A simple guide to starting you in the direction of creating a better, more sustainable home

Insulating is great; however, you could have energy efficiency issues with your air ducts. Sealing your air ducts can help to make your system more efficient.

At one point the advice was not to insulate gas water heaters. You may now see advice that you should to improve energy efficiency. Insulating can help, but you need to do it correctly.

As we use more science in building our homes, homeowners may want to understand what is being discussed. U-factor has been a term used in the past, but now is seen more frequently when energy efficient standards are being mentioned.

Adding water or energy efficient appliances can be more expensive, but how much more expensive is it? Is having a green home a luxury item? Maybe we should re-evaluate the messages of the green building movement.

Part of the promise of the smart grid is to reduce our energy costs while also making the power supply to our homes reliable. This would lead to home energy management systems being put into place.

To lower your electricity bill, you have to save energy. The biggest cost is air conditioning. How can we prevent loosing our conditioned air through vents which are open to the exterior.

Windows are problematic when it comes to energy efficiency. We have long used a shutter or a blind to help keep a room cool or warm, but does this really help.

The following is a guest post describing how to enhance your home through the addition of a veranda. Creating outdoor living spaces expands your home.

Should I have a thermographic energy audit? Can a homeowner check on this themselves? Properly insulating the attic is a first step to energy efficiency.

Are you planning to spend money on your home this year? Is your project focused on improving you energy efficiency? Then there is the likely chance that you are going to take the wrong step.

My electric bill came in lower this past month, which caused me to reflect on all of my efforts to work on making my home more sustainable.

Are we deluding ourselves? We move into a green home or energy efficient home, expecting savings that never come. Could this be that we do not understand how to use our home, or is it that we need to make lifestyle choices?

It is not enough to purchase a home with green features. To reap the benefits of such a home, you need to manage it with green principles in mind.

Flood Insurance, the Mortgage Market, HOA behavior, Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction , Appraisal Reform to a sales tax on professional services are items being discussed in Washington and Austin

Most home builders are focusing on green elements in the home, which increases the price of the home. Passive features achieved through smart design does not cost more, and this can be the best green feature.

I wish I lived like those people in that magazine. A perfect home which is always clean. Reality sets in, and I have to find a way to store all of the items that are left out on the kitchen counter.

Freezing temperatures catch Houstonians by surprise, but you need to prepare your pipes.

We want healthier lives. We want to pay less on our energy bills. We can use the sun to make us feel better and light our homes, but we do not need to rely on solar power.

A guest article that is a resource of information on asbestos in the home with an emphasis on home inspectors.

Are we rethinking how our homes are built? We are delivering new standards, like advanced framing, but we are delivering new materials as well.

Have you ever wondered if your house will last as long as you need it to last? If you are buying a historic home, will you have more problems because of the age?

For the last two years, we have heard about using CFLs, and now we have LED lights. LED lights may be the wave of the future

Is there a trend of not maintaining our homes growing? Do we see houses a places to stay, or as our homes?

The passive house concept is being furthered, as more homeowners are looking into smart designs. Can we think outside of the box when it comes to these ideas?

Each business has its metrics. With the looming number of foreclosures, we are hearing these real estate metrics in news reports, but why do they matter?

There are many more professionals offering advice on energy efficiency, or making claims that a new product will help improve energy efficiency, but is this advice relevant?

Building performance evaluations, home energy audits, and green home consultants are growing trends. You may be wondering if you should put your home through such a stress test.

Do you wonder how to improve the appearance of your windows? Most of us may consider replacing the unit to a new one, but others chose to find ways to make what they have look better.

In Houston, there are rules about greywater systems and how that water is used. Filtering the water is required if the water will be reused inside the home, but what about outside the house?

Moisture problems can lead to mold or damage to wall coverings, and maybe more. As we improve the tightness of our homes, we should be concerned with indoor air quality as well. The first step is dealing with humidity.

Letting my thoughts wander on what could be done to make a home sustainable.

A town home in Houston presents an air conditioning problem, which comes under energy efficiency, but standard answers for a home may not suffice.

Do we think about how we use space when making decisions on how to change our homes?

In older homes, return air ducts are typically just a cavity in the wall, which is not energy efficient.

Liquid roof coatings are becoming easier to find, and elastomeric coatings may be a wave of the future.

A green home may mean different things to various organizations, and you may find that one organization or another states that the product you are using does not mean you are being green.

Could being green make your neighbors see red? Sometimes being an early adapter of sustainable technologies may make you the object of scorn.

As the hurricane season approaches, you may want to have your home ready now to ensure the least amount of damage.

Window awnings were a standard feature on many homes, and they seem to be making a return. They are a simple way to help you lower the amount of heat coming into your home.