Building Green On A Budget
Okay, so you want to build green, but you’re on a tight budget. You can’t afford to have a custom house designed for you, but those McMansions in the house plans magazine are also way out of your budget. Well, somebody finally noticed that there’s a market for smaller homes: Check out The House Plans Shop. Not only do they have some nice smaller house plans (houses for real people, rather than Briney Spears), they’ve also taken notice of the growing desire to incorporate green building technologies into the plans. Here’s a link that will take you to a brand new page on their site about green building.
Now, keep in mind that these are stock plans, so you’re not going to find plans on their site that use green building methods such as structural insulated panels (SIP) or insulated concrete forms (ICF), or even engineered lumber (which usually requires different frame spacing to be an affordable option to sawn lumber). But that doesn’t mean stock plans can’t be “greened up” in many other ways. In almost any house you can:
- Choose any of several types of recycled and/or natural fiber insulation.
- Choose an energy efficient heating and air conditioning system (HVAC). (Here on the North Coast, install a high efficiency wood stove, which has a carbon neutral footprint. See my article: Is Wood Heat Green?)
- Choose energy efficient windows, and get the type that open so there’s good natural ventilation.
- Choose low VOC or no VOC coatings. (I really don’t recommend the all natural paints made from flax and what not because they don’t hold up at all!)
- Choose flooring systems made of natural, or sustainably grown materials.
- Install an on demand water heater, rather than a tank style water heater.
- Install a rain water recovery system. In fact, while you’re at it, capture all the drainage water from the property and use it in your garden.
There’s a lot that you can do on a budget, even with stock house plans, to build green. And it all starts with picking an appropriately sized house. You might want to give The House Plans Shop a look see before deciding which stock plans to buy.
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