Here are a few tips for making your laundry room both cleaner and greener. Source: Houzz

If you’re looking for ways to reduce your environmental footprint as well as save a little money on your utility bills, then consider making your laundry room both cleaner and greener. The following are a few tips for a green designed laundry room:

• Use an energy efficient washing machine – Upgrade your old washing machine with a new model that’s been approved by Energy Star. An Energy Star rated washing machine uses half as much water as well as 30 percent less energy than non-rated washing machines.
• Use a drying rack – Instead of drying clothing in your drying machine, hang them up on a drying rack to cut down on the energy you would have to use otherwise.
• Use cold water – Instead of washing your clothes on hot water settings, use cold water. Around 90 percent of the energy used in a washing machine is to heat up the water and cold water will work just as effectively.
• Only wash full loads – Save on water and energy by only using your washing machine when you have a full load.

Use these laundry room tips and be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds for more green tips.

Here are some holiday lighting tips to help you make your holiday decor resplendent! Source: Houzz

Everybody knows that great lighting is a part of any display that you have inside and outside of your home during the holiday season. However, actually achieving a great lighting scheme isn’t as easy as putting up some colorful bulbs and hoping for the best. This year, use these holiday lighting tips from Trilogy to make your home the best looking one on the block.

• Make sure your pathway is well lit. Even a cement pathway lined with shrubs or flowers can use decorative white lights to improve visibility and give your walkway a little bit more holiday spirit.
• Light wreaths and other decorative items that you put on your front door or on the porch. Canister lights designed for outside work well, as do rows of decorative bulbs on strings, as long as they’re bright enough.
• Hang your LED lights in strategic rows to give an abstract design while keeping your home festive. If you’re feeling really creative, you can even use lights to spell out holiday-related greetings on your roof, front porch or even your garage door. Just take your time and don’t rush!

Contact Trilogy for more information and holiday lighting tips you can use this season.

The following are a few tips to help brighten up your winter landscaping.

The landscaping is an important part of your curb appeal, no matter what time of the year it is. This means that you shouldn’t ignore your landscape even if it’s winter just because you think that the snow might render your efforts useless. The following are a few tips to help brighten up your winter landscaping:

• Install a firepit – Warm up that cold yard by building a small firepit. This is a great way to make the outdoor area attractive to friends and family no matter what the temperature is.
• Add color – Winters tend to be a little drab in the color department, so why not add color to the landscape? Paint your fence and front gate a bold blue to help give your landscape some life.
• Add lighting – What better way to brighten up your yard than by adding some outdoor lighting? Use up lights at the base of some of your trees and bushes to highlight them at night.

These are just a few ideas for sprucing up your landscape design during the winter months. For additional landscaping ideas as well as home design ideas in general, contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

Green roofs, which are basically vegetated roofs, can have a huge benefit on the energy efficiency of your home, but there are a lot of myths about it that causes skepticism in some homeowners. Source: Houzz

If you’ve done any research about green building practices, then you may have stumbled upon the mention of green roofs. Green roofs, which are basically vegetated roofs, can have a huge benefit on the energy efficiency of your home, but there are a lot of myths about it that causes skepticism in some homeowners. The following are a few of the more common myths about green roofs:

• Green roofs are experimental – Green roofs are a result of a sustainability trend that may not end up having much effect. This is simply not true – green roofs have been around for centuries!
• Green roofs are only for green buildings – You don’t have to have a zero energy home to be able to install a green roof. Some homes have green roofs just for aesthetic purposes and to increase their garden space.
• Green roofs cause structural issues – Green roofs are not more susceptible to leaks than normal roofs. In fact, a green roof may last longer due to the protection against ultraviolet sunlight that the greenery provides.

Avoid these myths and consider a green roof for your home. For more information about green building, contact us at Trilogy Builds.

Achieving a net-zero-energy home means that you’ll be paying zero dollars on your energy bills, while also having quite a positive effect on the environment. Source: Houzz

If you want your home to be as energy efficient as possible, then you should look into creating a zero-energy home. Achieving a net-zero-energy home means that you’ll be paying zero dollars on your energy bills, while also having quite a positive effect on the environment. The following are a few tips for achieving a zero energy home:

• Increase insulation – Make sure that you have insulated your walls, floors, ceilings, basement, attic and even your duct work and piping. This helps reduce the amount of energy that your home loses.
• Seal all holes and cracks – By using caulk and weatherstripping, you should have all the holes and cracks around your home sealed to prevent outdoor air from leaking in and indoor air from escaping out.
• Replace old windows – Upgrading your windows is an easy way to help make your home more energy efficient since older windows often leak energy through the glass or their frames.
• Replace light bulbs – Use CFLs of LEDs instead of old incandescent bulbs. These use less energy, produce less heat and last longer.

Use these tips to help achieve a zero energy home. For additional eco-friendly tips, contact Trilogy Builds today.

