Home Tour Goes Green

A family with three kids at home downsized from 3,000 square feet to just over one thousand. And it's happening all over the country as people start realizing that the McMansion model isn't sustainable, according to a story in today's New York Times titled "When Home Shrinks."

Here in the Northwest, we're going one better. Instead of a traditional "Street of Dreams" home tour featuring monster homes with bloated price tags and every expensive gewgaw the builders could stuff into them, there's a tour of 18 new and remodeled homes that utilized earth-friendly materials and techniques.

Called the "Build It Green Home Tour and Information Fair," you'll be able to talk with homeowners and contractors at each site who can fill you in on solar panels, rain water harvesting, ecoroofs, affordable housing, natural landscaping, eco-friendly building materials, co-housing, energy efficiency, alternative construction techniques, salvaged materials and healthy indoor air quality.

One of the homes on the tour is a recent green remodel in North Portland (video, top) that features 90% recycled and reclaimed materials. Owners Corey and Deb Omey used wood reclaimed from a bowling alley for countertops and re-used mortgage signs as sheathing, among other innovative ideas incorporated into the home.

A simultaneous information fair will be happening at Ecohaus that will feature green demonstrations, vendors and music. So check it out. It might be interesting to see how your home would look with a touch of green.

Details: Build It Green Home Tour and Information Fair. Sat., Sept. 19. Tour: 11 am-5 pm, $15, tickets available online. Fair: 3 pm-7 pm, free; Ecohaus, 819 SE Taylor. Phone 503-823-4309.