The Green Garage is an 11,000-square-foot building located on Second Ave. between Canfield and Prentis that is being renovated into a business incubator and green building model. While that end result is interesting enough, the actual renovation process is itself worthy of note.
Since beginning construction late this summer, interior walls and ceilings, old roofing, insulation and ductwork have been removed. Typical, sure. But what is far from the norm is the fact that every scrap of debris is being reused or recycled. An already difficult task became nearly impossible when Green Garagers attempted to find a place to recycle shingles and plaster, but National Recycling stepped to the plate to remove 21 cardboard crates of debris that was not reusable and is rarely recycled.
In the front of the building a new "three-season room" has been added that will have windows that open out into the community. Bricks were used from elsewhere in the building, so the addition is seamless with the rest of the facade. A roof garden will also front Second when all is said and done.
In the rear, a half-dozen
earth tubes poke into the basement, bringing air in through the outside. The distance the air travels through the earth cools it in the winter and warms it in the summer, which means the building's temperature will not be abruptly affected by its circulation.
Two large water tanks have been delivered and will be installed to collect rain water. One will serve the building's gray water needs, the other the community's. Next on the agenda is the installation of a
Duro-Last roof and triple pane windows and the cleaning of interior and exterior brick by a non-toxic process of walnut shell-blasting.
Read Model D's previous Green Garage coverage
here, and hear about the project in person at the Dec. 16 Speaker Series, which you can sign up for
here. Also follow the project
at the Green Garage website, where building owners Tom and Peggy Brennan painstakingly document their progress.
Source: Peggy Brennan, Green Garage
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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