Home & Garden...

Building your own green home is awesome. However, some of us like our house just fine already; we don’t want to build a new home, we just wish our current home could be a little more green. Here are some ideas for remodeling green:

Make a flexible wish list: If you’ve been considering green building or remodeling, than it’s likely you have some wish list ideas. It’s a good idea to keep your list flexible though. Until you speak with your remodeling team, it’s tough to know which eco-techniques will work in your existing home.

Questions you may want to explore include:

• Which green home options have we seen in action that we think might work well in our home?
• How do we want our home to make us feel when we walk through the door – energized, relaxed, both?
• Which green home options will give our home the most bang for our bucks – are there options with a better return value? A quicker return value?
• How will making these changes affect our current lifestyle?
• How involved am I willing to be in the running of my home – for example can I learn to check and change batteries for solar power? Do I want to?
• How do we currently use our home? Which spaces are the most occupied on a daily basis – which are the least occupied?
• What do we have that is worth keeping (like large windows that allow natural light), and what do we think needs changed (like better insulation, less toxic carpet).
• And of course - how much am I willing to spend? OR how much can I spend? Having a general idea of your budget can be useful when you start talking with your remodel team.

These are just a few questions to consider. The design process when remodeling takes a while. To jump start, you may want to talk to a company that specializes in green design and or green re-design. This can help give you an idea of options, costs, and time commitments.