Sweet Home Chicago

Eco-friendly Water Management via Rain Gardens, Cisterns, and Rain Chains

Most homes these days have gutters along the perimeter of the roof that collect rain water and send it through downspouts.  In some communities this water runoff is sent directly into the local sewer system where the water is then sent elsewhere.  In other communities the water just drains out onto the property, ideally away from the house so that it won't cause any damage to the foundation (I've seen some of the damage that poorly maintained downspouts can cause - it's not pretty).

Recently I've seen two alternative methods for handling rain water that are smart and Eco-friendly. The reason I say that they are smart is because these are very simple methods for using this free resource, rain water, instead of using up resources to send it somewhere else, or just letting it flow onto your property creating a puddle.  

The Rain Chain
According to research I've done on the Internet, rain chains originated hundreds of years ago in Japan.  They are considered a decorative alternative to regular downspouts. Here are some photos I found  - as you can see they can be very decorative.  Some of these decorative rain chains can produce pleasant sounds as the water flows down. The ones that I saw in person were very plain, just a chain hanging down from the gutters and connected to the ground where they "fed" a rain garden. 

             

 

Rain chains can drain into a variety of receptacles like basins, bowls, saucers, barrels or pebbles.  They cannot replace conventional downspouts in all situations - it is recommended that they hang away from the wall of your house by about three feet.  Not all homes have eaves that are far enough away for rain chains, through some people figure out a way to improvise and make it work. You can find more information at these sites and others:

www.rainbarrelsandmore.com   -   www.rainchain.com   -   www.harvesth2o.com/rainchain.shtml  

Rain Garden
A rain garden is an planted area filled with plants that prefer moist soil.  The rain garden should be arranged so that the water from the rain chain or a cistern flow naturally (by gravity)  into the garden and away from the house.

Cistern
When I heard that some homeowners in Highland Park were using a Cistern to capture rain water, I envisioned a big ugly tank on the property somewhere, or on the roof.  I was pleasantly surprised when I had a tour of the home and found a cistern with a beautiful stone facade at the front of the home.  This cistern collects rain water from the roof of the home - all of the gutters feed into the cistern, which can hold over 80 gallons of water. This home is situated on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.  During heavy rains, this home is not contributing to flooding or erosion and there is no water going into the local storm sewers.  Using a low-tech gravity system, the water from the cistern is drained into a rain garden on the property by the home owner (by opening a simple spigot), and then it goes into the underground natural aquifer, as nature intended.  Since none of the other plants on the property need any watering, the cistern provides all of the water required for outside usage. No sprinkler system needed here!  (I will be writing about other Eco-friendly aspects of this lovely lake-front home in Highland Park in future posts!  The homeowners provided an inspirational tour of their home.)

If you are building a new home or remodeling you have a great opportunity to do something to help the environment - water management is just one area to consider in your plans.

I would love to hear about any other Eco-friendly ideas for utilizing rain water.  Please post your comments!

Thanks for reading!
nsk

GO GREEN: Re-use, Re-sell, Redefine usage of space

A new book store opened up in my neighborhood.   We already have plenty of book stores in the area, so I didn't really pay much attention when this one opened.... and then I heard some of my friends talking about the amount of cash they got FROM the book store for their used books!

So, my husband and I began looking on our bookshelves,in boxes, and even on the coffee table for wonderful books that we really don't look at or use any more.  They are just collecting dust. We didn't get a ton of money, but it sure felt good to these books out of the house.  And when I was at the store I saw that they also buy books on tape or CD, and used text books...I have a bunch of those, and comic books too.

Now we have some free space that we can use to store or display other items - maybe something more decorative.  Let's face it, a bunch of books on a shelf aren't all that pretty to look at.  And with the new reality of our economy, the extra cash is nice. 

There are other types of re-sale shops around, and also plenty of charitable organizations that will take your cast-offs that other people will want.  I try to be pro-active about getting rid of clothing and other household items that we aren't using.  Let's face it, at some point you're going to move from where you live now to another place.  Instead of waiting to get rid of stuff during the moving process, it is MUCH easier to do it on a regular basis.  Plus, your house will be easier to sell if you don't have a lot of clutter.  Buyers like to see roomy closets, open uncluttered space in the basement.

So, don't throw out your old stuff - let someone else use it.  And, maybe you can make some cash too. 

Thanks for reading.

nsk

How to raise your credit score

Even if you aren't planning to purchase a home in the near future, it is always a good idea to take steps to increase or maintain a strong credit score.  You never know when you will need credit for something - it could be something unexpected, or a planned purchase.  But either way, better to keep an eye on this. 

With all of the uncertainty in the financial markets right now, your credit score is more important than ever.

So, here are a few things that you can do to improve your score:

1. If you have fallen behind on any payments, you need to fix this asap.  The companies that calculate your credit score severely penalize you of you have accounts with a past due balance.  If you aren't sure, then get a free copy of your credit report and check it!
2. Late payments are another red flag for your credit score.  Even if you pay all of your bills each month, if you are consistently late, you will be penalized.  I know that there are some bills, like your mortgage payment or maybe an insurance bill, that have a grace period. If you consistently wait until the last minute to pay these bills, this may affect your score.  To find out if you've been "zinged" by this, take a look at your credit report and see if any companies have reported late payments to any of the credit reporting agencies.  If there are any reported late payments, you should contact the company and request that they remove the late payment record on your account.  Point out that you have been making regular payments and that you have been a good customer, etc.  Explain that you didn't realize that if you paid within the grace period that it would be considered late.  Be persistent, be polite, be friendly, and hopefully you will be successful.   It may take several calls.
3. Many people don't realize that their credit score includes an assessment of their usage of available credit.  What this means is that they look at how much credit has been extended to you (available balances on your credit cards, or from any other lenders, such as a home equity line) and how much of that credit you are actually using (balances due).  Ideally, you should have a lot of available credit, and your aren't using all of it.  One very simple way to improve your ratio of actual debt to available credit is to ask for an increase in the credit limit on any credit cards you may have (and don't spend it!).  This is a simple way to improve your credit score and it just takes a few quick phone calls.
4. If you are young and do not have a long credit history, you can become an "authorized user" or "joint account holder"on someone else's credit card account (maybe a parent's account?).  When you do this, this account will appear on your credit report, and the credit scoring companies will treat this account as though it is one of yours.  These are the criteria you should use for selecting an account for this purpose:
   • on-time payment history
   • continuation of on-time payment and low balance
   • low balance (ideally using less than 10% of the credit limit)
   • long payment history of at least 7 years
5. Having the same credit card for a long period of time can have a positive affect on your score.  So, if you have some older credit cards that you aren't using, don't be so quick to close the account.  First of all, the length of time that you've had the credit card is helpful for your score.  Secondly, the credit limit that you have on the card, even if you aren't using it, improves the debt to available credit ratio that was discussed in #3 above.  If the card is listed on your credit report as "inactive" then it isn't doing anything for you - it is ignored by the credit scoring companies.  So in order to get any benefit from your older credit cards you do need to use them at least once every 6 months.

I am not an expert in this area, but this is what I have learned from some of the mortgage brokers that I work with.  If you have any questions about this, please let me know and I will ask the experts for you.  Also, if you have additional info to add, please post your comments for my readers.

Thanks for reading.  Next post will be getting back to the topic of going green.

nsk