Go Green When Building | Real Estate Beaufort SC at Marek Realty ...

These steps help you get closer to an envi?ron?men?tally friendly home.?

^{Cour?tesy of Bet?ter Homes and Gardens?}

You?ve heard about the green move?ment. Now it?s your turn to join the effort by going green with your next home-building endeavor. Mak?ing conservation-conscious deci?sions can save money and resources. All it takes is some home?work and the effort to find the best prod?ucts and designs that allow you to make the most of the green build?ing ini?tia?tive that is spread?ing across the coun?try. Here are 10 steps to get you mov?ing in the right direction.

1. Get ori?ented. Before you build, study the lay of the land, and put the sun to work for you and your home. Notice how the sun?shine trav?els across the prop?erty, then ori?ent your house so the rooms you?ll use most often catch the best?rays.

Take your cli?mate into account. Are win?ters bru?tally cold? Plan your home so main liv?ing areas ? or any rooms you might use dur?ing the lim?ited day?light hours of win?ter ? receive south?ern expo?sure. If harsh win?ters swing into siz?zling sum?mers, invest in high-efficiency win?dows (such as those with low-E glass) to keep?cool.

2. Don?t waste space. Do you really need a guest room? How often would you use a den? Elim?i?nat?ing rooms that you?d rarely use will help keep your build?ing bud?get in line. In addi?tion, you?ll save the cost of heat?ing and cool?ing these rooms in the future. Sit down and exam?ine how you?ll use each space in your home. What you decide might not adhere to con?ven?tional design stan?dards, but if it will work for your fam?ily, go?ahead.

3. Help out your HVAC sys?tem. Make your build?ing mate?ri?als and home design work dou?ble duty. That way, you can pur?chase a cen?tral air-conditioner and a fur?nace with less power ? and a smaller price tag. For exam?ple, use argon-gas-filled double-glazed win?dows. Then you can let in vast sheets of sun?light and save on the heat bill at the same?time.

Ven?ti?la?tion is also an impor?tant part of heat?ing and cool?ing. Strate?gi?cally placed doors at either end of the house, along with double-hung win?dows at reach?able heights, can be opened to let breezes sweep through the house. Sim?i?larly, an open floor plan allows heated or cooled air to pass eas?ily from one space to the?next.

Money, Doors, Sur?faces, Water

4. Spend money where it counts. How your build?ing bud?get is allo?cated is largely an indi?vid?ual deci?sion, but cre?at?ing an energy-efficient home usu?ally requires a few up-front expenses that will save money in the future. Pay?ing extra for cus?tom work can max?i?mize a mod?est space; that can be more eco?nom?i?cal than spend?ing money and resources on addi?tional square footage.

5. Skip the doors. Of course, doors on cer?tain rooms, such as clos?ets, bath?rooms, and the mas?ter bed?room, are a must, but lim?it?ing the use of doors can help decrease costs. Con?sider sep?a?rat?ing rooms with a sim?ple step down, a cor?ner, or a change in ceil?ing height that allows the entire space to drink in the same sun?light and air (whether heated, cooled, or fresh from the out?doors), while still visu?ally divid?ing the spaces.

6. Leave sur?faces exposed. Dry?wall and the labor required to install it can get expen?sive. Think about leav?ing ceil?ing beams ? and the recessed light?ing therein ? exposed in sev?eral areas of the house, includ?ing the break?fast room and part of the kitchen. Exposed struc?tural ele?ments pro?vide visual inter?est and give the illu?sion of more vol?ume and a higher ceiling.

7. Save water. New toi?lets are stingy with water, using a stan?dard 1.6 gal?lons per flush. Some toi?lets have dual-flush han?dles, which allow you to choose between flush?ing less water (just over a gal?lon) for light waste or using the full amount for solid?waste.

Opt?ing for short show?ers rather than baths will con?serve even more water, as will installing low-flow show?er?heads. Espe?cially if your house has a sep?tic tank, it?s impor?tant not to overuse water. You?re also sav?ing a nat?ural resource.

Coat?ings, Recy?cling, Natural

8. Use sim?ple (or no) coat?ings. Chem?i?cal paints and coat?ings can be a source of major irri?ta?tion in a new home. Not only can they aggra?vate asthma or aller?gies ? espe?cially in chil?dren ? but they also require ade?quate ven?ti?la?tion and dry?ing?time.

Use water-base paints. They have less odor and require less cleanup than oil-base or alkyd paints. Treat wood floors with a citrus-base oil for a light sheen rather than with layer after layer of polyurethane.

9. Use renew?able or recy?cled prod?ucts. Sim?ple choices in fin?ish mate?ri?als can help make your home eco?log?i?cally sound. Opt for floor?ing man?u?fac?tured from recy?cled mate?ri?als where pos?si?ble, such as rub?ber with embed?ded neo?prene chips in an entry?way. Not only is rub?ber resilient, easy-to-clean floor?ing, but using a recy?cled ver?sion keeps the mate?r?ial from end?ing up in landfills.

In the absence of recy?cled mate?ri?als, select prod?ucts that are renew?able. Pur?chase exte?rior wood doors from a com?pany that buys its lum?ber from a con?ser?va?tion for?est (the com?pany plants a new tree for every tree that?s harvested).

Use maple butcher block for kitchen coun?ter?tops, or fires?late, a mate?r?ial that looks like slate but costs about half as much. Fires?late is used in lab?o?ra?to?ries, espe?cially in school sci?ence class?rooms, because of its dura?bil?ity, heat-resistance, and low?cost.

10. Go nat?ural, not syn?thetic. Select cel?lu?lose insu?la?tion, which is made out of plant fiber, instead of fiber?glass, and Homa?sote, a recy?cled news?pa?per prod?uct, as a sub?sti?tute for dry?wall in some places. Use linoleum for the kitchen floor rather than vinyl, car?pet made of wool and sisal, a nat?ural grasslike fiber and wood floors. A metal roof shields the house from harsh sun?light, and since it?s not petro?chem?i?cally pro?duced, is a non?toxic material.

More Tips

Green build?ing, while cer?tainly not dif?fi?cult, is not quite main?stream yet, at least in most regions. That?s why it?s a good idea to research the sub?ject on your own so you know what to ask for and what sort of things will work for your new house. Scour home improve?ment mag?a?zines and books for tips, and explore the Inter?net for infor?ma?tion (con?duct?ing a search for the term ?green build?ing? will help you get started. Your search will lead you to local, regional, and national sources for eco-sensitive mate?ri?als and methods.

?You have to dig and find out about these things for your?self,? says archi?tect James Ster?ling. ?It?s still a kind of under?ground thing.? It?s also impor?tant to work with archi?tects, design?ers, and other home-building pro?fes?sion?als who are famil?iar with envi?ron?men?tally friendly mate?ri?als on the mar?ket. These peo?ple will know what?s avail?able, where to buy, and how to get a fair?price.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 1st, 2012 at 5:29 am and is filed under BHG Live. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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