Here’s a good link to National Geographic’s Green Guide. They’ve got a good guide on how to shop for and compare wood finishes with low VOC’s.

About Finishes:
Ideally, treating wood flooring, furniture or trim with a finish will both protect it and enhance its natural beauty—without exposing you to harm. But finishes typically contain solvents, such as petroleum distillates, that keep the solution liquid until applied, and a binder, such as polyurethane, that holds the ingredients together and hardens into a film when dried. Here are a few criteria to use when shopping:

Types: Clear coatings and sealants help wood surfaces rebuff water, scratches and daily wear and tear. Stains penetrate and tint woods.

Plant oils and natural finishes: Linseed, shellac, beeswax and carnauba wax.

Water-based synthetics: Although these finishes still contain petrochemicals, they are formulated to reduce air-polluting emissions.

Volatile organic compound (VOC) content: Listed on labels in grams per liter (g/L); always seek the lowest amount available.

• Safety:

• Shopping Tips

• Avoid neurotoxins, such as petroleum distillates, or heavy metals like lead acetate.
• Check labels for “danger,” “caution” and other health warnings.
• Buy only as much as you need.
• Follow safe-use directions on labels.
• If possible, work in an outdoor space. If applying finishes indoors, open all doors and windows, and use ceiling and box fans to circulate fresh air into the room. Do not inhabit the room for two or more days afterward, until the finish has dried and fumes have dissipated.
• Do not use any solvent-containing product around children or if you are pregnant.
• Allow newly finished items to cure for several days and only bring them into the house only after the finish has lost its odor.
• To reduce risk of fires, soak used oily rags in water, seal them in a plastic bag and discard in an outdoor trash can.
• Dispose of leftover finish properly: Donate it to neighbors or local community groups. Otherwise, dispose of it according to your sanitation department’s household hazardous waste regulations.

Some people just get lucky finding valuable stuff in the trash. I just took on this restoration job for a client who found the above chair on the sidewalk in Park Slope. Other than the split in the seat, the chair is in perfect condition and is made from high quality solid wood. A seal on the inside leg says Johnson Chair Company. A few antique websites are selling Johnson Chairs for $300 and up. Below is a picture of the split. Clamps and glue will do the trick. After sanding off the old finish, Danish oil and lacquer will bring it back to life.

This chair’s lines are evocative of 1960’s design.
From its weight and joinery, you can tell it’s a good piece of furniture.

A postcard of the the Johnson Chair factory in Chicago.
In 1899, Johnson Chair Company made chairs for the US House and Senate.

]]> http://www.brooklynmodern.com/restoration-midcentury-chair-park-slope-trash/feed/ 1 http://www.brooklynmodern.com/weekly-green-find-brooklyns-greenspaces/ http://www.brooklynmodern.com/weekly-green-find-brooklyns-greenspaces/#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:46:36 +0000 brooklynmodern http://www.brooklynmodern.com/?p=2432

Above, Green Spaces’ members talk about their projects at the location.

If you’ve green ambitions and are looking for a place to network with others involved in sustainability, check out Green Spaces at 33 Flatbush Ave. Bklyn NY. For $475/month you can set up a working office and have a lounge to entertain clients. There’s a also a kitchen, rooftop garden, and event space. Here are some photos from their site (for more in depth shots, click the Flickr button at the bottom):

Office: desk, filing cabinet, light, and chair included, 24/7,  T1 wired and wireless internet access with telephone option. Printer, Copier, and Fax machines.
Access to intern team, Conference room access, Mailbox , and Free Coffee courtesy of Crop to Cup.

Kitchen: Convection oven, storage space, beautiful large marble table, refrigeration, commercial size Hobart mixer and blender,
large chopping boards, utensils, plates, and glassware.

