Eco-Friendly

Is DIY Home Removal Eco-Friendly?

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eco-friendly home removals

Even the most experienced eco-friendly home owner might come to a dead end when they need to move to a new home. Home removals are said to be one of the most stressful and exhausting things that the average person does. You can help yourself by checking past reviews carefully and choosing a highly rated removalist like Brilliance Removalists Perth, but first you need to consider whether you are going to hire professionals to move your belongings, or if you will just do it yourself.

Figuring out which of these options is better for the environment, and for your wallet, can be a chore in itself. And that’s before you’ve even started to organize things. Take a look at these pros and cons when you’re thinking about easy and eco-friendly home removals.

Moving Yourself: Pros

  • You call the shots. This is a big factor for many people, but you shouldn’t let it be the only deciding factor. If you don’t want people you don’t know going through your things and being trusted not to damage anything, professional movers might not be the best option.

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Renovation Tips

9 Passive Home Design Features for Sustainability

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Home Design Features

Home owners who want their home to reflect the sustainability practices that are becoming popular need to look at the design of the home right from the start. Fitting such elements after the home is built is much more costly and sometimes cannot be done at all, depending on the original design.

Here are 9 passive home design features that you can add to your home in the planning stage without it costing any more. This will reduce the carbon footprint, make the home more comfortable and keep costs much lower than they would be otherwise.

  • Make sure large aluminium windows are installed on the north side as they will then allow winter sun into the living rooms. Use wide eaves and other shading, such as shade sails, for the summer when the sun is higher in the sky and won’t shine on the windows as much.

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Eco-Friendly

Home Removals the Eco-Safe Way

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home furniture removals

If you were to ask Brilliance Removalists Melbourne you would learn that plenty of people are embracing a more green way of living, but get stuck when it’s time to home furniture removals. This is not something that your average person thinks about much, until it comes time for them to move home themselves. Yes, it is absolutely possible to stay eco-friendly when you are moving.

Think about all the waste that quickly adds up when you move from one home to another:

  • Gas for vehicles
  • Packing foam and peanuts
  • Plastic from all sorts of products
  • Mountains of cardboard boxes
  • And the list goes on

And there are things that will no doubt end up in landfill in the near future. Is that how you want to mark the milestone of moving into your new home?

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Eco-Friendly

5 Eco-Safe Landscaping Ideas

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green landscaping ideas

You might want a lovely garden to enjoy when you’re relaxing at home. But does the idea of ruining the environment just so that you can have a little piece of nature on your property, worry you? It doesn’t have to! There are plenty of modern, smart, and even affordable green landscaping ideas for you to consider. Helping to save Mother Earth can literally start with landscape design right in your own backyard if you do it the responsible way.

  1. Less Lawn Is Greener?

While you might have less actual green in your yard, in terms of lawn coverage, going without as much grass is really the greener option. Even removing turf that’s already in your yard can save a lot of water and cash. If you hate the idea of having a yard that’s completely void of any grass, consider simply reducing the amount that you have. Replace it with some eco-friendly plants instead, or a walking area that’s sustainable.

  1. Consider Artificial Grass

Okay, you’re probably reeling in horror at the suggestion that synthetic turf could possibly be in line with a go-green attitude. But think about it for a minute; the average landscape that’s covered with grass uses an insane amount of water and other resources to keep in lush and green. There’s also the cost of maintenance, including using lawnmowers than run off petrol most of the time. Your own green oasis is far more resource intense than even a natural garden landscape. If you want to reduce your overall costs and your imprint on the planet, it absolutely makes sense to use synthetic turf and or products such as stone or rocks in your yard. Some areas even offer rebates to homeowners who are willing to do this.

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Eco-Friendly

You Can Move House the Green Way

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Move House Green Way

If you’ve been trying to reduce your impact on Mother Earth, you might be caught in a conundrum when it comes time to move house. Home removals can be extremely wasteful, and people often don’t realize there are lots of greener ways to go through the process.

No More Cardboard Boxes

According to Brilliance Removalists Brisbane, if you know that house removals use up to 50 or more cardboard boxes on average? That equates to one large tree, and all just to move your things from one location to the next. What happens to all that cardboard after it’s been used one time? It is sometimes recycled, which is good but still uses a considerable amount of resources. Otherwise, the boxes are just throw away and add to the already high pollution of the planet. Instead of using cardboard boxes to move home, why not think about a more eco-friendly option?

Getting some used cardboard boxes is a good way to do things. However, the boxes are going to need to be junked eventually. They can only be re-used a certain number of times before the material becomes too damaged. It’s better to start with something more environmentally friendly right from the start, and discourage the use of cardboard boxes completely.

