Many of us have heard of a living or green wall. They’re excellent choices for reducing bills, counterbalancing emissions from basic home living and adding a beautiful touch of nature to your home’s exterior. But what are some of their other perks? Are there other external living features that can be applied to a home to further reduce your monthly utility bills?
Here are three external living features that will do just that, starting with the living wall.
Living walls are walls that have some sort of greenery attached to them. A common variety includes vines or ivy being gently guided along the siding of the home with a green facade or vertical trellis. Others include having the plant directly embedded into the structure of the siding or exterior panel.
Living walls are excellent at reducing noise from neighboring homes, other residents within the community or general life sounds. Other facets of living walls include temperature equalizing, which reduces the strain on your heating and cooling system. Since it isn’t working as often or as hard, living walls can also help you reduce your utility bills.
They’re also marvels at reducing fade damage from the sun or eventual erosion from rain, since the plants living on them require both to stay nourished.
Like living walls, living roofs are great for maintaining your roof. The plants keep the sun and harsh rain from damaging the exterior shingles or layering. However, living roofs offer another benefit: insulation. Living roofs help insulate the uppermost area of the home, the area that holds most of the heat during the warmer months. If you have central air, your system may work twice as hard with a conventional roof, even with proper attic insulation, than with a living one.
When working with proper upcycled or eco-friendly, insulating material, living roofs offer an outer layer or barrier of insulation. The outer insulation helps the inner insulation in the home keep up with the demands of the surrounding environment and further reduces the strain on in-home systems.
Living floors are typically alternatives to grass. Some grass species are invasive, while others can do tremendous amounts of harm to the soil, especially if not cared for. Living floors, like clovers or moss, may not provide the same type of savings, but they will do wonders for your lawn maintenance needs. For example, clovers and moss do not need excessive mowing and can be grown relatively easily with few resources, which will lower your water bill and the bill for new equipment like mowers or extensive weed whackers.
Living exterior features can improve your home’s value if your target demographic is among the emerging, eco-friendly group. With more homeowners looking for ways to save money while staying green, there’s no wonder why so many of these living exterior features are showing up on the market for a wide-range of homeowners with a wide range of budgets.
Nicolette is a full-time licensed real estate agent working with residential and commercial buyers, sellers, and renters. Growing up in Eastchester, graduating from Marist College and branching out to Manhattan before returning to her roots has created deep ties to Westchester while understanding what a NYC buyer wants when relocating to the suburbs.
Bringing nearly a decade of extensive experience in sales, interior design, marketing, and customer service from her Manhattan career while working with esteemed companies such as Elle Décor Magazine and various companies under the Herman Miller brand, Nicolette encompasses an effective fusion of suburban warmth and city tenacity. Her enthusiasm for helping others combined with her determination to close deals helps her simultaneously connect her with clients on a personal level while conducting business in the most professional of ways. It’s this connection that leads to a seamless and successful Real Estate transaction.
When not working, Nicolette enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and puppy. Professionally, she prides herself using those same personal values of loyalty, honesty, attentiveness, and being detail-oriented. She values all client relationships and makes it her goal to provide exceptional service and guaranteed satisfaction. Her intimate knowledge of the area, having lived in Westchester all her life, gives her enthusiasm and a desire to make her home, your home.
In July 2015, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services (BHHS) acquired Tri-Crest Realty and Prudential Centennial Realty and has been one of the most successful offices in lower Westchester County since 2000. With over 1,800 Realtors in 55 offices in the Northeast and 51,600 agents in 1,600 offices in 47 states nationally, BHHS is the #2 company in Barron’s ranking of the world’s most respected companies; ranking #3 in Fortune Magazine’s 50 Most Admired Companies survey.