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Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

Knowing which eco friendly features to check when buying a new house is essential! Here’s our list of the top ones to look for

By Lora O’Brien

Buying a new house is a huge investment. You’re about to spend a lot of money becoming a homeowner, so it’s natural that you’d want to make sure your new home is, well, perfect, right?

There are many factors to consider before purchasing, more so if you want to be sure that your new home is as sustainable as possible.

Sure, you could just find your perfect home and make changes once moved in. But you could save time, cash and headaches by trying to find a home with all of the features you need already in place beforehand!

Main image: wowcher.com

Green Features To Look For When Buying A House

Green Features To Look For When Buying A House

1. Passive features

A passive house, or ‘passivhaus’ as it’s known in Germany is a home that has been designed to deliver healthy homes that are comfortable and energy efficient. The features of a passive home will be secure insulation with high performing windows and doors.

Some eco friendly passive features to check when buying a new house include:

Insulation

High quality insulation is a key feature in an eco home. Every surface will be expertly insulated, including the walls.

High quality windows

A key passive feature is the use of triple pane windows, alternatively known as triple glazing. Not only will this have a mouse reduction benefit on the home, but triple pane windows are more energy efficient than double glazing due to an addition pane of glass and a gas layer, so they retain more heat in the home.

Natural lighting and air

Making the most of natural light has lots of benefits, from regulating internal temperature, protecting furniture and reducing the need for LED light.

Modern appliances

You’ll want to be sure of the appliances that are used in your potential home. Are they modern? Many older appliances require lots of energy, whereas newer ones are more conscious on preserving energy.

Airtight construction

Look for high quality doors and windows to ensure that the home isn’t leaking energy.

No thermal bridging

The elimination of thermal bridging is one of the main focuses for passive designs. Thermal bridging is the term that has been adopted for those areas of a home which are less insulated, typically referred to as a ‘cold spot’. This can occur near windows and doors, which is why you’ll want to ensure the quality of these is of a high calibre. You can to maintain the ‘envelope’ in the home to prevent hot or cool air leaking from it.

Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

2. Window sealing

When looking for a new house, one of the eco friendly features to check includes the windows.

For example, for a more eco friendly home, window films can be used to help boost the energy efficiency within your home. Each room will have varying needs. So for example, a room with lots of natural sunlight would benefit from a reflective film. It will also be beneficial to be sure windows aren’t leaking air with gaps or broken seals. These encourage drafts and will also leak energy such as heating from escaping.

If you wish to use natural lighting while controlling UV, you might want to look for windows with a solar window film. They’re designed to block harmful UV lighting and to control the temperature. This will protect your furniture from sun damage, but it will also help you to naturally manage the temperature in a room.

Alternatively, energy controlling window films work like a shield against heat loss or gain by creating a thermal barrier. This will help you to naturally regulate temperatures within your new home by either utilising or reflecting solar energy. These make rooms in your home more comfortable as they won’t be draughty or stuffy, and is a great way for eco energy consumption within your home.

Image: ownly.ai

Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

3. Types of insulation

When it comes to eco friendly features to check when buying a new house, insulation should be top of this list!

There are many ways to warm your home economically and sustainably. Many plant-based materials, such as hemp, wood fiber, cotton, cork and straw have bloomed in popularity due to their eco-conscious credentials. They’re environmentally friendly, too, due to a few factors, such as the fact they’re renewable, require minimal energy when produced and at the end of their life cycle they will biodegrade.

You’ll want to steer away from homes that have been made using materials derived from the petrochemical industry due to the fact they come add to pollution and emit noxious gases. Even spray foam – which some deem to be eco-friendly – has been shown to release harmful chemicals into the air.

Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

4. Signs of humidity/mold

When viewing your potential new home you really want to look at the ventilation available. Rooms such as the kitchen and bathroom which produce heat and condensation can cause mould to grow, as can areas in the home without air movement. This can occur behind furniture or even inside wardrobes. Over time, mould can become dangerous not only to your home but to your health, too.

