Living in an eco-friendly home doesn’t have to be hard. You don’t have to change your entire routine, tweak your budget, and stop being able to buy your favourite foods – not at all! In fact, you can get your home to work for you, and you won’t have to break the bank whilst you’re at it. And how? By looking into eco-friendly home renovations that are budget-friendly and last a good long while.
So, if you’re looking to live a little more green, it’s time to upgrade your home for the future, and that means knowing which renovations would suit your green ambitions best. And for your convenience, we’ve got a list of such projects below, to really help you get stuck into helping your local environment!
Use ‘Green’ Paint For Your Eco-friendly Home Renovations
Now, the paint itself doesn’t have to actually be green, but if you want to paint the living room or the kitchen in the near future, be sure to invest in eco-friendly paint. It does exist, and you’ll feel great knowing that your recent redec has done nothing to harm the environment around it! Not to mention that there are a lot of eco-friendly paint brands out there, so you’ll really have your pick of the bunch.
Using eco-friendly paint helps your home to be a little more green, thanks to just how simple and natural the paint formulas are. They’re far less likely to trap harmful materials in your walls, thanks to just how breathable they are, and that also means they’ll release far less fumes into the air. And if you’ve got anyone in the house with sensitive skin, getting this paint on their clothes or hands is going to be far less harmful to them. Now everyone can get involved with the redecoration project!
Switch Out Your Cladding
If the exterior of your home has been looking shabby lately, then it’s time to do something about it! Curb appeal is everything for a home’s value, and a good looking exterior can add up to 10% of your home’s original value on top. So why not rip off that old cladding, whether it’s wood or vinyl, and replace it with something that both looks good and takes sustainability into account?
There are many types of cladding out there, and many people will say that timber is the best material for your home’s exterior walls. And of course, it is! It’s a renewable resource, it doesn’t really contribute to total carbon emissions, and it’s incredibly durable due to its nature.
However, a material like Composite Cladding is also a good shout. For example, it’s made of already recycled materials, nothing wasteful goes into the material itself, and there’s no need for chemical sealants to coat it either thanks to innate durability. As a result, you’ll be dealing with less total carbon emissions throughout the DIY process, and you won’t have to worry about the surrounding environment being exposed to potentially toxic elements either.
Think About Underfloor Heating
Getting underfloor heating installed might sound like a step too far for you, but with underfloor heaters, you’ll be relying on the central heating far less. And that not only saves you money, but it also means that the floor heaters will pull their energy from more eco-friendly sources. These can include underground springs and/or pumps, and that helps your home to cut down on its carbon emissions.
Most people tend to spend around £600-£800 at most on getting a room done, but if you just choose the room you use the most throughout the day (such as the kitchen or living room), this can be a one room wonder of a project. That helps to keep the cost down, but if you also want to outfit the rest of the house, you’ll probably only have to spend up to £3000, with your heating bills paying you back tenfold for years to come.
Replace Your Kitchen Counters
Did you know that even your kitchen countertops could be made more eco-friendly? It’s a fact not many people are aware of, but with many companies now offering countertops that have been constructed out of recycled waste, your next kitchen renovation could be a far less wasteful project.
And even though these countertops are made out of recycled waste, they still look absolutely incredible. They can be made similar to marble and/or granite, if those are your preferred looks, and you’ll be proud to have them fitted in your kitchen. They can also be cheaper to invest in than the top of the range counters that you’ve been dreaming about, and your kitchen can finally have that hint of eco-friendliness it really needs!
Lower Your Bathroom Water Consumption
You don’t have to necessarily cut down your shower or bath time, unless you want to, but you can actually get some items installed in the bathroom to help you to keep the water consumption level at the lowest it can be. For example, you can switch out your showerheads for water-efficient ones – you can find types with flow regulators installed, to prevent more water than necessary from coming out.
But not only that; you can also rip out your toilet and replace it with a lower flow model. This will prevent too much water from being used every time you flush, and you can usually tell if a toilet is low flow or not by a dual-use button fitted on top. One side is for urine, the other number 2s, allowing you a lot more control over the flow of the water.
If you want your home to be more eco-friendly, make sure you’re doing the little things to make it feel and function more greenly. Whether you’re worried about the kitchen or the bathroom, there are ways to better these rooms. Take the necessary small steps to reduce and reuse today, and tomorrow really will thank you!
*This is a collaborative post