How To Make Your Renovation Project Energy Efficient

There are many kinds of rehabbers out renovating homes these days.  One group that is particularly interesting is the investors not just investing for profit but also investing in energy saving initiatives and appliances when rehabbing a home. This group of green thinking rehabbers is truly concerned about lowering their carbon footprint.  These kinds of improvements are a good selling point because they can save the future home owner a whole lot of money for years to come. And the new owner will have the satisfaction of knowing that their property is contributing towards greenness and energy saving to help the environment.

While investing a little bit to reduce wastefulness in our utility resources like electricity and water, we hope as a community of investors to gain a whole lot more in payback over time.  A great example we can all relate to are investing in energy efficiency with sensible wall and roofing insulation which keeps your home’s living temperature ambient and comfortable all year round.  So, read below just a few tips from saving energy to avoiding unwanted humidity to clever switches so you turn off TV power supplies properly. Every little action that helps to save on energy wastage and costs is money well spent and investments that will pay you back many times over in the future.  

1. Check for water intrusion, condensation, and excess moisture before you begin the project. Fixing those issues during remodeling can improve your home's indoor air quality (excess moisture encourages mold).

2. Use the least amount of framing allowed by your building code when adding walls without compromising safety.  Not only will you have to pay for less lumber and fewer nails, the contractor will have more room to put insulation in your walls, making your home more energy efficient.

3. Resist the urge to splurge on multiple shower heads.  Opt for a single low-flow shower head rather than installing a car wash-style plethora of shower heads.

4. If possible, add new HVAC ducts to parts of your home that are heated and cooled, rather than placing them in a space with unconditioned air (like the attic).  If that's not possible, insulate the ducts. Have an HVAC diagnostician analyze your system to make sure it's sized correctly and balanced to properly exchange old and new air.

5. Be sure to insulate around recessed lights that protrude into uninsulated attic spaces - these are major sources of air leaks.

6. If you're wasting water, you're wasting energy.  Look at high-efficiency or solar water heaters and insulate your water pipes.  If you want hot water faster, move the water heater closer to the faucet or install demand pumps to drive hot water to the fixture.

7. Install wall-mounted efficiency toggle switch plates for the outlets where you plug in your televisions and computers to make it easy to cut off the power to electronics you're not using.

8. A humidistat that automatically turns on the bathroom fan when moisture rises beats depending on teenagers or tenants remembering to use the fan.  Reducing bathroom moisture reduces the chances you'll have mold.

There are several other tips available and these are just a few that many rehabbers can take advantage of in some of their projects to add value.  By providing a better experience to the new homeowners, it is a win-win for all.