There are many ways to be green and everyone has there own suggestions these days. At Footprint Construction we start with all the little things that can fit into any clients budget and go from there.
Here in the heartland there are old wooden barns and railroad depots spotting the landscape slowly deteriorating until someone eventually bulldozes them down or just burns them. Footprint Construction has recycled many of those old buildings from around the area that are slated for demolition. After being cleaned the wood is reused as flooring, trim, cabinets, stairs, and even doors. The wood that comes out of the old structures is something that can not be found at the lumber yard or home improvement stores. This wood is harder, straighter, has more character, and is being saved from going to the land fill.
Along with reclaiming wood we also work to conserve as much wood as we can. One way we do this is with proper planning and layout of the floor plan. When determining the final sizes of walls and rooms we always keep in mind standard lumber lengths and make sure our walls fit as close to or just under those lengths as possible. This saves from having to buy longer lumber and then having longer cutoff scraps.
Another way to save material is by using long lasting and durable materials. Using durable materials means less long term cost and less waste since it doesn’t have to be bought and installed multiple times. This also means less maintenance for the home owner.
There are many other passive methods we use such as keeping an open floor plan with many windows allowing natural light and ventilation to penetrate into interior spaces allowing less light usage throughout the daylight hours.