If you’re the kind of person that cares about the environment, you probably make an effort to reduce energy usage, walk instead of drive, and recycle properly. Those are all great ways to care for the planet but there are some things that even the most environmentally friendly people just don’t think about, home renovations are a big one.

When your home needs a bit of an update and you decide to do some work on it, you could be having a big negative impact on the environment if you don’t consider it when planning and carrying out the work. There are so many things involved with home renovations that you didn’t realise were damaging to the environment. These are some of the best ways to plan an environmentally friendly home renovation.

Disposing Of Waste Properly

There’s a lot of waste involved with home renovations and some of it isn’t great for the environment so you’ve got to make sure that you’re disposing of it properly. A lot of it will just go into a skip and get sent to landfill, but things like kitchen appliances, for example, need to be disposed of properly. Fridges, in particular, have a lot of harmful chemicals inside them so they can’t just be thrown away. You’ll need to call a house clearance company in who can dispose of those appliances safely without harming the environment. If you get one house clearance company to deal with all of the waste, you don’t need to worry about it and you can be sure that everything is being disposed of safely.

New Appliances

If you are getting rid of old appliances and replacing them, you should choose the new ones carefully. All appliances come with an energy efficiency rating on them so you can find the ones that use the least electricity. This will help you to reduce your impact on the environment and it will save you a lot of money in energy bills at the same time. Often, the most energy efficient ones will cost a bit more but it’s worth it because you’ll make that money back easily through reduced bills.

Water Usage

Most people think about their energy usage, but a lot of us forget about water usage. We tend to take it for granted and so we use too much. This could become a big problem in the future and water shortages are already an issue in some places. The good news is, there are some simple ways that you can cut your water usage by quite a bit when you’re doing a home renovation. If you’re doing work on the bathroom and you’re changing the fixtures, you can get some great low-flow toilets and showers. They’re a lot more efficient and you can use 20 percent less water by making this simple change.

You could also think about installing a water metre in the house as well. People tend to use too much water because they don’t have any idea just how much they’re using. When you can see what your exact usage is, you’ll be more likely to limit it.

Wildlife In The Garden

Trying to preserve wildlife is an important concern for a lot of people that are invested in the environment. As more habitats are removed, it’s getting harder to maintain the population of a lot of different animal species. If you’re making some changes to the outside areas of your home, you should design it with wildlife in mind. You can find certain flowers that are good for attracting bees and other insects. You could also create a small pond that will attract things like frogs and birds as well. By creating new habitats for animals to thrive in, you can help to protect them.

Paint Choices

If you’re doing any painting, you need to pick the paints carefully. Most standard paint has quite a lot of nasty chemicals in it that aren’t great for the environment. Those chemicals can damage surrounding areas if the empty cans aren’t disposed of properly. It’s also a problem because those chemicals get into the air in your home. Indoor air pollution is a big problem and a lot of people don’t realize that it’s often worse than it is outdoors, so anything you can do to reduce it is a big bonus. There are some great eco-friendly paints available which are made with more natural ingredients. They won’t harm the environment and they won’t affect the air quality in your home either.

Making these simple changes during a home renovation will help to make it a lot more environmentally friendly.