Posts Tagged ‘olympia’

Don’t miss the Eco Building Guild’s South Sound Green Tour this weekend, April 16th and 17th. All sites are open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.  There is also a Expo at the Lott building behind Alpine Experience.  Come see all the wonderful site and vendors. Look in Friday’s Olympian for the insert with all the information.  We are featuring the Hobbit House this year. Come out and see the round door. The address is 10621 Katie Ann Lane. Follow the signs from Steadman Rd. Turn on to 103rd and then on to Katie Ann Lane. Hope to see you there.

When someone becomes wheel chair bound, things like narrow hallways and door openings are just few of the things that make it impossible for people to stay in there homes. Universal Design is the concept of designing a house in such a way that it will be easy to adapt it to accommodate homeowners as they get older. Wider hallways and doors are just the beginning. One idea is to creating a design so the master bedroom and bath, kitchen, and laundry are all on the main floor eliminating the need for stairs. Other ideas include stacking large closets on top of one another on each floor, creating a area that could easily be remodeled for a future elevator. Bathrooms that have no curb showers, so that a wheelchair can easily access it. Blocking in the walls for future grab bars, wide areas in the bathroom, kitchen and laundry so maneuvering around in a wheel chair is easy. These are just some of the ideas that make it easy to create a home that is universally designed. Designing with these things in mind, minor remodeling is all that is necessary when and if the time arrives that you need a wheel chair. Both the Cooper Project here in Olympia, and the Bouvier/Rogers Home near Offit Lake were designed with these concepts in mind.

Wheel Chair Accessible Shower

The Eco Builders Guild, South Sound chapter is proud to announce the second annual South Sound Green Tour coming April 16th & 17th. We started the Green Tour last year and it was huge success. Just like last year, we will feature houses and commercial sites that represent the best in green building and sustainable practices. The homes are located through out Thurston County, including Tumwater, Olympia, and Lacey. We will also have workshops at each site demonstrating many of the features of each site. This year we have also added an expo which will be located in the new Lott buildings parking lot. It will house lots of vendors offering a huge array of green products and services.

Another big addition to the tour is that the Seattle chapter has joined in with us and will have a tour of their own on the same weekend. For more information, or if you would like to be a vendor or site sponsor please visit http://www.ecobuilding.org/events/2011-green-home-tour.