Updated on Mar. 18, 2024
With sustainable building materials becoming more available to DIYers, let's examine how they compare with their traditional counterparts.
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We hear so much about sustainability in the news that it’s becoming important to many homeowners and contractors to use more and more environmentally friendly building products and become sustainable builders. With these sustainable materials more readily available to DIYers, let’s look at some and see how they compare to traditional ones.
Quite simply, traditional building materials are those we DIYers and contractors have been using for years with sustainability techniques. Some of these products evolved as the decades went by, with the evolution more about health and safety or efficiency than making them eco-friendly. Because they’re well-known, they’re generally inexpensive.
When I think of sustainability, I think of materials produced, used and disposed of in a way that keeps the environment in mind.
The sustainable home building materials I’ve used were manufactured from waste products, come from properly managed forests, and have characteristics that will ensure longevity. These materials are often more expensive than traditional materials, and sometimes even come with a new way of installing them. Here’s what you need to know about sustainable construction.
Fiberglass insulation has been a gold standard for many years to insulate our homes.
Mineral wool is a sustainable insulation made by heating and spinning slag, a waste byproduct in steel production, into a fibrous wool-like material.
Cons:
One new-to-us product we incorporated in our Sustainable Retreat is known as a smart vapor retarder. We chose MemBrain Vapor Retarder by CertainTeed over the 6-mil poly sheeting because it allows moisture to escape the wall cavity while keeping moisture out.
Trim is often overlooked when thinking about sustainable options, but they certainly exist!
There are few alternatives to solid wood-stained trim, and they don’t look great. If you’re staining and installing solid wood trim, look for the Forest Stewardship Councils (FSC) stamp, which indicates it’s sustainably sourced.
Most trim I see in new homes nowadays is painted. I’ve installed miles of primed for paint trim and I always use finger jointed trim.
As its name indicates, this type of trim consists of many small cut offs finger jointed together. This process takes pieces of unusable wood and joining them together to create the straightest trim in the lumberyard.
In many neighborhoods around the country, you can observe several types of siding on a walk around the block: stucco, vinyl, wood, masonry and even the newer engineered wood choices. Most houses are donning their original siding, which looks good for their sustainability.
Here are some pros and cons of some of the most popular cladding choices.
Many think vinyl siding is NOT a sustainable choice, but it can be a good one.
Like oriented strand board (OSB) sheathing, engineered wood siding is made with wood chips compressed and adhered to form different types of siding products.
Stucco is a popular cladding in the western half of the U.S., but can be found across the country. It’s made with a mixture of cement, sand and water.
The type of material to use on a deck often leads to a big debate. Some of the top options are cedar and composite boards. Looking at the sustainability of these two options may determine which one is best for you.
A common real wood option for long lasting decks.
Composite decking features up to 95 percent recycled plastic and wood pulp.
