As a homeowner, you may be eager to find ways to save on your utility costs without compromising your everyday comfort. Thankfully, you don’t need to sacrifice modern conveniences like air-conditioning or hot water to make an impact—simply maximize your various systems’ efficiency. The first step in doing so is gathering information on their current state through a home energy audit.
This process involves assessing your whole home’s energy usage. Experts such as the US Department of Energy have designed detailed methods for pinpointing the appliances that consume the greatest amount of energy and identifying common causes of waste. Upon discovering such issues, you can implement cost-effective enhancements that will help reduce your consumption, slash your utility bills, and enable you to contribute to a more sustainable environment.
Follow these steps to review your home’s energy efficiency and find spots that may need improvement. You can also print the checklists at the end of this article to help you gather the necessary supplies and keep notes as you conduct your inspection.
Assess your bills
Before you begin a walkthrough of your home, take a moment to review your utility statements. Have you noticed a sharp rise in expenses recently? Which times of year seem to be the costliest? Then consider your household habits and how you might tweak them—perhaps you can be more intentional about turning off unused electronics or adjusting your thermostat to reduce consumption while you’re away from home. This mindfulness alone may help you lower your energy usage and make a significant impact on your bills.
Inspect sealing and insulation
Now it’s time to grab your pen and paper and start exploring your home. A few prominent sources of energy loss are air leaks and inadequate insulation, so these are good starting points. To review the former, check for drafts near windows and doors, which may be a sign of gaps around the frame. You can use weather stripping to seal any you discover for an easy solution.
Next, inspect the insulation in your attic, garage, and basement. Consider adding or upgrading it in areas where it may be missing or damaged; one indication this may be the case is if the room seems less responsive to indoor heating or cooling. Swapping out windows for double- or triple-pane versions with low-emissivity coatings can also offer greater insulation by filtering hot sunlight and reducing warm-air transfer. Addressing these flaws can take a significant burden off your HVAC systems and improve your home’s energy efficiency.
Evaluate cooling and heating systems
These high-demand systems use up a lot of energy, especially during peak summer and winter months, making it essential to look over them thoroughly to ensure that they are operating as optimally as possible. Assess the filters and vents for dust buildup, replacing the former and cleaning the latter as necessary. Then check when your most recent professional tune-up occurred; if more than a year has passed, schedule one shortly. In addition, inspect each unit for a product label, which should display its date of manufacture. Heating and cooling appliances that are over fifteen years old are typically less efficient, so consider upgrading any older models to more energy-efficient versions, especially if they need significant repairs.
Inventory your appliances
Speaking of old systems, try to gauge the age of your other appliances as well, including your kitchen, bathroom, and utility-room units. As noted above, you can generally determine this by looking at the manufacturer’s label. If you recently purchased a home, you could also contact your real estate agent to reach out to the previous owner, who may be able to provide these details.
One of the best ways to make your home more efficient is to swap older units for Energy Star-rated models. These appliances meet strict guidelines set by the EPA that ensure lower energy consumption without sacrificing performance. In fact, many new appliances with this label may even perform better and offer more innovative features than standard models.
Inspect your lighting
Now assess how efficient your lighting is. Look for any incandescent bulbs throughout your home, and replace them with LED ones, which not only consume less energy but also last longer on average. You could also add timers, dimmers, or sensors to indoor and outdoor lights to prevent overuse.
Monitor water waste
A frequently overlooked aspect of home energy audits is water waste. Any loss or excessive use of hot water can increase the demand on your boiler, in turn depleting energy. To audit your plumbing, check for dripping faucets and signs of leaks, such as musty odors or damp, discolored spots on your walls, floors, or ceilings. If you identify any issues, call a plumber to locate and remediate the problem. Another way to minimize water waste is to install low-flow faucets and showerheads—this change can make a significant impact on your overall energy consumption even by itself.
Select smart solutions
Finally, explore ways you could incorporate renewable energy sources into your home. Solar panels, for example, harness sunlight to generate clean and renewable electricity, potentially reducing your dependence on traditional grid power. While the initial investment in these panels may be substantial, there are various financial incentives and rebates available to help offset your costs.
Once you make repairs and other upgrades to your home, continue to supervise your energy consumption with a smart energy tracker, which measures your consumption and sends data to your smartphone in real time. You can even use such devices to set energy-usage goals and monitor your progress toward ongoing conservation.
