New Home Building Articles | Home Construction Tips

To attain an energy-efficient and green home, you do not have to change your house design significantly. You just have to incorporate several features or change some of the materials used in your residential home construction.

Some of the materials that you can use are wood composites and recycled plastic lumber. You can use these for porches, decks, trim and fencing so you can reduce your usage of chemically treated lumber and hardwood.

Another is the use of oriented strand board, which is an engineered wood material manufactured with less amount of wood taken from trees. It can be used to sheathe walls and roofs and is being used in roughly 75 percent of newly-built homes. This type of material is resource efficient and its durability has been proven.

For prehung doors and trusses, you can use factory-built components because these have been built with more efficient usage of raw materials. Factories have the equipment and processes to make the most out of every part of lumber. Wood waste is prevented because wood need not be cut at the jobsite.

For your floor covering, you can use carpets made of low-volatile organic compounds which improve indoor air quality. Other good choices are laminates that look like hardwood and linoleum materials which are available in natural-look designs.

For the roof, use fiber cement and steel because these materials reduce the number of times you have to replace your roof. There are also solar roofing products that incorporate asphalt shingles, slate, concrete tiles or standing-seam metal roofs. Choose lighter colors as these absorb less heat and reduce cooling costs during the hot season.

When evaluating windows to buy, choose energy-efficient windows that integrate advanced technologies such as low-emittance glass coatings, composite framing materials and gas filling between layers. These windows keep heat inside the house during winter and outside the house during summer.

You also need to increase the R-value of your insulation to reduce cooling and heating costs, which typically comprise over 50 percent of energy usage in homes. You can use sprayed insulation made of cellulose, foam or wool.

Vinyl siding is also recommended for exterior walls because it can cut installation and maintenance costs. Another is fiber cement siding, which is resistant to termite and water. This product has been guaranteed to last for 50 years.

Additionally, other features that you can incorporate are large south-facing windows, covered entry areas for exterior doors and use of native plants. These reduce lighting and maintenance costs.

The economic meltdown has impacted different industries including the retail, automobile and financial. Not surprisingly, the house building industry suffered one of the worst crises ever when the housing sector collapsed under the weight of the millions of foreclosed properties in the market.

Of course, not all home builders were forced to stop operation and file for bankruptcy. There are those who were able to survive, perhaps because they were the ones who reacted earlier. The same builders are now enjoying the advantage of getting a big share of the recovering market.

For Toll Brothers, the ability to survive housing recessions can be attributed to what it has learned in previous downturns. For instance, when the mortgage industry started collapsing in 2006, the home building giant decided to stop buying land even if the other builders continued to do so. With its decision, Toll was able to save much cash.

The same is true for Lennar Corp, a home builder based in Miami. When signs of impending problems involving home sales were first seen, the company instantly decided to lower their prices. Such decision also allowed them to accumulate cash.

With real estate properties being sold at huge discounts right now, the decision of these two companies paid off. Lennar recently re-purchased a parcel of land in California, which it sold at top price. The company was able to enjoy an 18 percent discount.

On the other hand, Toll has also started snapping up lands but is being extra cautious with their expenditure in case of further slumps in the housing industry.

Analysts believe that another reason why these builders survived is because they financed the bulk of their business operations by taking out loans and not tying it up with certain real estate developments. This allowed them breathing space when the housing market collapsed unlike the other builders who were forced to stop development and resort to fire sales.

According to Credit Suisse, it will not be surprising if these large house building companies enjoy control of the newly-built homes market by over 35 percent, up from 25 percent when the crisis in the housing sector has yet to happen.

Janalee, Moquin, a single mother living in York, Maine, was recently chosen by Habitat for Humanity to receive a house that would be constructed this summer. The board of the York County Habitat voted last Wednesday and decided that Moquin is the best applicant for the new house construction. As the new partner of the charity organization, she is also expected to put in some of her effort in the construction of her house. It will be located on 8 Hemlock Ave.

Volunteers for the project should email Habitat and should know that house construction would only take place during Friday and Saturday. However, arrangements for some groups who are unavailable at these days can be made.

Moquin is the founder of a local home-schooling club named A La Carte, and of “Festival of Trees”. Aside from this, she and her child Orian, now 12, are active participants of a lot of charity and community activities in York. She also worked in town and has served the community through her efforts, making her the clear choice for the program.

Moquin moved to York from Massachusetts along with her son and her mother back in 2004. She used to live in an apartment in Mount Agamenticus, a property owned by the town. She had hoped that things would turn around for her, and she is just plain happy about being chosen for the Habitat house construction project.

According to Richard Parsons, chairman of the board of Habitat York County, around 15 applications were received. The decision they made was based on financial status, community standing and the conditions of the present residence.

Parsons added that Moquin’s role and active participation in the community made her stand out from the other applicants. If they would be granted the house construction project, then she and her son Orion would be able to do more worthwhile contributions to the community.

Moquin is very happy about this, and says that doing a lot of things to help others is actually her comfort zone. She actually finds it a little odd to have a lot of people helping her. To date, Habitat has already registered around 50 volunteers to help in the house construction project.

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