Green Building and Remodeling

THE GREEN BUILDING & REMODELING MOVEMENT

Green is getting a bad wrap. Everyone thinks to be green you need to have solar panels on your roof and a wind turbine in your yard. That is wrong!!!!

My definition of green is saving money to do what I want to do with my money. We all have to pay for electricity and water and some of us have to pay for natural gas. It is within our control to determine how much we want to pay.

Here are a few "GREEN" improvements you can do to your home that will start saving you money as soon as they are installed. I cannot guarantee how much you will save because we all have different lifestyles but you will save and more than likely increase the value of the structure you are improving.

• If you need to replace your gas water heater consider going tank less.
  
• If you need new windows go with insulated low E Glass.
  
• If you are replacing a toilet go with a low flow unit that can flush using less than a gallon.
  
• If your attic insulation is in need of upgrade consider more fiberglass insulation or open cell spray foam.
  
• If you need a new thermostat replace it with a programmable one.
  

I could keep going but I hope you got the message. My Green is about reducing the monthly operating cost of your home and/or office. I am not asking you to hug a tree. I am trying to help you save money by not paying it to the utility compnies.



GREEN NEW CONSTRUCTION

Our company prefers to build new homes under the new Green Building Standard that was developed by the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) and the International Code Council (ICC). This program has a scoring tool that determines the level of green that your home qualifies for, and it is verified by an independent verifier to prevent builders from taking short cuts. If you go to www.nahbgreen.org you can view the scoring tool and see if this is right for you.

The program has four levels.

• Bronze
  
• Silver
  
• Gold
  
• Emerald
  

The higher you go up the chart the more it costs. Silver can add 4%-6% to the total cost of a home and the Emerald can add up to 20% to the cost of a home. The bottom line is the more you do to a home the more efficient it becomes which translates into lower operating cost over the life of the home.

Lenders have special loans for green built homes and you can actually qualify for better mortgage rates if you build green.