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Building With Sustainability in Mind
Sustainable building is all about building homes in a way that impacts the environment as little as possible. This does not extend to just the building process but also the life of the building overall. In sustainable building, the site potential should be optimised, energy use should be minimal, water should be conserved, environmentally friendly products are used, the indoor environmental quality of a building should be enhanced, and maintenance practices should be environmentally friendly.
What is Sustainable Housing?
Sustainable housing is housing that does the following things:
- harvests rainwater
- treats sewage
- generates its own power
- uses renewable or recyclable resources
- avoids using toxic chemicals or substances
- is safe to live in and affordable
And the best part is that you can live in these houses just like you would any other house. In sustainable housing, the following goals should be achieved:
- freight costs are reduced
- the need for consultants is reduced
- earthworks are reduced due to a minimal need for excavation
- a design that is highly energy and water efficient
- ventilation should be so effective that mechanical heating and cooling should not be required
- the fittings and fixtures should be long lasting and durable
The Three “R’s” in Sustainability
The three R’s in sustainability are reduce, re-use and recycle. The first thing that you can do is reduce the amount of materials that you use by building a smaller house that is better designed for your needs. You will also save yourself money. If you can, re-use materials or even existing buildings in order to reduce the need for resources, lower the amount of waste generated, and save money. Wherever possible, do not demolish buildings. If the materials have reached the end of their useful lives, then recycle them. Recycled materials reduce the demand for new materials and lower the volume of waste that ends up in landfills.
As well, make the most of renewable resources such as sustainably managed forests, in order to conserve the non-renewable resources. To help create a better market for recycled products, use products that contain a large percentage of recycled products.
Creating Sustainability in the Building Process
There are several things that you can do in order to achieve maximum sustainability during the building process itself. These include:
- Provide recycling skips and ensure that all trades use them
- Use reputable waste service providers
- Use sub-contractors that are aware of ways to minimize waste generation
- Have a contract in place that requires all of the people involved in the building process to adhere to waste minimization processes
- Have trades dispose of their own waste
- Provide regular bins for household waste and food scraps during the construction process
- Lock recycling skips at night to prevent regular rubbish being dumped in and rendering the waste unrecyclable
- Only use enough packaging to adequately protect goods
- Have suppliers collect or recycle their packaging
- Any fragile materials or fixtures should be delivered as close to when they are needed as possible to reduce the risk of breakage
- Check goods on delivery to ensure that they are in the condition that they should be in
- Reject materials of poor quality if they will only result in more waste
Using Services in a Sustainable Manner
There are many services and tradespeople involved in the construction process. However, it is possible to make this process a sustainable one.
- Concreting – in concreting, use recycled aggregate where applicable, reinforce the concrete with recycled steel, and form up accurately and fine tune the estimation process to minimize waste.
- Carpentry and Joinery – in this trade, use engineered timber products that has been sustainably sourced, prepare accurate cutting lists before ordering , and use off-cuts wherever practical.
- Bricklaying – during delivery, have the bricks dropped around the perimeter in order to save damage during transportation, and use an appropriate mortar strength. A softer mortar will save cement and help with recycling.
- Electrical Services – plan your wiring and use sub boards in order to reduce wiring distances, quantities, waste and cost. Use PVC free insulated cable and consider things such as pulse switching and intelligent controls to reduce both cabling and energy use.
- Plastering – plasterboard should be obtained from suppliers that recycle and any offcuts should be kept for recycling or stored for use in another job.
- Glazing – construction glass should be kept separate from all other types of glass. Glass can also be recycled as aggregate, and most glass can be melted down and recycled.
Consider the Health Effects of Materials in Sustainable Building
The materials that are used in building can have an effect on a person’s health. What you need to consider are the emissions produced by the material, the toxicity of the material, the quantity of the material and the proximity of it. These all have an effect on the quality of the air inside the home. Therefore, there are four basic ideas that building designers can adopt to improve the home’s air quality: eliminate, ventilate, separate, and absorb. Use building materials that have low emissions and ensure that there is adequate ventilation both during the building process and also the entire occupancy of the building, however long that may last. Materials should be pre-dried, quick drying, use water as the solvent, or classed as having low or no volatile organic compounds. Many old fashioned materials such as limewash for the walls, beeswax or linseed oil for wood finishing, vinegar for cleaning and herbs for pest control have little to no levels of toxicity.
Natural Paints for Sustainability
Natural paints are great because they do not have the toxic emissions of standard paints. They provide excellent coverage, are easy to use and can be applied with a brush or a roller. You can even get decorative finishes with natural paints. Natural paints can be coloured with pigments, or it can be tinted with standard commercial pigments, however, if you opt for the latter, be aware that you will be adding synthetic chemicals to the paint.
Natural paints have a whole host of benefits including being low allergy, non toxic, low odour, they allow the walls to breathe, and they are durable.
Using Water Sustainably
It is possible to use water in a sustainable manner in the home, so that you are not totally dependent on the main water supply. A rainwater tank is incredibly useful for watering the garden, and to get the most benefit from your tank, you can also connect it to your house to use for toilet flushing, in the laundry, and you can use it to top up the pool or wash your car.
Using rainwater will save you money on your water bill as rainwater is free, and you may be eligible for a rebate on a rainwater tank. It also allows you to water your garden during times of restriction, reduces the load on stormwater systems, and reduces the need to build more dams, which may have to be located in environmentally sensitive areas.
Greywater may also be used on the garden or even connected to the house to use for flushing the toilet. However, if you are using it in the home, you will need an approved plumbing design and treatment system. This is because greywater can contain large numbers and care needs to be taken to ensure that the greywater cannot enter the drinking water supply or come into direct contact with people. Greywater also contains pollutants which can damage the environment if it is not recycled correctly. Before reusing your greywater, you will need to check with your local authority. In most cases, you can divert untreated greywater for immediate reuse as long as there are no adverse impacts on public health or the environment.
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