Have you ever rented a house which was not environmentally friendly? Maybe yes. Some who find themselves in such situations reach to the extent of aiming to build their own environmentally friendly home. Would you like to know why? The fact is you’ll be able to build an adorable house free from global warming known to intimidate all human health.
Building an expensive house doesn’t mean you have a sustainable home. First, you have to set a good plan to make your home good for living and comfortable for family life. The house should get made of eco-friendly materials, designed sustainable, environmentally healthy, and energy efficient.
Therefore, if you want to start a sustainable structural design, do not worry. You can find a cheaper energy tariff on usave.co.uk. The designed building plan will boost moderation and efficiency leading to saving on energy and materials for better reliability and recycling among others. Remember, the design ensures that today’s decision will not hinder future generations’ opportunities.
Let’s first discuss the three critical elements in creating a sustainable home.
1. Social sustainability
In housing, social sustainability means creating well secured and healthy communities considering the norms and cultures of people surrounding. It also enhances the lifestyles and behaviors of residents around.
Therefore, to build a socially sustainable home, you should figure out the complex issues at the notion of a reasonable housing plan. Interestingly, it also connects the design of the physical environment depending on how people live with each other thus function as a community.
2. Economic sustainability
Building a sustainable home, you should plan and design it economically by saving resources during construction. The costs to be reduced relates to proper maintenance, use of water and energy. All these reductions will get managed by careful planning which will lead to less future renovations.
3. Environmental sustainability
A sustainable house requires environmental friendly features such as green building and solar technology among others. Also, materials used while building should be non-toxic. All these will reduce waste, save energy, and water not only during the construction process but also in the future.
Remember, it’s essential to consider the suitable home site design to suit your living conditions. Additionally, the house design should be favorable such that it’s efficient and comfortable. Finally, to meet the sustainable and desired architecture, find a professional designer who understands your plans.
Resourceful ways to build a sustainable house
1. Use of local materials
Building with the use of local materials such as stones, water, and timber enhances sustainability. These materials are wonderful. The best part, it’s hard to miss the variety of locally sourced best materials to use. Interestingly, the local materials require less processing, thus reduce degradation. Their economic costs are also low.
Trust me; one of the beauties of building with local materials is that they seem to fit well with the feeling of the place. Hope to develop the construction with such materials.
2. Good ventilation
A well-sustained house should have proper ventilation. Air circulation is essential in every home as high moistures lead to health problems such as asthma. Fresh air should get ensured while constructing the house by putting enough ventilation holes on the wall. Windows should also be free to open and close to let fresh air in the house when necessary.
3. Install double-glazing windows
It’s always indispensable, to install double-glazed windows in your house. The kind of window will still insulate your home and are energy efficient. Wonder how? In winter, it will help to bring warmth and during the summer will make your house cooler. Is that not interesting?
However, if you feel the double-glazed windows are too classy, consider thermal window joinery or thermal blackout curtains.
4. Energy saving bulbs
The energy appears to bill highly in many homes today compared to other expenditures. Saving power by using compressed fluorescent lamps instead of incandescent light bulbs will lower your power bills. LED bulbs enable auto saving of energy, thus a sustainable home.
5. Recycle building waste for sustainable house construction
Are you aware that the existing building wastes can a significant change in your life? When you are constructing you can recycle building materials whether they are old or excess to minimize resource wastage.
Some of the reusable materials include;
• Appliances and fixtures
• Masonry which can get recycled
• Plastic products (having a recycled content)
• Windows and doors which can be reused
• Recycled drywall materials
• Metals for smelting and converted into other products
Besides, it should be very careful with some waste since some lead to a negative impact on health and the environment. Get assured, recycled materials bring out a sustainable and moderate house.
6. Cheap internal finishing
Internal finishes are as crucial as a beautiful and comfortable home. Believe me; carpets, windows and wall curtains are good insulators to shape your house inexpensively and smartly. Products such as paints should be used to match with your dream environment. Do you think the home isn’t sustainable?
7. Creating a contented eco-house with a passive design
Passive design is always a big desire for most households and residents. The plan is a sustainable building standard, which retains a comfy temperature in the home. It also provides ventilation and lighting, household heating and cooling.
Interestingly, a passive design also focuses on renewable sources of energy. The house light is more natural than artificial light. All in all, the plan is natural and good for a sustainable home.
8.Designing your home to a better location
As said earlier, it’s always advisable to look for the architect to create your home. Make your house a unique and aesthetically pleasing place to live. House designing is often better; it helps to adjust the estimated price thus a sustainable home.
Also, ensure your home will successfully match your decision from start to finish. Generally, to have a successful plan and a detailed scope of work, it’s vital to have;
• Choose an architect or interior designer for your home.
• Make a plan to reach your schematic design goals.
