Remodeling Ideas for the Eco-Friendly Family

At one point, remodeling and living a green lifestyle may have seemed like mutually exclusive concepts, but thanks to today’s eco-awareness, the two can now happily coexist. At Home Improvement Leads, we’re obviously on board with refreshing our homes and remodeling spaces to suit our ever-changing needs, but we also make it a priority to find eco-friendly ways to remodel. Here are a few tips for the eco-friendly family considering a major home overhaul.

Make a Plan and Shop Wisely

First, you’ll want to make a plan. Walk through your home and take a survey of what you have, and what you want to change. Look for materials you can reuse, like an unwanted table that you could break down for reclaimed wood. Perhaps you can incorporate that wood into a wall panel. You’ll never know the possibilities to recycle until you really think about it!

Planning ahead helps you conserve time during the remodeling process, and it also helps to prevent waste. Buying exactly what you need cuts down on traveling to and from the store, ordering way too much material, or not having enough. Shop for eco-friendly materials like sustainable wood, recycled plastics, low-VOC paints, and eco-friendly cleaning products. Now you’re ready to get started!

Create More Space

If you’re thinking about building a bigger home, consider creative ways to add more space to your current home instead. Adding on is a greener alternative to buying new. You can create space in several ways. Simply rearranging furniture is a free, temporary solution. If your furniture feels crowded, it may be too big for space. See what you can rearrange or scale down throughout your home to find the perfect seating options or table for each room. You can visually open up a room through strategic lighting, brightly colored low-VOC wall paints, and minimalist accessories to reduce clutter.

If you need to tear down a wall between rooms, make sure to hire a contractor who uses eco-friendly practices. This is the perfect opportunity to check out your insulation and opt for a greener alternative. Shredded denim, hemp, and sheep’s wool are just a few insulation options that are more eco-friendly than traditional fiberglass.

Even if you do decide to expand your home, an add-on would still be less wasteful than building an entirely new home. You’ll get the opportunity to start at the ground level, so you can build everything the greenway you’ve dreamed about.

Reduce Utility Consumption

There are so many ways to divorce those extravagant utility bills, but here are a few of our favorite options. Investing in solar panels by far saves the most energy and money in the long run. Most states offer tax credits, exemptions, rebates, and additional perks for switching to solar energy. You can even sell extra energy back to the grid for added profit.

To conserve water, install low-flow toilets to save gallons every time you flush. Dual-flush and low-flow toilets give you options for flush strength, depending on your needs. Innovative technology uses pressure and gravity to get the job done without using a ton of water. Low-flow showerheads may save you up to 3 gallons per minute, and faucet aerators reduce how much liquid gold runs down the drain.

We also love smart home automation apps, like the Nest. The Nest is a smart thermostat that learns your heating and cooling patterns. You can program everything through your smartphone, no matter where you are. Switching to an automatic schedule allows you to conserve energy while you’re away and enjoy a comfortable temperature when you come home.

No matter what you’re remodeling, there’s a greener way to do it. Get creative, and reduce and reuse whenever possible!

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By Dani Nicole