The garage door and the yard fence are two of the biggest objects that comprise the exterior of your home. It's a little known fact that both the garage door and fence require a lot of energy to fabricate and can have an adverse impact on the environment. Luckily, there are ways to make both your fence and garage door more Eco-friendly and sustainable.
Garages
The garage door is the largest moving object in your home, so it's important that it is a sustainable piece. Most garages are made of either metal or some form of wood. Metal doors require a lot of energy to construct and wood doors are not made from environmentally safe harvested wood, most of the time. A good alternative to these two kinds of doors are composite doors. Composite doors are usually made from a mixture of high-tech resigns and recycled wood. The resign can be anything from fibers and recycled plastic, to environmentally safe polystyrene. These doors not only look and feel like a custom wood door, but they also are more resistant to weather and durable than regular wood doors. The best part - these composite doors also cost the same, if not less, than regular doors.
Fences
The fence is the biggest part of your home; well, maybe it's not actually part of your home, but it does surround the outside of your home. Most fences are either made with chain link (metal), iron (again, metal), or wood. As we went over before, metal takes a lot of energy to make and depending on how big your yard is, that can be an awful lot of metal. As for wood fences, the majority of wood that you'll get as fence material was not responsibly harvested. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that the wood your using is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC makes sure that all sustainable hardwood is actually harvested in an environmentally friendly manner.
Some other alternatives to make your fence more "green" is to use bamboo or a composite blend, much like the garage door. Bamboo is abundant, grows back quickly, and is naturally repellent to pests and weather.
So, now that you're armed with a few green alternatives to traditional doors on your garage and fences, perhaps it's time you consider making your environmental footprint just a little bit lighter to help out mother nature.
Garages
The garage door is the largest moving object in your home, so it's important that it is a sustainable piece. Most garages are made of either metal or some form of wood. Metal doors require a lot of energy to construct and wood doors are not made from environmentally safe harvested wood, most of the time. A good alternative to these two kinds of doors are composite doors. Composite doors are usually made from a mixture of high-tech resigns and recycled wood. The resign can be anything from fibers and recycled plastic, to environmentally safe polystyrene. These doors not only look and feel like a custom wood door, but they also are more resistant to weather and durable than regular wood doors. The best part - these composite doors also cost the same, if not less, than regular doors.
Fences
The fence is the biggest part of your home; well, maybe it's not actually part of your home, but it does surround the outside of your home. Most fences are either made with chain link (metal), iron (again, metal), or wood. As we went over before, metal takes a lot of energy to make and depending on how big your yard is, that can be an awful lot of metal. As for wood fences, the majority of wood that you'll get as fence material was not responsibly harvested. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that the wood your using is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC makes sure that all sustainable hardwood is actually harvested in an environmentally friendly manner.
Some other alternatives to make your fence more "green" is to use bamboo or a composite blend, much like the garage door. Bamboo is abundant, grows back quickly, and is naturally repellent to pests and weather.
So, now that you're armed with a few green alternatives to traditional doors on your garage and fences, perhaps it's time you consider making your environmental footprint just a little bit lighter to help out mother nature.
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