After the sale, you’ll spend many years maintaining your home. Why not choose durable materials and efficient appliances up front?
If you had to guess where most Americans pour regular money into their properties, you might think of lawn care, or driveway coating, or replacing an aging oil furnace. But you’d be wrong.
The big money goes to little-considered upkeep: tree cutting, repairing old decks, and fixing or replacing roofs. Thumbtack publishes an annual Home Care Price Index that has shed some light on these “hidden” costs.
Overall, the cost of maintaining a home in this country has increased by 6.54% in the past year alone, and that’s without factoring in local property taxes and utility hikes. I designed the Homeowner’s Handbook, and upgrade it annually, to help homebuyers weigh the pros and cons of different products and systems, and make a more “sustainable” choice.
What we mean by sustainable is one that requires fewer virgin resources (wood, steel, petroleum and so on), uses energy efficiently, and has higher-than-average durability. In addition, a sustainable home is safe for the occupants. It has ample ventilation and air filtration, and includes products that do not “offgas” pollutants for months, or even years.
No single product makes a home sustainable. In the new Homeowner’s Handbook of Green Building & Remodeling, you’ll learn how choices add up. Every coating, window, appliance and cabinet impacts the overall livability and performance of a home. I hope you’ll take away real-world ideas you can apply to your home, to raise the bar on your quality of life, at the same time lowering your utility and maintenance bills.
Veteran journalist Matt Power has reported on innovation and sustainability in housing for nearly three decades. An award-winning writer, editor, and filmmaker, he has a long history of asking hard questions and adding depth and context as he unfolds complex issues.
Choose Your Home Upgrades Wisely
After the sale, you’ll spend many years maintaining your home. Why not choose durable materials and efficient appliances up front?
If you had to guess where most Americans pour regular money into their properties, you might think of lawn care, or driveway coating, or replacing an aging oil furnace. But you’d be wrong.
The big money goes to little-considered upkeep: tree cutting, repairing old decks, and fixing or replacing roofs. Thumbtack publishes an annual Home Care Price Index that has shed some light on these “hidden” costs.
Overall, the cost of maintaining a home in this country has increased by 6.54% in the past year alone, and that’s without factoring in local property taxes and utility hikes. I designed the Homeowner’s Handbook, and upgrade it annually, to help homebuyers weigh the pros and cons of different products and systems, and make a more “sustainable” choice.
What we mean by sustainable is one that requires fewer virgin resources (wood, steel, petroleum and so on), uses energy efficiently, and has higher-than-average durability. In addition, a sustainable home is safe for the occupants. It has ample ventilation and air filtration, and includes products that do not “offgas” pollutants for months, or even years.
No single product makes a home sustainable. In the new Homeowner’s Handbook of Green Building & Remodeling, you’ll learn how choices add up. Every coating, window, appliance and cabinet impacts the overall livability and performance of a home. I hope you’ll take away real-world ideas you can apply to your home, to raise the bar on your quality of life, at the same time lowering your utility and maintenance bills.
Download the Homeowner’s Handbook of Green Building & Remodeling here .
By Matt Power, Editor-In-Chief
Veteran journalist Matt Power has reported on innovation and sustainability in housing for nearly three decades. An award-winning writer, editor, and filmmaker, he has a long history of asking hard questions and adding depth and context as he unfolds complex issues.Also Read