The Green Home Coach – Marla Esser Cloos

BY MARLA ESSER CLOOS

MARLA ESSER CLOOS, NAHB Master Certified Green Professional, Wellness Within Your Walls Certified Professional and LEED AP, is the principal of Green Home Coach where she uses her "superpowers" to help home professionals and inhabitants to discover and create better homes for healthier, more comfortable lives. Making simple swaps to green and sustainable choices helps create better homes – a bit at a time in existing homes or all at once for new and remodeled homes. Find more at GreenHomeCoach. com and @greenhomecoach on FB and IG

Update Your Home with Health and Wellness in Mind

ur homes have become

Oeverything for us! Our homes have served us for work, school, connecting, exercising, cooking and more – especially in the winter months! Re-imagining what our homes do for us and spending more time in them, has showed us things we’d like to change. With homes in tight supply in most markets, renovating or remodeling is often the best route to change.

RENOVATION OR REMODEL?

Renovations update the look and feel of a space – such as replacing faucets and lighting and new paint and flooring. Renovations offer opportunities to improve spaces by choosing better materials, finishes and fixtures. Remodels alter the design or structure to better align the space to the needs of the people living there. Removing a wall to make a larger kitchen would be a remodel. Adding a room, like a sunroom, on that now larger kitchen would be an even larger remodel. “Big remodels” affecting exterior walls or roof, offer opportunities to upgrade the building envelope through better, healthier materials as the structure is put back together. Upgrading air sealing, insulation, windows/doors, and even foundations and roofing can improve how the home functions. Sometimes a simple answer is the easiest. For example, replacing or rearranging poorly placed windows that let in too much heat and/or sun is not the only option. Well-chosen and well-placed window coverings can make a huge difference. For windows in direct sun, exterior solar shades may be a great solution. We installed a solar shade on a picture window in a 3-story stairwell and in summer it cooled the space to a comfortable level! Both remodeling and renovation offer opportunities to improve the health, safety and comfort provided by the home.

BETTER, HEALTHIER OPTIONS

Choose finishes, fixtures and materials with natural ingredients or responsible use of ingredients that may have longer term effects. Reducing VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and other toxins found in many home finishes and materials is a first step to better indoor air quality and better breathing. Low or no VOC paints, flooring, cabinets, adhesives, stains, and glues are readily available and help reduce the VOCs and toxins that may be sticking around your home. Products and materials should be chosen that do not contain formaldehyde. Many additional options await! A great resource is the Homebuyers tab of the Home Performance Counts website https://homeperformancecounts.info. I’m happy to recommend other resources as well.

WALLS AND CEILINGS AND PAINT

Ceilings and walls influence the way that light plays in your home, an important part of health and wellness. Light-colored ceilings and walls help to magnify the light. Choosing safer paint, preferably with no or low VOCs, is one way to improve indoor air quality. Independent, 3rd party certifications, such as GreenGuard, help to choose a healthier paint. Or choose Recolor® – a recycled, low VOC paint found at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore (and other places).

FLOORS, CARPETS AND FLOOR COVERINGS

Choosing floor coverings takes a little homework. Carpets and longshag rugs tend to be dust-traps, so they are not the best option for people with allergies. Hard surface flooring has become popular for the ease of cleaning; be sure to choose materials that are healthier and safer. Adding area rugs made from natural or sustainable materials helps to soften and define living areas. Dark-colored floors can help hold heat in during colder months. A design or home professional who understands passive heating and cooling can help take advantage of the properties of colors and materials.

BENEFITS OF REMODELING FOR YOUR HEALTHIER LIFE AND COMMUNITY

Your design choices can make your home a healthier, more comfortable space, and add to your overall quality of life, while also impacting your community. Some features of a healthier, greener home can minimize strain on landfills, water treatment plants, and power plants along with other parts of local infrastructure. Remodeling with health in mind also contributes to the resale value of homes. Many home buyers are willing to pay more for a home with healthier, green components because they realize the extra value they offer. Remember, even the small steps make a big difference.