101 Ideas to Improve Your New Home

FANTASIES AND WRONG IDEAS ABOUT NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION Do you think roof dormers, complex rooflines, flat roofs, cathedral ceilings, ceiling height variations, recessed ceiling can lights, skylights, large patio doors or very large windows are charming or great choices? Do you think that chimneys or traditional fireplaces are indispensable? Or that radiant heating, or ground-source heat pumps are the best green solution? Or that solar photovoltaic systems are too expensive and can only provide a small part of your electricity needs? Well, if you do, you should take time to inform yourself, before embarking on building a new home. You should read this book first. Most of the ideas mentioned above - and many dozens of others, addressed in our book - are displaced, wrong, expensive or a potential source of problems. New homes can be built and equipped to consume a fraction of the energy of average homes, and have green features, without looking any different from conventional buildings. They can look as beautiful as you want - as long as you aren't focused on special and extravagant aesthetics. ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE AUTHORS The book deals with hundreds of issues about windows, doors, walls, attics, roofs, roofing, foundations or water heating and mechanical ventilation systems; and also with the home's siting, size, shape, layout, orientation, air sealing, insulation, lighting, heating and cooling; or with solar photovoltaic systems, for those who want to embrace the Zero Energy House concept. It delves into details without ever being too technical and incomprehensible to lay people. It tells you what is best, and what are the alternatives and rules for the different climates; or the pros, cons and costs. 101 Ideas to Improve your New Home is part of a bigger project, and wouldn't exist without it - the House-Energy.com project - where the authors of the book, including the project coordinator, Eduardo Reisinho, have published and keep maintaining thousands of pages and posts, that you can consult freely. Scroll to the top of the page, for a sample or to acquire the book