More Fluorescent Candelabra Bulbs

In my web wanderings today I came across some more fluorescent candelabra-shaped lamps (light bulbs). They are very shapely and from Skyline Lighting. Very useful for chandeliers and such.

They come in 3, 5 watts for the candelabra base size; and 5, 7, 9, 14 watts for the medium base size.

A tip of my blogging hat to Residential Landscape Lighting & Design's blog for leading me to these. They have a very informative blog and even a new Forum for answering lighting questions. Very useful to bookmark.

The color temperature of these lamps is 2700-3000Kelvin.
Incandescent is 2800Kelvin.
You shouldn't even notice the difference.

Now everybody order some to swap out those energy-hog incandescents in your dining room and I'll do the same.

Peggy

Some Bamboo Flooring Not All It's Cracked Up to Be!

I received this notice today from MarketWatch on a realtor's survey.

"If replacing floors, avoid bamboo. This flooring was popular when it debuted, but now users are saying it is easily dented and scratched. It is also more likely to warp due to weather and humidity. "

On further investigation it seems as though all bamboo flooring is not equal. Some homeowners are registering their disappointment in the green product on their floors.

Looks like some growers are harvesting their bamboo too early and the result is a finished floor that doesn't exhibit the hardness of bamboo grown for a longer period of time (which can be similar to hardwood in hardness and durability).

Here are some links to support my conclusions:
Berkeley Parents Network
Town of Portola Valley

And some do's and don'ts:
Bamboo Flooring Basics

The upshot: Choose your supplier carefully. Don't buy the cheapest product. Look for a minimum 10 year warranty on the material.

Peggy

Get Green/Recycling Building Materials

We have a lot of period homes here in the San Francisco Bay Area. From San Francisco Victorians, to 50's Eichlers, and everything in between.

Remodeling these homes requires a lot of period "stuff", like mouldings and windows and doors, that can't be had without paying painful premiums for custom products.

For those of us who would rather put our precious dollars toward the latest in appliances for our new kitchens, there is:

"Whole House Building Supply & Salvage, based in Palo Alto. While there have been salvage yards like Urban Ore, created by Dr. Daniel Knapp, in Berkeley and Caldwell's Building Salvage in San Francisco for decades, Whole House Building Supply (founded in 1998) has become such a one-stop shop of construction salvage and reuse that it seems like an invention from a utopian novel. "

For the rest of this article by Carol Lloyd, from the San Francisco Chronicle, click here.

The great thing about Whole House is that they will notify you of upcoming sales and you can actually go to the site where the house is being demolished and remove the materials yourself - or pay somebody to remove them - then haul them home.

You can also tell them exactly what you are looking for and they will notify you when it is available. I was looking for used bricks and flagstone for a yard project and they kept notifying me until I had enough and told them to stop.

It's not quite like going to a retail supplier and walking out with what you came for. But if you have time to wait, the price is sure right!

They also do demolitions and buy quality building materials you may want to sell.

It is such a great feeling to recycle beautiful material, some of which is no longer available at any price.
They also have an enormous yard where they take all the "stuff" that doesn't get bought on site. The selection of doors is unbelievable!

They build things out of recycled material at the yard too. Here's a PDF of some common items they build and even stock on site; but they will make anything you want; from a gate to a birdhouse.

Check them out next time you have a need. Tell 'em I sent you.

Peggy