With an increasing awareness and move towards eco-friendly living, most homeowners are making a conscious effort to change their living habits. Small steps such as energy-saving light bulbs, decorating with natural paint finishes or even updating your home with bespoke wooden doors can help contribute to a greener home. Here are our top six steps to increase your home’s efficiency:

Contemporary Front Door with Sidelights

1. Bespoke Wooden Doors

As we learn more about the harmful impact plastics are having on the environment, bespoke wooden front doors seem a responsible option. You may think that PVC would be the best choice. Our wooden front doors are made using Accoya®, a long-lasting, hard-wearing sustainable timber that keeps its good looks for decades.

Each one of our front doors is designed and installed to the exact specification of the client’s doorway, ensuring a millimetre-perfect fit, even if the entrance is an unusual style or has non-standard dimensions. Because of the precise fit, this reduces heat loss and stops draughts entering the home through the door and frame. You’d be surprised at the amount of air that can filter through keyholes and letterboxes. These details are taken into consideration with only the highest-quality door furniture and glazing installed to reduce energy bills, saving money in the long-run.

2. Insulate

When creating a greener home, one of the main steps you need to think about is insulation. If your home is poorly insulated, there’s no point in implementing energy-saving solutions as heat will still flow straight out. Luckily there are many ways to insulate your home. These include: insulating loft or cavity walls, opting for double glazing, insulating hot water tanks and also covering original hardwood floors with rugs to stop air from escaping through gaps.

All of these solutions, combined with precision fit bespoke wooden doors, will improve your homes eco-friendliness.

Victorian Style Front Door

3. Energy Saving Lighting

As well as turning off switches and using natural light, we can now opt for more energy-efficient bulbs in our homes. LED and CFL bulbs are the number one choice as opposed to the normal incandescent types. Not only are LED bulbs more efficient, but they also create less heat and are significantly more cost-effective. As lighting goes greener, there are now options for motion sensor lighting and automated systems, ultimately reducing energy waste.

4. Reduce, Recycle

Recycling is now the norm; however, when it comes to reducing household waste, some of us are still struggling to make a change. Here a few simple steps to make a difference:

1. Switch to cloth bags instead of plastic, by keeping a selection in your car or bag you’ll be less likely to forget them.
2. Recycle plastic food containers. You can now take these to some food stores to fill with items such as grains, cereals and spices.
3. Say no to water bottles. There’s a huge variety of reusable water bottles and coffee cups around now, so it’s easier than ever to reduce your plastic waste.
4. Opt-out of paper bills, catalogues and mailings. Most companies now use electronic methods.

5. Natural Air Purifiers

Indoor plants introduce life into your home, adding visual interest purifying the air, which is much needed with growing cities and advancing technology. NASA has spent time researching how plants can affect air quality and have discovered that both the plants and leaves remove traces of toxic vapours within enclosed spaces. Plants also take carbon dioxide from the air to produce oxygen. Easy to care for natural air purifiers include English ivy, chrysanthemum, peace lilies and mother-in-law’s tongue.

6. Upgrade Your Cleaning Products

Most green cleaning products are produced using sustainable manufacturing processes and use non-toxic, natural ingredients that don’t harm the environment. For some cleaning tasks, you can also use 100% natural products that require little to no packaging. These include citric acid from citrus fruits, bicarbonate of soda and apple cider vinegar.

Pink Victorian Door

Along with these steps, you can also ensure a greener home by practising the habits below:

• Turn off your devices when not in use; this may include chargers, printers, computers and TVs. Even if the device is plugged in and not in use, it could still potentially be using electricity.
• Always run a full dishwasher or washing machine wherever possible. This will ensure water wastage is at a minimum.
• Remember to turn off lights when not in use. Another way to reduce energy consumption and costs is to install dimmer switches.
• If you’re renovating or merely completing jobs on your home, remember to reuse or reclaim building materials. Old bricks can be used in the garden or if you’re restoring a period home look in your local reclamation yards for original pieces and building materials.
• Turn leftover food scraps and garden materials into compost. If you implement this into your family’s daily routine, you’d be surprised at how much you’ll reduce your ordinary bin waste.
• Lastly, ensure you draught-proof your home, this means preventing unwanted air leakages and heat loss from doors and windows. This can be as simple as resealing windows, installing a draught proof letterbox or a new brush excluder strip along the base of your doors.

For more information on how our bespoke wooden doors can help you create a greener home contact London Door Company today.