With green building materials, you can help protect the ecology
Among modern-day housing trends, sustainable homes built with green building materials are the most sought after. So much so that the World Green Building Trends report in 2018 called eco-friendly housing a global trend.
And that holds true for the US, too, as more people here are shifting to green housing than ever before.
In fact, both federal and state governments are incentivizing such innovative housing initiatives with tax credits and more. The result: a 19 percent increase in LEED-certified green homes across the country since 2017.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Even you might have considered building a green home with sustainable building materials or upgrading your home with such materials. However, it gets a lot more complicated when it comes to choosing eco-housing materials. That’s because not all products branded as green and eco materials actually qualify as eco-friendly.
Moreover, even if a product qualifies as eco-friendly, you can’t be sure about its durability and longevity.
You see, you don’t build or renovate your home every day. And you want sustainable construction materials to last you for long, don’t you?
That’s exactly why we have compiled a list of the best green building materials that can make your home truly eco-friendly. So let’s have a look.
The best green building materials on the market:
When we talk about green building products, it might evoke frail construction materials with a short lifespan. Worse, some of them may end up running the aesthetics of your home.
So you may ask if it is possible to achieve sustainability while also having a durable and elegant home.
And the answer is yes.
While it is true that eco-friendly building materials in their heydays were frail, their modern avatars are the sturdiest construction materials you’ll find on the market. Also, these materials will extend a natural charm to your home, thus enhancing its aesthetics manifold.
In case you are wondering, here are some green housing materials you should highly consider:
#1. Eco-shake Roofing
Did you know that 40 percent of your entire home consists of roofing itself?
Since the roof is so critical for your home, we can’t overstate the importance of strong and long-lasting roofing material.
But are there such green building products that qualify as durable and enduring roofing materials too?
Certainly, yes.
Eco-shake roofing shingles are among such materials that stand true to green roofing. These shingles are 100 percent recycled materials made from recycled cellulose fiber and vinyl.
And the best thing is that at the end of their lifespan, they are 100 percent recyclable too. Meaning, instead of dumping eco-shakes off in a landfill, you can take them to a recycling unit and help protect the ecology.
That sounds awesome, doesn’t it?
You might also wonder if eco-shakes are sturdy, apart from being a sustainable roofing alternative. After all, you don’t want roofing shingles that won’t last you for a long time or will be blown away in a storm.
However, you’ll be surprised to know that eco-shake shingles are one of the longest-lasting roofing materials. In fact, the manufacturers of eco-shakes are so confident of their quality that they even offer a 50 year long warranty coverage.
So you can rest assured that eco-shake roofing will last you for at least the next 50 years.
Now coming to the sturdiness of eco-shakes, they come with a class 4 impact rating and are also tested extensively to withstand up to 110 MPH wind speeds. That means no matter whether there’s a hurricane or storm, your roofing will stand strong.
In terms of safety, these roofing shingles have an impressive class A fire rating, which means they can be safe even in the worst of fires.
What about roofing elegance?
Well, eco-shake shingles are designed to look precisely like cedar shakes, meaning your roofing will have a classical wood elegance. And since it’s not actual wood, your roofing aesthetics will be enhanced without harming the planet in any way.
There you have it, the best green building materials for your roofing.
Bonus: eco-shakes come in handy for more
You see, even though eco-shake shingles are designed primarily for roofing a regular home building, you can use them for more roof-building purposes.
For instance, when building an ADU home, you can use eco-shake shingles or tiles to amplify the roofing aesthetics and make the roof more robust.
Similarly, if you’re building an outdoor home sauna, you can use eco-shakes to replace even the best wood for sauna, especially for sauna roofing.
#2. Recycled rubber: green building materials that prevent ecological damage
Recycled rubber is a great way to stop environmental damage by using synthetic rubber that would otherwise end up in dump yards.
Take discarded tires, for instance, that are dumped off in the open and result in ecological damage. By recycling these tires and making useful products out of them we can help save our ecology.
But what green building materials do recycled rubber make?
You see, beautiful eco-friendly flooring and carpeting products made from recycled rubber are readily available for your home.
In fact, if you’re looking for a cost-effective and elegant sustainable flooring material, rubber deck tiles should be your go-to solution.
Let’s look at this cost comparison to see why:
You can get recycled rubber floor tiles on the market at a cost of $2 per square foot. On the contrary, conventional flooring materials like hardwood will easily cost you upward of $15 for every square foot.
That’s a huge price difference, right?
You might ask whether low-cost recycled rubber flooring can last you for long.
Since rubber is a sturdy material, rubber flooring in your home will last way longer than other popular materials like vinyl and wood.
Also, you can use rubber floor tiles and carpets in the wet areas of your home worry-free of water-induced damage, as rubber is naturally water-proof.
Impressive, isn’t it?
#3. Recycled steel
Did you know that steel is the most recycled material on earth?
If you’re looking for green building materials with the longest lifespan, you should definitely consider recycled stainless steel.
As you know, in terms of durability and strength of the construction material, nothing really comes close to steel. And that’s exactly why the tallest and the largest buildings in the world are built on steel frames.
When it comes to building your sustainable home, recycled steel can come in handy as roofing and SIP panels.
Recycled steel SIPs
Structural insulated panels or SIPs are something that you do need for your home. Not only do these panels insulate the house, but they also make it more sturdy.
