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:
- Chalkboard Paint
- Door Painting
- Faux Finishing and Painting
- General Painting Technique
- Indoor Painting Projects
- Interior and Airless Paint Sprayers,
- Magnetic Paint
- Paint Applicator Overview
- Paint Contractors
- Painting Kitchen Cabinets
- Painting Various Surfaces
- Prepping Interior Surfaces,
- Stenciling, Texturizing, Wall Murals and
- Zero VOC Paint
Tips on Zero VOC and Interior Paint: According to the environmental Protection Agency, indoor air quality is significantly worse than outdoor air quality. The chemicals used in paint is part of the reason, because of the ‘off-gassing’ that occurs. The smell is not good for you, your family, or the environment. As demand for ‘green’ has dramatically picked up speed, major paint manufacturers have gotten the hint. Some VOCs used in paint are suspected or known carcinogens. Some chemicals, released as the paint dries, damage the atmosphere. For years, some homeowners have sought low- and no-VOC paints, because of allergies, product sensitivities, health fears or eco-philosophy. In the past the choices were limited to only a few relatively bland colors, but the spectrum is now bright.
Ask for low or zero Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) paint and finishes. The cost is typically only a few dollars more per gallon, and your family will enjoy a healthier home. New air-quality regulations with more on the way have driven manufacturers to curb VOC levels in paints. Paint makers have started to reformulate their paints and expand their lines or introduce new ones, so more high-quality, low- and no-VOC paints are available. They now come in thousands of shades, including deep ones that were not available just a couple of years ago. Typically, the deeper colors have had the higher the VOC levels, but that is no longer the case for the new lines that are available.
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.