Green Remodeling Guidelines by Nan Fischer

I am a remodeling junkie, because to remodel is to recycle. I have given new life to more than one home. I have sold or given away materials I replaced – a set of kitchen cabinets, 15 interior doors, numerous windows, wood stoves, beams, furniture, a travel trailer I lived in while building, and more!

Recycling a home also does not take up more land. Land is finite, and if we build on every inch of it, there will be nothing BUT remodels in the future. We need open land to feed our souls and maybe our bellies, so I prefer remodeling to new construction.

Remodeling is full of surprises, always making the project more expensive and time consuming than planned. This is part of why builders prefer new construction to remodeling – they are in control of what goes on. With remodeling, you never know what will pop up and take the reins.

My First Remodel

The first thing I did on my first home was to add a drip edge to the roof of the travel trailer I was insulating for winter. Rain ran off the roof and under the plywood decking. A carpenter friend helped me get a drip edge on the roof.

We bought the drip edge and peeled back some of the roofing to install it. What we found was that the entire row of decking was rotting and needed to be replaced. So we removed enough roofing to expose that row of plywood. Lo and behold, there had been a leak rotting the plywood in the next row. So we peeled back the roofing further.

Long story short, we ended up replacing ALL the decking and covering it with new roll roofing. My little $10 drip edge job turned into an expensive new roof! This is the essence of remodeling. Good thing I love a challenge!

REGREEN Guidelines

If you’re like me – a green home fanatic, avid recycler and lover of projects characterized by mystery and unknown processes and endings – you will be interested in some green remodeling guidelines. The American Society of Interior Designers’ Foundation (ASID) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) created REGREEN Residential Remodeling Guidelines for you and me.

Before you begin, ask yourself these questions to assess your needs and wants for a green remodel.

What makes you want to remodel?
What do you like about your house?
What don’t you like about your house?
Have you had to make compromises because of existing problems?
What results do you expect from a remodel?
Are health issues driving the remodeling project?
Is increased water efficiency a goal?
Do you have enough natural daylight and sun?
Are your utility bills high?
Are there hot or cold spots in your house?
Do you have to wait a long time for hot water to reach certain fixtures?
What are your thermostat settings in the summer and winter?
Are you content with your finishes and furniture?
How long are you planning to live in the house?

Things to take into consideration are:

Energy efficiency
Water efficiency
Materials
Indoor air quality
Cost benefits

As you answer those questions and ponder these topics, you will discover other things about your home and your needs.

These questions are in the basic overview of the Guidelines, but they also cover remodels for kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living and work areas and a finished basement. There are also chapters for doing a major addition, a gut rehab, a deep energy retrofit and outdoor living areas.

The authors ask questions about each area, so the homeowner can narrow down needs, wants and priorities. There are details about greening up each of these areas of your home. There are also case studies so you can see the before and after of a green remodel.

This publication is geared towards builders, but you will be able to glean enough information to ask intelligent questions of a contractor.

I absolutely recommend hiring a contractor for a remodel, unless you have building experience. I have either been the contractor or heavily involved in my projects, but I knew enough about construction to do that. Hire someone if you don’t feel qualified to tackle it alone.

Here are a couple of photos from my 2007 remodel, part of my kitchen, before and after, but still not quite finished at this point.