Thanks caseby- your results are somewhat reassuring. I've recently started purchasing the Clorox wipes and use them in my weekly "house blessing". I quickly wipe all knobs (including outside door knobs) and phones and I also use one to wipe my chopping blocks (which are wood - another story but I DO wash them in dishwater throughout the week as well.) Something about sponges which I read here eons ago is that they can be disinfected by putting them in the microwave for 2 minutes (of course not if they have metallic parts). I've been doing this daily when I fix my coffee in the morning. Makes me feel virtuous. I just checked google and found a whole bunch of hits recommending that sponges be microwaved anywhere from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. So I guess I will continue. (Now I don't know exactly when to toss the sponges, always more questions, LOL). Anyway, I think the microwave cleansing should be considered a non-toxic cleaning method (if you don't have a leaky microwave which could be toxic in other ways - check google for ways to test your microwave or just buy the cheap end of microwave ovens and replace every 5 years or so, that's what I plan to do. My last one I had for 25 years and was horrified to read here about someone who had actually had their leakage measured - it pentrates walls - yikes! always something to worry about, maybe I'm one of those obsessive compulsive wannabes's, LOL) --Alice

That posting looks like an advertisement. Anyways - just in case anyone stumbles in here looking for green flooring opinions. Bamboo and cork? No way. Why would we burn the fuel shipping 4200 lbs of floors in from halfway around the planet when we could buy North American hardwood floors, manufactured here, and grown on a continent with a long history of scientific forest management? Further, we have a lot better idea that the manufacture met pollution standards by buying our flooring locally. Linoleum is a fun idea though. Can't wait - all that fine engineered maple headed our way soon!

LOL Plllog :) I'd love to meet your knob and puller heh heh Do you only knock when the red light is on? :oP I actually am greeted by name at Vintage Hardware heh heh The owner came out to meet me (they want to reproduce my ceiling medallions) last time I was in. He purchased another home we were looking at last year. They're not green :) But they're local and it's important to me to support the communities we live in whenever we can. I'm going to have him over as soon as I finish unpacking so he can go through the house. He has never been here and is dying to get a peek at the brass and the medallions and he's a wealth of period information which I really need. Are you local? And who's your tile person? I'm not sure what we're doing about tile...we have several original fireplaces that need replacement pieces or have had some made but they're badly done. Someday we'll get around to fixing them as well (mind you the kitchen comes first because I'm tired of cooking on the back porch LOL). Carbon footprints...those are always buzz words Dh gets a giggle out of. We were up on the slope in ANWAR and this dude was bragging about his carbon footprint being so much smaller than ours because he does not own a car. DH did some calculations for the dork overnight and came back to show him his real carbon footprint in comparison to someone who commutes 30 miles a day. His was way larger...see he wasn't counting the carbon footprint his FLIGHT TO WORK weekly cost :) DOH again...sometimes it's all about perception and being cool, not being green at all. Avoiding exotic woods and not driving a Hummer to work are two easy and real green steps :) Ride sharing in your Hummer...not so much :P

Ten days ago we had new carpet we bought at Home Depot installed. It is from their Queen line and manufactured by Shaw which we just found out today. We have a 2-story house, 4 bedrooms upstairs, hallway, and downstairs we carpeted the dining room. Rest of downstairs is laminate. Well, since installation which took 2 days, the horrible smell and off gassing hasn't stopped or diminished. I have five 20" box fans in the windows reversed to push air out and the windows open to get cross ventilation. It is the end of Oct. and it is getting cold now here in Oregon and keeping all the windows open is not an option. My wife has a hyper sense of smell caused by Eosinophilic asthma which is a rare asthma. She is having a hard time with the smell and coughing more. I am starting to feel it as well and we both have red eyes. I got a hold of the person at Home Depot who is first in line to bring complaints to. He came to the house quickly, and I took him around and he too said the smell was very strong and he would look into it. He called the next day and told me it was either Shaw or Mohawk carpet and he was trying to get in contact with the vendors. Well, I had written an honest review about the carpet on the Home Depot site of the particular carpet we bought. I got a reply from the manufacturer, Shaw who did express concern and gave me a number to call and talk to someone. I called and spoke to a nice Shaw Rep. who listened to me and my complaints about the carpet smell. She told me that it has R2X as their stain resistance material and that their VOC's in the carpet were not toxic. Aside from that, I still said something was wrong with the carpet, it has such an intense stinking smell that is not going away. The installer even said it had a stronger smell than most carpets he installs. I am 72 yrs. old and have had homes with new carpet and have never smelled anything like this. Something is wrong with the carpet I told the Shaw Rep, probably something in the treatment process. Who knows, machinery failure, employee error, but something is wrong with this carpet to "Stink" and not diminish any off gassing whatsoever. The carpet color is almost white which is what we wanted, maybe they gave it an "extra shot" of stain resistance because it is white? I gave her the phone number of the Home Depot person who is supposed to be helping us and I am going to start pushing buttons tomorrow. I have the top-of-the-line Bissel carpet cleaner and I cleaned the master bedroom closet carpet with hot water only and put the dehumidifier in afterwards. No difference in the smell. We paid $5,200 for the carpet and I hope to get it removed and a refund. Good luck right? But, our health is more important than money and I will rip it out myself if we can't get anywhere with Home Depot or Shaw. It is a real nightmare. We are sleeping on a mattress in the living room, everything upstairs is still not arranged or put back. We are keeping our dog downstairs for her health. My wife is crying because she had put her clothes back in the closet a few days ago and now they stink like the smell, had to take them all out again & bring them downstairs. She is really having a hard time trying to deal with the smell. We were so looking forward to new carpet, instead our life is turned upside down and no idea of when or how we will get this all resolved short of removing it.