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Our Living Homes

  

We rarely give enough attention to the materials that have been used to construct our homes.

Careful selection of the right building materials and their combined use can impact on our health, budget, comfort and improve our home's thermal performance.

Think about the lifecycle of the building materials your home is wearing. Where did they originate? What were they beforehand? Who else depended on them? What processing was needed to make them builder friendly? How efficient are they at protecting our homes? Can they be reused if the home is no longer required?

Often materials can be reused, thereby reducing the energy use to extract, process and reform new materials.

If you consider the volume of homes and other buildings being constructed and the significant resources used, these questions become very important for every individual home.

While our family sizes are growing smaller, our houses are becoming larger. We are consuming materials at a rapid rate. We live in a society where construction and demolition waste constitute an enormous volume in our landfills.

Think about the items you see sitting in waste piles on building sites around your area. Did you know that about $1500 of your building charges are waste disposal costs?

Asking yourself, your builder or supplier the following key questions may help to give you peace of mind that you are living in a home that was built with careful thought to its social, environmental and economic benefits.

·        Can you reuse existing materials?

·        Are recycled materials available?

·        If renovating, can you recycle or resell unwanted parts of your home to others?

·        Can you work with your builder to reduce construction waste?

·        What is the lifecycle of products eg

H What emissions did they use to extract and process materials?

H What chemicals and toxins do your materials contain?

H What chemicals and toxins were used to produce their materials?

H Where do they source their products?

H What are the environmental or social impacts of sourcing, processing and transporting these materials?

Embodied energy is the total energy used in the lifecycle of a product. This includes growing, harvesting, production, transportation, construction, use and disposal.

In our climate, insulating and cladding our homes with lightweight materials that require little heating and cooling energy to maintain our thermal comfort is a smart approach.

As our families changes so do our needs. Try to design and build your home with materials that can be deconstructed, reused, adapted, modified or recycled.

Remember to be informed about your choices, so you know your home is safe, healthy, cost efficient and comfortable.