The roof: Green Spaces has implemented a number of growing, cultivating, and recycling systems that make up its urban farm.
Green Spaces intends to use all of the vegetables and herbs grown to feed the members of Green Spaces, thereby insuring zero food miles or packaging

Contact Green Spaces at:

www.greenspacesny.com

Home: 718.855.5356

Fax: 718.865.0823

33 Flatbush Ave. 5th Floor

Brooklyn, NY 11217

Reclaimed Home writes:
Last week I visited the Eco Brooklyn house in Carroll Gardens and spoke with Gennaro Brooks-Church about his project. Well, ok, if it doesn’t look like Gennaro is talking to the camera, that’s because I piggybacked on a contractor’s job interview. Anyhoo, please excuse my lack of editing skills….still haven’t learned a thing.

All of the material used in this restoration was recycled! Crazy used stuff I’ve never been able to get my hands on, like sheetrock and plywood. This guy’s got connections, baby!

Part II will be a tour of the house, a work in progress. I’ve really gotta figure out how to edit that bit though.

Gennaro Brooks-Church of Eco Brooklyn installing a solar tube in a Brooklyn brownstone.
Check out the amount of light coming through even on an overcast day.

If you’re interested in green building in Brooklyn, I would suggest subscribing to  Eco Brooklyn Inc’s posts. Gennaro Brooks-Church, is the author and he is a Brooklyn based contractor, Certified EcoBroker®, LEED AP, educator, lifetime builder and author of the Build It Forward green building concept. Hence, the information comes from a reliable source. Since I’ve been following the site, I’ve learned about the importance of insulation and how it’s easy to install, working with salvaged wood, good business models for green building, and raising chickens.

Gennaro also goes beyond his site to promote green building in Brooklyn.  In a radio interview on Burning Down the House (click to hear, section:  Popular Recycled Materials in NYC), he discusses the value of reclaimed lumber and talks about my favorite source for salvaged wood in Brooklyn,  M. Fine Lumber. (click here to read old post on M. Fine)

In addition, Eco Brooklyn is looking for a  a space to keep their salvaged materials. If anyone knows of a place to rent, sale or donation in the Carroll Gardens or Red Hook area, get in touch with Eco Brooklyn.

Moe builds his furniture from resawn hardwood beams salvaged from dismantled buildings across the country – barns, warehouses, old mills – any of the approximately billion board feet of wood that is removed from buildings in the U.S. every year. “Each beam has a story and carries its history in its grain,” says Moe. “By reusing this material we reduce the impact on our landfills, eliminate the need to harvest trees, and are reminded of the simple beauty inherent in old wood.”

Andrew Moe, by the way, is the son of Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  The plank doesn’t fall far from the barn.

This year Moe introduced Oslo, his first collection of 12 pieces. Cleanly designed with a minimalist purity and reasonably priced, the furniture received a lot of praise at ICFF 09. East coast ash, an indigenous hardwood, is the primary species, though others are available, and each piece is crafted by hand. Modern in design, Moe builds his furniture using traditional wood shaping techniques and joinery. He uses some non-toxic glue and his finishes are a water-based polycrylic.

Click to visit Studio Moe

Beginning in 2009 Studio MOE will donate 3% of its annual profits to The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR), a non-profit organization which plants trees, establishes tree nurseries, and works with local communities in Guatemala and Nicaragua to help restore the health of the land. Since 1993 they have planted over 3 million trees.

Sustainable Flatbush, a great green Brooklyn based blog, has submitted a proposal to National Geographic’s Green Effect contest to build a solar bike that will serve as a mobile charging station for Brooklynites. To improve Sustainable Flatbush’s chance of winning the grant, visit their entry at National Geo and and give a “thumbs-up” in the form of a high rating and a lovely comment.

Here’s the proposal link:
http://greeneffect.nationalgeographic.com/idea/2873/?sort=title

If you’re interested in helping Bklyn’s environment and using your roof for something tasty like veggies, check out the green roofing workshop by Green It Yourself and Eco Brooklyn. They offer intensive and semi-intensive classes from $300 to $600.  For basic info, look into their free class on August 8th. Additionally, if you’re interested in green roofing as a profession, check out greenroof.org to learn about the industry and becoming accredited.