By Carolyn Mitchell
Green building supplies are the wave of the future. Builders are choosing green products in part due to rising interest from their clients, but also due to municipal coding structure changes that prefer green materials. As local municipalities move to make sustainable products a requirement of new buildings, homeowners can take action now to update their real estate investments with alternative building materials.
There are numerous options in the sustainable building material industry. Many of these options are multifaceted and can be applied to various projects to update or build a home while others are specific applications that are best for certain products.
You can marvel at the advancement in clean technology from industry leaders and small startups alike when you start exploring these sustainable options. Reap the benefits of choosing green technologies and sustainable building materials for building projects in the backyard or around the globe.
Introduction to Sustainable Building Materials
According to the World Green Builders Council a whole global market is growing to satisfy worldwide demand for green building materials. That means there are plenty of options and opinions on what to buy and what to avoid. People want to be a part of this Earth friendly trend and make their space out of green building products, and with a bit of research the right sustainable building materials for each building project will be clear.
It is important to note that although these products are meant to reduce the carbon footprint of the builder and property owner, they also provide an opportunity to show the rest of the community the importance of green building products. One project can illustrate to the whole neighborhood how responsible and resilient green technology can help bring the home into the future.
Here are several houses in a community that have moved to solar power. These panels allow for relatively inexpensive additions to the home in a small amount of time. This enables the homeowner to begin benefiting from the use of sustainable building materials sooner than replacing a whole roof.
Whole roof systems or Solar Roofs are a bit different than the panels pictured above. The roofs are replacement for traditional shingles and cover the entire roof and in fact it acts as the roof itself. These also produce electricity, but are a better candidate for a whole roof replacement or new building whereas the solar panels are usually preferred for a green update to the home.
How about ethically harvested stone or even a departure all together with K-Briq. An exciting new product designed to reinvest construction waste back into the supply chain of building materials. K-Briq’s innovations allow them to harvest construction waste, wash, refine and produce new brick for building.
Innovators like the people who first brought bamboo flooring to market or the geniuses behind the K-Briq have sought for ways to increase our happiness and decrease our pain. With continued research and excellent execution of ideas the green building material industry continues to bring to market new, functional and affordable options for the homeowner or the professional builder.
Bamboo to the Rescue
The builders that use green products are pleased with the materials’ workability. It is one thing to build a great product, but that product must eventually be installed. The green building material industry puts forth great effort in making the installation of their productions as easy or easier than traditional building supplies. Bamboo flooring stands out on the sustainable building materials market, and with consumer confidence, price, durability and ease of install.
Bamboo is always an intriguing and alluring product designed for durability, weather resistance, and strength. This super material is used in many building and decorating applications. One very effective and common application for bamboo is flooring.
Everyone with kids and pets knows the difficulty in keeping flooring in good shape. There are many modern and traditional styles with their own set of materials offered to consumers. However, very few if any provide the shear confidence and effectiveness as bamboo.
Bamboo is an excellent choice to replace kitchen, bathroom, living room, basement, hallway or anyplace you want a beautiful floor that will resist damage even in high traffic areas and areas prone to moisture or wet spills.
Bamboo grows fast and is easily fit into growing situations where other sustainable building materials place more of demand on their respective environments.
Image by Tuan Nguyen Khac from Pixabay
Innovation
Products like magnesium oxide boards and magnesium oxide impregnated products provide the homeowner or business owner with yet another choice in the sustainable building material market.
This unique product is powered by using and curing magnesium oxide in such a way as to add longevity and versatility to many different products. Strength is not the only attribute that makes this a good sustainable building material option, but also the fact these products are fire resistant.
Fire resistance combined with its insulating power makes magnesium oxide building products a major contender for the consumer dime. When a builder is considering material to minimize the amount of work the furnace or air conditioner must put forth to heat or cool the building, magnesium oxide boards present a great solution. Magnesium oxide materials shine forth as a solution to heat loss and heat absorption.
When starting any project it’s a good idea to go through the options and find sustainable building materials that will work with what is already installed. The alternative is to purchase traditional products that will get the job done, but without any of the added benefits of years of learning.
Magnesium oxide can be used to make thin concrete tiles for an attractive and resilient choice for many applications. These boards and concrete tiles and products like them provide almost limitless options for use in a multitude of applications. These products are revered for their fire resistance, affordability, durability and insulating factors.
Durability
Unprecedented time and energy went into producing long lasting and beautiful products. When competing with the traditional market it is important to not only meet the demands of the competitor, but often beat them out. This is especially true in terms of damage resistance. It is hard to find a product more verstial and long lasting than green products like bamboo flooring.
Dependable and long lasting options from the roof to the floor. Many builders give preference to bamboo flooring for its premier look, affordable and durable nature. There are many choices, but one thing that is clear: renewable and green products are built with a focus on the consumer using the product for years to come. The alternative to green building supplies is traditional building supplies which use built in obsolescence that encourages waste of material and consumer finances.
Affordability
The only way a new technology or material will be adopted by the masses is to increase affordability. It is a fine thing to produce a product that saves the whole world, but what good does it do if no one uses it? Modern green building supplies currently used by builders world wide offer value and quality.
While sometimes it is clear the product will be a time and cost saver, other times it is less clear and requires some slight sleuthing to figure out what will pay off in the long run. There are many examples of sustainable green building supplies that offer savings, but only over time.
ROI or return on investment is an important consideration when debating between two technologies that do the same or similar thing. An example mentioned earlier was solar roofing versus solar panels. While one offers a more comprehensive coverage and usability the other lends itself to smaller projects with quicker turnaround times and less demand on the budget.
There are options to pay exorbitant amounts of hard earned money on vanity materials that focus on luxury without concern for the longevity of society or the project. However, green building supplies are still the height of luxury without lowering the renewable earth friendly attributes that are so important.
Accountability
All of these attributes combine to make a valuable addition to any home or business. These examples of sustainable flooring and other products provide everyone a means to exercise their power of choice. By selecting products that are beneficial or in the least not harmful to the environment enables the whole of society to benefit from the decision to go green.
The products currently being produced benefit from years of research and design all working toward making a functional clean product that improves the environment instead of robbing from the environment.
Together with knowledgeable consumers the industry can make a real difference not only for the future of humanity, but also for the humans living right now. Many times when discussing going green the focus is on the future, as it should be. However, another area of concern is not the future, but the present.
Focusing on the inclusion of green building supplies in the construction of any project enables the whole community to reap the benefits of wise decision making. Good choices can often be contagious. When one person improves their property with green building products, individuals around that person begin to look into how they may also contribute. Relieved they find numerous examples of products that usually far surpass that of traditional building materials.
The Future of Green Building Materials
When there are choices it is clear that many builders and even municipalities are moving toward the inclusion of renewable products for their building projects. Materials like the tried and true bamboo flooring to the more cutting edge magnesium oxide boards provides builders the opportunity to select the right material for the job. Sustainable building materials that are engineered with the world and consumer in mind.
Make the most of your next project by reaching out to experts in the industry.
I found it interesting when you told us that a lot prefer bamboo since apart from it being a renewable and green product, it also offers great affordability and durability, so it’s a good choice if we want a long-lasting option from our roof for our floor. I recently bought a land property in Queanbeyan where I plan to build a holiday house soon, and I wanted the project to be a green building. I’ll be sure to remember this while I look for a trusted building supplier to contact about the products needed for the construction soon.