By considering your building choices, you can easily increase the comfort, safety, and efficiency of your home without putting undue stress on our natural resources. By making your home “greener,” you help to minimize pollution, protect the natural environment, and create a healthy, comfortable, non-hazardous home for you and your family.

Think green before you begin any construction project. By considering these points, you can choose the most appropriate building materials and construction techniques.

Make sure your project is appropriate for where you live.

Face it – certain materials and methods are better suited for specific geographical locations. Thick adobe walls with heavy thermal mass, for example, will help to modify the drastic changes in temperature that take place in the arid Southwest. That style of architecture suits desert climates well. The same massive style of construction would be ill advised in the humid heat of southern Florida, however. There, lightweight construction designs and screened-in porches that let in cooling breezes are more appropriate.

Likewise, a wall of glass might seem like a wonderful design choice for your new house. But before you have those new windows installed, make sure to consider the physical orientation of your house. If those large windows face south and aren’t properly shaded by an overhang, you may discover your home becomes unbearably hot and difficult to air condition in the summer.

A building plan – and the materials used in that building – needs to be appropriate to the site.

Where possible, build with materials that contain recycled content.

As more people learn to recycle, more and more construction products are being made from recycled materials. Reusing materials instead of dumping them in landfills saves valuable resources; by actively looking for and buying products with recycled content, you encourage the recycling industry.

Manufacturers can find recycled material in three ways:

- Post-consumer material comes from households or facilities that no longer want it for its intended purpose. Examples can range from the glass bottles you recycle at home to old bricks and steel reclaimed from a building being demolished down the street.

- Waste material from industrial processes can be recovered and used in other ways. Fly ash, for example, is the material that remains after coal is burned in coal-fired power plants. It usually is disposed of in landfills. Mixed in with other ingredients like sand and gravel however, leftover fly ash can replace up to 35 percent of the Portland cement needed to make concrete. What qualifies as waste in one industry might be put to valuable use in another.

- Internally recycled material comes from scraps leftover in a company’s manufacturing process. It includes substandard products that are scraped and remade after being rejected by the company’s quality control division. Manufacturers today process small, leftover pieces of wood – material that at one time would have been discarded or burned – to create particleboard and other valuable manufactured wood products.

Many building materials are available in recycled form:

- Metals - Steel and aluminum building elements are highly recyclable. Between 50 to 70 percent of the energy and pollution caused by steel production can be avoided by recycling steel. Remelting aluminum avoids up to 85 percent of the energy and pollution of aluminum manufacturing.

- Heavy timber – Salvaged and resawed, heavy timber can be recycled.

- Plastics – Although most plastics are recyclable, the process is often difficult to accomplish. Different types of plastic must be separated, an expensive and labor-intensive task. Plastic recycling is not yet a viable option for building materials, since they are usually combined with additives, coatings, and colorants. Companies are working to solve the problem, however, and more plastic may be reused in the future.

- Glass - Remelting glass offers few energy and pollution savings. As a result, little recycling of glass building products occurs.

- Masonry products and ceramics – Recycling concrete, clay, and other similar materials is difficult, but it can be done. Masonry products are often crushed and then reused for granular fill in roads and sidewalks.

As you consider the building materials to choose for any construction project, ask yourself these questions:

Can I build with salvaged materials?

Products such as doors, cabinets, glass, and metal can be salvaged and reused. You can cut your costs significantly by using salvaged materials, and their quality is high.
Are my construction materials available from local sources?

Where possible, try to use local materials. That way you avoid excess transportation and environmental costs.

Am I using materials from renewable sources?

Renewable materials include wood, wool, plant fibers, and other resources that can be replaced within a few decades or less. Sustainable wood products are becoming more readily available.

Have I considered the long-term costs of my materials? Will my maintenance costs be high?

Even though a building product may initially cost more, it may be the least expensive alternative in the long run. Some materials, for example, need to be replaced regularly over time, while others are long lasting and maintenance-free. Paint that is twice as expensive but lasts four times as long may be a better buy in the long run. Make sure that you consider the life-cycle costs of your materials.

Mesopotamia Plaster

Plaster walls found in historic structures have a lasting quality to them and if properly maintained, will out-last the wallboard construction found in modern homes.

Decorative Plaster Molding

Choosing the Right Decorative Plaster Molding:

As with any home improvement project, there are a lot of details that must be considered if you want the very best aesthetic outcome. Decorative plaster moldings come in all sorts of shapes, styles, and sizes, and what you need is often best determined by assessing any interior design elements you have already incorporated in your home.

