Building, renovating and maintaining a
home or cottage involves lots of material which negatively impacts the planet. It is
important to research not only what building materials and other products
are quality, but eco-friendly as well. The following are some products that
I’ve been impressed with recently.
UltraTouch
Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation
Recently my wife and I had to install some
batt insulation in our old house. Wanting a formaldehyde-free, non-toxic
insulation I was pleased to learn about UltraTouch natural fiber cotton
insulation which has a large recycled content as it is made primarily of
factory denim scrap along with a nontoxic flame retardant made of borate.
Now how cool is that? Eco-friendly insulation made from jeans! UltraTouch also doesn’t irritate the skin and eyes like other batt insulations
can. This product is available in Ontario from ECO Building Resource Ltd. in
Aurora. According to Kevin Royce, who owns this company that supplies only
eco-friendly building products, “because UltraTouch contains borate, used as a
fire retardant, it deters pest infestations as well as mold and mildew.”
ECO Building Resource Ltd. also carries
various other environmentally friendly products including an extensive line of
sealants and adhesives as well as bamboo and cork flooring and LED lighting.
ECO Building Resource
www.eco-building.ca
Homestead House Paint Company Paints
This winter we will be painting a room in
our house. When I looked
into eco-friendly paints it was confusing. Everyone seems to be jumping on the
“green” bandwagon. After spending considerable time looking into different
paints, I felt comfortable choosing paints from Homestead House Paint
Company in Toronto. I knew they had
quality paint as I had used some in the past on furniture, but I wasn’t aware
of how eco-friendly their house paints were.
We will use their water-based primer along
with their interior latex to transform and protect our walls, ceiling and trim.
These VOC (volatile organic compounds) free paints are not only durable, they
are also free of petrochemicals, formaldehyde, solvents and other chemicals
that can cause health problems. These paints are also made locally further
reducing their impact on the environment.
Homestead House Paint Company
www.homesteadhouse.ca
Nature Clean Products
Several years ago I wanted to find out what cleaning products were
environmentally-friendly, safe, effective and cruelty-free. I was fairly thorough in my research and I decided to use Nature Clean products by Frank T. Ross & Sons Ltd. - an Ontario-based company. Frank T. Ross & Sons Ltd. has been producing
We have used various Nature Clean products to wash our hands, clean our windows, toilets and floors. We have also been pleased with their laundry liquid to clean our clothes. Nature Clean laundry liquid is very effective and doesn't contain: petrochemical ingredients, phosphates, optical brighteners, enzymes, perfumes or dyes.
A while back Nature Clean created a "3X concentrate" for their laundry liquid which allowed a relatively small bottle to have enough liquid to clean 43 loads of laundry. Frank T. Ross has since improved their packaging even more. Their 3X concentrate laundry liquid is now also available in an "eco refill" container which can be used to fill the equivalent of three of their bottles - enough for 129 loads of laundry! According to the packaging this results in a saving of "over 80% plastic". Even the box "is unbleached and made from 94% post consumer content" and the inner bag can be returned to Nature Clean. No more recycling plastic bottles! Perfect!
Nature Clean
www.naturecleanliving.com
