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Living with Ed follows Ed Begley, Jr., and his wife, Rachelle, as they green their home, family, and celebrity friends. But if you've ever wondered what kind of advice they'd give the rest of us, then the Ask Ed forum is your chance to find out. Readers submit questions and comments about the show, green living, etc., and Ed chimes in with his green answers; here, we've rounded up some highlights of the past week.
Q. My husband and I are in the process of renovating our bathroom. We are interested in getting rid of our water heater in the basement and replacing everything with "hot water on demand" boxes (I don't know what else to call them). They were in our hotel room while in London. Have you heard of them, or do you use them at all?
A. Since you already have a water heater in the basement, you should consider a high efficiency tank model like the AO Smith Vertex 100. It can go right where your existing heater is, use the same 1/2" gas line, and produce 96% thermal efficiency, blowing away most tankless models and providing you with endless hot water. You can even use it to heat your home. I know—I do!
Ed
Q. I am driving my bike every where but still people insist on driving their cars. I mean, I have been doing this for months—I would hope that someone would be following my lead around my area by now. And last time I had cable to watch your show, your wife was complaining about the rain catchers; when i saw that I thought, just paint them—both worlds can coexist that way.
A. Yes—life is about leading by example and compromise. Sometimes things just take time. Think about how long it has taken since the first Earth Day in 1970 to get where we are. A good example is the fact that after 20 years the city of Studio City finally let me take the grass out of the sidewalk strips and replace it with drought tolerant landscape and drip...20 years!
I did compromise with Rachelle though—the barrels are being replaced with underground gray water and rain water cistern storage...
Ed
Q. I live in an old brick attached row home in Philadelphia and in the near future will need to replace the concrete pedestrian sidewalk due to cracking. I would like to replace my sidewalk with the original herringbone pattern brick for numerous reasons, the first being environmental, the second being aesthetics and the third being historical correctness. In addition to the brick, I would like an approximately 3 foot space which would abut the brick face of my home to be left as dirt so I can plant a tiny evergreen garden. To say I am getting flack would be an understatement. Both my husband and a concrete contractor have warned me that having a brick pedestrian sidewalk and a dirt garden flush with the brick face of my house would allow water to seep into my basement and ruin the basement walls. In addition, the concrete contractor is telling me how difficult it will be to shovel snow off the bricks due to the shovel getting caught on the edge of the bricks, and finally he's telling me the bricks will eventually become uneven, someone might trip and sue me and weeds will pop through the bricks etc etc etc. I can disregard all the objections with the exception of the water seepage into the basement. So, my question is, is water seepage really that big a concern? I mean, the current concrete sidewalk is graded so the water runs to the curb, why would a brick sidewalk be any different? I know water will be absorbed through the bricks but enough to seep into the basement?
A. I just finished a project where we put in some brick walkways. The bricks are made of recycled tire crumb rubber and they are designed to leech water. The key is to force the runoff in the direction you desire via proper grading (as has been mentioned above), along with putting the proper leech materials below the bricks. Have someone who knows what they're doing do it right and you won't have any problems.
Ed
Ask Ed: Leave Your Question for Ed Here
More about Ed Begley, Jr.
Living with Ed: Inside the Show
The TreeHugger Interview: Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr., on Going Off the Grid, Greening Traffic, and More
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