Conducting a home energy audit is simple to do on your own, but if you’d prefer to get an expert’s perspective on your home’s efficiency, you can look into hiring a professional energy assessor from your local utility company or weatherization office (a government program available in some communities). They will perform a thorough review of your property on your behalf and then recommend personalized efficiency improvements.
Whether you invest the time to audit your own house or hire a professional, this proactive process may very well pay off in the long run with enhanced comfort, a reduced environmental footprint, and, ultimately, more money back in your pocket.
For more info, visit energy.gov
Tidying your home can feel like a never-ending battle—as soon as one room is done, another is often in dire need of a little TLC. That’s where storage solutions come into play. By finding complementary bins, racks, or baskets for every room of your house, you can reclaim your spaces and bring order back into each one.
Your bedroom is meant to be your sanctuary from the outside world, a place where you can unwind after a long day’s work. But if you have stuff cluttered in every corner, it may be difficult to relax. To maximize your storage, consider the available room under your bed. If your bedframe is a platform, you can utilize sleek bins like these from IKEA; this solution is ideal for storing extra linens or clothes that are out of season.
Another area to take advantage of is your closet. These hanging shelves can help organize bulkier items like jeans or bags vertically, thereby freeing up additional room on your horizontal racks. As for your shoes, opt for a tiered storage option, which you can place in your closet or against an open wall in your bedroom.
If you use a lot of skin-care products or simply have minimal counter space, it may be time to upgrade the organization in your bathroom. Make the most of your vanity’s cabinets by investing in a tiered organizer with pull-out baskets, where you can stash any cleaning supplies, toiletries, or towels you may want to keep out of sight. You can also switch out your mirror for a medicine cabinet like this arched option from West Elm. It’s a stylish upgrade that can not only enhance the aesthetics of the room but also allow you to keep your toiletries and medicine out of the way.
In addition, an over-the-door organizer offers great compact storage. Whether you opt for a fabric or metal version, it can allow you to stow everything from hair products to makeup to cleaning supplies in one accessible location. Or go with a towel hanger, which can keep your wet items out of the way and free up wall space in your bathroom for more decorative pieces.
Introducing storage solutions to your living area can make it easier to keep the room tidy throughout the day, in turn enhancing your enjoyment of it. If you find that you have a lot of toys, games, or other items you don’t have room for, consider investing in multipurpose furniture. For instance, a storage ottoman can offer a place to both rest your feet and stash miscellaneous items when they’re not in use. Similarly, a lift-top coffee table, such as this one from Urban Outfitters, can double as a storage unit and food tray should you want to eat while relaxing on your couch.
Moreover, try to maximize any vertical space by installing a wall-mounted shelf, where you can display decorative items and books or place aesthetic baskets for storing essentials like remote controls. You can also opt for a more basic cube organizer, which you can then embellish with rattan baskets or fabric bins ideal for concealing small items.
When it comes to your basement and garage, there are several strategies you can use to optimize these often chaotic spaces. Large, clear plastic bins are a great option for storing seasonal items or other belongings you don’t use often; the transparency will allow you to quickly identify what is in each box, even if you stack them five high or three deep. If you don’t expect to need access to these and other bulky items often, consider overhead storage like a ceiling-mounted rack to keep them out of the way, freeing up valuable floor space and making it easy to traverse the area.
Additionally, if these rooms are lacking in shelves, you can find many lightweight options in various stores that would provide more room for organizing boxes, bins, or other miscellaneous items. Or go with a large, customizable shelving unit that allows you to adjust the height of the shelves and add more pieces according to your needs and the room’s layout. For smaller objects you may need easy access to, including tools, gardening equipment, or sports gear, hang a pegboard with hooks to make them easy to spot while keeping them organized.
It takes time to create a well-organized home, but it’s well worth it in the end. With these solutions, you can make your spaces tidier, more visually pleasing, and more pleasant to live in.
After decades of hard work, your golden years are meant to be filled with enjoyment and relaxation, and considering how much time you spend in it, your home plays a big part in that. You may be finding, though, that some spaces could use an upgrade, whether to boost safety, make them more user-friendly, or simply enhance their design. From aesthetic updates to value-added improvements, here are a variety of ideas to help you get started.
In past years, planning for retirement typically meant trading in the large family home for a smaller, more manageable condo or cottage, often in a new, warm-weather location. Now, however, many retirees are choosing to age in place, adapting their homes for their future mobility needs.
