3 Key Areas to Concentrate on When Designing an Energy Efficient Home

Construction & Contractors Blog

The high costs of energy is making it necessary for modern homeowners to look for ways of reducing their heating and cooling bills. If you are thinking of building an energy efficient home, there are lots of things that you will need to consider. But here are a few major areas that are sure to have the greatest positive impact on your efforts to moderate indoor temperatures and drive down energy bills.

Flooring

The flooring type that you choose can also influence how much energy (and money) you will save in your home. If you live in a region that experiences cold weather for most part of the year, for example, you may need to integrate the warm feel of timber flooring into your home. But if it you haven't budgeted for a high quality timber flooring, you may opt for cheaper floor types, such as wall-to-wall carpet flooring, to help retain heat and keep you feeling warmer during the cold spell. Rugs can also be used to keep certain areas in your home warmer. Hence, selecting an appropriate floor type for your new home is an economical way to save on temperature control expenditures.

Roofing

There's the traditional dark-coloured roofing, like black asphalt roofing, and then there's cool roofing. Cool roofing comes with a light-coloured or reflective finishing that saves energy by minimising on both solar heat absorption and retention of your home. In turn, this attribute helps keep both your roof and your entire home cooler, especially during the hot summer days when you need to keep your air conditioning appliances running most of the time, if not throughout.

Therefore, you should not be preoccupied with the aesthetics alone when you are choosing a roof for your new home because the type of roof you select can impact on how energy wastage you will avoid, cutting down your utility costs in the process.

Insulation

Another great way to trap heat in your home is through proper insulation of the entire structure. Insulation refers to any material, such as foam, caulking, fibreglass, etc. used to create a tightly sealed building, which will experience minimal heat gain or loss through the walls (including doors and windows), ceiling, and floor.

With the right amount of insulation, you will be able to prevent heat transfer in and out of your home so that you won't end up incurring unnecessary heating and cooling expenditures. You have a say on the type of insulation that your builder can place in your new homes, but some insulation are specially designed for particular areas of homes. Fibreglass batts, for instance, can be used to insulate walls, ceilings or floors.

8 June 2016