The zen of green
The Center for Green Building in Bridgeport seeks to make your home greener in ways that are logical for the mind, body and pocket.
“About ten years ago we started as a carpentry company called Measure for Measure,” said Erin Buckley who owns the business with her husband, Jon Tuminski. “Jon was having a lot of allergic reactions and health problems; we started contacting our vendors and all of my research kept coming up with the fact that trades guys are 56 percent more likely to get cancer because of all the toxic materials that they use every day. So I started to research alternatives and go to our local vendors and nobody had ever heard of environmentally friendly building; they didn”™t know why we were concerned.”
The couple opened up the Center for Green Building five years ago. Since then Buckley and Tuminski have moved to a larger facility on Fairfield Avenue.
“Our first product was the cotton insulation, where they take blue jean donations and scraps of cotton and shred it down, super saturate it with a borate solution and flash dry it to make an excellent insulator,” said Buckley. “If you have one layer of cotton you need three layers of fiberglass to get the same R-value.”
R-value is a measure of thermal resistance used in the building and construction industry.
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“We”™ve brought the insulation in, because it was the fiberglass insulation that Jon was having the most allergic reaction to,” Buckley said. “It”™s really terrible stuff and a bad insulator; after five years it starts to flatten and compress and loses its R-value. We were really well received and we were the first store around here that really focused on building supplies that were green. There”™s The Green House up in Monroe, but they focus more on the home end of it, where they do little kids clothes and toys. It”™s nice to have a complementary business.”
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Buckley began to include cleaners and carpet after their son became ill because a coconut-based cleaner caused toxins to rise and react with the boy”™s skin, giving him rashes from head to toe and a 105-degree fever.
“Many carpets have more than 100 different chemicals combined,” Buckley said. “What”™s scary is there”™s 80,000 tons of chemicals produced every year in the U.S. Though each time a chemical comes out they only test it with seven other chemicals.”
Buckley said more and more people are reacting to what the Environmental Protection Agency calls “the sick building syndrome,” used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified.
“They”™re allergic to their actual home,” Buckley said. “Everyone thinks of their home as their fortress, but if you have all these chemicals from your paints, carpets, furniture and cleaners; you”™re just making yourself more and more ill. A lot of these chemical concoctions are being attributed to allergies and even autism.”
Buckley said what is now a niche market mostly consists of homeowners.
“If it”™s a contractor it”™s because the homeowner made them come in,” Buckley said.
Buckley said a large amount of the customers come from Westchester County, N.Y., in search of products.
“There are alternatives,” Buckley said. “But you go to Home Depot and they”™re slapping green stickers on everything that they can, because there”™s no regulation. People who come in are often confused. Here these are all genuine products. You don”™t have to weed through.”
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Tuminski tests each product in order to make sure it”™s functional as well as up to environmental standards.
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“A lot of materials haven”™t made the cut,” Buckley said. “They can have great content, but if they don”™t perform on the job we”™re not going win this whole green movement. All of our customers become repeat customers. It”™s becoming the style to pull away from giving your money to toxic companies.”
Buckley has re-researched the certification processes and has become extremely strict about what she allows to be sold within the business. She considers where the raw materials are coming from, shipping methods, who is working on the process and how they dispose of their waste.
“A lot of people say being green is more expensive,” said Buckley. “And that”™s true right out because you”™re paying American wages; about 95 percent of our products are made in America, but then you”™re supporting the American economy.”
Buckley also said chemicals are relatively cheap, while raw materials are expensive and labor involved.
“You”™re getting a better quality product,” Buckley said. “We tell people to look at the long-term effect where if say you get toxic carpeting that”™s going to affect your health for the next ten years. Think about those doctor bills and all the medications that you buy.”
Buckley said that the Center for Green Building is looking to open up a couple smaller stores in the Fairfield County or Westchester area.