel started catching contradictions in how "green" can be defined as soon as she started her research. Take flooring and the popular choice of bamboo. If it comes from China and takes all that energy to get here, is it really a green choice, she wondered. They took a pass on bamboo.
A similar debate centered on floor sealers. Water-based varieties are considered more environmentally sound but need to be reapplied more frequently than the oil-based types which emit fumes. The couple opted for the durability of an oil-based product.
Another recycled material the couple took a pass on was bathroom tile. Finding samples would have meant a long drive, and the tile wouldn't have helped with energy efficiency. They did go with a locally made recycled glass bathroom countertop, which Reedy Stukel considers her only "green for green's sake splurge."
Among the non-sexy parts of the project were new insulation and Energy Star-qualified windows, lighter-color roof shingles that absorb less heat, and a humidity-sensing bathroom fan. A surge protector installed in a kitchen drawer makes it easy to charge cameras and cell phones, and then the couple can shut off the electrical current with the flick of a switch.
While she wanted a master bedroom suite, Reedy Stukel added a walk-in closet instead of a substantial room addition. The project also opened up the floor plan to give it better traffic flow and make all the spaces more usable, instead of heating and cooling formal rooms that were seldom used.
"There's this real tendency to be really product-focused. We got to the point that we said this is green for us," she said.
Other homeowners and would-be homeowners are thinking along the same lines -- that being green doesn't mean form over function. In a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, 46 percent of buyers ranked energy efficiency as very important when choosing a home.
Now Reedy Stukel is using her green remodeling experience, as well as her $2,500 prize from the magazine, to help Family Matters, a community organization in Chicago's East Rogers Park neighborhood. The funds will be used to help make the group's facility more energy efficient.
Her advice for others embarking on their own project? Get an energy audit first. Do a lot of research and be ready to make choices. Focusing on energy efficiency not only will boost a home's comfort level, but also may qualify for the recently expanded federal tax credits.
"This is stuff that anyone can do," Reedy Stukel said. "It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be expensive. It's that boring stuff that is really where everyone should be starting."
mepodmolik@tribune.com
There's the chandelier made of salvaged motorcycle hubcaps, the heated radiant subfloors and the recycled glass kitchen countertops that incorporate red traffic lights.
Laura Reedy Stukel, an Illinois real estate agent, is the first to admit the gut remodel she did last year of what was a 1966 colonial doesn't produce those same oohs and ahhs. In fact, visitors look around the home and ask what exactly makes it so green.
The way the house works -- not the way it looks -- is specifically what captured the attention of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, which named the house the "green improvements" winner of its biannual Home Improvement Challenge. The family's green renovation will be featured along with the winners of other categories in the magazine's September 2009 issue.
Reedy Stukel and her husband, Ray Stukel, began their renovation with an energy audit and then the couple mapped out their project goals -- energy efficiency (with less reliance on air-conditioning), product durability and the use of locally made products.
"We actually had a chart," Reedy Stukel said. "If it was going to cost a lot more and not give us a lot in those areas, we passed on it."
Reedy Stukel started catching contradictions in how "green" can be defined as soon as she started her research. Take flooring and the popular choice of bamboo. If it comes from China and takes all that energy to get here, is it really a green choice, she wondered. They took a pass on bamboo.
A similar debate centered on floor sealers. Water-based varieties are considered more environmentally sound but need to be reapplied more frequently than the oil-based types which emit fumes. The couple opted for the durability of an oil-based product.
Another recycled material the couple took a pass on was bathroom tile. Finding samples would have meant a long drive, and the tile wouldn't have helped with energy efficiency. They did go with a locally made recycled glass bathroom countertop, which Reedy Stukel considers her only "green for green's sake splurge."
Among the non-sexy parts of the project were new insulation and Energy Star-qualified windows, lighter-color roof shingles that absorb less heat, and a humidity-sensing bathroom fan. A surge protector installed in a kitchen drawer makes it easy to charge cameras and cell phones, and then the couple can shut off the electrical current with the flick of a switch.
While she wanted a master bedroom suite, Reedy Stukel added a walk-in closet instead of a substantial room addition. The project also opened up the floor plan to give it better traffic flow and make all the spaces more usable, instead of heating and cooling formal rooms that were seldom used.
"There's this real tendency to be really product-focused. We got to the point that we said this is green for us," she said.
Other homeowners and would-be homeowners are thinking along the same lines -- that being green doesn't mean form over function. In a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, 46 percent of buyers ranked energy efficiency as very important when choosing a home.
Now Reedy Stukel is using her green remodeling experience, as well as her $2,500 prize from the magazine, to help Family Matters, a community organization in Chicago's East Rogers Park neighborhood. The funds will be used to help make the group's facility more energy efficient.
Her advice for others embarking on their own project? Get an energy audit first. Do a lot of research and be ready to make choices. Focusing on energy efficiency not only will boost a home's comfort level, but also may qualify for the recently expanded federal tax credits.
"This is stuff that anyone can do," Reedy Stukel said. "It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be expensive. It's that boring stuff that is really where everyone should be starting."
mepodmolik@tribune.com
