Tips For Making Sure Your New Home Build Is Green
Posted on: 15 March 2017
If you want your new home to be one that is especially designed with your needs in mind, then you may want your house to be as environmentally friendly as possible. This is certainly something that can be accomplished in many different ways. The following things are a few ideas that should come to mind when it comes to building a green home.
Choose The Roof Carefully
The roof on your home can certainly be green. While a living roof that is complete with a vegetable garden or a slew of vines and other plants may be your idea of green, there are a variety of other materials that fit this description as well. Specifically, green can refer to the way that the roof helps to keep your house insulated from the hot summer sun and the high winds of winter.
If you live in an area that gets quite hot in the summer, then a cool roof may be a good idea. Cool roofs are roofs with a high solar reflectance. This means that UV rays of the sun bounce right off and this keeps your house from heating up. A metal roof with a white coating is a cool roof, for example. An asphalt variety covered in light-colored granules is one too, so ask your builder about the different cool roof options that may match with the design aesthetic that you desire for your home.
If you live in a place where winters are quite harsh, then a roof that is highly insulating may be a better choice. In this case, a metal roof with a layer of insulation added underneath it is a good choice. Steel panels are often made with the insulation attached to them, so consider this when options are presented.
Use Recycled Materials
While the materials you choose for the home build can lead you to live a green life afterwards, you can also be green during the actual building process. This can be specifically accomplished by choosing materials that are recycled. There are several options available, like the use of blow-in fill insulation made from recycled blue jeans. Roll insulation made from recycled cotton and wool products are an option as well.
When it comes to some of the other areas of your home, try looking into recycled glass counters in both the kitchen and bathroom. Repurposed glass and porcelain sinks, toilets, bathtubs, and other types of fixtures can be found as well. If you want, you can ask your builder about using recycled steel and repurposed wood for parts of your house too. Beams and walls can be formed from composite wood and plastic materials as well, so ask about this.
In some cases, recycled and repurposed materials are cheaper than new ones, so you can reduce your building costs while also being kind to the environment.
Share