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Eco-Friendly

Do Eco-Friendly Pools Exist?

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Eco Friendly Pools

Swimming pools are one of the most sought after additions to a home, but can they actually be eco-friendly? If the summer is getting to you, making everyone in your household hot and uncomfortable, it’s hard to resist the urge to install your own pool. But it’s not hard to imagine how a swimming pool in every backyard would quickly become a catastrophe for the environment.

That cooling, calming water that so delicately washes away stress and boredom comes with some nasty secrets. The typical swimming is kept clean using chlorine. This is meant to keep swimmers safe by killing germs and preventing a buildup of other hazardous denizens from forming in the water.

Chlorine is not only an irritant to human skin and eyes, but it can be harmful to respiratory function. Kids who regularly go in swimming pools that are treated with chlorine, have a higher chance of developing asthma or allergies. In adults, being exposed to chlorine can possibly lead to rectal cancer, bladder cancer, and perhaps even a higher chance of heart disease.

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Eco-Friendly

How to Reduce Vandal Damage on a Building Site

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Commercial fencing

Vandals seem to be drawn to a building site like bees to honey, but they are much more destructive. If there is no security fencing, they can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage and may injure themselves into the bargain. While the building company usually uses some kind of secure fencing, if the site is going to be fenced eventually, why not do it right away?

A large site has plenty of room for all the equipment that is needed, so they shouldn’t need all four sides of the property for access. Commercial fencing can be erected all around three sides and the fourth left for later. This will save time in getting it completed once the building crew has finished.

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Maintenance

11 Safety Tips In the Home for Floods or Storms

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Floods or Storms

If you’ve never been through a major flood or a devastating storm you would be one of the lucky minority. Most experienced electricians would tell you that there are specific safety procedures that should be undertaken, especially during a flood that will help to keep you safe and thus, healthy.

Anyone can be at risk in a flood or a storm, especially when it is really severe and if the flood water actually comes into the house. Thankfully, there is usually enough warning of floods that people have time to prepare so they can stay safe and healthy throughout their ordeal. Here are some tips to help you prepare and avoid unnecessary risks during a flood or storm.

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Sustainability

Sustainability in Roofing Choices

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Roofing Choices

If you are upgrading your home with a new roof you may want to consider choosing a roofing material that is environmentally friendly. There are several options for roofs, but some don’t fall into the sustainability sector for one reason or another. What is needed is to choose a roof that has eco-friendly properties while still being affordable.  Here are some options to consider.

  • Tiles – tiles are made from clay, cement or slate. These materials are plentiful, so using them will not degrade the earth’s resources too much. They also have long lasting properties, many lasting for 50 years or more. The only trouble is that they are quite heavy and require much more framing to support them than steel roofing and this uses more timber.  Since each tile must be fixed individually and only covers a small area, putting them on takes quite some time and this will cost more in labour.

If you are thinking of rainwater harvesting, tiles absorb a certain amount of rain before providing run-off. Because they absorb moisture, mould is likely to develop and once it does, it is very difficult to get rid of, since the roots penetrate deep into the tile and sprout again even after the surface has been cleaned.

  • Steel – steel sheeting such as Colorbond or Zincalume is light and each sheet covers a large area, so the roof is easy and quick to erect while requiring minimal framing, thus saving on timber usage. Steel has an advantage in bushfire prone areas that it provides fewer niches than tiles for dangerous embers to become trapped in. It does not absorb any moisture, so you get rainwater run-off even with the lightest showers and there is no likelihood of mould growing on it.

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Eco-Friendly

Spotlight On: Georgetown

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Georgetown is a beautiful, historic DC neighborhood that isn’t generally considered the leader of the pack on green initiatives.  But, we found that there’s more going on than meets the eye. Restaurants, real estate agencies, churches, clothing shops, and nonprofits are all working to reduce their impact on the environment.  Here are just a few of the neighborhood’s burgeoning environmental initiatives.

Restaurants, Real Estate & Design Firms Lead the Way

Many Georgetown businesses are reducing their environmental footprint by switching to wind power. Along with some other pretty cool initiatives, they’re leading the way for green businesses in the area.

If trying new food is your thing, go for lunch to Sweetgreen. The first location of the franchise, Sweetgreen in Georgetown has mind-blowingly delicious salads with locally sourced ingredients. They’re annual music and food festival, sweetlife, is coming up in May.  For the seafood lover, check out Blacksalt Fish Market & Restaurant: they both sell and serve up fresh, sustainable seafood and often grace the various “Best of DC” restaurant lists.

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