Greening the home

JANINE UNGVARSKY Times Leader Correspondent

For one family, the Go Green Homeshow was a chance to check out their options.

Ray and Tonee Suda came to the show at the 109th Field Artillery Armory to try to help them decide what to do with the house Ray has lived in for 56 years. “We’re wondering whether we can change a 75-year-old house into an energy efficient home,” said Tonee.

The couple looked at heating options, including infrared heat. “We have beautiful plaster walls but there’s no insulation so they’re cold,” Tonee said. New windows for a porch were also under consideration — but Ray said they were also open to looking at a new home. “We’re looking at the options and seeing where we’re going,” Ray said.

Tonee, who works for the , also enjoys checking out the new environmentally friendly options. “I’ve seen things we didn’t know about,” she said, adding that she and her husband were impressed with the variety of vendors at the show, which continues today. The show features things for people of all ages and even for those who aren’t looking to build or do major renovations. Kim and Rick Collins brought daughter Kara, 3, from Mountain Top to check out the Kindervision child safety program. Others looked at recycled furniture — otherwise known as antiques — or investigated an environmentally-rich summer experience for their children at the Kamp Kresge booth.

The “greenness” of some displays wasn’t always easy to see, like the vacuums demonstrated by Brandon Allen, Kingston sales manager for Aerus vacuums. Allen said the vacuums are long-lasting, which keeps them out of landfills. “And the filters provide hospital air quality,” Allen said. “It’s more green for your health.”

Several displays featured what looked like giant foam building blocks held together with plastic and didn’t appear very green. But Joe Ropietski, representing MKC Custom Builders in Sugar Notch, said the blocks are actually stay-in-place concrete forms that do everything from insulate basements to eliminate the need for timber framing on two-story dwellings. “My wife and I are building a two-story Craftsman home with these,” Ropietski said, noting the finished construction is more air-tight and energy efficient.

Efficient use of energy was also on the minds of Sam and Tracey Quick. The Mahanoy City couple were looking for ways to make their 5-year-old home with a geo-thermal heating system even more efficient. “The geo-thermal system limits our carbon footprint, but we’re looking for solar and wind power to make it even more efficient,” said Sam.