Sustain
Is Visual Sustainable?
Not in a traditional sense. We are are start up finding our way and what know is that the actions that take place in our homes do have an impact on the world just as the world has an impact on us. We understand that the process of the residential construction industry is not efficient and the costs of housing and construction continue to rise.
With our background of efficiently designing high quality corporate buildings at scale and our passion for simple and timeless homes we believe that improving the process of design and building homes if done more efficiently and cost effectively and done at scale homes could be just a little more affordable.
Ceramic Tile Study
3 Billion: Square feet of Ceramic tile sold in 2022
https://www.statista.com/statistics/325877/ceramic-tile-total-consumption-in-the-us/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%203.07%20billion%20square,ceramic%20tile%20sales%20and%20consumption.
10%: Tile Waste per project
Contractors, typically take the square footage of tile required add 10% and order. Much of that waste is due to cuts required during construction to fit the tile into place. Leftovers is another source of waste in our discussions with local contractors and through our own experience there are always a handful of tiles left over from most jobs. If there is enough to make it worth the trip to the tile store and the restocking fee they will get returned but quite often it is a dozen or different tiles of different varieties. At some point most of these tiles find there way into the trash.
Tile waste: https://besttile.com/tile-calculator#:~:text=Estimating%20Tile%20Quantities&text=Waste%20Factor%20will%20vary%20based,cuts%20and%20thus%20more%20waste.
4 pounds: Tile Weight per SF.
12 billion: Pounds of tile sold in 2022
Tile Weight: https://www.tile-magazine.com/articles/86030-making-sure-dead-load-doesnt-kill-your-installation#:~:text=The%20estimated%20weights%20assume%20ceramic,weighing%206%20pounds%2Fsquare%20foot.
10%: Tile Waste per project
Contractors, typically take the square footage of tile required add 10% and order. Much of that waste is due to cuts required during construction to fit the tile into place. Leftovers is another source of waste in our discussions with local contractors and through our own experience there are always a handful of tiles left over from most jobs. If there is enough to make it worth the trip to the tile store and the restocking fee they will get returned but quite often it is a dozen or different tiles of different varieties. At some point most of these tiles find there way into the trash.
Tile waste: https://besttile.com/tile-calculator#:~:text=Estimating%20Tile%20Quantities&text=Waste%20Factor%20will%20vary%20based,cuts%20and%20thus%20more%20waste.
1.2 billion: Pounds of waste generated
27 Million: New Kitchen and Bath Projects per Year
https://nkba.org/product/u-s-kitchen-bath-market-size-study/#:~:text=It%20finds%20that%20each%20year,million%20bathrooms%20to%20the%20marketplace.
OBJECTIVE: Save just 1 tile at time.
Potential Solutions to Reduce Waste:
Design
Rectangular shapes
Avoid diagonal tiles or walls (adds 5% waste)
Width of wall and floor tile area in 1’ increments
Utilize sustainable suppliers and products (TBD. affordability? how to know?)
MINIMIZE CUTS
Purchasing
Order precise quantities of tile (Not SF + 10%)
Use Sustainable Materials. Challenge is that Many of these materials are either cost prohibitive to the average homeowner or they are unaware of the options that are available.
Building
Recycling
This is not a standard on many residential building sites. Everything just gets dumped.
