7 Ways to Use Sustainable Redwood in your Home
As summer approaches, many homeowners are thinking about how they can make their home more beautiful. Maybe this year you have sustainability projects in mind, like building vertical gardens or creating a rainwater catchment system. But for many others this means big home improvement projects that will make your home more functional, more enjoyable, and add long-term value to your home.
One of the easier ways to add value and beauty is to build a deck for your home. Whether you have a small space or large, or live in the forest or in the city, adding a deck can allow you to experience the outdoors more often, increase the space of your home, and make you the best host for al fresco dinner parties! And the value is huge: Green Building Elements says, “when it comes to adding value to your home one of the best things you can do is either add on [to] or upgrade your existing deck. [The] return on investment for adding a deck to your home is nearly 81% of the cost of the deck.”
The first step in designing your deck is to find something that fits the aesthetic of your home, find a sustainable option for the construction, and something that fits into your budget. There are lots of woods to choose from, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that redwood is one of the most sustainable options, provided that it’s from a carefully managed source. Redwood from carefully managed sources has a reduced impact compared to other woods because of its long-term value. Redwood is naturally pest resistant, tends to outlive other woods, AND is biodegradable at the end of its life, unlike other woods that have been chemically treated for pest resistance.
Wood, and redwood in particular, is also a much more sustainable decking material than plastic composite material, made from fossil fuel-based plastics. At the end of its lifetime, it’s most likely to end up in a landfill, leaving a toxic legacy. Redwood from companies like Humboldt Redwood* are harvested in a responsible, ethical manner with a focus on long-term sustainability. By harvesting redwood logs at a level consistently below the natural growth rate and by planting trees yearly, Humboldt Redwood helps to ensure that redwood will be a renewable resource for years to come. At the end of its life, redwood decking can be turned into mulch or salvaged and re-milled to be used in smaller projects like container gardens. But perhaps best of all, redwood is less expensive too: with redwood priced about $30 per square foot and plastic-composite material can ranging from $32-$48 per square foot, it’s an easy choice.
Below we have 7 ways to use redwood for your home that can inspire you to take on this great summer home project. Let’s get started!
This post was sponsored by Humboldt Redwood.
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