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Top Green Home Renovation Tips
- List your Needs and Goals
Before you lay hammer to nail, make sure you have thoroughly worked through your renovation needs and wants. Start by amassing a list of bigger goals and questions to determine what results you want from your renovation: What do you like about your house? Are your utility bills absorbently high (and not solely due to your bad behavior)? Do you want to bring natural light to otherwise dark and dank areas? Use this list as the basis of your renovation, rather than focusing first on the details, and remember to focus on long-term goals, rather than short-term solutions. Then take this list to your contractor...
- Go Go Green Contractor
Locating an expert who shares your ideals; green builders are not only skilled in traditional building trades, but understand how to design projects to be energy, water, and resource efficient. Although you may not have many of these experts in your area, there are several criteria and organizations that can help you find the right match. Go with someone who has been designated a Master Builder by the Energy and Environmental Building Association, or has been certified by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry as a Certified Remodeler. Alternatively search for those who have done 'historic renovations' and/or someone who wants to share in your green dream and give them the Green Building: A Primer for Builders, Consumers, and Realtors, and the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Green Home Guide, to get them going on their way.
- Make a Master Plan
Work with your builder on a Master Plan for your project, keeping a systems perspective in mind. By doing so you may discover that your initial plans for an 'addition', will require you to tear down walls and break the thermal and air barriers between your home and the outdoors, or to install a new HVAC system (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). Think instead about downsizing your home, reconfiguring your current space to better suit your needs. Remember, the larger the physical footprint of your home, the larger the environmental footprint as well, in terms of material, and energy use. Using natural light to make spaces feel bigger by opening up a wall between a dark and light-filled room, and removing unused objects and fixtures (such as cabinets etc.) that take up needed space, can go a long way to solving space issues.
- Avoid Hot and Cold Flashes
Renovating your home provides the unique opportunity to address your heating, and cooling needs -- via upgrading mechanical systems, using natural heat and light to your advantage, and installing new insulation and other energy saving measures. There are bountiful ways to both save energy and stay comfortable, but as always keep in mind a systems perspective when deciding which strategies to implement. Start by using a modeling tool to do a home energy audit, and explore how different approaches can effect energy savings.
Consider the climate you reside in, which can guide you to the optimal balance between natural sources of temperature regulation, and HVAC systems. And reinforce your home's thermal envelope, by installing high-performance double or triple pained glass for windows, using window glazings and solar screens, and placing weather stripping and caulk around leaky windows and doors.
- Keep Water and Moisture at Bay
As with heating and cooling your home, there's no one way to use your rebuild to mitigate future water use. Instead, a variety of strategies, from installing on demand hot water recirculation devices to harvesting rain water, may be possible. The goal is twofold: to minimize water use and maximize water distribution efficiency. Cut your H2O consumption by installing a grey water recovery system and water saving fixtures (dual flush toilets, low-flow showerheads, and water-efficient dishwashers and washing machines to name a few). To improve efficiency, create a plumbing core by 'backing or stacking' wet rooms (laundry, kitchen and bathrooms) in the home, installing an efficient hot water heater, and insulating both the heater and your environmentally preferable hot water pipes. Prevent mold and mildew by installing proper ventilation in wet areas and using mold mitigating materials.
- Energy Efficient Lighting and Fixtures
Take the time to plan for future wiring and cabling needs when considering the lighting, electronics and appliances which will draw energy from your home. You may be able to eliminate the need for much of this lighting by strategically placing walls and windows to optimize natural light. For the lighting you do install, avoid recessed lighting in ceilings which may break the thermal envelope of your home, go with energy-efficient lamps which accept LEDs and compact fluorescent light bulbs, and install motion sensors and timers in rooms to keep lights turned off when they're not needed. Read our How to Go Green: Electricity guide, Lighting guide, and Electronics guide, for broader suggestions on greening your electricity and gadgets.
- Be the Foreman of Destruction
Think of your home as a treasure trove of materials, from piping, to lighting fixtures, to wood beams. Reuse these old materials in your new build, or take them to a company that accepts well preserved demolition waste and in tact building materials. So with this in mind, why demolish such a rich resource? Instead avoid hard-core demolition and disassemble with care -- surgically take walls apart (unscrew screws to take sheetrock off the walls for example), look at pre-existing architectural documents of your home for clues as to what unique design features or materials might be lurking behind your walls, and preserve original pieces of home which add historic integrity. Pay special attention to hazardous materials, you may discover along the way, such as lead, mold, and asbestos, and remove or isolate them with care and professional expertise. Planet Green has many more tips on how to properly dispose of hazardous demolition waste.
- Buy Reclaimed
Don’t get caught up in new materials; instead consider options like using reclaimed pine timbers for flooring and installing salvaged doors and cabinets. Reclaimed pieces and materials are not only more affordable (on the whole), but they save the energy, material, and resources it would take to produce a new similar product. Follow Planet Green's salvaging tips, or take a trip to an antique store, or to reclamation repositories such as Build It Green, which accept and sell demolition waste. When selecting reclaimed materials, be sure to avoid products which may contain hazardous materials, such as formaldehyde or creosote from railroad ties and other wood-based goods.
- Select New Materials Wisely
Using new materials in your home renovation project is inevitable: from caulk and sealers, to paint, counter tops, flooring materials, insulation and drywall. While there are no hard and fast rules to selecting green materials, you should know a few of the basics. Buy: products which are durable, are easy to maintain, and will age gracefully; products which contain a high percentage of recycled content; are those that are local to your region (saving energy in transport). Avoid: disposable products, which will only serve your needs in the short term; products that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), commonly found in paints, finishes and a myriad other products; PVC in products such as sheathing and pipes. Some green product certifications to keep an eye out for include: Grean Seal, for paints coatings and doors; Energy Star, for appliances, windows and heating and cooling products; Forest Stewardship Council, for wood-based products; and Cradle to Cradle, for carpet, sheet goods and other products. Visit the "Where to Get Green Home Renovation Products" and "Getting Techie" sections of this guide for more ideas on new green materials.
- Maintain Your Green Renovations
Commit to maintaining your brand new and new to you products -- ensuring they will last for decades (rather than years) to come, and allowing you to take some additional green considerations during the material selection process. For example, while the clean lines and wipe clean surface of a solid surface Corian counter top may be appealing, a recycled paper based product such as Richlite or Paperstone absorbs scratches, and can easily be repaired by the home owner, rather than by an expert. Similarly, use natural oils to condition bamboo or wood surfaces and floors, rather than urethane finishes, which are difficult to spot fix, without relaying the entire coat. Maintenance is key not only for surface materials, but for electric and mechanically based products, which like cars need to be cleaned and fine tuned on a regular basis. For bonus points, clean your products within our green guidelines.
