Home remodels are known for being large undertakings, but as styles and even codes change, the time inevitably comes where a renovation is imminent. When you decide to renovate your home, you may be wondering how you can incorporate green products into the home to make it more efficient and therefore allow the home to work better for you. Here are some tips for that.
Start with the Demolition
Demolition is probably the most fun part of any home renovation. This is when the homeowners get the opportunity to smash things that they may actually hate about the home, but before you destroy those hideous cabinets, consider helping others. A large part of green home renovation is not the products added to the home, but the use of the products taken out of the home. In the hands of the right person, those old dated cabinets can be given new life and incorporated into the home of a new family. Always look for ways to reuse, repurpose, or simply give away the useable items coming out of the home.
Materials for the Home
Renovating a home gives you the opportunity to get exactly what you want, but when you are looking to green solutions, the simple everyday products may not meet the specs of the green lifestyle. When looking into green materials, you will find that although vinyl is quite a durable flooring choice, it is not so environmentally friendly. It contains harmful plastics that are harmful to the environment. Linoleum is made of linseed oil and is a much more environmentally friendly choice and is just as durable as vinyl.
Other flooring and building material options are that of bamboo, reclaimed wood, and cork. Carpet is largely one of the most used flooring products in the world, but it contains high levels of harmful volatile organic compounds that do nothing to improve the home environment. The choices listed above are sustainable solutions without harmful VOCs.
Appliances
Choosing appliances to go back into the home when the others are removed is another hard decision the home owner will have to make. However, manufacturers have made it a lot easier for consumers by naming appliances as energy star rated. That means that the appliance costs less to use throughout the year and they tend to give an average of what it costs right on the label in the store. Sometimes, the homeowner is entitled to a rebate from simply purchasing the product. That is something that every home owner can benefit from.
Recycled Tiles
It is a common thing to want beautiful tile in the bathroom, but just because something is beautiful does not mean that it is environmentally friendly. Tiles are available from a variety of different materials, but the eco-friendly option is to go with tiles made from recycled materials. The ultimate goal of a tile is to walk on it and therefore there is little need to focus on the best and most expensive materials. Recycling is always the way to go for green home renovations.
Renovating a home or even a small room is no small task. It takes a lot of time and effort to get it accomplished correctly. Storing your items that you want to put back into the home after the renovations is another challenge, but with the number of Albuquerque storage units available, there is no shortage of places to store your precious pieces to keep them out of harm’s way during the renovations. Have fun renovating your home and enjoy the eco-friendly lifestyle that will come from your green home renovation.
Article Submitted By Community Writer