The LEED site – a great resource for remodelers

Although LEED is an extensive set of guidelines designed primarily for new construction of commercial and residential buildings, it can also be used as a great resource for the average homeowner who is remodeling an existing home.

Even if you’re only doing a portion of your home, wouldn’t you feel good knowing you’re following the latest ideas in energy conservation and green principals? I think most of us are interested in reducing our carbon footprint and protecting our environment for our kids and grandkids right?

As an example, lets say you’re going to remodel that bathroom or spiff up the kitchen. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the plumbing fixtures you install make good water usage sense? With the dry conditions we’ve seen in northern Georgia in the recent past, this should d be a concern for all of us.

Good news – LEED has a guideline for this:

Water closets (toilets) 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf)
Private lavatory faucet  2.2 gpm at 60 psi
Kitchen faucet (excluding faucets used exclusively for filling operations)  2.2 gpm at 60 psi
Showerhead   2.5 gpm at 80 psi per shower stall

Bad news – unless you’re pretty savvy with the internet, this info can be hard to locate.

No worries though, over the coming few weeks I’ll pluck some gems out of this enormous government site that I think could be useful to the average homeowner and post them up here where there easy to find.

Stay tuned!