Welcome to EcoLife Development

For nearly 30 years we have served the Greater Las Vegas area as a trustedbuilder/contractor. We proudly fulfill both residential and commercial needs in the community, always with a focus on protecting the environment we all share.

As the environmentally conscious movement grows, we pledge to remain on the cutting edge of technological advances that impact the building industry as well as renewable energies and green living. As members of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) you can rest assured that our team keeps up-to-date on continuing education and works to integrate that new knowledge into current practices. Our goal is for our current practices to always be on par with the industry's best practices.

About LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

It is our belief that "going green" should not come at a premium. There should not be additional costs associated with being environmentally responsible. We do our very best to provide our customers with the highest standard of workmanship and customer service while following strict guidelines for eco-friendly remodeling, construction and renewable energy projects. Our team is pleased to be guided by a LEED Accredited Professional.

LEED building practices were developed for professional builders to be certified to work in the green building field. What does that mean for you? Having your project completed following LEED standards guarantees your end result will be solidly built and with as little environmental impact as possible.

EcoLife Development, where protecting the earth is the standard not an upgrade.

What's New at EcoLife?

New Blog Post:

PAINT

No, not Microsoft Paint. I'm referring to that gem that has come loaded on every PC since it was first bundled with Windows 1.0 way back in ‘85. Wrong "paint" sorry. For that info, you might want to check here. Ok, are the rest of you with me? Paint, as in the wet stuff, comes in a bucket, gets rolled, brushed, sponged, ragged onto a wall and makes our rooms POP with personality and joie de vive! Yes, you've come to the right page.

We will, henceforth, stick to the facts, but hopefully not be too dry because a) paint that dries too fast is not the most durable of choices and that's not good, but also b) even though watching paint dry may bore you to tears if I'm doing the job I've been hired* for then I need to engage you a little better than watching the aforementioned paint actually dry. Ok, are you ready? Good, let's get started.

Choosing a paint and the evils of VOCs

VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are what give a room that "freshly painted" smell. Now, if you're like me you may actually like that smell. It's almost as good as that new car smell, or freshly cut grass, or chili cooking on a cool autumn day. At least it is for me. BUT, and yes it does warrant all caps, it's not worth all the adverse health and environmental consequences.

Long ago, or at least back in my memorable childhood, nobody thought of those strong smelling paints and solvents as terribly harmful. But now we know better. According to the EPA, those "off gases" can cause:

• Eye, nose, and throat irritation
• headaches,
• loss of coordination
• nausea
• damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous system
• suspected or known to cause cancer in humans

Um, yikes!

Maybe none of that excites you. Maybe you think, "Heh, liver damage is for weaklings". Well ok there, cowboy. Perhaps I can appeal to the part of your brain that cares about the environment. At least insofar as if we don't care for it, your huntin' and fishin' trips will be looking pretty sad in the very near future. How about if we try that tack?

Environmentally speaking, some VOCs react with other compounds, like carbon monoxide, and create ground level ozone, AKA smog. So while environmentally speaking they don't do a whole heckuva lot on their own, they do work synergistically with other pollutants and make things a whole lot worse for us all. This is a shame really, because synergy, the act of making the whole much greater and more powerful than the mere sum of its parts, is such a great concept. Who among us would argue that any one of the super heroes in the Justice League is better on his/her own? SuperMan rocks, but join him up with Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the rest, and the result just goes without saying... Synergy! But when synergy works to make things triply bad outdoors, it's not something I care to have to deal with. So let's finish this part of our discussion about paint choice and VOCs with a very simple mathematical equation:

VOCs = BAD

Low vs. No VOCs

To clarify this point right off the bat, there isn't a big difference between low and no VOC paints except for the amount of VOCs in the paint. No VOC paints aren't actually No VOCs so much as they're very low VOCs (between 2 and 5 g/L). The NO part of the label No VOCs, then, is a big fib, which considering it's a federal agency that created these standards one cannot be surprised about this information.

I will add that according to those same standards the Low VOC paints can have up to 250g/L VOCs for latex based paints and 380 g/L for oil based paints. I'll use a little math wizardry to demonstrate my point: 2 g/L ÷ 380 g/L = 0.0052. Wow! That is very low folks. It would be rounded to 0, actually, if you don't have a calculator that shows more than a couple of decimal places.

The take away here is that the EPA must use cheap calculators. (Please click here.)

No, really the take away here is that there is a significant difference between Low and No VOC paints. However, is it worth the extra money you'll spend on the No VOC version of the paint you want?

Whaaatt? I have to spend extra to be environmentally friendly? Why yes, yes you do. According to the Sherwin-Williams salesperson I talked to, their Duration brand, the Low VOC paint Sherwin-Williams sells, is more durable, lasts longer, and covers in one coat and it's also more expensive per gallon (by about $15 give or take a few) than their No VOC paints. BUT (again with the all caps, jeez) if it takes two gallons of the No VOC paint to finish your room instead of one gallon of the Low VOC brand, you'll end up spending more for the total amount of paint. Let me break that down into another easy mathematical equation for you:

2 Gallons > 1 Gallon

No. Wait. That really doesn't do the job now does it? Let's try it this way:

Low VOC $50**/gal X 1 gal = $50

No VOC $30**/gal X 2 gal = $60

Yes. That's more to my actual point. Plus, if the Low VOC paint lasts five years and the No VOC only lasts two, well that's another $60 right there mister. That's gonna add up, and soon!

What to do, oh, what to do?

Do your research! Since there's a huge gap between the Low and No versions of VOC content standards it only stands to reason that there will be some Low VOC paints that are closer to the low end of the range. Maybe you choose one that has a better durability rating and does a better job at coverage than any of the No versions.

Maybe you contact us for help or an estimate!

Disclaimers:

*We'll say that "hired" is a rather strong word for what I'm doing here, but that's a whole different story.

**If you call Sherwin-Williams, don't quote me on the price! I rounded these numbers to make things a little simpler for my pea-brain to explain this stuff to your massive brain.