As more and more green products develop, it becomes harder to compare them and choose between them. What does it even mean when a product is “green”? And what qualities should you look for when selecting products for your home? The following are some green product criteria that we felt would help clarify what really makes a product green.
Today’s blog is a shout out about a flame retardant product that is being developed and tested at Texas A&M. It’s made from natural and renewable resources: layers of clay and a polymer from crab shells. These layers are designed to help prevent a fire from igniting a surface instead of trying to extinguish it after ignition like most fire retardants.
Our green building tip-from-the-past for today is that a local material available to you is your existing home. In the past, families built on to their homes, or adapted certain room functions to make the building usable and comfortable as they grew. You can similarly be sustainable through managing and improving your “home resource” to ensure it continues to be your present sanctuary while having the ability to be available for future generations.
Today’s glance at the past to help with green building in the present is more about a building ideology than a building type. When most people built their homes and businesses a hundred years ago, they didn’t order bamboo flooring that took months to cross the pacific from Asia. Instead, they used the materials readily available around them. And we can do the same.
Let’s take a look at another vernacular house design and think about ways it relates to green home building for Bryan-College Station. Today’s building style under examination is the shotgun house.
What other building types and techniques from the past can direct our development of green building? Let’s take a look at the “dog run” or “dogtrot” house. This type of building contained two separate rooms or structures that were connected by a single large roof. The connection created a breezeway or “dogtrot” between the structures that pulled cooler air through the space and created a pleasant, covered outdoor area.
It is often said that learning from the past helps us avoid future mistakes. Could it be possible that techniques and constructions methods for homes 100 years ago could help shape and guide our green building ideas of today?
There was a recent article in the opinion section of the New York Times that very poignantly identified the need for changes in the housing industry, especially the rising need for thinking-outside-of-the-box in regard to single-family homes. What are some changes in designing that should take place? And how can these changes be beneficial to you, your community, and the environment?
Sealed attic, part of a home remodel in Bryan / College Station by Stearns design build. If your utility bill seems absurdly high, your home’s heating/cooling system and lack of adequate amounts of insulation are two possible culprits. Cracks and openings in your house allow outside air in and let inside air out.
Remodeling is a great opportunity to “green” your home. It’s just another reminder that you don’t have to build a completely new home to make it environmentally conscious and efficient. Take for example an article in the Journal of Light Construction yesterday. It discussed how the decision to replace siding on a 120-year-old home in Massachusetts turned into an opportunity to add insulation to the home and make it more thermally (and there for energy) efficient.
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Stearns Design Build
College Station Custom Home Builders
2151 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy S #219
College Station, TX 77840
Phone: 979-696-0524
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