The Sustainable Home Renovation Guide: How to Make Eco-Friendly Choices for Your Home
Many people looking to take a more sustainable approach to life will often prioritise this when it comes to their home renovation. Despite the need for intensive machinery and new materials, it’s possible to transform your home, sustainably.
Whether you choose to recycle previous materials, renovate existing sections of your house, or upgrade your insulation to make your home more energy efficient, there are plenty of ways to improve your home without overly increasing your carbon footprint.
If you’re currently starting to plan out your home renovation and need some tips on how to make it more eco-friendly, here is our guide on the best sustainable choices that you can make throughout your project.
What is A Sustainable Home Renovation?
A sustainable home renovation is any type of building work that is undertaken with a focus on looking after the environment and choosing options that will not increase your carbon footprint.
When you choose to take the sustainable approach to your home renovation, it encompasses everything from installing energy-efficient technologies like underfloor heating, eco toilet and bathroom appliances, to being mindful of the materials your builder uses to create the structure of your home.
Going with this approach may not always be the easiest choice, and will require a bit more research, but it’s guaranteed to bring long-lasting efficiencies to your home and provide plenty of benefits to the planet.
Why Consider Building an Environment-Friendly home?
With the population set to reach 31 million by 2030, we all need to do our part in building a sustainable future. At Watara, we’re conscious of the impact that construction has on greenhouse gas emissions and appreciate you may be too. Sustainability is becoming a bigger consideration for our clients these days, and for all the right reasons.
Not only is there a global need for all industries to take climate action, but building a sustainable home is just as beneficial for homeowners as it is for the planet and government.
If you build an energy-efficient home, you can benefit from reduced energy bills, increased property value and a more comfortable living environment — not to mention, you can also create a home that will be fit for your family for many years to come.
Image credit: Hauslein Tiny House Co
The Basics of Eco-Friendly Home Renovations
If you’re coming to the point where you want to renovate your home, and it’s important to waste less energy, less water, and make more of an effort to combat climate change in your own home, then this guide is the best place to start.
Here are just some of the basic eco-friendly home renovation tips you can use that won’t add large amounts of money to your budget, but allow you to make a positive environmental impact.
1. Use Environmentally Friendly Building Materials
The first thing you can do before starting your project is to research the range of environmentally friendly building supplies that are made from natural materials or organic materials.
Not only do these types of materials come from ethical locations, but you can also pick materials that will insulate your home effectively. If you’ve insulated your property properly with heat-trapping materials, you can benefit from an energy-efficient home that demands a lot less energy.
Although old materials may end up looking like the more desirable choice at face value, it often pays to try out different eco-friendly materials like bamboo or reclaimed wood, which can create a similar luxe appearance, without the carbon footprint.
2. Invest in Energy-Efficient Appliances
The appliances you use in your home can often be the cause of increasing carbon emissions, which is why we place such a high importance on helping our clients choose the right ones for their needs.
From water-saving showerheads to rainwater toilets, there are many ways to conserve the energy demands of your home renovation while still investing in new appliances that will have a long, useful lifespan.
Choosing the correct appliances is a big step to reducing your home’s environmental impact and can be applied to projects of any size. Whether you’re looking to add a second storey, or going with a luxury custom home build, your appliances should always be up there with your top environmental priorities.
3. Consider Renewable Sources of Energy such as Solar Panels
With energy prices rising and the demand for power grids becoming evermore intensive, more homeowners are starting to discover new ways to power their homes through their environmental sources.
One of the most popular, and energy-efficient ways, to reduce your fuel consumption is through the installation of solar panels. These solar panels take sunlight and transform it into energy that can be used to power your heating system, electrical devices, or even an electric car if you have one.
Solar panels are useful because they can generate electricity even on the cloudiest days and requires little regular maintenance once they’ve been installed. They can also be used in conjunction with heat pumps, which are a system to make heat for your home.
Together, these systems require minimal hassle but have plenty of eco-friendly benefits which makes them an essential consideration for any homeowners looking to take on a renovation project soon.
4. Reduce Construction Waste
When you’re taking on a large product, it often means you’re going to need a lot of people on site, all doing their own tasks and making their own mess. Your construction partner will help you to manage all of these working parts, and it’s important that they take care of building waste by managing and disposing of it properly.
Whether you plan to reuse materials or bring it all in from elsewhere, you should have some plan in place on how you want to clear everything out at the end of the project, without it all ending up in landfill.
5. Hire an Eco-Friendly Contractor
Finally, choosing a builder that has eco-friendly credentials is a game changer in sustainable home renovations. Contractors who know the practice of eco-friendly constructions will help you to make the best possible choices for your project so you can combine the benefits for you and the planet.
From advising on how to introduce natural light into your home, to selecting the best eco-friendly options so your property isn’t contributing as heavily to global warming, an eco-friendly contractor can completely change the course of your project for the better.
The renovation builder in Brisbane that you choose will have a lot of influence over your project, so it’s important to choose one that aligns with your own personal views. If sustainability is important to you, you should be looking for contractors who are just as committed to creating efficient, environmentally friendly homes.
At Watara Homes, we want to help our clients create their dream homes without leaving too large a footprint on the earth. Because of this, we work closely with our partners to identify eco-friendly solutions and sustainable alternatives and use building techniques that optimise both efficiency and productivity.
Image credit: The Design Files
Make the Right Choice With Sustainable Home Renovations
In this article, we’ve taken you through everything you need to know to pull off a sustainable home renovation. From picking out the perfect sustainable building materials to choosing the right construction partner to help bring your vision to life, there is a range of ways that you can put the planet first during your next building project.
It’s not always the easy choice to go down the sustainable route, but it will be one of the most beneficial and efficient ways to tackle your next home project.
If you’re thinking about undertaking a new renovation project that focuses on sustainability, we’d love to help create your dream home.