When you finally take the plunge and decide that you are going to be building your own home, then there are going to be a number of considerations running through your head. You will want a home that has the right number of rooms for your family and where the floor plan matches the way that you use the house, but you will need more than that. You will need an energy-efficient home design that will make your home a comfortable place to live with low energy bills for years to come. If you want to create a home that truly has an energy-efficient home design, then you need to start right at the beginning of the design process to ensure that what you end up with is a home that is ideally suited to your needs.

Checking your floor plan

Your home will need a floor plan that matches the needs of your household, but when you want an energy-efficient home design, you must also think about the location of your property and how that will impact the design. Factors you will want to bear in mind include the amount of sunlight that each room receives and when that sunlight will reach each room. If a room mainly receives the sunlight in the afternoon or the evening, then that would be a good choice for the main living room, while if a different room is brightest in the morning, then that is probably best used for a breakfast bar or some other activity that takes place in the morning.

What materials would you like to use?

The layout of your home is not the only aspect of your property that can affect whether or not you have an energy-efficient home design. A second important factor is the nature of the materials that you will use in the construction of your home. It can be helpful to work with a special consultant who will be able to explain the thermal mass of different materials and how good they will be at stabilising your home temperature and avoiding the need to employ your HVAC system too frequently. You will also want to employ building materials that can maintain an effective moisture barrier to prevent damp, mould or mildew from entering your property. To find out more about how you can build a home with an energy-efficient home design, talk to your local consultant today.