Ideas and motivation: You’ll find both at Everett’s home show
Published 6:17 pm Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Fall is here and that means it’s time to start nesting.
Is your nest ready for winter?
If it’s not or if you’re looking to spruce things up or make it a bit greener and more efficient, then the Everett Fall Home Show &Go Green Showcase might be for you.
Now in its fifth year, the three-day event at Comcast Arena, opening Friday, will feature more than 150 vendors in 250 booths, all pitching ideas for your home and garden in the same place.
If you need motivation to start a project, this is it.
Think roofing, flooring and everything in between for the home. Think edging, decks and landscape design for the yard.
Vendors will also be showcasing the latest in furniture, pet containment, LED lighting, compost bins, cleaning products, and even kitchen gadgets and cookware.
Show visitors will also notice a lot of green.
This year’s home show will include the second-annual Go Green Showcase, featuring 20 booths at one end of the arena dedicated to green-based businesses and products.
Throughout the arena, businesses that offer green as well as conventional products will be marked with special signs.
There will also be a Green Stage featuring up to five talks a day, including “Designing Sustainable Stone 101,” “Green Jobs in Washington State” and “Green Cleaners and the So What Factor.”
Multiple vendors at the show will be spotlighting solar and geothermal technologies, including G&S Heating, Cooling &Electric of Monroe, which also has an expanding green division called Geothermal Solar Services.
G&S president Roger Thompson said requests for solar and geothermal heating have been increasing, thanks to the popularity of greener energies combined with low-interest loans and other incentives from the federal government and the Snohomish County PUD.
Thompson said his company has installed about 50 geothermal systems in the Puget Sound area so far and is now doing about two a month, compared to one a month before the incentive programs started.
Geothermal heat uses the consistent temperatures below the Earth’s surface as a source of heat. In the summer when cooling, the heat is removed from your home and released into the ground.
Underground temperatures don’t fluctuate like air temperatures, making geothermal heating one of the most efficient types of systems available, Thompson said, adding: “It works just like a regular heat pump with an outdoor unit, except you’re not pulling heat out of the air, you’re pulling it out of the ground.”
Solar technologies include photovoltaic systems, which use panels to produce electricity. Hot water can also be produced by combining solar hot water panels and an existing hot water tank system.
The Green Stage, which is sponsored by the PUD, will feature numerous talks on saving energy at home.
Sean Dillon, a factory rep with WaterFurnace, a geothermal heating system manufacturer, will deliver five lectures on geothermal energy.
This year’s home show isn’t all about energy, of course.
Numerous vendors will be tackling the aesthetics of the modern home.
Exhibitors will be showing off granite, tile, carpet, flooring and other surfaces you experience every day.
In fact, in the face of a slow housing market, many of the vendors at the show will be catering to homeowners looking to fix up their homes instead of building new custom properties, show producer Bill Bradley said.
“The remodeling market is a lot bigger,” he said. “More people are leaning towards staying in their homes.”
Lori Butner with Van Dam’s Abbey Carpet &Floor in Marysville said the store’s booth will feature some of the most popular surfaces in flooring.
Right now that means hard surfaces including wood, cork and natural stone such as slate.
“The bamboo look is still very popular,” Butner said. “The corks are extremely popular right now.”
Consumers are also looking for Earth-friendly lines.
“What’s hot right now is anything that’s green,” Butner said. “We’re getting a lot of phone calls from consumers wanting go to a hard surface. They’re trying to find products that are environmentally friendly.”
Fortunately, prices for green products are coming down, Butner said.
“It used to be if you wanted an environmentally friendly floor, you had to pay through the nose for it,” Butner said. “It’s a pretty equal price point to everything else that is out on the market. A lot of our customers have been very surprised.”
Green carpeting lines at Van Dam’s include Mohawk SmartStrand, which is made from a corn sugar polymer by DuPont.
Think corn can’t be tough? Mohawk let a 2,800-pound rhinoceros live for two weeks on SmartStrand at the zoo in Birmingham, Ala., to show its resilience and stain resistance.
Shaw’s Anso nylon carpet line, meanwhile, can be recycled and made into new carpeting, making it a product that doesn’t have to end up in the landfill when its reached the end of its useful life.
Whatever products you choose, Butner recommends taking projects in stages to keep them affordable and fun.
Updating everything in your house all at once may seem like an easier, one-shot approach, but it can be tiring and financially challenging, Butner said.
Take your time. Do it right.
“Pay as you go,” Butner said. “You get a feeling of accomplishment when you’ve finished one room.”
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com
Attend the show
What: The Everett Fall Home Show &Go Green Showcase celebrates all things home, garden and green.
The Green Stage for speakers will highlight experts on eco-friendly topics, including geothermal heating green cleaning and LED lighting.
Kids activities will include eco-friendly science and craft projects, plus parachute play, ribbon dancing, musical instruments and dancing.
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Comcast Arena, 2000 Hewitt Ave., Everett
Cost: Tickets to the show, sold at the door, are $7 for adults and $6.50 for seniors. Children age 16 and younger can attend for free.
Information: See www.westlakepromo.com, www.everetteventscenter.com or call the box office at 866-332-8499 for ticket details.
Green Stage
Friday
1:30 p.m.: “Geothermal Energy for Your Home”
2:30 p.m.: “Saving Energy and Dollars With LED Lighting”
3:30 p.m.: “Designing Sustainable Stone 101”
4:30 p.m.: “Green Jobs in Washington State”
Saturday
11:30 a.m.: “Why You Should Join the PUD Energy Challenge”
12:30 p.m.: “Geothermal Energy for Your Home”
1:30 p.m.: “Designing Sustainable Stone 101”
2:30 p.m.: “Saving Energy and Dollars With LED Lighting”
3:30 p.m.: “Geothermal Energy for Your Home”
Sunday
11 a.m.: “Green Cleaners and the So What Factor”
Noon: “Geothermal Energy for Your Home”
1 p.m.: “Residential Energy Efficiency”
2 p.m.: “Geothermal Energy for Your Home”
3 p.m.: “Designing Sustainable Stone 101”
Resources
Van Dam’s Abbey Carpet &Floor
1060 Cedar Ave., Marysville
360-653-2210
