The Green Home EcoFriendly Construction Ideas

If you’re buying a home and land and you’re looking for material to build the interior of your home with, consider using recycled material. There are thousands and modern and exciting designs that make building a home using recycled materials more engrossing than buying new supplies which are not only recurrent in their designs but also expensive and add additional waste.

Around the world, there are Buddhist temples made from glass bottles, homes which are made by refurbishing shipping containers, houseboats moved on land and even aircrafts which have been integrated into the design. Of course, you are not expected to recover an old rusty jet and park it in your living room but these are examples of the pinnacles that can be reached through building with recyclable and recycled material.

• Bottles

Remember not to throw away empty beer bottles. You can use them to build a house or a shed. A Buddhist temple in Thailand is made entirely out of empty beer bottles. There are about a million bottles in the construction of the temple which stands as a testament to the fact that recyclable materials can make beautiful construction and also serves as a reminder of the incredible amounts of waste that human beings generate.

Glass bottles have been extensively used in cob building due to their ability to hold thermal mass. Their opacity, or lack of it, provides an extended daylight through stained glass effect with wonderful aesthetic consequences.

• Using Recycled Wood

If you are using wood in your construction, there are added benefits to using reclaimed wood. These benefits are:

1.) Reclaimed wood, especially old growth wood, is much more durable than new wood. This is due to the growth life and the tightness of the grain. Older wood has a settled and shrunk feel to it which makes it stronger.

2.) Reclaimed items generally require less maintenance than their new counterparts because they are used items who have already been ravaged by time. This gives reclaimed items a time worn look which is gaining tremendous popularity in recent times. Reclaimed items have already faced most things that can be thrown at them and thus, there are few things which can stain, dent or damage them. For materials such as floorboards, sidings and timbers.

3.) Reclaimed wood adds character to the home. It is a piece of history, an item which has a past and it comes with its own sense of nostalgia. Jeffrey Caudill, founder of a reclaimed woods provider says, ‘I look at it like an ‘old soul’ type of approach. I think these materials make people feel like they’re going back in time. It’s that feeling which is drawing more and more people to these products.’ If you’re buying a new home and you’re using wood as a decorating material, consider using reclaimed wood, it is a deeper and more environmentally sensitive option.




A home should be built with an informed opinion of the world around us and not just our own personal needs. The most effective way to build is to take into consideration the waste that we generate and the pollution that we cause and attempt to negate them. This can be done using recycled material or eco-friendly materials. Humans generate plenty of waste in the form of bottles, cans and other landfill items. Modern construction techniques allow these materials to be used in the construction of homes as well. These materials are available in abundance and the techniques in involved in working with them are simple as well.

Thus, it should be our goal to live our lives in the most eco-friendly manner possible. Our homes should be a reflection of such an ideal.


Anita Blackwell is a environmentalist who works as a free lance writer providing advice to people regarding eco-friendly living. Anita specializes in information regarding environmentally friendly building materials. Contact Anita for advice regarding recyclable materials while buying your new home.


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