Thinking about remodeling? Why don’t you incorporate ways to reduce your utility bills? Remodeling is a great opportunity to improve your home’s energy efficiency and air quality.

By adding some cost effective upgrades to your home remodeling plan, you can make the most of the renovations. You can, for example, stop leaks and fight mold or other allergens by taking some simple preventive measures.

Homeowners are exploring all possible ways to cut their energy bills. If you are living in an old house, you probably don’t have a lot of energy efficiency features. However, installing these features isn’t all that difficult. You just need to add some simple tasks to your remodeling project. All additions that you get as part of your remodeling project should be energy-efficient. Conservation of existing resources should be another priority.

Benefits of incorporating energy efficiency

When you install energy-efficient features, you not only reduce your energy consumption, but also fight damp and make your house less conducive to the growth of allergens.

Here are some remodeling tips:

First thing’s first. Before you start working on the remodeling project, you need to check for signs of water intrusion, excess moisture and condensation. Fixing these issues is essential to improve the quality of air inside the home. Excessive moisture encourages the growth of mold which is known to aggravate respiration problems.

When you add walls, use the least possible amount of framing. Of course, you are not supposed to compromise the strength or safety of your walls. Refer the building code in your area to get a better understanding of the required amount of thickness. When you use less lumber, the contractor will be able to put more insulation in the walls. This will prevent heat loss and make your house more energy-efficient.

Reduce your hot water use

Multiple shower heads don’t add much value to your home. Worse still, they cause the wastage of hot water. Instead of installing numerous shower heads, you should opt for one low-flow shower head.

Install new HVAC ducts

If it is possible, try to add HVAC ducts to those parts of the house that are cooled and heated. Placing these ducts in a space like an attic where there is unconditioned air doesn’t help much. If this is not possible, you should get the ducts insulated. Hire an expert to examine your system. Make sure that the ducts are balanced to deliver and remove air.

Insulate the area around recessed lights

Make sure that the area around recessed lights is properly insulated. If these lights protrude into uninsulated space, they can be a major cause of air leaks if enough insulation isn’t present around them.

If you waste water, you waste energy

Try installing solar water heaters. They are more energy-efficient. You should also insulate the water pipes.

Use toggle switch plates

When you use toggle switch plates, you can easily cut off power supply to devices that are not in use.

Install a humidistat that will automatically turn on the bathroom fans when moisture levels increase. Bathroom moisture can increase the chances of having mold.

Remodeling presents a great opportunity to make your house more energy-efficient. The best part is that most of these features won’t burn a hole in your pocket.