Whether you are a homeowner or a tenant, maintaining and making your home more environmentally friendly could turn out to be really beneficial. The advantages of taking care of your apartment in a green manner are actually quite numerous: first, it ensures an improved durability and hence a better experience of your home in the long term. Next it will enable you to significantly save on energy (several energy efficiency calculators can be found on the internet) and finally, it will contribute to creating a healthier environment particularly in terms of air quality and hence your quality of life. Not to mention its ethical aspect: knowing that you are playing a role in caring for our planet also feels really great. We are going to take a look at eight simple activities which you can make a part of your daily home maintenance routine:

Using natural products to clean your apartment

White cider vinegar, baking soda, essential lemon oil, black soap or lavender soap, are all different products which are beneficial to your health and the materials in your home as well and of course Mother Nature. What’s more, they are really affordable in terms of cost and last in principle, for a really longtime. It is worth remembering that chemical household products are quite harmful to your health, to the materials in your home (for example, they can cause serious damage to the plumbing, which will have to be changed a lot more quickly, or alter your flooring irreversibly) as well as the environment. Their costs are also quite significant.

Getting rid of mold

Mold contributes to the rapid degeneration of building materials in addition to constituting a serious health risk. To prevent it, make sure you have a vent (which opens onto the outside) connected to your stove as well as a humidity extractor in your bathroom. Tightly closing your water taps to prevent water leaks in the walls can also be helpful.

Avoid smoking in your home

In addition to depositing a greyish layer on the walls and impregnating just about all your furniture and clothing, the smoke that remains in an enclosed environment contributes to creating an unhealthy and toxic living space.

Ventilate!

Regularly introducing outside air into your home helps to regenerate indoor air and ventilate it in a simple manner. Allowing natural light into your home will also ensure you save on your Hydro bill, especially if you are facing westward!

Forget about air conditioning

In addition to consuming high amounts of energy (increasing electricity bills in summer by nearly one quarter), they pose a danger to your health and the environment: they are actually responsible for several respiratory problems and allergies due to the refrigerants used in their manufacture. Some of them have been banned, including CFC.

Add greenery

Introduce vegetation into your living spaces! Plants help to clean your living space and create a refreshing effect; they are practical in summer since they are a really good alternative to air conditioning!

Painting

If you are repainting again, be on the lookout for synthetic paints (oil or water) that contain a lot of chemical and toxic products. Choose natural paints such as lime-based paints for example.

Renovations

If you are a landlord and are carrying out renovations, be sure to do business with a supplier who certainly uses products and materials which are beneficial to the environment and your health. If you do not know where to look, the Pages Vertes d’ÉcoHabitation   (ÉcoHabitation Green Pages) is quite useful. There are several other actions you can take to improve the energy efficiency of your home while also creating a healthy and environmentally friendly living space. Choose those suited to your lifestyle and your budget, and you will be rewarded greatly! Hélène Chebroux is a residential real-estate agent and has been in the field for 8 years: now affiliated to Via Capitale du Mont-Royal, and proud owner of a Masters in Management from HEC Montréal, her professional activities revolve around her core values of sustainable development and eco-responsibility