Reasons homeowners need to save water

Many homeowners simply need to know what their options are, and then the home designer can put these pieces of the puzzle in the right places at the right times. As far as general reasons for designing a water conscious plumbing plan for a new home, most people will tell you that they want to save water to save the planet. Regardless, it makes sense to do this with any new home because there has always been the added benefit of saving money on utilities in the long-term.

On top of that, in some areas of the country, water shortages can certainly push the price to unexpected levels during certain times of the year. Of course, lessons from Michigan about public water facilities becoming grossly contaminated with lead may also push homeowners to provide their own water. Thankfully, if you are building your own home, you can put all of the important measures in place to ensure the plumbing in your home saves the most water and provides the healthiest environment.

The basics of designing plumbing to save water

In addition to appliances that are designed to save money, you can reroute many traditional plumbing features to reuse wastewater. For example, most homes lose a great deal of water by flushing the toilets. Instead of getting a low-flow toilet, many homeowners find that using wastewater from sinks and the shower is a better way to keep their water conscious homes functioning optimally. Naturally, to get the benefits reusing wastewater, certain features like Perkins diesel engine parts or water collection basins or reservoirs must be included in the original design to save on installation costs and space usage.

Adding other high-tech designs to your plumbing

For environmentally friendly homeowners, there is often a long list of options for saving water that are so advanced that it takes a specialized engineer to understand how they work. Although you may have to leave the installation to the professionals, the basic idea is that a homeowner can install a type of toilet that allows for less sewage to be produced. This green toilet is often called a composting toilet, and there are a number of benefits to using this method. In the end, if you decide that you would like to have this type of toilet, it is best to included it in the original blueprints for your home.

Incorporating water filtration into your plumbing design

Have you considered digging a well or incorporating rainwater into your homes new plumbing options? Homeowners that are adding improvements to an existing home find they often do not have a place for a large-scale water purifier or filtration system to add rainwater or well water to their drinking water. Instead, these are usually reserved for brown water or wastewater options in the home since they cannot filter the water first. However, with basic planning, you can save and drink all of the water you can collect, and the tap water in your home can be as healthy as bottled water.

Adding water heating and HVAC systems

Many homeowners that are unfamiliar with home design and architecture may not know that other components of the plumbing can be connected to environmentally friendly options. For example, HVAC systems that have boilers can benefit from your plumbing design plans to save wastewater. Naturally, you can also use the same type of strategic planning for addressing your water heater. One other important step that can be added at this level is wiring the water heater and HVAC unit to solar panels.

Designing the roof, landscaping, and pavements for water collection

Sophisticated plumbing design that uses rainwater collection can also be pushed to new levels when the rest of the home is built toward this goal. For instance, gutters are not the only way to collect rainwater. Instead, the pavement can be built in a way that facilitates extra rainwater collection through a cistern drain in the yard. Saving water can also be increased if landscaping plants are not reliant on being watered regularly.

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Don’t rinse with running water.

The most obvious way to cut on water usage while cleaning your floors is to stop your faucet from running continuously. Sure, you could only turn the faucet on when you need to wet your rag or mop. However, the best way to cut down on usage is to simply fill a bucket with water. Of course, this idea may seem obvious, but sometimes it is easy to miss simple ideas. If so, no need to worry – just grab that bucket next time!=

On that note, can you just skip the rinse?

Does your floor cleaning routine actually need a rinse? Make sure to read the bottle of any cleaning supplies you use. Some supplies actually do not need any rinse or water added.

Most importantly, can your floors be cleaned with a simple sweep of the broom? This will not only save on water usage, but you will also save money on less wear and tear on your broom and using fewer cleaning supplies.

Clean your floor less often.

No, this does not mean that you need to live on dirty floors. But, as mentioned above, sometimes all your floors need are a good sweeping. In fact, you may be surprised how much less scrubbing you will need to do if you simply sweep on a regular basis. This will save you big money and time in the long run.

Consider a floor coating or concrete polishing.

Want to know a great way to keep your floors looking fresh with even fewer cleanings? Consider using an epoxy flooring to keep your floor looking shiny. The floor will actually look cleaner longer. Another option is concrete polishing. In fact, your polished concrete floors will look great even after a simple sweep because they already have a natural shine.

Reuse water.

No one wants to clean with dirty water. However, you may have access to used water that is clean enough to use on your floors. For example, captured rain water can be a great way to clean you floor and recycle water at the same time. Another option is to use water from your hose, since this water is less treated that your drinking water.

Start away from the drain.

Are you cleaning a floor in a room with a drain? If so, clean farthest away from the drain first. That way, as water runs towards the drain, you can reuse it.

This post comes from our friends at Gretams Property Services, a professional cleaning service based in Brisbane.

The post Keep Your Floors Looking Shiny Without Hurting Your Water Bill appeared first on Make Every Drop Matter.