Innovative Building Materials for a Custom Home

Is there anything more exciting than constructing a custom home? When you get the opportunity to build a house from the ground up, you have the option to truly custom tailor your space. While you might have ideas about what makes a custom home amazing, there are probably some things you haven’t considered.

From the exterior to the interior – there’s no shortage of new and innovative materials to bring your custom home to life. These materials transform traditional houses into truly interesting and functional spaces.

Here are a few of the top innovative materials on the market today to consider for your custom home.

Structural Panels

Traditional homes are typically built with wooden framing. The process is long and arduous and involves many complicated steps. Structural panels are providing an alternative to speed up the construction process, but more importantly, to improve overall energy efficiency.

Structural panels are an integral component of ICF construction, a technique that focuses on simplicity and energy efficiency. These panels are prefabricated and fit together like interlocking blocks allowing your home to have a nearly airtight seal. In the long run, this results in a house that’s incredibly energy-efficient and primed for low electricity bills in the future.

They’re also incredibly durable, weather-resistance, and some structures built with structural panels can even withstand a tornado. All around, structural panels are an innovative material worth your consideration.

Composite Roof Shingles

There are several roofing options out there. The most popular is asphalt because of its cost and availability. However, there are many problems with asphalt roof shingles. The most significant downside is that they aren’t durable. An asphalt roof only lasts about a decade, and they don’t fare well with wind or inclement weather.

Additionally, asphalt shingles tend to absorb heat, making it much more challenging to control energy and cooling costs. Many of the alternatives on the market are extraordinarily costly or labor-intensive, so it can be challenging to move away from asphalt. That’s where composite roof shingles come to play.

Composite roof shingles are cost-effective, but they’re much more durable than their asphalt counterpart. Additionally, they’re energy-efficient and come in a wide range of color options.

If you’re looking for an innovative material to replace standard asphalt shingles in your custom home, composite shingles are the way to go.

Fiber Cement Siding

While we’re on the exterior of the home, let’s chat a minute about siding. There are numerous siding options available on the market. There are budget options, like vinyl and luxury options like natural stone. However, most people want something that’s somewhere in the middle.

Fiber cement fits the bit. Fiber cement is durable, termite resistant, water-resistant, and non-flammable. It also lasts up to fifty years when you take care of it. The interesting thing about fiber cement is that it can mimic the look of natural stone, and it comes with so many natural stone benefits, but without the natural stone price tag.

Fiber cement is an innovative option if you want the luxury and durability of natural stone or masonry siding, but don’t want to pay the hefty price tag for it.

Quartz

Inside the home, one of the most crucial decisions is the countertop material. Most people want granite, but unfortunately, granite comes with many downsides. It needs a good deal of maintenance, and it can be challenging to keep it looking good – especially in your kitchen and bathroom.

Because of these reasons, many people steer clear of granite counters and instead go for a less luxurious option. However, quartz has entered the scene, and it’s making quite a splash. Quartz has all the beauty of a granite counter without the maintenance headaches.

It’s durable, a breeze to clean, and unlike granite, it has a uniform appearance. So, if you ever need to repair your counter, you aren’t out of luck. Beyond that, the colors of quartz countertops are almost limitless. You can really find a countertop that fits your aesthetic and needs.

The bonus is that quartz costs about the same as granite, without all the fuss. All-in-all, quartz is an innovative countertop and flooring option for your custom home.

Start Designing Your Custom Home Today

These are just some of the innovative materials on the market. There’s also high-performance concrete, modular bamboo, cork flooring, 3D printed plastics, and more. When you begin to think about each element of your house, take a second to research all the materials available.

You might find that there’s a trendy and innovative material alternative on the market that can take your custom house to the next level.