The Home Crowd

An environmentally conscious effort by two Michigan companies has taken old residential asphalt shingles, and given them new life as roads and parking lots.

(Press Photo/Lori Niedenfuer Cool)

Reduce, Recycle, Re-use is all great and I doubt you’d find anyone brave enough to slam anyone trying to save petroleum-based shingles from sitting in their landfill when they’d be better suited as new roads.  The largest factor for this niche in recycling, however, is based on economic factors.

From mlive.com,

For shingles, the key ingredient is petroleum. An average house of 2,000 square feet with two layers of roofing will have five tons of recyclable shingles. That equates to 10 barrels of new oil not needed in the asphalt mix

Wow, what’s the going rate on barrels of oil nowadays?  125-130$???  From five tons of shingles?  And according to mlive’s article, each of their trucks hauls off with 26 tons.  I’m not so good with math, but I’m glad to see someone (other than big oil) is seeing a positive side to this oil debacle.

If you’re interested in recycling construction materials from your home, I’d suggest looking up your state’s department of environmental quality, here in California, there’s the integrated waste management board with a searchable index of construction materials by county. - (CIWMB)

A British couple recently found out their coastline home was only valued at £1 when trying to use the property as collateral for a business loan.  The reason why?  The coastline and cliffs at the rear of their property has receded from 500 yards to 65 over the past 20 years.

They had assumed their home was worth around £80,000 but the loan was refused after a NatWest valuer decided it was virtually worthless due to ‘chronic coastal erosion’.

Seems like by my math, they’ve got another few good years with a beautiful view, at which point I’m fully interested in buying the property for 3 dollars, U.S., so long as they toss in that riding mower…

Full article at This is London

I see from time to time these quirky stories of world’s smallest house. This one, in Toronto, however, I see pop up the most.

Estimated at around 300 square feet and roughly 6 feet wide at the interior, the home is on the market for somewhere between 170-180K. Seems like alot for something that looks as if it started off as a shed for the brick home on the right there.

On the plus side, now you’ve got a reason not to go all out with a giant plasma tv, as it may not fit on the wall. Behind that wall is the bathroom, kitchen, and at the rear is the bedroom. The bedroom sports a murphy bed which couldn’t possibly fit any tighter.

Seems tight… Don’t suppose a young married couple in a starter home could get along with sleeping in bunk beds? Perhaps these from a previous post?

Anyhow, also found on youtube was this news clip of the home when it was previously up for sale in 1993. The bathroom looks to be the trickiest part as taking a seat on the commode would be like trying to fit in your old high school desk with that sink positioned where it is.

More pics here at Joeydevilla.com

Similar pics here at TeamSugar.com, as well as a floor plan at the bottom of the article.

And who’s showing more patriotism than this guy!  According to NBC San Diego, Eastlake resident Steve Pfeiffer, who works for the Navy, has 762 flags in the front yard, and another 270 in the Backyard.  Wow!

Not to be un-patriotic at all, but if this were also a ‘Where’s Waldo’ scene, I’d never spot the little guy in his red and white striped shirt.  -  Link to slideshow

Happy 4th of July!  And join me in praying that fireworks tonight won’t set fire to any more of California…

Sometimes, I sit here and think “Ya know, I’d spend more time under the bed if not for the fact that it’s so hard to read any sort of books or magazines under there…”

Actually this image and the rest of the images of various furniture backlit by LED lighting here at Lifehacker are kind of enticing. If nothing else but for the fact that tomorrow I could drop by target or any other various electronic store and pick up a LED rope light strand. I spotted this one at amazon for about 60 bucks for 50 feet.

The smaller projects shown in the article use much less and manage to ‘pimp’ their furniture with roughly 20 linear feet of LED rope lights.

“Why don’t more people put lights under their beds?” you ask?  Well, fires quite simply.  Trying to light up the underside of your bed with traditional incandescent lights can be quite hot and dangerous when near combustibles.  And if you’re hooking up Fluorescent tube lights under your bed or desk, then you’re up for the hall of fame of geekdom.  LED lights are not nearly as hot, but instead warm to the touch, and while these may resemble your Christmas light knot-ball in the garage, they’re actually more dependable and much more energy efficient.

From The Consumerist -

Bobo and Joy Dickson bought a house had been headed for foreclosure, but JP Morgan Chase apparently didn’t get the message that the former owners had moved out and the new owners were in residence. So, naturally, they hired a firm to drill the Dickson’s locks and take everything they owned

Wow, that’s terrible. I mean.. these people have heard of memos right?  Maybe an email or two?  I get that it’s probably in the best interest of asset companies to sneak in while you’re out to avoid confrontation, but ouch!  Lawyers are involved, so I imagine they’ll go from foreclosing on a home to virtually giving it away to a family whose possessions and photo albums they’ve just trashed.

How could you go wrong after that?  Why ,they’ll call him Bobo the Triumphant, or Bobo the Great!  It’s a cheap shot I know, but I’ve spent the last 3 days moving HQ from sunny Orange County to sunny San Diego and my compassion is still packed away in the garage somewhere.