It Is Easy Being Green!

Whether you are thinking of an extensive bathroom renovation or planning a face lift, the remodeling decisions you make today, and their results, will impact your wallet and the environment today, and in the future. That is why it is important to keep these environmentally friendly tips in mind when planning your next bathroom renovation.

• Replace old water guzzling shower heads.
• Replace toilets with dual flush fixtures which use much less water
• Replace the old incandescent lighting with new fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps or the new LED lighting fixtures. This will save as much as 40% on your use for the area.
• Build for longevity. Choose durable, eco-friendly long wearing materials that have a longer lifespan to reduce the frequency of renovations.
• Choose materials with low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) Use less plastics and other materials that give off toxic fumes during their manufacture and continue to off-gas over the life of the product.
• Switch to a tankless water heater in place of a central water heating system. Instead of working to maintain a constant temperature, when the hot water is turned on it immediately flash heats the water to the tune of 7.6 – 15.2 litres (2 – 5 gallons) per minute on most units. And when the water is shut off it ceases to heat the water while a standard hot water tank has to keep working until all the water in the tank has reached a certain temperature. This solution is more expensive in the short run but because tankless systems can last 20 years or more, the energy and replacement savings outweigh the initial costs.

There are a lot of decisions and options for making your bathroom remodel eco-friendly. Remember these “Green” pointers when you renovate your bathroom and you will save money and feel great knowing that you have made an investment in the future of our planet.