Preparing for both your safety and comfort as you age means integrating universal design features for added accessibility. Look ahead to the future as you consider your options, focusing on ones that may accommodate your anticipated needs.
Safe bathroom elements
Features such as adjustable showerheads, handheld shower wands, grab bars, and nonslip flooring can help improve safety in your bathrooms; the latter two, in particular, can prevent slips and falls, which are common sources of injury for aging adults.
Functional kitchen design
The kitchen is the heart of the home and an area many people spend a lot of time in, so it must be as functional as it is beautiful. Install pullout shelving in low cabinets to avoid having to reach far in to get what you need, and ensure that there’s sufficient storage space at or below waist level for storing heavy pots and pans so you won’t have to lift them overhead.
Adequate lighting
Evenly distributed lighting not only provides a soothing ambience but also helps improve visibility and safety. Task lighting in work areas and motion-sensing night-lights in hallways and bathrooms will enable you to move about your home both day and night without issue.
Smart devices
Install smart devices you can control either with a remote or your voice for easier management of lighting, thermostats, and other home systems. These devices can help you maximize efficiency while also cutting down on electricity costs.
Flexible furniture arrangements
Design your living spaces to accommodate your needs and preferences, creating clear pathways for better maneuverability and adding seating options with optimal levels of support. For instance, low sofas and chairs can be harder to sit down on and get up from for aging adults, so consider choosing higher-sitting pieces with armrests you can lean on for support as needed.
Along with making your home safer and more comfortable, the right updates and upgrades can boost your enjoyment of it—and improve its worth should you decide to tap into its equity or even sell it down the line. By choosing durable and timeless materials, your renovations can continue to add value for years to come.
Kitchen and bathroom remodeling
These two rooms are among the most frequented in the home, which makes newly renovated ones highly sought after by homebuyers. As such, improving their aesthetics and efficiency can make a world of difference for both your current living and your home’s worth. If you’re looking to get a lot of bang for your buck, consider simple updates like swapping outdated fixtures for ones in modern finishes like matte black or polished nickel and increasing storage options with an updated vanity or wall shelving.
Energy-efficiency upgrades
Drafty windows and doors can cost more than you might think in lost energy. Invest in insulation and sealing as well as new energy-efficient windows, doors, and appliances. Upgrading your HVAC system can also help add value to your home and improve its overall comfort.
Curb appeal enhancements
Give the exterior of your home a fresh coat of paint, preferably in a neutral color like beige or gray; this will give it a clean look you’ll enjoy coming home to while offering wide appeal to potential future buyers. If you still want a bit of pop, you could paint your window frames and front door a contrasting color. In addition, ensure that your outdoor spaces are well maintained, making landscaping improvements like planting native flowers, shrubs, and trees that are both beautiful and easy to care for.
Optimal outdoor spaces
If you enjoy taking in the fresh air, build a deck or patio in your backyard to be used for outdoor living and entertaining. Such features are also huge draws on the real estate market. For added visual appeal, install a hardscape such as a sitting wall or firepit, both of which can make the space more enjoyable.
When planning the improvements you want to make to your home, a key consideration to factor in is which you can conduct yourself and which you should hire a professional for. Simpler ones like painting your front porch or replacing your mailbox can be manageable to DIY. They may even align with your retirement goals—such as if you desire to spend more time gardening or installing landscaping—or your previous work experience. If you were in a technology field, for instance, you could likely tackle various smart-home upgrades with ease. However, always leave more complicated or intensive projects like electric or construction work to a professional.
Whether you’re seeking to improve accessibility or add value through strategic upgrades, deciding to renovate in retirement is a wise investment in your future well-being and financial security. So take the plunge, embrace the possibilities, and let your projects bring you years of enhanced comfort, convenience, and satisfaction in the place you call home.
Kristen Henry, chief technology officer at SQ4D, explains the advantages of 3D-printed home construction for both builders and consumers.
When and why was SQ4D founded?
Our CEO, Sal Ferrari, was in construction and owned a lot of real estate properties. He was getting really frustrated with issues like supply-chain disruptions and tenants putting holes in his Sheetrock walls and figured there had to be a better way to build homes. He first created a robotic system to do so but instead shifted to 3D printing, starting SQ4D back in 2017. We’ve since built three homes here in Long Island, including the country’s first legally permitted 3D-printed house.
