andreasduess's Profile

I have no idea why AT continues to post projects involving palette wood without informing readers about the potential risks.

Most scrap palettes have been treated with fungicides and insecticides, many of which contain pretty serious cancerogens.

Personally I would never touch one, much less bring one into my home.

You should never ever use palette wood for furniture. Ever.

Palettes are routinely treated with anti-fungal agents, insecticides, preservatives, anything that helps them withstand the rigours of doing their job.

Many of these agents are known to be cancerogenic. Unless these palettes are known to be clean, this is potentially a really, really bad idea.

Just as an FYI, if the problem was covered up then you might well have a case against the seller. I am not sure what the situation is where you live, here in Ontario the seller is required to disclose issues like oil tanks and spills.

As far as smell is concerned, I'd get fans going, sucking air out of the basement. Fuel oil contains a whole shopping list of nasties, you do not want them to get into your home. In the short term, until you get the dirt removed, covering it back up mgt well be the best solution.

I read the article and came to the conclusion that we're doing well, in our house.

We're a typical family, and while we have made some pretty far reaching changes, we don't obsess over them. We've kicked out all plastic food containers long ago. Canning jars make practical and inexpensive replacements, new for food that's stashed away, lovely old ones for spices and other things that are visible.

I've started making our own laundry detergent, which is so easy, it's laughable and the results are excellent - no different in any way to commercial product, with no chemical byproducts of any kind left in the laundry.

Our dishwasher detergent comes from 7th Generation, the kitchen gets cleaned with vinegar and water and pretty much everything else, including ourselves, with Dr. Bronner organic liquid soap.

We still enjoy meat, but eat less of it and only buy from butchers we know and trust to sell meat from local herds that are antibiotic and hormone free. Most of our vegetables come from an organic vegetable share and our mattress is organic and free from chemical fire retardants.

We're using aluminum free deodorant, which also avoids t-shirt staining, and natural tooth paste. Cremes and cosmetics are paraben free and natural.

It is possible to make changes to our lives without turning them upside down completely. We're lucky to live in Toronto, where we have easy access to many natural resources and stores, but everybody can make positive changes.

I recently started making my own laundry detergent, with great results. Laundry comes out of the dryer with no static of any kind and everything gets just as clean as it was before.

Making your own laundry detergent is surprisingly simple. The ingredients are widely available from supermarkets and health food stores and the results we’ve achieved in the Duess household are on par with commercial products, with none of the drawbacks.

White fabrics come out fresh and white, dark clothes stay dark and wool stays soft. Here’s what you need:

Home made laundry detergent for dark fabrics:

2 parts of natural soap flakes
1 part of Borax
1 part of washing soda

Home made laundry detergent for light fabrics:

2 parts of natural soap flakes
1 part of Borax
1 part of washing soda
1 part of safe bleach powder

That’s it. The ingredients are safe for the environment, and septic systems, and bio-degrade rapidly. They are free for foamers, making them ideal for high efficiency washers and front loaders. In addition, the ingredients needed are typically considerably cheaper than the commercial equivalent, making for welcome savings.

We buy our soap powder from the Toronto Soap Works, which has Borax already mixed in.

I am surprised by how few people here seem to live in houses with double glazed windows. Up here in Canada they are pretty much the norm these days.

Having said that, on a recent night when it was -27º (Celsius) you could feel the cold creeping into the house, windows or no windows.

While the condo looks nice and clean, I don't see anything in there that makes it remarkable, both from a design and from a sustainability point of view.

Gas fireplaces are pretty much the opposite of sustainable design. Walls that don't reach the ceiling mean that rooms cannot be heated individually.

Again, nice looking place, but far from exceptional.

For $90 you can buy any number of old bikes, an angle grinder and more paint that could possibly need to start your own production.

I know this won't make me popular here, but I've got to agree with Nick to a certain extend.

IKEA has recently been accused to be using wood from virgin forests in the Russian Federation, wood that is being smuggled into China to end up in your living rooms. Not sustainable, not managed, not in any way responsible.

IKEA and paying corporate taxes. Google it and be amazed. Always just on the right side of the law. Just.

Those are just two issues I personally have with IKEA. For me they are important enough not to shop there anymore, just like I don't show Walmart. For others, maybe not so much. But to tell people with a valid point of view to "take a chill pill" is short sighted.

Yep, that is exactly the wrong way to hold a knife. Were it me I'd change the photo, especially in an article about knife skills.