How Green Is Your Home?
A home that is green is a home built and run with the environment in mind. With the threat of global warming becoming more urgent everyday, the average family needs to do their part to make as little impact as possible. Going green is a way to do this and the first place to start is with your home. You can find a lot of home supplies from bathtubs to faucets at fuzing.com. Whether you are constructing your toilet or your kitchen, it will help you in the long run if you build it from an environment friendly perspective. The greener your home will be; the healthier environment it will have. You can use environment friendly things from paints to drapes and other objects that will add to the overall décor of your home.
Possible Building Materials You Can Use
If you are looking to build a new home, think with the environment in mind. You can use renewable resources such as lightweight concrete, manufactured, stone, straw, wood or earth. Each one of these materials has its own merits and disadvantages, but they all have the environment in mind.
- Earth is an abundant resource. What can be more environment friendly than the very dirt beneath your feet? You can choose from earthen materials kind to the environment such as cob, adobe and rammed earth.
- Lightweight concrete has been used for building for the last 50 years in the United States. Its strength is not as great as the usual concrete used for construction, but you can rest assured that it will weather the elements just as well. Advantages to using this building material is that can be used for insulation, it has great fire resistant properties, it will require a smaller foundation and there isn’t as great a need for reinforcement of structural steel. This impacts the environment in a positive way.
- Manufactured building materials appeal to those who have concern for the environment but don’t want to live in a home made of dirt, tree parts, straw, etc. Usually a home made with this type of material once built will make an excellent home that is energy efficient with thought to the environment.
- Wood is one of the most versatile materials for building. It used to be considered a sustainable material for construction, but with the over harvesting of forests worldwide, the world’s greed has outpaced the capabilities of forests to regenerate. You can build a green home with an eye to the environment by using stick framed, timber framed and log wood if wood is what you must have.
Styles of Green Homes You Can Choose
There are quite a few styles of green homes available. Styles can range from conventional, to rounded, earth-sheltered and organic. Each style has many plans you can choose from to make your home unique, comfortable and concerned with the environment.
- A conventional styled home typically means that it will fit the normal concept of a home according to the opinions of the Western world. Homes that are considered conventional usually have vertical walls and a rectilinear floor plan. Styles that are considered conventional can include traditional, contemporary, bungalow, Victorian or southwestern to name just a few.
- A home that is rounded or curved in appearance is considered rounded styling. This means that the plan for the house has a significant part that is curved or rounded. It is said that when you use natural materials and this style of home you will feel in touch with nature to the extent that your home feels like you are part of the environment itself. This style of home is very environment friendly.
- Earth sheltered styles of green homes can be situated either partially or entirely into the earth. There are many advantages to you and to the environment when you choose this style of home. When you go about six feet below the surface, you will notice that the temperature only fluctuates a few degrees all year round. The benefits to this are that it will require much less energy to heat and to cool your home, saving the environment from the depletion of natural resources.
Building green can mean a lot to the environment. The environment and its natural resources is something that needs to be passed on to our children. If we don’t start thinking towards the future there will be nothing left of the environment to pass on.
