Money Saving Bathroom Remodel
Bathroom remodeling doesn’t just have to be about updating the current look of your bathroom or improving the usability. It can be a great chance for you to implement some ways to conserve water and energy, while also choosing attractive yet environmentally-friendly options to remodel your bathroom. Remodeling your bathroom while being environmentally-friendly at the same time is entirely possible. We’ve put together some great green bathroom remodeling tips that you can consider when planning your bathroom remodel.
As might be expected, your bathroom uses a lot of water, mainly for the toilet and shower. However, it is possible to reduce that figure by a significant margin which can mean your water bill shrinks as a result. The major culprit in bathroom water consumption is of course the toilet, which accounts for a quarter or more of a household’s water usage. Installing a low-flow toilet probably won’t help this, since they can often end up using more water than before due to requiring multiple flushes. However, a dual-flush toilet is an excellent alternative that allows you to minimize the amount of water used per flush – it allows you to choose whether you want to use a minimal amount of water or the maximum amount of water when flushing. As a result, a dual-flush toilet can save as much as 17,000 gallons per year. If you don’t want to replace the toilet entirely, your current toilet can also be upgraded to allow dual flushing.
When it comes to the shower, it generally does not use as much water as the toilet does, but it still accounts for 15-20% of a household’s water usage. You can cut back on this by installing a low-flowing showerhead, which uses 1.5 to 2 gallons per minute, as opposed to a high-flowing showerhead that uses 2.5 gallons per minute.
Choosing environmentally-friendly materials for your bathroom remodel is another way to go green but still have a great-looking bathroom in the end. Ceramic is a very popular green material for bathroom tiles that is attractive, durable and low-maintenance, while tiles crafted from recycled glass are also very environmentally friendly and attractive as well. Replacing light fixtures with LEDs will help save on energy costs over the long run since they use a very minimal amount of energy but can still output a good deal of light.
In addition to green remodeling materials and water-efficient fixtures, you can reduce your bathroom’s energy costs to help save money and minimize environmental impact. Your water heater can be wrapped with an insulator that helps reduce the amount of energy it needs to heat water and you can also insulate any exposed pipes connected to the water heater. It can also be a big help to turn the temperature down to 120 degrees from the standard 140 degrees a water heater is usually set at – this will still provide hot water but use less energy in the the time comes to replace your water heater, you have two excellent alternatives to a standard water heater. With a condensing water heater, almost all of the energy used goes to heating water – maximizing energy-efficiency. The other option is a tankless water heater, which heats water on demand, rather than using energy to keep water hot constantly.…
Money Saving Kitchen Design Tips
So we have compiled this money saving kitchen design tips feature to help you update your kitchen on a budget. And keep an eye out over the next few weeks as we add more to the list.
1. Do not automatically head to your kitchen retailer for new cabinets. Instead, sand them down and using thinned white house paint brush it over the surface. Wait a few moments and then wipe the surface. This will give you a fantastic mottled paint look that brings out the grain in your wood. Seal it with a wax for that quality finish
2. Pick up packs of Christmas Lights during the January sales and remove the coloured covers. The remaining white bulbs can then be tacked under cabinets and in hidden alcoves to add some cool new kitchen lighting.
3. Purchase some clear glass jars and store dry food in them such as pulses, nuts and seeds. This can add colour, texture and a ‘foodie’ feel to your kitchen design.
4. Create a kitchen wall border or some texture to your kitchen cabinets with a small piece of sponge and some paint. You can even add it to the hem of your curtains!
5. Create your own wooden cutting board by heading to the local builders’ merchants and asking for an off cut of pine or oak. Take it home a carefully sand it down using various grades of sandpaper. You can then varnish or stain it and smooth off any edges to create an ‘expensive’ cutting board.
6. Repaint the kitchen walls. It is amazing what difference a lick of paint can make. Think carefully about adding a new colour to the theme too as this can really bring your tired kitchen alive.
7. Add some fabric to the mix by looking for a new tablecloth or curtain design as this can be a very cost effective way of reinvigorating your kitchen space.
8. Create a fake stone look for your kitchen worktops by learning how to create a fauz stone finish using paints (Google: Faux Stone Finish). To do it you need to prime your worktops with a special primer and this needs to dry for several hours before you can then start painting over the top. The results can be very impressive.…