Your company’s tagline is “Changing the way the world is built.” How are you achieving this?
We see our technology as being groundbreaking for residential and commercial real estate and infrastructure. The cost savings compared to traditional construction is a big reason why. For one, we build with concrete, which is cheaper. Two-by-fours are very subject to supply-chain issues and price fluctuations. Concrete is a lot less so, especially since we only use simple, nonproprietary, locally bought materials for it: Portland cement and sand.
Labor costs also go down because we only need a general site worker, a printer operator, and a concrete mixer on-site. Our projects are completed faster as well—in thirty to forty days—and electric and plumbing are incorporated into the process, so construction-site costs are lower.
Finally, the homes created by our 3D-printing technology are built to last. We use 9,000-psi concrete, which has a very high compression strength, and add vertical and horizontal rebar throughout. The homes are essentially fireproof and insect-proof, and you don’t have to worry about flooding or having wood rot. As a result, we include a fifty-year warranty—something that’s pretty unheard of in the industry—and the homeowners will have much lower insurance costs.
How does your 3D-printing process work?
It’s very simple, so whatever an architect can dream up, we can print; for instance, it’s just as easy to create a curved wall as it is a straight one, something that would be very complicated to do via traditional construction. We simply take the 2D architectural plans and turn them into a 3D model that we use to print the house, creating the footings. As we build the interior and exterior walls, we have checkpoints where we pause to add electrical outlets, door and window frames, and countertop switches and outlets. We then continue printing over top of them. We plan to 3D-print roofs soon as well, which will make the structure completely fireproof.
Is this an eco-friendly way of building?
Creating concrete is a carbon-intensive process, but the material is still more eco-friendly than wood in the long term. The life cycle of these homes is a lot longer—we expect them to last centuries—and we’re saving countless trees from being cut down, which will be a net benefit concerning carbon dioxide. In addition, an alarming amount of postconstruction waste ends up in landfills, but with 3D printing, you know exactly how much concrete you need for a house, so there’s no waste.
That being said, there’s potential to get a lot more eco-friendly. One idea we’re looking into is partially or fully replacing the sand in our concrete with glass that otherwise would be destined for landfills.
Does your company face skepticism from buyers?
Definitely. As a whole, the construction industry, homeowners, and consumers are rather resistant to change. And despite all the advantages of a 3D-printed home, it still looks different from a traditionally constructed house. We don’t use vinyl siding, for example, and we’ll usually leave the 3D printer’s lines as a statement of sorts (though we can also smooth them out). In America, we’ve been building with wood for hundreds of years, so this reaction isn’t surprising, but across Europe it’s quite conventional, even expected, to use concrete in buildings.
Are there any inherent challenges with concrete, such as cracking?
In general, concrete cracks—that’s just the nature of the material. When it hardens and strengthens, there’s a chemical reaction called hydration, in which the cement reacts with water and forms a chemical bond that gets stronger over a twenty-eight-day period. For that process to happen correctly without forming cracks, the material needs to have sufficient water to hydrate. So we’ve automated our machine to include a misting system that dampens the concrete as it’s printing to make sure the material is curing as well as possible—we just hit a button to adjust the cement-to-water ratio depending on which part of the house we’re doing and the overall weather conditions.
Concrete tends to be cold. Is that a problem with heating and cooling?
Our process actually increases R-value. The walls, on average, are eight inches deep on the exterior and are filled with spray foam, so there’s about twice as much insulation as in a traditional wood-framed home. With the resulting cost savings, we’ve been able to include solar panels on our homes at no additional charge.
How have homeowners responded to their 3D-printed homes?
All of them are very happy in their respective houses. For example, the person who’s living in the Riverhead house really likes the wood floors and warm-colored walls, saying it really feels homey. And the family that moved into our latest home in nearby Islandia has only had positive things to say—other than being a little frustrated because random people keep calling them and showing up to their house wanting to see it. [Laughs] They are also super excited about the solar panels. They actually called us because they didn’t get an electricity bill for the first three months. They thought something was wrong!
What are SQ4D’s goals for the near future?
We are technology specialists more so than construction specialists. By the end of the year, we plan to bring our machines to market across the world so builders everywhere can start reaping the benefits we’ve talked about. We can’t wait to see what they can do with this technology in their hands and are eager to help them make a difference. We think it can be a game changer for both them and people looking for homes.
For more info, visit sq4d.com
