Sustainability has been the word with which we have come into this century. The concept of sustainability basically calls for avoidance of the depletion of natural resources and maintaining the ecological balance in the activities that we undertake. Construction is one such activity that has the potential to disturb this ecological balance and step into the unsustainability zone. And that’s the reason why the concept of sustainable residential and commercial construction is proposed and practiced (not universally yet increasing). Here our area of focus would be residential construction and the sustainability-related to it.
Basically from laying out the construction plan to the best residential interior designer has a sustainability role to play everywhere. Talking about interior designing or home decorating, it is an area that has been less talked about when it comes to sustainability in residential construction. Sustainable architecture strategies and plan hold a key role in decorating your home with fewer carbon footprints. Being a relatively cornered area very few people know about such sustainable strategies in home construction and decor. However, by the time you scroll to the end of the page reading and leave the webpage, you would be among those few who know what exactly it is.
Material
It all starts with the material we use for construction and decoration. Generally, we see that many home decor items from wooden furniture to plastic-based accessories all add to the damage to the ecology in some way or the other. Here you can opt for the recycled items (even if you need items like plastic) for the decor part. These items may include old jars, pallet woods, old furniture, used fabrics, vases, etc.
Similarly when you talk about sustainable construction strategies then recycled concrete, fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag are some of the items that can be put to use in place of the traditional construction items that we use from scratch. Though going for the recycled and sustainable way you have to do a bit of hard work (considering that they are not usual) and invest some time. However, this would not be in vain as the sustainability factor that you would add to the dwelling place would be adding to the positive aura and feeling when you inhabit the house.
Space Reduction
One important way of reducing the carbon footprint of your house is to opt for small spaces in your houses rather than big and spacious units (unless it is necessary based on needs). Need-based small units are always better than having unnecessary space just to capture the physical area. You can utilize the physical area left after the small units to have a small green farm or water storage system to add to the ecological sustainability and effectiveness of your house.
The Rainscreen
If you want your house to have that all weather resistance then a rain screen is something that should be part of the plan. A rainscreen is basically an exterior cladding infrastructure. This exterior infrastructure creates an air cavity directly behind the cladding. This in turn helps to protect the buildings from moisture during rain. Moisture as we know is one of the major issues when it comes to the maintenance of houses deteriorating the structure. With this sustainable approach, you can keep such issues away.
Further, the rainscreen can also help you in maintaining the internal temperature of the house. By permitting air to vent through the siding, pulling stale air and dampness from the waterproof film an open rainscreen makes surrounding hot or cold air from going through the protection. Hence it acquires more than one advantage.
Abundance Of Natural Light
Have you ever thought of enhancing the natural lighting quotient of your house? Well, if you have then it’s an effective sustainable home decor and designing a strategy that crossed your mind. Large size windows, and Skylights (ventilators) that we used to see in our typical homes that were constructed earlier and even in many monuments (especially the Mughal era forts) have a very positive effect. These not only cut the artificial light expenditure but provide that necessary source of natural lighting that most of us miss in our high rising skyscraper based lifestyle.
Water Management
Water management is an essential part of sustainability. It starts with those slanting roof styles and ends at the proper storage and distribution of the water stirred. You can add an overhead tank or an underground water storage facility as a part of your home architecture design to accumulate the drops of water that otherwise keep getting wasted during rains.
Now, comes the important (and neglected part) putting the water to the right use. You can connect the water so collected with your gardening water tank or water tank that is used to provide water for the day to day washing and cleaning activities. You can divert the water for either of the purposes or distribute equally between two based on your needs to avoid wastage that happens when you transfer water physically from the facility to some other place.
Electric Sources Of Lightning
Now as we have talked about natural lightning we cannot say that we don’t need any electrical lighting for our house. In the modern world, this doesn’t work rather a combination of both that works sustainability. The basic lighting theme that most home decors involve is that of monochrome lightning. Though it may be a nice idea ( decoratively) it may not be good when it comes to the wastage of energy and its effective use.
Here the use of LED lighting sources is something that has been promoted this year. With the use of LED sources of lightning, you can ensure that the house is lit properly and effectively while being assured that you have done well at reducing the ecological damage in face of wastage of energy. The other benefit is of course the electricity bill saving that you would enjoy every month that you can use to give your family a dine out once a while.
Author Bio
Hermit Chawla is a Marketing Manager at Sprak Design. He would love to share thoughts on top restaurant designer near me, Lifestyle Design, Branding Firm, Exhibition design etc..
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