With an abundance of building products out there, it can be difficult to know, which ones are the most suitable for your needs. Even if you narrow the field to only consider eco friendly products, the choices can still be overwhelming. One of the key building blocks for a truly energy efficient home is insulation. Good insulation prevents cold air in winter and hot air in summer from penetrating your home, therefore insulation can play a major role in reducing your heating and cooling bills. The selection …

The popular notion of designing and building energy efficient homes is that it costs a lot. But that is not necessarily so. One big aspect that is often overlooked is the life-cycle cost of building green. Sure, certain initial investments of green building can sometimes be higher than conventional building, but over time they can save you a lot of money.
This can be true for various appliances or the installation of plumbing and mechanical systems. For example, a tankless water heater costs more to install than …

Wood frame construction has always been the preferred building system for small construction projects in the United States because of its economy and availability of materials.
But under close inspection, wood frame construction requires additional structural bracing between studs and building up walls with rigid or batt insulation and may not be the most structural or economical system after all.
This is where SIPs come in. These Structural Insulated Panels consist of a core of rigid foam plastic insulation which is sandwiched between two structural skins.  The default skins are oriented strand …

When being green used to be difficult, most eco friendly products were not exactly objects of beauty either. Luckily today, being green is not only easy but fun and there are many great products to choose from. You can build your perfect home with quality eco friendly products while being gentle to mother nature.
Fly Ash Pavers and Brick by CalStar Products are a good-looking and greener alternative to fired clay brick. Fly Ash Brick and Pavers reduce the high carbon footprint of unit paving by approximately 90% …

Every morning you look forward to a satisfying hot shower. But is it time to cut costs and energy and replace that big old bulky water storage tank with a tankless water heater? If you are building a small house or custom house plan, designing for a tankless water system can increase your energy savings immediately.
Unlike conventional water heaters which constantly heat water stored in a tank and will run out of hot water when usage is higher than the stored hot water, tankless water heaters do not store …