5 Common Characteristics of Eco Friendly Bathroom Designs
One of the best things you can do to make your household sustainable is to redesign the bathroom to be eco-friendly. The bathroom is where you use the most water. You use a range of cleaning products regularly. A bathroom is a small enclosed space that has a big impact. Having a green bathroom will make you and your environment healthier. Here are five common characteristics of eco-friendly bathroom designs.
Reduced Water Use
The best way to make your bathroom more eco-friendly is to reduce the amount of water running down the drain. If your bathroom hasn’t been retrofitted with a low-flow shower head, do that first. An old-fashioned shower head delivers 2 1/2 gallons per minute. A low-flow shower head can cut that amount in half.
Another waste of water is leaky faucets. A sustainable bathroom is one in which all leaks are fixed promptly. Even a dripping faucet adds significantly to the amount of water wasted if left unfixed.
A High-Efficiency Toilet
One-quarter of household water use comes from flushing the toilet. Installing a low-flow toilet is a bigger financial commitment than replacing the shower head, but doing so will cut down on water use significantly. An old toilet can use as much as seven gallons per flush. A high-efficiency toilet can reduce that amount by two-thirds.
If a new toilet isn’t in your budget at the moment, you can reduce water use by displacing some of the water from the tank. Fill a plastic soda bottle with sand or gravel and set it in the tank. Be careful not to interfere with the flushing apparatus. The tank will fill with less water and use less water for each flush.
Eco-Friendly Tile
Many products are now made using some or all recycled materials. When you design your eco-friendly bathroom, look into the kind of tile you are planning to use. Companies now manufacture a variety of tiles from recycled materials. You can get ceramic tile that’s made from 50 percent recycled materials. Glass tiles are being made from up to 100 percent pre- or post-consumer recycled glass. You can even get shower cork tiles made from old wine-bottle corks.
Green Building and Bath Products
An eco-friendly bathroom contains sustainable products. The “new” smell that comes from paint or other building materials indicates the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs like formaldehyde and paraben are toxic. Paint the walls with low-VOC paint. Instead of a vinyl shower curtain, invest in one made of hemp or linen. There are also shower curtains that are made with a chlorine-free vinyl replacement.
Cut down on paper products. Buy recycled toilet paper. Eliminate paper towels entirely. Replace them with rags. The best rags are bar towels, which work for any use and can be washed over and over again.
Use hand and bath towels made with sustainable cotton that is chemical and pesticide free.
Homemade Cleaning Products
Green cleaning goes without saying. Use one of the many sustainable brands out there, or make your own cleaning products. Clean glass and chrome with a little distilled vinegar in water. The surfaces will be shiny and streak-free. Add a little baking soda to the mix, and this becomes a good way to clean and whiten grout. Apply the cleanser and let it sit for ten minutes. Then scrub. As always, you want to check and make sure cleaners are safe for specific types of surfaces (carpet, wood, glass, etc).
Fill a spray bottle with water and add a dozen drops of tea tree oil, lavender oil or citrus oil. Spray the shower tiles after every shower. Clean the sink and tub with this natural disinfectant. You can also use rosemary or eucalyptus essential oils for their antibacterial properties. Eucalyptus is good for the lungs.
This contribution comes from Build Guardian, a custom home builder in Idaho Falls.
5 Common Characteristics of Eco Friendly Bathroom Designs
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