Renovation is part of every home’s life cycle. At some point in their property’s lifetime, owners need to refurbish their premises for commercial, aesthetic, or functional reasons. Sometimes, a seasonal celebration is coming up, and the home needs a fresh design to fit the moment.
Whatever your reasons are for renovating your home, you want to do so in the most eco-friendly way possible. That way, you’ll be a functional participant in the green environment movement to keep the planet as pollution free as possible.
You may want to renovate the entire home or just a section, such as your kitchen or bathroom. By the way, no bathroom renovation or design could go wrong by learning some bathroom design ideas and tips from credible websites like Letta London.
10 Tips for Renovating and Designing Your Home in an Eco-Friendly Manner
Let’s get to our top eco-friendly tips for renovating and designing your home right now.
- Use Eco-Friendly Painting
Eco-friendly paints have immensely increased in global acceptance in recent times. The good news is, if you don’t mind sparing a weekend or two for a DIY home repainting, you have an abundance of eco-friendly paints to purchase when shopping.
These environmentally-friendly paints are essentially low- or no-VOC paints. They don’t contain chemical ingredients that could evaporate into the air when the paint is drying. Fortunately, eco-friendly paints perform just as excellently as conventional paints, giving your home excellent color, durability, and coverage – without any harmful additives.
- Insulate Using Eco-Friendly Products
One category of large-scale renovation homes often needs to include general insulation. Your home or property requires insulation to maintain adequate temperature inside the home during the cold winter or warm summer. An excellent way to achieve eco-friendliness is to select eco-friendly products when insulating the property.
Cork is one of the greenest insulation products available. Some paneling includes cork sourced from forests that serve as carbon sinks. These sinks help to capture carbon dioxide from the environment.
Sheep’s wool belongs to a class of excellent natural, fire-retardant fibers that can help provide insulation. Making this allergen-free material costs little environmental impact. Besides its long life span, you can compost sheep’s wool when it’s no longer at its best – removing the need for land-filling.
Not to forget cotton insulation sourced from worn-out denim that could have otherwise been disposed of as waste. Recycled cotton is non-flammable and naturally keeps insects away, which adds to its sustainability.
- Apply Green Roofing
An eco-friendly or green roof can help to insulate your home while improving your garden’s biodiversity at the same time. These roofs help to protect your roofing membrane from harsh weather elements and create a mini microclimate.
Plus, they also help to eventually reduce your energy spending since dry soil is a highly effective insulator. Additionally, you can readily transform the drab flat roof over your garage or shed roof into a haven for wildlife. In the end, you’ll have additional insulation from the elements, plus eco-friendly roofing that supports other life forms.
- Ensure an Energy-Efficient Heating System
After insulating your property, you want to ensure you have an energy-efficient heating system. One category of top tools for arriving at ‘green’ heat generation includes heat pumps. Heat pumps are safer, cleaner, and more energy-saving than gas boilers.
Besides, heat pumps don’t consume fossil fuels, so they spare us from harmful carbon dioxide releases. Add that to a smart thermostat and divide your property into different temperature zones.
- Use Sustainable Electrical Appliances
Energy-efficient appliances have the dual benefit of reducing energy bills and protecting the planet from dangerous emissions. When shopping for new appliances, check out their company’s eco-friendly certifications alongside their energy-efficient ratings.
Energy-efficiency ratings range from A to G, with G representing the least efficient. Note that older items might display outdated ratings like A+++ or G-. However, they technically represent the same spectrum to aid consumer education.
- Eco-Design Your Garden
Planting or grooming your garden can be a great way to make eco-friendly improvements in your home. While lawns are great, they often require much watering to remain evergreen – and don’t support wildlife due to the need for regular dethatching or cutting. Moreover, your lawn mower would emit harmful gases, endangering the entire environment.
Alternatively, consider setting up an eco-friendly garden. A sustainable garden explores plants sourced from the local climate, plus wildflower beds for restoring the ecosystem. This selection helps to encourage wildlife to thrive in their natural habitat.
Conclusion
An eco-friendly house doesn’t only save you and the planet from dangerous emissions. It also saves you energy and money in the long run. Consider applying these eco-friendly tips to your property when next you’re designing or renovating your home. You couldn’t be wrong going green!
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