At Earth Homes, we specialise in building custom designed, beautiful mud brick homes to suit your chosen block. If the block already has a house on it, we can either work with the existing structure and extend and renovate, or we can remove the home and start from scratch.
When considering building materials for your house make sure you know what energy is used to produce those materials? What is going into the product?
It's all well and good to claim to have a sustainable home, but what are the factors?
The most important part of a sustainable home....
Its made from natural materials as a basic prerequisite. The walls are made from earth, straw, timber (plantation, not old growth), stone. Less carbon footprint, more natural.
Is solar passively designed so it uses the sun throughout the day and seasons to warm and cool the house naturally.
Has cross breeze built into its design
Uses natural methods to warm and cool your home (ceiling fans and ceiling vents)
Has insulation in the roof.
One which minimises steel, concrete and glass, as they require high energy to produce = bigger carbon footprint.
Minimises the use of medium density fibreboard (mdf), plywood, glues, pvc which include toxic chemicals.
Use double glazed windows.
Restrict off gassing and carcinogenics in your home eg. Ordinary paints, melamine in kitchens and bathrooms, minimise glues and heavily toxic products (smelly products). You breathe them in 24/7 through your lungs and skin.
Uses energy efficient power (solar hot water, fluro/ LED lights) and, water efficient items (water tanks, water efficient fittings including drip irrigation and natives in the garden)
Uses thermal mass and insulation designs and materials, in synergy with one another and are tailored to
your climate and site.
Eco products used are known rather than through ordinary hardware suppliers.
Plantation materials. However they aren't always good. The forest may come from the other side of the
world, or made by companies who do a lot of damage. Find out where they come from.
Simple, natural products are less processed so are the best for our health and environment.
Natural termite management plan (physical barriers and traps)
Reuses or uses recycled materials.
The company is sustainable and not just getting on the eco/green wagon. They walk the talk. When choosing a brick manufacturer be sure you know exactly what energy goes into making the brick and what they are putting in the brick. eg. harmful toxic chemicals, cement. Kiln fired bricks produce 6 tonnes of green house gases per 10,000 bricks (one medium sized house). Cement production produces 927kg of CO2 per 1000kg of cement.
A sustainable home has a low carbon footprint and high energy efficiency through all of these principles combined.
Ask yourself how sustainable a home is once you've gone through this checklist and asked yourself does it
have the basics.... is it natural? Is the home made from straw, earth, timber (plantation not old growth) or stone.
Building sustainably isn't rocket science. Its just a matter of mixing these important sustainable key indicators with your personal taste and what you're willing to do.
Many people believe energy & water efficient fittings or plantation materials are what makes a sustainable
home. Thats just one part of the mix. Do what you can, but if you're building from the beginning, include as much of these features to really make an impact.