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When it comes to greening the shower, remember this simple rule: No vinyl, that’s final. Commonly used vinyl shower curtain liners outgas toxic chemicals, diminishing indoor air quality. Instead, look for a heavy duty shower curtain made from hemp, which is naturally antifungal and antibacterial. The thick hemp fibers will get wet, but your floor won’t. Just remember to leave the curtain extended when you’re finished showering; this promotes even drying and discourages mold growth.

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Without specifics then, I’ll keep my advice general. Two basic green building tenets are “build small” and “build to last”. From the “small” point of view, ask yourself if you need a garage at all. Well-designed carports require fewer materials and can provide space that is much more flexible. For example, enclosing the back of a carport for tool storage gives you a much larger workshop than an enclosed garage.

Another angle on the same topic is to build a larger garage that fulfills other needs …

Well, this is my first go at answering an “ask the expert” question for Mother Earth News, and you’ve come up with quite a doozy! Finding a shower surround that is not tile and meets all of your requirements was tough, but I’ve got a few good suggestions for you:

1. Concrete: A concrete shower surround is going to be quite inexpensive and can look excellent. On the eco-friendliness scale, concrete is middle-of-the-road. You can generally find it locally made and it is low-energy to produce; that …

There are two options for insulating houses with straw. The straw is the primary structural material in some straw-bale homes — it actually holds up the roof. More commonly, post-and-beam or timber-frame construction forms the skeleton of the building, but straw is used to fill and insulate the space between wooden posts.

With either system, the straw must stay dry and is enclosed with some kind of plaster to protect it from insects and moisture, which would allow mold or fungus to develop. Other…

For your garage to be a permanent structure, you will need to dig and pour concrete footings that reach below the frost line. These footings can then support the walls and roof of the garage. The garage floor is independent of this process and does not need to be poured concrete.

Concrete itself is a necessary evil in the construction business. The embodied energy in a truck full of concrete as it arrives on your site is a big contributor to global warming. The energy (usually electric) to superh…

Concrete makes terrific countertops for kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities. This option is inexpensive, DIY-friendly and yields a beautiful finished product as long as you understand a few tricks.

The first thing to realize is that traditional concrete is not what’s used to make concrete countertops. ‘Concrete’ refers to a mixture of sand, crushed stone and Portland cement, with the stone being added as low-cost filler. But bits of stone can mar the finish of a countertop if they remain visib…

People often think that to live the green lifestyle they need to have a super-insulated house or a home made from straw bales or earth. But consider this option: Recycle an old house.

Buying an old home that would otherwise be torn down is a great, low-budget option for eco-friendly housing (if the building is still structurally sound). Think about all the framing lumber that would end up buried in a landfill if the structure were not preserved. You can gradually improve the energy efficiency of …

There are several good alternatives to fiberglass insulation if you want a “green” product to insulate the addition. 

Insulation made from recycled denim is treated with a fire retardant. It’s not made of used fabric but scraps from the manufacturing process. In general, growing cotton is tough on the environment because of the heavy use of pesticides, so this may not be the best option, although it’s a good use of otherwise wasted material. 

Wool insulation provides an option that is natural and …