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August 22, 2006

Grenier Goes Green

grenier
We can't believe we missed this! According to a Newsweek article from last month, Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who bought a house not far from Brownstoner HQ last year, has been undertaking a serious green renovation. As part of his environmentally-friendly effort, he's been using recycled denim as wall insulation. Given what a pair of jeans can run you these days, that could get pricey! Anyone else tried this?
Going Green [Newsweek]
A TV Star Returns to His Roots [Plenty]
Photo by Joseph Maida




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:12 AM | Comments (16)
Categories: Environmental

Comments

Everyone should be doing this. Buy a Prius.

Posted by: ron at August 22, 2006 10:39 AM

my roommates and i built out the walls in our les loft and used denim insulation. we were told the soundproofing was better as was heat rentention. my room has no heater in it but stays warm in the winter, soundproffing is average though. it's more expensive then the pink stuff. what would cost $55 for the fiberglass insulation costs almost $90 for denim. there is a place in the bronx that sells green building products that stocks it.

Posted by: anon at August 22, 2006 10:43 AM

Buy a bicycle.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 22, 2006 10:50 AM

Okay Brownstoner... I'm ready to see the final pics of YOUR renovation! Sheesh... you're killing us. We watched the whole thing progress and then no money shots!

Posted by: Anonymous at August 22, 2006 10:57 AM

I looked at Ultratouch from Bonded Logic (the product you see sticking out of the walls in the photo above),

http://www.bondedlogic.com

but I am going to use Roxul stone wool insulation from the Rockwool company on my house.

http://www.roxul.com/sw34066.asp

As fun as it is to say that Ultratouch is from recycled blue jeans, it's really 85% from post industrial fibers that never made it onto someones butt. That is still a comendable way to make insulation, but at the end of the day, no matter how many chemicals you spray on cotton/denim fibers to make them fireproof, they are still cotton and denim. They may not be paper, but in a frame house (as the person in the photo and I both have) you can't take any chances. Mineral wool has twice the fire resistance of treated denim / cotton blends, and is just as eco-friendly. My house gets to stone wool.

Posted by: Shahn Andersen at August 22, 2006 11:00 AM

He can have my jeans.

Posted by: Amy at August 22, 2006 11:40 AM

yeah no kidding, boy's boner fide hottie

Posted by: Rascal at August 22, 2006 12:00 PM

hey, this story already ran in plenty magazine...an environmental magazine. http://plentymag.com/article/11adrian

it focuses just on the actor...

Posted by: diana at August 22, 2006 1:50 PM

Wonder when he's moving in -- you must give us a report when he does.

Posted by: lesterhead at August 22, 2006 2:33 PM

We used this insulation in my office build-out. I think the stuff is fantastic. When we show a sample to visitors, every single person smells it, touches it to their face, or makes a comment about how nice it would be as a blanket. Also, Habitat for Humanity projects in the city use this product.

Posted by: jctrain at August 22, 2006 2:41 PM


Hemp is great for insullation too and you can SMOKE it!

Posted by: Anonymous at August 22, 2006 5:11 PM

Habitat for Humanity is using this insulation on their NYC projects (I think it was donated by a clothing company).

Posted by: Anonymous at August 22, 2006 8:40 PM

We can't use hemp as insulation. My husband would burn the house down on purpose.

Posted by: Amy at August 22, 2006 11:03 PM

Fantastic use of denim to conserve heat! The stuff in the walls is nice, too.

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at August 23, 2006 12:29 AM

Yes, wonderful and all. So very green.
But in end - how many sq. ft. per person is Mr. Granier (or many other of us) heating, cooling in his new home?Or maybe should be asking cubic ft (since we do love those high ceilings).
Plus our sub-zeros, wine-coolers, etc, etc, etc.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 23, 2006 10:21 AM

Dude probably insulated his whole place with jeans that were left crumpled up on his floor.

Damn you, Adrian. I wanted those back.

Posted by: Helen at August 23, 2006 12:43 PM

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