Green Garage Doors

At Kastlebridge we are always concerned with the environmental impact of every installation. Every door we install is insulated with a minimum of 1 3/8” of polystyrene foam. Most of the doors we install are 3” thick. We utilize the best weather-stripping materials in order to keep drafts and pests out of your home.

Our primed doors are protected with low VOC (volatile organic compound) waterborne primers. Low VOC paints, stains, and clear finishes are available as well as natural oil finishes for the stain grade doors.

All of our steel doors are clad and trimmed with EXTIRA, a wood composite material made from the byproducts of sawmilling operations. It is treated with zinc borate for rot and termite resistance, then phenolic bonded for exterior durability. No formaldehyde is added. EXTIRA is so environmentally friendly that it can be used to attain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) credit as an Environmentally Preferred Product.

Green Driveway Surfaces

Coal tar is a byproduct of steel production. It is highly carcinogenic. It contains eight of the fifteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) considered to be human carcinogens. As long as it is recycled by the steel industry, coal tar is not considered a hazardous waste. So it gets turned in driveway sealer and applied to our driveways and parking lots. There, it wears off as planned, and should be recoated every two or three years. The PAHs end up in our soils, our rivers, and in our aquifers. They get on our hands, and we track them into our houses. Thirty five years ago I worked as a union roofer during my high school and college summer vacations. We received an extra $2.50 per hour hazard pay for working with coal tar pitch. Foolishly I took the extra money and had my first cancerous lesion cut off my face while I was still in my 40’s. I cringe whenever I smell the stench of a newly sprayed driveway or parking lot. Home Depot and Lowes have stopped selling coal tar based sealers. However, nearly all the commercial applicators that coat driveways in the Eastern United States use coal tar sealers.

Kastlebridge offers an alternative to spraying these poisons on your driveway every two years. We apply a binding coat of hot asphalt, epoxy, or polyurethane resin according to the conditions and cover it with a layer of natural stone gravel. This produces a classic look as seen at Kensington and Buckingham Palaces recently shown in the film THE QUEEN, and on the driveways of many of America’s finest homes. These stone coatings typically last eight or more years between reapplications and can be cost effective when compared to more frequent seal coatings. The environmental savings and the beauty of the finished product are priceless.

Kastlebridge also installs natural stone and manmade pavers for borders, accents, walkways, and full driveways. Permeable pavers can be laid over suitably prepared bases and lessen runoff and help recharge our groundwater systems. Kastlebridge also installs a resin bound aggregate which can serve as a permeable pavement or more often as a tree well in urban sidewalks. Both permeable pavement types and the light colored natural stone aggregates available locally can earn LEED credit for Surface Water Management and Light Colored Hardscapes.

Beyond the capacity of Kastlebridge pavement to limit the leaching of carcinogenic PAHs, limit run off, and heat island effects; the look of all of our paving products is natural, sustainable, and timeless.

Hopefully coal tar is not on your driveway already. If you would like more information on the danger of coal tar sealers, please refer to the following sites: Parking Lot Seal Coating Identified as Major Contaminant and COAL TAR HAZARDS...ARE COAL TAR COATINGS SAFE?