And when choosing an eco-friendly SIP material, recycled stainless steel should be your first choice.
Why?
You see, as an insulating material, steel fares better over other materials, as it can make a home 15 times more airtight. Also, since recycled steel is among the strong green building materials, with such steel SIP panels, you’ll have a sturdy exterior and a cozy interior space.
Recycled steel roofing shingles
Looking for a roofing material that can last you for more than half a century?
If yes, then scalloped metal roofing built from recycled steel should be your one-stop solution. This roofing material will easily outlast every other traditional or unsustainable roofing material on the market.
And the best thing is that recycled steel roofing shingles are available in a huge range of designs. So from Italian clay tile to classical wood cedar, there are multiple design options you can choose from and enhance your home’s beauty.
Amazing, right?
#4. Turtle-friendly lighting for your coastal home
When we talk about green building products, it doesn’t mean only those materials that are environmentally friendly. In fact, the scope of these sustainable building materials goes much beyond and includes birds and animals too.
And among such eco-friendly home products is turtle-friendly lighting for homes along or near the coastline.
As a matter of fact, sea turtle habitats are depleting fast, and it has much to do with artificial lighting along the coast.
You see, turtles hatch their eggs on dark and quiet beaches, and their hatchlings then find their way to the seas using the reflections of the moon and stars. However, extensive artificial lighting disorients these little sea creatures, who end up on the streets and homes.
And if not rescued on time, these sea turtles risk passing out due to dehydration.
How do turtle lights help protect sea turtles?
Turtle lights are long wavelength lamps, usually above 590 nanometers.
As per the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, long wavelength lights above 590 nanometers aren’t visible to sea turtles. The result: sea turtle hatchlings no longer get disoriented by the artificial lights and safely make their way back to the seas.
It’s true that nothing can replace the dark natural dark environment that sea turtles need, not even the turtle lights. However, with their long wavelength, LED turtle lamps have shown great results in preventing turtle hatchlings from making their way toward the human population.
#5. Solar shingles: green building materials that save your utility bills and the planet
If there is one eco-friendly building material that stands to protect the ecology and save your electricity bills, too, it’s none but solar roofing shingles. That’s because when you go solar with these shingles, you take your home completely off the grid.
As a result, not only do you reduce your carbon footprint by minimizing the use of dirty energy, but you also have green energy for free.
Back in the day, solar energy was synonymous with the large and bulky solar panels that would be mounted on your rooftop. Due to their heavy weight, these panels increased the load on your roof, thus requiring you to install roof reinforcements.
Also, while solar panels produced clean energy, it wasn’t enough to sufficiently power your entire home.
And not to forget how solar panels occupy the entire stretch of the roof and ruin your roofing aesthetics.
However, it’s a completely different story with modern-day solar roofing shingles.
You see, advanced shingles, like the Tesla or Apollo solar roofing system, are very lightweight, which means they add little to your roof’s weight. As such, you can be worry-free about adding roof support systems when installing these shingles.
Further, solar shingles like these are way more effective at energy generation and can easily provide sufficient electricity for your entire home.
Aesthetic-wise, Apollo or Tesla solar roofing shingles integrate into your roofline, thus maintaining the elegance of your roof.
Become eligible for a federal investment tax credit with solar shingles
You see, if you go solar, you can become eligible for a 26 percent Federal Investment Tax Credit or Federal ITC. Herein, you can recover up to 26 percent of your total investment in solar shingles in the form of tax rebates.
That’s awesome, isn’t it?
#6. Bamboo
Have you ever imagined living in a home made of bamboo?
From flooring to roofing to exterior and interior walls of your home, you can build just about anything with bamboo.
Bamboo has a great strength-to-weight ratio and an even higher comprehensive strength compared to brick and concrete. In fact, in terms of longevity, a good-quality bamboo home can easily last for more than 30 years.
But how can bamboo qualify among green building materials?
While bamboo needs to be harvested from a plantation, it has a really high rate of self-generation, with some bamboo plants growing up to three feet a day. Also, one need not replant bamboo, as it continues growing and spreading naturally.
And as bamboo is grown and even imported into the country, you can source them for your green home without hassle.
There it is, truly natural building material for your home.
#7. Cork flooring tiles
You might have seen cork on a wine bottle. But have you wondered if cork can be used as a building material?
Cork makes excellent flooring tiles, the reason why it is counted among the best green building materials.
In fact, cork is one of the most sustainably sourced materials since cork oak trees aren’t felled for harvesting cork. Also, cork can be re-harvested from the same oak tree every few years, throughout its lifespan.
A cork floating floor also outlasts its traditional flooring counterparts like vinyl and hardwood, lasting easily for up to 30 years.
Bonus:
Since cork floating floor is a 100 percent natural product, it doesn’t off-gas like vinyl, providing a healthy flooring alternative.
And as cork flooring comes in a wide range of designs, you need not compromise on your indoor decor.
Wrapping it up
As you can see, when it comes to green building materials, there are endless options on the market. That means you’re sure to find an eco-friendly housing product for just about every section of your home.
And there are enough reasons why you should shift to sustainable housing, as apart from helping protect the environment, you will also benefit from federal incentives and a high return on investment.
If you’re looking to build one such home, you can reach out to us. We have the widest range of eco-friendly building materials for your ideal sustainable home.
Looking to buy an existing sustainable home?
We can get you a green home of your liking.
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