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More and more frequently I have been asked to remodel a house for multiple generations living under one roof. It might be a couple with young kids and aging parents, or it might be parents, grandparents, and boomerang kids who've returned home after college. The owners of the house are usually members of the "sandwich generation," which means they're caught between caring for increasingly elderly parents and raising their kids.
If you're like a lot of homeowners, you've been thinking for a while that you need to improve the energy efficiency of your house. When meeting with me, clients are always bringing up energy costs and ways of improving efficiency. Clearly it's on a lot of people's minds. With the current economic climate, many people are concerned about saving money. In addition, there has also been enhanced awareness about going green and reducing your carbon footprint. Fortunately there's a lot of information available about how to improve your home's energy efficiency.
So you're thinking of remodeling your home, but you keep asking yourself this question: "Is it worth it?" After all, remodeling costs money, takes time, and creates a lot of inconvenience. I see potential clients weighing these factors constantly. Will the end result be worth all the resources you invested? If you're remodeling with the idea that you will soon sell your home, you want to be sure that you don't invest more money than you can recoup when you put the house on the market.
Matching your dream remodel with your actual budget is sometimes a challenge. There are countless possibilities, but bringing them to fruition is another matter. The best idea is to work closely with your designer and remodeling company so that you can choose where to spend your budget and where you can pare down. This working relationship is the difference between ending up with a room you love, or one that leaves you less than satisfied.
Here are a few helpful hints where you can lower your remodeling costs and still end up with a room you absolutely love.
Recently I was talking to a friend about her remodeling ambitions. Before the recession hit, she and her husband were considering tearing down their 1959 house and building a new home – something which is pretty common in the Washington D.C. suburbs. When the recession hit, she lost her job and they decided to put their plans on hold. Now their financial position is still shaky, but they're getting fed up with their cramped, outdated house.
If you want to take advantage of the sun's energy it doesn't mean you have to have solar panels on your roof. Using passive solar design principles, your whole house can be designed in such a way that the sun helps to heat and light your house – without the use of panels, fans, or other mechanical equipment. You can reduce your energy costs because you're using the sun as a source of free energy.
The heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system in your house represents the biggest chunk – up to 44% – of your utility bill. In addition, HVAC-related carbon dioxide emissions amount to 150 million tons a year. So if you want to reduce your carbon footprint and decrease your energy costs, the HVAC system is a great place to start. By implementing energy-efficient HVAC practices and replacing your system with a more efficient one, you can reduce your energy costs by 20 to 50%.
If you have an older home, you may find that your windows leak and let in cold air in the wintertime. Older windows can also be hard to open, dirty, warped, or inconvenient in other ways. The question is: are replacement windows worth it? Although windows can be costly, new windows will almost certainly reduce your energy bills and increase the comfort in your home.
Lighting accounts for 25 to 33 percent of a household's annual electricity bill; fortunately, reducing lighting costs is as easy as changing a light bulb. There are two kinds of energy-efficient light bulbs, which use as much as 75 percent less electricity than traditional incandescents – and your bulb will last much longer. The energy-efficient bulbs save energy, reduce your bills, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Using timers and occupancy sensors with the bulbs will save even more energy and extend the life of your bulbs.
Energy Star is a term you hear mentioned a lot when you're buying many different products, but what exactly does the term mean and who runs the program? Below are some useful facts about the Energy Star program.
