The right home improvement products, techniques, and services:
Contractors, home improvement stores, and specialty shops in your area may not yet have a complete familiarity with the ‘green’ opportunities, products, system integration, and overall savings potential. So, you may get some resistance, since people in general are typically more comfortable recommending something that they are already familiar with rather than something new. To help break the inertia, use the information across this website like our Return on Investment Master ROI Table. Also feel free to post a question in our forum on the message board about a particular need for your home relative to your area. Our team has spent multiple years aggregating research from public and private sector performance reports and from manufacturers and homeowners across the country in order to provide you with the perspective you may need to see the initial payback and long term advantages. Environmental enthusiasts and leading institutions like the American Institute of Architects and the National Association of Realtors, see the value and link into our resources to support their members.
The Green Home:
For your overall home improvement, you can save money, improve your family’s health, and save the planet. Find out for free how much it will cost to do different types of home improvement in your home from a qualified and member approved contractor in your area. Get a FREE Quote . Plus, regardless of the size and scope of your home improvement project, save money and keep your home clean with the top rated chemical free and concentrated Green Home Cleaning Products .
Category Checklist:
Make sure to consider the latest Home Improvement products and services. If you are doing the work yourself or planning on working with a home improvement contractor use this checklist below as a guide to review and ask questions about the preferred products, details, and installation techniques related to:
Product Specifications:
Selecting Home Construction Products, Selecting the Right Finishes, and Selecting Home Systems.
Tips on Product Specifications:
Many projects go over budget and over schedule because the right products have not been researched in advance of the start. The wrong products either need to be replaced, which extends the cost due to re-stocking charges, or they extend the budget due to lead time requirements. For finish selection – TEST IT OUT! For something like paint, you can paint a portion of a wall rather than painting a whole room more than once. Make sure to look at the paint under daytime and nighttime conditions with different lighting. Imagine how many homeowners have repainted themselves or had their painter repaint because they approved a color just form a chip or only saw a sample on the wall during the day. When it comes to selecting home systems for heating and cooling (HVAC), get free bids and recommendations from at least two or three installers. If the size and type of system recommendations do not match up, then get additional bids until there is some consensus on the best path for your home and your budget. There are obviously multiple ways to ‘skin a cat’ but there is usually one or two solutions that make the most sense, and you want the right system. Operating costs over multiple seasons and years should also play into your decision in addition to the initial hardware and installation costs.
Also pay close attention to the specifications on little details like, grout. You can find grout that is stain resistant and it only costs a little bit more, but will more than make up the extra cost in the time on maintenance.
Home Improvement Basics:
When it comes to home improvement basics, look for interior home improvements like creating a clean, safe, and healthy home through sustainable ‘green’ furniture, home décor, zero VOC and Interior Paint, plus ENERGY STAR Appliances and Electronics. For energy and utility savings you can focus on insulation and air sealing, windows, doors, lighting and skylights, water saving plumbing opportunities, and high efficiency heating and air conditioning systems. On the outside of your house, look for exterior home improvement opportunities through landscape design and gardening plus solar energy, wind and other power sources. If you are undertaking a major home renovation, an additions, or building a new home, then take the lead to ‘go green’ in as many ways as possible to save money and the environment.
