Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy Earth Day

The LEED plaque came back from its trip around the country and was actually installed on April 23, a day late.

Greenplaque had me send it back to Wyoming to have the mounting work completed. Then, for some reason unknown to me, it was sent to Texas and then back to Massachusetts.

The UPS tracking is usually interesting. There are many intermediate stops, but it went from Centerville to Louisville, KY, to Denver and then to Laramie, Wyoming. From Laramie it was sent to Bryan, TX, probably via Louisville. I’m not sure what they did in Texas, but from there it went back through Louisville and back to us.
The mounting actually went pretty well. Normally the studs on the back of the plaque would be epoxied to the wall, but it turns out that I was able to bolt it through the wall. The mirror in the Powder Room covers the nuts on the inside, so it is more secure and also removable.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Nothing's Free

We finally received the LEED plaque. I thought it was complimentary, but it's not. Most LEED projects qualify for a LEED plaque, but not LEED for Homes.
Notice, though, that it's not mounted to the wall. Although it was supposed to come with mounting studs, it didn't, so we had to send it back to get the studs fitted. At first I thought it was my mistake, but it wasn't. Greenplaque also offers mounting hardware separately, but it's amazingly pricey. Their hardware starts at $125.00! They are made from 50% post-consumer recycled aluminum and extruded prior to machining to reduce waste according to the web site, but they're $125.00! That's nuts.

And here's what we hope to be doing this summer. We were so busy with the house last year that the kayaks never touched the water.
We bought a rack and wanted to see how ridiculous they look. It's kind of like kayaks with attached car. I wouldn't want to go cross country, but we don't have to go far. This Barnstable Ways to Water map shows all the places we can go without leaving town.