• Interview contractors once the plan gets made – The interview will enable you to make the right decision on whom to choose for your work.
• Shop the materials for construction as others engineer the work.
Get your permits – The permit usually depends on the location and the size of the project. Remember, the permit fee isn’t that pleasant. Also, the permitting processes can take a couple of days, months or even years. Therefore, you should have a plan or some idea ahead before filing for a permit to avoid the longer filing process experienced by the majority.
• Ready to go – After the above steps are completed, you are prepared to make your plan real without any hesitation.
9. Good water usage
Among other basic needs, water is the essential need for every home in day-to-day living. In sustainability, water should get highly considered in terms of usage. Building water efficiency can gain your home a better control of water.
The effectiveness gets done through low-flow showers in the bathroom and lavatories. Recycling water is also one of the best water usages in the home. For example; when using water used in rinsing clothes to clean your house.
As said earlier, water is one of the essentials, thus should be used carefully. To avoid lacking water in our homes during the summer seasons, you should build roof-gutters which help in collecting water during rainy seasons. Tanks help with the storage of the water collected, thus manage your water usage through the lifetime.
11. Durable construction
Building a sustainable and robust home is vital while putting into consideration. The sustainable house uses less energy in terms of maintenance. The materials used should be firm to ensure that the house is long lasting. For instance, roofing should not require changing after five years. You should find the best quality material for roofing thus sturdy construction.
Strong concretes will also survive environmental hardships. Imagine your ten years building collapsing due to strong wind blows! So discouraging I guess. Choose reliable and durable materials while building and reduce the cost of reconstruction and renovations, meaning that the house will require little maintenance. Your home should be built to last, as it is fit for every sustainable home.
11. Good design and material selection
As said earlier, it’s crucial for homeowners to go shopping for construction materials as others do the engineering. Though the choice can take a quite more extended period, you’ll be in a position to achieve high standards of power efficiency and water reduction while saving.
Additionally, you may prefer your designer to help with your material selection. By the way, some designers love shopping since they know the best materials to use during construction. All in all, schedule ahead and buy the building materials before the construction process for efficient work with reduced cost.
12. Constructing a kitchen compost pit
Dumping wastes carelessly will make the compound look filthy. Digging a compost ditch is the preferable way of avoiding scraps all over the ground. Compost for kitchen waste reduces the number of landfills and save money which is given to the garbage collector in clearing wastes around the home compound.
13. Interior designs for sustainable house construction
For a sustainable home, it may sound good to have a good interior designer. The fact is, a well designed and decorated home is comfortable. It also gives a good appearance and gets more enjoyable. To meet the most beautiful and pleasing home, you have to manage the space available in the mediated environment.
14. Size of the house
Talking about sustainable home means a lot. On guiding you about a house, you should consider a small sized house. The majority doesn’t prefer this route, but the fact remains that, the smaller the house, the more affordable the house gets. Otherwise, being affordable does not fall positively in the ears of many, but is this not helpful in home sustainability?
Initially, constructing a small house use fewer materials compared to the bigger one. The home also reduces energy and time during construction. Its design becomes less complicated not mentioning the interior requirements being less costly; for instance, less furniture and wall fittings.
15. Layout in a home affects energy
Maybe you are wondering how the design affects your home. A house that is widely built and spread out is less efficient and a lot of heat in the house gets lost. Additionally, it’s better to construct taller buildings (which are more efficient) than a wider one.
16. Selection of windows and doors for energy reduction
Doors and windows can determine the cost of your house as well as its security. The choice does not mean that the costly windows and doors are preferred for every house. If you want to construct a sustainable home, consider the cheap materials for doors and windows. These materials should also ensure security.
Note that, the cheaper doors and windows will reduce energy and cost. This efficiency will enable you to have a sustainable house in the future.
17. Install good quality insulation for sustainable homes
Though, there are various insulation types and techniques; it’s good to design a house with quality insulation. The reason to insulate the house correctly is to keep the house more efficient in terms of energy.
Also, good insulation keeps the room warm during winter and cold air during the summer. Remember, the better the insulation you have, the less energy you will use.
18. Install solar hot water
Having solar hot water is very important. You can use tankless water heaters or instant hot water for efficient house designs. These cooling systems minimize your energy expense by using the water installed instead of heating. You can also use the roof to make the cooling water system. Interestingly, all these options use less energy and heat water instantly.
19. Construct a home that you will exemplary love
Why do you have to build a home which you won’t feel comfortable? There is no need. It’s very crucial to construct a house that will make you, your family, and residents love and live happily. Therefore, have a proper plan for better living and live sustainably.
Living in a sustainable home is vital for everyone. Having a good plan while designing, planning and laying your construction, will lead to a good and strong building with less energy used. You will also get to manage your resources carefully in the future and have a sustainable home ever.