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Increasing the Value of your Hope Valley Farms Home by Enhancing your Landscaping

Most homeowners landscape their property purely for aesthetic reasons. Yet providing your Hope Valley Farms home with a little shade has another and perhaps more consequential advantage: Landscaping may significantly reduce your energy bills. A strategically placed tree, for example, could save as much as 25 percent of a household's energy bill for heating and cooling, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's  Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (EREC).

Attractive landscaping can increase the real estate market value of your Hope Valley Farms home.  Improving landscaping from "average" to "excellent" could increase the market value of your home by 10-12%.  In a recent study of over 200 home sales, those homes judged by a landscape professional to have "good" landscaping sold for 4-5% more than "average" landscaped homes. "Excellent" landscaped homes sold for 6-7% more than "good" landscaped homes.   The Better the Landscaping, The Higher the Home Value

A yard and garden upgrade is becoming as important to Americans as other popular home improvements, such as kitchen and bath renovations. In 1995, an estimated 20 million households used the services of landscape professionals, spending $14.2 billion to improve the area around their homes. However, dreams of a lovely landscape can turn ugly if you don't find a competent landscape professional. So, like the search for an architect or builder, the search for a good landscape professional requires some homework. Tips for finding a good landscape professional.

Trees that lose their leaves in the fall (i.e., deciduous) are the most effective at reducing heating and cooling energy costs. When selectively placed around a house, they provide excellent protection from the summer sun but permit winter sunlight to reach and warm your house. The height, growth rate, branch spread, and shape are all factors to consider in choosing a tree.

Consider the benefits of vines. Vines provide shading and cooling. Grown on trellises, vines can shade windows or the whole side of a house. Deflect winter winds by planting evergreen trees and shrubs on the north and west sides of your house; deflect summer winds by planting them on the south and west sides of your house.

Orientation of the house and surrounding landscaping has a large effect on energy consumption. A well-oriented, well-designed home admits low-angle winter sun to reduce heating bills; rejects overhead summer sun to reduce cooling bills; and minimizes the chill effect of winter winds. Fences, walls, other nearby buildings, and rows of trees or shrubs block or channel the wind. Bodies of water moderate temperature but increase humidity and produce glare. Trees provide shade, windbreaks, and wind channels. Pavement reflects or absorbs heat, depending on whether it is light or dark in color.

For more information on landscaping for energy efficiency, contact:
American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), (202) 898-2444, www.asla.org
National Arbor Day Foundation (NADF), (402) 474-5655, www.arborday.org
U.S. Department of Agriculture County Extension Service Local Chapter
U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (EREC), (800) DOE-3732 www.eere.energy.gov/erec/factsheets/landscape.html/

Are you looking for a Landscape, Lawn/Tree professional? The Gallup Organization found that good references and reputation, satisfaction guaranteed, and free estimates were the top three reasons when choosing a Landscape professional. See the full results of the Gallup survey.

Contact your county extension agents, public libraries, local nurseries, landscape architects, landscape contractors, and state and local energy offices for additional information on energy-efficient landscaping and regional plants and their maintenance requirements.

Trees around your Durham home can save money and increase the real estate value of your home
It is not just your imagination your parent's air conditioner runs less because of having trees in their yard. The Department of Energy (DOE) has done sophisticated computer models showing just three properly placed trees can cut your utility bills by up to $250 per year.

There are many other benefits from landscaping your yard with the proper type and placement of trees. By shading your house, the walls, shingles, even curtains indoors, will last longer because the sun's rays are blocked. The air immediately around your home will be less polluted and the oxygen level will be higher. Trees also create a sound barrier from road noise.

People often think of shading as the primary cooling effect, but trees also function as natural air conditioners through a evapotranspiration process. As the leaves on trees give off water, they cool the air similarly to how our own perspiration cools our skin. The air temperature near the house on a well-landscaped yard can be 10 degrees cooler than on a treeless one.  James Dulley energy consultant