Eco-friendly Tools You Can Use When Renovating Your Home

Building, renovating, or even cleaning the house is not a very eco-friendly activity. However, this is not due to the process itself but rather the various tools that use up (waste) energy or hurt the environment. From lowering electricity use to reducing carbon emissions, here are 6 eco-friendly tools to get for renovating your home.

Power drills that run on batteries

Whatever you decide to renovate in your house, whether it’s tearing down a wall or lightening up the bathroom décor-wise, you are going to use various power tools. For instance, a power drill allows you to cut a wooden beam in half in a matter of minutes; a job that would take hours to complete using a handsaw.

However, power tools come with a downside: they are hard to move around the house because of the cord. Moreover, since they are plugged in all time, you are bound to use more power than necessary to complete the job.

A far better and handier (pun intended) solution is a power drill that runs on batteries. A rechargeable drill means that you’ll never again get tangled in power cords and that you’ll use energy more responsibly.

Renting tools is better than buying them

Good-quality battery-powered tools are widely available nowadays and they are affordable. However, renovating your home will require tools that you will use only once and then what?

Selling them means that you’ll lose cash but letting them sit idle in the garage isn’t better either. The last thing you want is for an expensive air compressor to collect dust for years.

For this reason, more expensive tools should be rented, rather than purchased. This way, you will always get the right tools for the job and you’ll pay less up front. The money you save can be reinvested in the home renovation project.

Working at night

Promo videos and Hollywood wants to have us thinking that construction work carried out at night should be accompanied by oversized floodlights. This lighting option is only used on major construction sites, but for a typical home renovation, solar lighting towers will do just fine.

They are lightweight, easy to install (no crane is required), and easy to maintain. The combo of solar cells and LED technology means that the charge time of solar lighting towers is just 10 hours, while they come with an autonomy of 7 nights and more.

A chainsaw operating without a cord

Speaking of autonomy, wouldn’t be cool to have a cordless chainsaw that doesn’t require gasoline to operate? Like the power drill, there are chainsaw models that run on battery power. They are ideal for small home renovation projects that require working timber or chopping down trees.

The fuel sold for chainsaws is often polluted, so it can jam the machine and using electricity to power the chainsaw is a huge waste of resources. A battery-powered chainsaw can be used indoors since it doesn’t generate any fumes. Moreover, these chainsaws are less noisy and they weigh less, making them easier to handle.

Green mowing

There isn’t a more obvious sign you have gone green than a verdant lawn in front of your house. However, maintaining a lawn requires a lot of effort; namely, using the lawn mower.

Since the renovation of a room facing the front yard is going to destroy the lawn in front of it, grass will have to be re-sown. However, mowing the new lawn mustn’t be tiresome or time-consuming. Instead of the usual gas lawnmower, get an electric model that features lower CO₂emissions.

Electric mowers are quiet, they run on batteries (although there are models with cord), and there is no danger of a gas spill. If you find a premium model, you can use it for landscaping later on and you can lend it to your friends to trim hedges.

A green way to vacuum the house

A vacuum cleaner is a home appliance that comes in handy before, during, and after a home renovation. Namely, the dust generated by frequent demolitions can damage your lungs, so it’s useful to have a vacuum cleaner by your side.

Plugging in a vacuum cleaner in the middle of a construction site is out of the question. It is far too dangerous to drag the cord behind yourself, constantly at risk of tripping (work boots aren’t known for their pliancy).

On the other hand, electric sweepers that use batteries are lightweight, so they are easier to use. There are vacuum sticks that can be operated while you are standing on a ladder! Electric brooms come equipped with swivels, allowing them to vacuum efficiently in tight spaces.

As you have from our examples and tips, there are plenty of tools that you can use when renovating your home. Moreover, these tools are battery-powered, so they are more portable than conventional energy-guzzling tools.