Building an eco-friendly home extension is often a tough balance of trying to do the correct thing while also keeping tabs on your budget. Often, with home extensions, you have got already inherited existing foundations and walls that will not be compatible with sustainability principles.
There are still many belongings to be eco-conscious and build a home extension that minimizes waste, energy, and emissions. When planning a green home extension, confirm you give yourself time to contemplate all the choices. Being attentive to the finer details of the build now, like making simple swaps in what materials you utilize or what green tech you invest in, will make a giant difference to your energy usage within the long run.
Here are some ways you’ll be more eco-conscious:
- Insulate and insulate.: Keep the warmth in by adding solid wall insulation and cavity insulation. Using Celcon foundation blocks or Fibolite blocks to support a replacement wall will significantly reduce heat loss from ground floors.
- Roof lights or skylights: The more natural light you’ll let enter into your extension, the less electricity you’ll light your new rooms.
- Install Solar Panels: Photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal systems are a good way of manufacturing electricity from the sun to run your home, and you’ll resell any energy you don’t need back to the national grid. On average, a PV scheme on a typical British home can save one tonne of polluting carbon emissions once a year.
- Choose sustainably sourced materials: It’s an honest feeling to understand that swapping even one or two sustainable building materials will reduce your carbon footprint. Some things to think about including European oak for the timber frame, doors, and windows; Sheep’s wool or Hemp insulation within the walls and ceiling cavities; reclaimed stock bricks for the walls; traditional lime-based mortar rather than modern cement and reclaimed floorboards.
- Underfloor Heating vs radiators: As is shown in ecohomes.uk replacing a heating system that consists of radiators with underfloor heating will significantly reduce running costs and your CO2 emissions. consider electrical underfloor heating or a water system, which might be cheaper to run.
- Change from a gas boiler to a wood fuel utility to heat your eco-extension: What boiler you utilize can significantly reduce your carbon footprint. Wood-fuelled heating and Biomass Heating systems are now a viable and affordable option. Some Biomass Boilers have to be manually monitored or loaded with pellets daily, so you wish to be able to switch your mindset in your new ‘go green’ lifestyle. New tech on the market means there are many options for upgrading your boiler including Micro Combined Heat & Power (MCHP) boilers and Solar Thermal systems that harness heat from the daylight.
- Connected thermostats and controllers: Control your entire home by zoning areas off using thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) and room thermostats so you’re only heating the rooms you’re using.
- Use low VOC Paint: Choose paints made of low Volatile Organic Compounds. they need less noxious smells and lower volumes of polluting chemicals.
- Exterior Wall Insulation: There are many benefits of insulating your external walls – it’ll significantly reduce heat loss and energy bills, reduce draughts and protect your walls from moisture. There are many eco-friendly products available like SecilVit Cork, which is free from chemicals, synthetic resins, and carcinogenic materials.
- Upgrade your lighting: Switching to LED lighting is a straightforward thanks to reducing your energy consumption. you’ll also install Sensor Technology that automatically switches off lights when a space is empty and reduce your electricity usage by 30 percent. Daylight sensors will automatically adjust the substitute lighting in keeping with the quantity of natural light during a room and reduce electricity use by up to 40 percent. (carbontrust.com)
The more eco-materials and green tech you’ll be able to use, the more energy-efficient your new extension is – resulting in a longer-lasting home that will prevent money year on year.