Defer to Personal Taste.

Put simply, a lot of interior design depends on personal preference. What one family may find to be cozy and warm, another might view as claustrophobic and dark. Use your own personal style as a guide to find decorative plaster that suits you and your family. Look at the clothing you tend to buy and try to find trends. Do you love to wear gaudy jewelry? You will probably love using heavily-ornamented plaster designs in your rooms. Do you prefer structured dresses with architectural elements? Try simple, sleek molding and ornaments that complement your contemporary style. Whatever you find in your wardrobe, try to incorporate these elements into your design concept.

Maintain Historical Accuracy

If your home is a historical treasure, adding appropriate decorative plaster can add significant value. However, if your plaster moldings and ornamentation conflict harshly with the house’s original trimmings and style, you may end up shrinking its value. First, if you are not already aware of when the house was built and what architectural style was used, find out this information from your realtor or a home contractor. Once you know the era that your home was built in, you will be better able to add ornamentation that suits the house’s historical background.

For instance, if your home has classically styled Georgian architecture with simple lines and strict symmetry, you will want your decorative plaster moldings and ornaments to reflect that same style. If you decorated all of the rooms in the romantic, heavily adorned Baroque style then the two styles would clash, detracting from any semblance of historical accuracy.

Keep with your Current Aesthetic.

Similar to keeping your design elements in the same era, you will also want to keep design elements in a similar style to your current aesthetic. If your furniture pieces are all sleek and modern, your decorative plaster should also have that same sleekness. Some interior designers like to play around with conflicting styles, and the results can be pleasant, but DIY-designers may find this difficult to pull off.

Get an Outside Opinion.

Hiring an experienced contractor is often a good way to gain an outsider’s perspective on your decorative plaster. Your contractor has likely handled many different types of decorative plaster projects and can help you choose designs and elements that will suit both your style and your budget. It may also help to consult with an interior design specialist. Although contractors may have the technical expertise, interior designers can bring in their creativity and background understanding of how different ornamentation can affect your room.

Friends and relatives can provide good counsel as well, since they are familiar with your style in day-to-day life. Often friends and family provide more candid opinions, since their job does not depend on your satisfaction with their opinions. Listen closely to what all outside parties have to say about your decorative plaster ideas, and you may find that they bring up points that you have not considered. Sometimes it takes a village to get your home’s interior looking its best.

Instructions:

- Get a referral from someone you know. People love updating their homes so you should have no trouble coming up with a list of contractors to call.

- Hire a contractor who specializes in the type of work you need done. Someone you hire to install wood flooring or to build a deck should be a carpentry contractor, while someone you hire to install recessed lighting in your kitchen should be an electrician. There are many different trade certifications, so be sure to check the title on your contractor’s certification to make sure he or she is a specialist.

- Check licenses and insurance with your city’s Contractors Licensing Board. Ask the tradesman for copies of the following documents: Contractor’s Certification, Worker’s Compensation status and Liability Insurance certificate. A reputable contractor will have no problem providing copies of these documents.

- Get at least three references for your contractor and call them. The contractor will likely give you references who had positive experiences, so be sure to ask them specific questions about workmanship that are important to you. You might be concerned about whether the contractor cleaned up his work area and kept to his time line or whether the final invoice matched the estimate.

- Check with the Better Business Bureau to find out if complaints have ever been filed or are outstanding against the contractor.

- Request a written estimate. Any contractor who does not provide you with a written estimate should be crossed off your list immediately. Get at least three estimates and then compare prices with what is included. Remember the lowest bidder is not always the best.

- Sign a written contract. The contract should clearly spell out all the steps the contractor will take from beginning to end of your job, what supplies are included, the payment schedule and the time line for the project.

Tips & Warnings:

- Hire a contractor who shows up on time for the estimate and seems professional and knowledgeable.

- Check with the building department about whether a permit is required for the work to be done. If a permit is required, the liability is on the owner of the property to procure the permit or authorize the contractor to pull the permit.

- Make sure you hire someone with a large crew if time frame is important.

- Deposit 30 to 50 percent of the total price to initiate your contract. It will cover the contractor’s large expenses like construction materials, flooring, fixtures and crew to start your project.

- Check your local phone book government pages to find the County Licensing Board. They can educate you about licenses, permits and trades, as well as answer any questions you may have about your project or a contractor licensed in your county.

- Don’t hire unlicensed contractors to do the job. If you do, you will have no recourse should you be unhappy with the job or should you have code or permit violations cited by your county.