If you’re considering building a home and want it to be beneficial to your health as well as the environment, a log or timber home may be the right option for you. There are many factors that go into building and designing a home sustainable and healthy, but on average, log and timber homes tend to have more benefits compared to the traditional stick and brick.
Here are 5 eco-friendly benefits of log and timber homes:
Wood is Renewable and Sustainable
Because of its inherent sustainability, wood makes for a fantastic ‘green’ home for those who enjoy living in nature. Wood products require less energy to manufacture, and have the lowest impacts on water and air quality.
The result? Log homes are renewable and sustainable alternatives to homes built with less-friendly materials. Which brings us to:
Green Building Materials
Wood aside, most of the other building materials used when constructing a log home are also eco-friendly. The manufacturing of these materials is far less harmful to the environment than the processes other conventional building materials are subjected to.
Approximately 16% of all the fossil fuel consumed each year is used to turn steel, aluminum, concrete, and brick into materials for construction products. Alternatively, using wood ultimately reduces fossil fuel consumption. Reference Report
You can feel good knowing that your home reduces global carbon dioxide emissions!
Naturally Energy Efficient
Have you ever noticed that older homes have rock walls to help heat and cool the home? During the day, the sun heats the rocks on the outside yet the coolness of the stones keep the inside of the house cool. During the evening, the reverse happens: the stones cool from the evening air the heat from the day heats the inside of the home.
Wood has the same natural heat and insulating qualities. Not only can this help you to save on your heating bills, you help the environment because ideally, your home won’t use nearly as much energy as stick and brick homes can.
Better Air Quality
Because the wooden structure of your log home stores carbons and regulates humidity, it naturally allows for better air flow. The result is that wooden structures like log homes are healthier to live in.
It also means that there’s typically a reduced need for you to purchase air purifiers, hepa filters, humidifiers and dehumidifiers—all small machines that require less eco-friendly materials to manufacture, and more energy to run.
Controlled Harvesting and Replanting
Wood is sustainable and uses less energy to manufacture than other types of building materials. In British Columbia, trees are mindfully selected with controlled harvesting to help avoid destroying local habitats. In many areas forests that have been logged are replanted the following years to help maintain a healthy forest.
Overall, if you’re considering building a home that has less environmental impacts, is more sustainable, and can be a healthy home to live in, a log home may be right for you!
Interested in building a log or timber home? Feel free to contact us regarding any questions you have or for a quote.
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