When we are designing major home remodeling projects, our clients often ask about Green Remodeling. From my view, the definition of Green Remodeling is simply “creating a healthy environment while supporting environmental sustainability.” The good news is that current standard building practices ensure that your remodeling project is going to be “green” and environmentally friendly.
The three main concepts and common practices of Green Remodeling are:
- Indoor Air Quality – There are many ways the air inside your home can become polluted. Getting rid of toxic products and maintaining the gas appliances are no brainers, and Green Remodeling processes eliminate these concerns by using natural products and ensuring proper ventilation.
- Energy Efficiency – As long as you are following current standard building practices you have no concern that you will be energy efficient. The Environmental Protection Agency has mandated specifications for all exterior structure elements of our homes to ensure we use as little energy as possible to keep ourselves comfortable.
- Durability of Products Used – We always encourage our clients to use natural stone and wood products that are timeless and will last a lifetime. The production of man-made products is hard on the environment, they tend to have a short life span and are “disposable,” meaning they will someday sit in our landfills.
All you need to do to be sure you are Green Remodel friendly is to follow current standard building practices, make sure your home breathes healthfully, uses as little energy as possible, and when you add products to your home, make sure they are of durable quality and have been made with as minimum impact on our environment as possible.
Let us know if you’d like to learn more about Green Remodeling.
Mike
