At steveworks, we’re not just “sustainable remodelers,” we’re also a family who chooses green living practices – whether it’s adding solar panels to our roof, purchasing an electric vehicle or composting food scraps. Every little bit helps! And we seem to attract a lot of like-minded friends who are also doing their share to protect […]
Archive | Sustainability RSS feed for this section
Steveworks’ Own Asher Greenberg Discusses Sustainable Building on the “Drinking & Drashing: Torah with a Twist” Podcast
Asher Greenberg, our Production Manager extraordinaire here at steveworks, was recently the featured guest on the Drinking and Drashing: Torah with a Twist podcast. The podcast, hosted by fourth-year rabbinical student Amanda K. Weiss and fourth-year cantorial student Gabe Snyder, and produced by Edon Valdman, explores “turning Torah into real life, tangible tactics.” Each episode […]
The Impact of Climate Change on Lumber Prices
In the home building and remodeling industry, lumber prices have been top-of-mind since 2020. The impact of Covid on lumber mills and transportation in the early days of the pandemic certainly had an immediate impact on price and availability. And there has been a lot of attention on the supply chain issues across the entire […]
Cool Products: Biodegradable Gloves
We are always keeping an eye out for new “green” products that we may want to use on job sites and we just found these cool biodegradable gloves that will be great for ANY dirty job – inside or outside the home. We know what you’re thinking – gloves? How could they make a disposable […]
Everything You Need to Know About Newton Accessory Apartments
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that housing is at a premium in Newton, MA. Not only are real estate prices high, there simply isn’t much inventory and there isn’t a lot of room for additional development. One simple solution that our hometown is beginning to embrace is accessory apartments, which […]
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of a Remodeling Project
Last month we attended the BuildingEnergy Boston Conference at the Westin Waterfront hotel. Attended by builders, remodelers, and energy experts, the focus of the conference is to learn and share new ideas and research on sustainable, “green” building and high-performance building. In other words – it’s a conference about everything we believe in here at steveworks. […]
Lead & Learn
Asher and Alex spent a weekend in Waitsfield VT at Yestermorrow Design/Build School with 30 of their peers. Yestermorrow and NESEA’s Bottom Lines sponsored a lead carpenter training which focused on the triple bottom line approach ( people/planet/profit) to leading and running a successful project. Leadership skills and communications were taught and reviewed. Both Asher and Alex were […]
Asher’s Back in the Classroom
Asher helped out his roommate, Beni Summers, teaching a class on sukkah design. A sukkah is a temporary structure erected during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, a harvest festival which occurs in the fall here. Asher guided the class in evaluating their sukkah plans based on design, structural integrity and thermal performance, although the last two […]
Universal Design
A key aspect of sustainability is minimizing waste, and that means building for the long term. People’s needs change but by planning ahead you can make your house work for you and your guests, both now and for years to come. Are you replacing your doorknobs? Consider levers instead of knobs for ease of use […]
Are You on the Bus?
This made our neighbors slow down and take notice! We hosted the crew of the Topsy Turvy Bus for a night on their way through the Boston area. One of the crew, Jacob Chateneover, stayed with us for a year when he attended Gann Academy with Asher and Ari. The bio-fueled environmental schoolhouse on wheels! Through […]