Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

Americans are spending more time outdoors, cooking, socializing, or spending quiet time enjoying the sunshine on the patio or deck. Door systems manufacturers are responding with innovative and stylish products. This article has some tips about choosing the types of door system that will add value and style to your outdoor escape.

In homes requiring conservation of space, sliding or gliding doors are preferred. Where space is not a consideration, French are the ever-popular option. The wider the opening, the better the view and the easier the access to the great outdoors. Jeld-Wen makes door systems that can open whole walls to the outside – up to 48 feet. They also make a two-door system that meets at a 90-degree angle and folds back in an according style, opening up essentially two walls to the outside.

The old-fashioned Dutch door, while not your typical patio door, is an ideal way to open the house to fresh air, yet keep animals and toddlers in check. Dutch doors come in two parts: the upper half operates independently of the bottom half.

The type of glass installed in your patio doors can be important for such concerns as heat transfer, energy efficiency, and sun damage to sensitive carpeting and furniture. Low-e glass keeps damaging sun rays away from furnishings and also helps to prevent heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer. Tempered glass with a decorative style allows desired light in while maintaining privacy.  Jeld-Wen manufactures patio doors with their optional ImpactGard glass, which protects against natural and man-made damage.

Adding to the value of these stylish door systems, the vinyl, fiberglass, aluminum materials that go into the manufacture of these doors are lightweight yet durable and are low maintenance.

It’s common knowledge that a well insulated house is an energy saver – both for keeping warm air in in the winter and hot air out in the summer. And that the most common form of insulation has always been paper backed fiberglass batts, blown in cellulose or fiberglass or sprayed on polyurethane foam insulation. But, as home owners, business owners and building professionals alike become more environmentally aware, they’re looking for alternate insulation materials that make less of an impact on the planet’s limited resources and that are less harmful to the environment and human health.

The R-value of the materials used for insulation is, as always, a first consideration. Depending on region and climate, the R-value is more or less significant, but standards for most regions in the nation are set at R-13 for exterior walls and R-38 for ceilings. As more and more builders and owners raise concerns over sustainable sources of materials, the insulation industry is trotting out an increasing line of alternative materials that meet these concerns and also provide the requisite amount of protection against the elements.

It’s becoming more common to find insulation professionals offering such “green” products as reused newsprint and soybean based blown in insulation. Manufactures of insulation products are also reformulating existing types of insulation to reduce or remove those components deemed hazardous or harmful to the environment. Natural materials such as cotton, wool or soybeans are beginning to show up more and more as alternative means of insulation.

A handy chart on this site lists the various materials available for insulating a home or business and may help in the decision making process when choosing a means and method for insulation.

Many home owners want to “go green”, but fear the cost and bother of doing so. It’s surprisingly inexpensive and fairly easy, though, to make small changes that can lower your family’s carbon footprint. I’m only going to mention three, but this article has ten simple ways to become more environmentally friendly.

On average, an American household annually emits about 26,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The energy used costs about $1,400 every year. A first step to reducing these financial and environmental costs is the old “turn off that light” maxim. My mother’s cry of “turn if off if you’re not using it.” would echo throughout our modest ranch house, so much so that I find myself stepping into empty conference rooms to flick the switch on lights left burning after the meeting was long over.

Another small step is to check the standby energy use of your electronic appliances. Computers, when shut off, still draw electricity through their power cords. Today’s television sets don’t shut off completely when you hit the power switch. One way to make sure the appliances are completely off and not drawing power is to plug them into a power strip which, when the item is not in use, is shut off at the strip, thus ensuring no electricity ‘leakage’.

One last piece of advice: replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. The technology in this area has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past few years and these bulbs, while still a bit pricey, are easier to screw into the socket and use a quarter of the electricity of a traditional bulb. They also last ten times longer on average.

Simple steps, big benefits. Going green has never been easier

As the cost of oil rises into the record books, businesses, regardless of size, are looking for ways to reduce consumption, and thereby improve the bottom line. Managing energy costs has become a new industry as companies such as LPB Energy Management in Abilene, Texas, come into being and carve out a niche for themselves, advising businesses on lowering energy consumption.

Construction comes into play first and foremost, with details such as which way the building faces, how air and sunlight moves throughout the day, and how best to take advantage of existing topography. In Abilene, costly alternative energy sources are not as in demand as the consumer doesn’t have the benefit of selling extra power back to the utility grid. So, innovations in design and construction are needed to meet the desire for greener, more environmentally friendly buildings.

LPB has provided advice in energy management to the Abilene Independent School District. As a result, more efficient lighting systems – those that incorporate motion detectors – were installed in AISD’s newest building, Craig Middle School. Motion detectors are an easy, low cost way to realize an immediate savings in energy costs. The motion detectors have an added bonus of being a security feature.

The heating and cooling system at Craig is monitored and controlled at the central maintenance office, meaning the system can be powered down at a specified time to save on energy when no-one is occupying or using the building. Eventually, all systems within the AISD buildings will be monitored and controlled in this way.

LPB monitors electricity, water, and natural gas usage for its clients and plays a large part in negotiating the best rates possible from regional providers, and saves its customers the headache of wading through contracts and rate negotiation.