Want To Lower Your Effect On The Environment, Renovate

If you are as worried about the environment and your impact on it as a lot of us are these days but you don't know what to do about it, maybe you should think about renovating your home.

It might sound like you are just wasting resources and creating garbage but in reality if you do your renovation right you will not only help lower your impact on the environment you could also help save yourself some money in the long term.

The average home in North America needs to be renovated after about 15 years, the reason for that is not just that styles change but also because things wear out, become damaged or become outdated.

Today's residential construction industry is an ever changing and evolving thing with new products coming out all the time. Most of the new products that are being brought to market these days have an eye to being eco-friendly, some of these products are better then others at this.

One of the biggest changes in homes is the overall use of water, the trend now has been to use less and less water but still give the homeowner the same results. With advances in technology toilets, showerheads and sinks use far less water then ever before. As long as you buy good quality products you shouldn't notice a difference in the performance of these fixtures you will just save money on your water bill and lessen your overall water consumption.

One of the biggest impacts your home has is in the amount of energy that it uses to heat and cool it. This is were renovating really starts to save you money in the long run. When you renovate it allows you to upgrade the heating system to something more energy efficient, while your doing that you can also upgrade the technology that runs the heating system (thermostats, electric dampers). To help your heating system use less energy you should upgrade the insulation in the walls and ceilings, up grade the windows and with these changes and fixes you end up filling the small gaps and opening in and around the outside walls with caulking and foam. All of this adds up to saving energy to heat and cool the home which is good for the environment and in the long run saves you money.

When you refuse to renovate you run the risk of causing more damage to parts of your home from leaks, breaks and malfunctions in some of the main systems and fixtures of the home. Like a car your home needs to be maintained or when one thing starts to malfunction then it can affect other parts of the home, this leads to a larger problem and the cost for you the homeowner only rises.

There are other benefits to renovating your home, it increases the resale value of the home, your enjoyment of the home and how you and other people feel while they are in it. Renovating your home can change the way you live your life, if you were to say renovate your basement so that it isn't a cold and damp place then you might use it more and not need to add a addition onto the house. You might upgrade the heating system allowing your home to be warmed easier with less energy and those you can leave the thermostat set a little higher without worrying about using to much energy.

So while you are thinking about better ways to help out the environment take some time and look around your own home, you might be surprised at what you can do to with some renovations.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.