Eco-friendly countertops and sinks in your bathroom spaces often utilize recycled glass, rubber, and other like materials that combine to form a sleek, modern look for your bathroom’s interior design. Source: Houzz

If you’re planning on designing a sustainable home, then you should consider green building materials for every aspect of your home design. For example, using eco-friendly countertops and sinks in your bathroom spaces. The following are a few examples of eco-friendly countertops and sinks you could use:

• Countertops – Countertops made out of recycled glass combined with cement and additives as well as other recycled materials are not only a eco-friendly, but also a great way to introduce a beautiful and unique aesthetic to your bathroom design. In fact, there’s a lot of visual options when it comes to creating a recycled glass countertop, which means it’s a very flexible choice for whatever bathroom design you are planning.
• Sinks – There are many eco-friendly sink options to choose from. A rubber sink is a great way to add a sleek, modern look. For something a little more rustic and homey, use  a salvaged sink or a recycled copper or bronze sink. You can use a lot of salvaged materials for your sink, like wood or even porcelain.

Consider these eco-friendly countertop or sink ideas and be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds today for additional eco-friendly tips.

Consider green building methods for every part of your home design, including your driveway, which can reduce storm water run-off. Source: Houzz

If you’re looking to reduce your environmental footprint as much as possible, then you should consider green building methods for every part of your home design – including your driveway. The following are a few tips for building a green driveway:

• One of the issues with typical driveways is that storm water tends to run down driveways and into a storm drain, where much of the storm water runoff will end up in nearby lakes and rivers. If you’re trying to help out the environment, then you’ll want to figure out a way to redirect storm water into the ground. This will help to prevent erosion caused by runoff. So how do you do this?
• By using a permeable surface instead of asphalt or concrete. For example, using open-cell pavers, which are concrete pavers with holes that are filled with pervious material, such as vegetation.
• Or use pervious pavers, which contain joints filled with aggregate that lets water seep between the pavers.

These are just a few ways that you can reduce water runoff and make your driveway more eco-friendly. For more information about green building techniques and how you can implement them, contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

Concrete, terrazzo, and linoleum are all eco-friendly options for bathroom floor designs. Source: Houzz

If you’re in the midst of planning out your bathroom design, then you’ve probably realized how important the flooring is going to be. Not only does it need to be durable and long lasting, it needs to be slip-resistant and water-resistant as well. If you’re also trying to build green, you’ll want an eco-friendly floor as well. The following are a few eco-friendly bathroom floor options:

• Concrete floor – Concrete is both durable, water-resistant and cost effective. To give your concrete floor some personality, choose a concrete aggregate that contains recycled materials such as porcelain or glass.
• Terrazzo floor – Terrazzo is incredibly durable and provides a unique, beautiful look. The material is basically made from chips of granite or marble that’s set in concrete and then polished. For a more eco-friendly version, choose terrazzo that uses low-VOC sealers and low-impact aggregates.
• Linoleum floor – Linoleum is fire and water resistant and antimicrobial, perfect for the bathroom. Look for adhesives labeled as no-VOC.

These are a few eco-friendly bathroom floor materials that you can use for your bathroom design. For additional eco-friendly tips and for information about our green building services, be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

There are different types of insulation, and when you pick insulation for your homes, you need to look at the R-value, or the thermal resistance of the insulation.

One of the most important aspects of a green building design is the insulation. Every home needs to be insulated in order to keep heat and cool air produced by your HVAC system inside and to prevent outdoor air from seeping in. This will keep your home at the level of comfort you desire while also preventing wasted energy. The following are a few things to know about insulation.

There are different types of insulation, and when you pick insulation for your homes, whether it’s for your walls, flooring, ceiling or attic spaces, you need to look at the R-value. The R-value rates the thermal resistance of the insulation. The higher it is, the better the thermal insulation will be. The thickness of the insulation as well as the make-up of it can determine its R-value. Often, the thicker it is, the higher the R-value is. The amount of insulation needed in your home depends on factors such as what your climate is, what kind of HVAC system you have, what your budget is, what parts of the home you are insulating and more.

For more information about green building materials, be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds today.

If you’re struggling to decide on what direction to take with your home design, then we suggest taking a look at some of the current home building trends for inspiration. The following are just a few of the home building trends worth checking out:

• Clean lines and open spaces – Homes are being designed in more contemporary styles, which includes the use of cleaner lines and open spaces, which is accomplished by eliminating smaller rooms and using less hallways. Porcelain tiles are also a great option for achieving a wood look.

• Natural look – Engineered woods that boast lighter, more natural finishes are currently growing in popularity, as are grey, white and washed-wood finishes. Engineered woods allow you to achieve a more exotic aesthetic.

• Green building – Green building will continue to grow as more homeowners look to reduce their environmental footprint and take advantage of the savings involved, including tax credits and lower utility bills. Examples include the use of triple-glazed windows, home automation and LED lighting.  
• Virtual Design and Modeling – The technology now exists to enable a home to be modeled in 3D CAD where homes are perfected and “test driven” before construction. Trilogy Partners is pioneering this strategy with it’s Project Management Modeling. 

Consider some of these home building trends when designing your new house. For more information about implementing these home building trends, be sure to contact us online at Trilogy Partners today.