Be sure to look around doorways and windows for signs of mould, as well as take note of wallpaper for signs of bubbling or peeling as this can be from mould.

Don’t see any mould at all? Use your nose! If you detect a musty smell, think twice about purchasing that property!

Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

5. Types of cabinets and closets

You might neglect cabinets and closets when looking for eco friendly features to check in a new house.

In fact, you might look around a kitchen and love the style or appreciate the wardrobe space in the bedroom. But would it be high on your list to check what they were made from?

Likely not, but formaldehyde can be found in many cabinets. It’s used to make an adhesive which is then used to keep materials such as plywood together. It can then cling to items such as towels and bed linen when stored in closets made using formaldehyde. And it has the potential to harm the health of you and your family, causing respiratory issues and greatly affecting children.

When house hunting, be sure that all cabinets and closets are free from formaldehyde. You could buy a testing kit. Or alternatively, you could hire an industrial hygienist who will come into the home to check all cabinets in the home are safe.

Eco Friendly Features To Check When Buying A New House

6. Energy saving devices

One of the most obvious eco friendly features to check when buying a new house are energy saving devices.

These are great ways to ensure your future home is every bit as eco conscious as you. From solar panels to grey water tanks, there are plenty of energy-saving devices that make buying a new house more attractive.

The use of solar panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps provides a home with the ability to generate your own energy in a super affordable way. This reduces the need for fossil fuels, which is having a detrimental impact on our planet.

See Also

solar panels

7. Greenery

There are many reasons why being surrounded by greenery brings great health advantages.

If you’re considering buying a house that only has grass as its ‘greenery’, consider another home. Grass is high maintenance, requiring much water and pesticide. A better option is a wild, ‘English’ style garden, or just loads of trees.

Whether they’re indoors or outside, the presence of natural plants is important. They greatly reduce stress by helping you to feel soothed. This can help you to be more productive and feel more relaxed. Plants also look great and help to improve the air quality around your home.

Since it takes years – sometimes decades – for bushes and trees to grow, a mature garden is an invaluable asset!

rose garden

8. Natural finishes

Finishing is another of the eco friendly features to check when buying a new house. For example, you’ll want to be sure all paints and varnishes in the house contain very low levels of VOCs. Enquire whether a water-based stain or paint was used on the floors and walls.

curved ceiling

9. Decent appliances

It’s a fact that most homes today are sold with appliances intact. Which is a good thing, as these can cost a mint!

Dishwashers, fridges, washing machines and other appliances marked with the Energy Star label set the bar high for energy conservation in the kitchen. Be sure to look for an A rating at the very least (ratings go up to A+++).

Also check the brands are decent. For example, Miele, SMEG and Bosch are well known and trusted appliance brands that combine high performance with low consumption.

Image: lollyjane.com

modern kitchen fridge

And now, here is one feature that is thought to be eco friendly, but we aren’t so sure….

10. Energy efficient lighting

One of the biggest things to consider when home hunting is lighting. If you find a home that makes use of natural sunshine, you’ll obviously require less artificial light – during the day, at least. Many consider the use of LED lighting to be eco-friendly due to the fact that LEDs use low amounts of energy. For that reason, LED is sometimes referred to as ‘green’ lighting.

However, artificial LED lighting is actually pretty bad for your health. The blue light that’s usually emitted by LED signals to your body that it’s daytime still. This means your body doesn’t produce the melatonin it needs to relax, which then impacts your sleep quality. But that’s not all! LEDs also flicker rapidly. So rapidly, you may not even notice it. Yet that flickering can cause eye strain, fatigue, headaches, and even elevated risks of seizures.

So, if you find a house has installed plenty of LEDs, ensure replacing them won’t be a hassle. Indoors and out! You might not care much about the negative health effects of LEDs outside, and I get it. But…what about birds and wildlife? They’re affected, too!

rattan lamp

Lora O'Brien
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