Laurie McGinley

10 Ways to Save Energy in the Laundry Room

Washing and drying clothes uses a lot of energy and water in a typical house. Here are 10 ways you can reduce your consumption of water and energy while doing laundry.Move the dryer closer to an outside wall The farther exhaust air has to travel from your dryer to get outside, the more energy your dryer will use on every cycle. If you can, move the dryer as close to its exhaust port as possible. Can you reduce the number of elbow bends in the exhaust pipe?

Laurie McGinley

Feb 12, 2020

Fast Fixes: Small, Landlord Friendly Upgrades For the Bathroom

When we moved into our apartment, the bathroom was the first thing I wanted to upgrade. In an attempt to satisfy the urge to remodel the entire room, I decided to start with several low cost, low time investment upgrades.Towel Rack The towel rack didn’t hold enough towels, and it was just low enough that the towels dangled around the top of the only logical location for the bathroom garbage can. Yuck.

Laurie McGinley

Sep 6, 2019

5 Questions for Sizing Your Rain Barrel

No matter where you live, capturing rain to water landscaping or wash cars is a good way to use less potable water. However, depending on where you live, your rain water catchment system should be sized accordingly. Here are five questions to help you decide how big your rain barrel should be.If you can collect rain water from 1000 square feet of roof and a typical rainfall is one inch then a 623 gallon barrel will capture most of the typical rainfall. (1000SF x 1/12 feet = 83.

Laurie McGinley

May 6, 2019