4 Eco-Friendly Upgrades For Your Bathroom Remodel

Some people want to invest in a bathroom remodel simply for aesthetics or to increase the value of their home before a move. One aspect of a bathroom remodel that you may also want to consider are eco-friendly upgrades. A plumbing service can go over specifics regarding pipe, tank, and fixture upgrades. Here are four upgrades you may want to consider.

Water Softeners

If you have hard water in your area, your bathroom fixtures may be getting lots of wear and tear that can decrease their lifespan. Hard water contains dissolved minerals which can cause limescale buildup within pipes, thus disrupting water pressure and flow. A water softener can reduce mineral content; water softeners are eco-friendly solutions because they reduce your overall water usage. For instance, it's difficult to get soap, shampoos, and other products to produce lather in hard water, so you may be wasting a lot of water when showering or washing your hands. Water softeners correct this issue and lower your home's water usage and energy bills.

Low-Flow Fixtures

Low-flow plumbing fixtures are great additions to bathroom remodels because they provide similar pressures to standard fixtures, but they use less water overall. For instance, a low-flow toilet may use a smaller amount of water per flush; the EPA says that a low-flow toilet can save as much as 11,000 gallons a year.

Piping Improvements

Some piping products aren't eco-friendly because they aren't made of high-quality materials and they take a lot of energy to manufacture. In general, copper pipes tend to be eco-friendly products because they are resilient to water pressure fluctuations and are more resistant to corrosion. The downside of copper piping is that it can be pricy; if you still want to improve your bathroom's piping and save some money, you may want to try polyethylene (PEX) pipes. PEX pipes are made of lightweight plastics, so they have less impact on the environment compared to heavier products.

Bidets

One might think that a bidet wouldn't be an eco-friendly plumbing fixture since it uses water, but Scientific American says that the amount of water that's used for a bidet is trivial compared to how much water is used to produce toilet paper. Toilet paper can be a wasteful product since much wood is needed to produce it, and the product itself can easily clog pipes and place stress on a city's sewer system. While your home doesn't need to get rid of toilet paper completely, a bidet is like a low-flow fixture in that it reduces your overall waste.

These are just a few eco-friendly plumbing additions to consider for your bathroom remodel. Reach out to a plumbing service today for more details. 

For more info about plumbing services, contact a local company.