The Ultimate Guide to Sustainable Home Improvements For Eco-conscious DIYers

It’s a great DIY project and can even be done in phases to help break up the costs. Be careful what you pick off environmentally friendly home the shelves for wood finishes as many have chemicals that essentially turn wood toxic, and can degrade air quality when used. However, there are more environmentally friendly alternatives like water-based or natural oil-based finishes. It’s by far our favorite wood finish both for the quality and the environmental impact on our air. Eco-friendly homes are becoming increasingly popular as people become more environmentally conscious.

Modular Prefab Homes

• Having a garden can give you fresh produce within walking distance helping to reduce its footprint in regards to transportation and water consumption.
• These barrels are connected to downspouts and collect rainwater from the roof.
• I recommend getting local kitchen cabinets rather than importing European designer cabinets if you live in Pennsylvania.
• This whimsical house flaunts round, hobbit-esque windows and a charming wooden door nestled beneath an archway.
• Wood burning fireplaces and stoves may seem “old-fashioned,” but they’re still considered a sustainable way to create energy for your home as long as you follow a few guidelines.

The large sliding glass doors invite the outside inside, creating a seamless merge of interior and exterior. And let’s not forget that swimming pool, so sleek and shiny it looks like it’s polished every day by fairies. Another important factor in how green wood burning fireplaces and stoves are is the quality of the unit. This is where old and new blend together to create a smart energy source. Wood burning using an inefficient fireplace or stove is not only counterproductive, it is also can be a health risk if smoke and particulates aren’t properly filtered out of the home. Of course, an even better option than using new steel made from partially recycled content is using steel made from 100 percent recycled content.

Incorporate recycled materials into your design

• By incorporating them into your sustainable house plans, you can add vegetation to your roof or walls, bringing numerous benefits.
• The collected water can then be used for outdoor watering or other non-potable uses.
• Discuss these critical factors of location and orientation with your builder or architect to ensure they are taken into consideration.

For many homeowners, you likely have some typical turf lawn around your home as that’s just the standard landscaping. However, turf lawns are non-native species that have shallow roots and require mowing, high water consumption, and fertilization to keep in “ideal” green condition. We built our terraced garden on the slope of our front yard as it was the only place to maximize sun and it helped with erosion issues. It allows us to produce pounds and pounds of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers each year. It’s so abundant that we are able to can and preserve a lot of it to use in the winter months, which cuts down on our grocery bills.

Modern Rustic Retreat

You can https://ecosoberhouse.com/ use a concrete underground detention tank to store the water with a pump to circulate the water. Install roof gutters and downspouts that direct the water to a tank for reuse. Rainwater (depending on your area) can even be used for drinking if you filter and purify it.

Smart Irrigation Systems

I’ve got you – and your walls – covered with an interior paint palette sure to compliment your home. Find out more about our 40 acres of land in Parkland County, Alberta and the sustainable home we built amongst the trees. Sustainable house design is a concept that already exists tobe rolled out to the masses – in the form of prefabricated, or ‘prefab’, homes. You can read more what is alcoholism about the pros and cons of rainwater harvesting in our detailed guide.