What colour will your future to be? 

There are a lot of builders today that pretend to be green.  Simply adding a high-efficiency furnace or better windows does not cut it.   Gold Seal Homes believes that building a house becomes the extension of every aspect of your life.  One great example is that healthy building materials and indoor air quality improving products improve your health.  Studies have shown that better indoor air quality leads to better grades in children and performance at work.  Sustainable construction can also improve the comfort you experience in the home.  A Green home should be less expensive to operate, quieter, healthier and have a lower impact on the environment down the road.  So how do you know the builder you have chosen is truly Green and not just a paler shade?

Some things to look for:

Accreditation;  The builder should be actively involved with or registered with a reputable Sustainable certifying agency.  Here in western Canada the largest such agency is the Built Green™ Program http://www.builtgreencanada.ca/content.php?id=262.  LEED is also available across Canada and there are many others.  Look to see if they are supported by your local Home Builder Agency (HBA) or NRCAN http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/energuide/home.cfm?attr=4 .

Labeling;  The home should be tested and evaluated by a third-party.  The Government of Canada conducts review of energy modelling and blower door test results to produce an Energuide label.  This is a report card that tells the homeowner how their home rates from an energy consumption perspective.

Water Management:  What steps is the builder taking to conserve water?  Dual flush toilets are great, but do they offer rain barrels?  Do they have a referral to a landscaping company that specializes in drought tolerant landscaping?  Grey water recovery methods? Green roofs?

Recycling:  Does the builder divert construction waste from the landfill.  Last year Gold Seal Homes diverted over 70000 Kilos from local landfills through our recycling program.

Indoor Air Quality:  What building materials are being used that improve the air you breath.  Are they installing any air filtering devices?

For more information about what Gold Seal is doing ‘behind the paint’ to make our homes greener, visit us on-line at www.goldsealhomes.com