Remodeling your home might be on your to-do list but if you’re environmentally conscious then you might be wondering whether or not a remodel is good for the environment. Not to worry! Here are 5 eco-friendly ways to remodel your home.
1. Replace Your Lawn
One of the most eco-friendly home improvements you can make to your home is to replace your grass lawn with an artificial lawn. The main problem with a grass lawn is that it requires a lot of maintenance to look nice. If you live in a warm state, like California, it takes a lot of watering to keep your lawn healthy. But that water is better used for drinking, plumbing, and irrigation for major agriculture lands. Even if you live somewhere where you get lots of rainfall, you’ll still need to use a lawn mower to groom your lawn, and lawn mowers present some safety issues and also create harmful emissions.
Artificial grass from Maidstone, Kent looks good, feels good to the touch, and is water-resistant—and it requires practically no maintenance. But if you don’t like the look of an artificial lawn, you can also replace your grass lawn with desert landscaping. Desert landscaping utilizes desert plants, fine sand, and decorative boulders, and it looks terrific at homes that are located in warm climates.
Here’s the great part: many states offer tax incentives for replacing grass lawns with artificial grass or desert landscaping, so it might be in your financial interest to be eco-friendly.
2. Install Solar Panels
Want to save on your utility bill? Consider installing solar panels on your property. Solar panels harness the energy of the sun to provide your entire home with electrical power. They’re not only suitable for warm climates. Solar panels are effective in almost all parts of the globe given the immense power of the sun’s rays.
Although solar panels will save you a significant amount of money on your utility bill, they might be a hefty investment up-front. However, there are many ways you can get solar panel financing, and you might also be eligible for tax deductions for having them installed. And remember that if you plan on being in your home for a long time, having solar panels will save you a massive amount of money in the long-run.
3. Use Reclaimed Wood
Lots of home remodeling projects involve wood: redoing your hardwood floors, building a backyard deck, creating new rooms, repairing siding, the list goes on. If you’re going to be using wood during your remodel, try using reclaimed wood. Reclaimed wood is just wood that’s been recycled.
You might have an image in your head of old wood that’s rough and that’s been eaten away by termites, but that’s not what reclaimed wood is. You can buy reclaimed wood for your remodel that’s beautiful, smooth, and strong.
4. Go Vintage
If you’re trying to revamp the interior of your home, then you might be looking into getting new furniture in a different style. The most eco-friendly way to revamp your furniture is to buy used furniture. There are plenty of great websites that enable you to buy used furniture online, and you’ll find items that are both old and new.
Incorporating vintage furniture in your home is one of the most stylish ways to give your home a new look. “They don’t build ‘em like that anymore,” is the common saying, and it’s really true—just look at furniture pieces from the Victorian era through the 1940s. Vintage furniture and antiques add a beautiful and classy aesthetic to your home, and you’re also helping the environment by making use of old materials.
5. Repaint Your Home with Low VOC Paint
Another great way to revamp the style of your home is to repaint it. Whether you’re painting your interior walls or giving the outside of your home a totally new color, you should always opt to use low VOC paint.
Low VOC paint uses water rather than petroleum, so it produces far less emissions than your standard paint. And when you use low VOC paint, your house won’t be stuck with that “fresh paint” smell for quite as long as if you used standard paint.
By remodeling your home with one of these 5 eco-friendly renovation techniques, you’ll be able to give your home a whole new level of style and comfort, and you might even be able to cut your costs.
Originally posted 2021-03-10 23:02:20.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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