Eco-Friendly Bathrooms: Clean & Green
Living in an environmentally-friendly home and in a sustainable manner is a priority for many families. Not only are you reducing your impact on the environment, you’re also improving your home’s indoor air quality, protecting your health, and saving yourself time and money in the long run.
If you’re looking to make your home more eco-friendly, we recommend starting off with your bathroom. It’s the room where the smallest changes can make the biggest impact, and they’re not too difficult or expensive to do.
Here’s how to make your bathroom eco-friendly:
Replace Your Toilet
Using approximately one-third of the water in your home, toilets are the main water guzzlers. Thankfully, there are many different toilet options to choose from to reduce water waste in and to make a big impact.
Eco Friendly Toilet Options
1. Low-flush toilets
When they were first created, toilets used seven gallons of water per flush. Eco-minded homeowners would put a brick or a bottle filled with sand in their toilet’s water tank to reduce water use, until low-flush toilets were invented in the 1990s. Low-flush toilets only use 1.6 gallons of water per flush, a huge reduction.
The problem with low-flush toilets is that they have the same design as a regular toilet, which means they use water to flush waste. This means that 1.6 gallons of water isn’t always enough, resulting in people having to flush multiple times. This takes away from the benefit of only using 1.6 gallons when, multiplied by 2 or 3, the numbers aren’t so low anymore.
2. Dual-flush toilets
Dual-flush toilets are great because they give users an option – press one for liquid waste and two for solid waste. They make it easy for you to use less water but prevent you from having to flush multiple times. Although they may be pricier than a regular toilet or a low-flush toilet, they save water (and money) in the long run.
Fix Any Leaks
Although a leak may seem small and like it’s not a major issue, it is. A leaky faucet can result in 2,082 gallons per year of wasted water! And that’s just a small drip from your faucet. A leaking toilet, now that’s a whole other issue. The average leaking toilet can waste about 200 gallons a day, just over 6,000 gallons a month, which is 72,000 gallons a year. This waste of water adds huge numbers to your water bill and is not doing any favours for the environment. Look around under your sink and toilet regularly for any leaks or signs of dampness, and if you find something, fix it. Especially before water damage becomes an issue!
If you don’t have any leaks, try using less water by turning the tap off when you’re not actually using it, like when you’re brushing your teeth. Letting the water run when you don’t need it is wasteful and costing you more money than needed.
Use a Tankless Water Heater
Another way to lower energy costs and consumption is to install a tankless water heater. They consume 20% less energy than traditional water heaters because they use an on-demand design that only heats water when a tap is turned on. Their design eliminates the cost of heating and storing gallons of water in a tank.
LED Light Bulbs and Energy Efficient Fans
Switching to LED light bulbs is a simple switch that can be made throughout your entire home, not just in the bathroom. Like most eco-friendly products, LED light bulbs are more expensive than regular bulbs but they last much longer and use less energy, making them worth it in the long run.
And since you’re already making easy-fixes in the bathroom, we recommend replacing your old bathroom fan with an energy-efficient fan. Switching to an Energy Star-rated fan can result in 60% savings over a standard, older model.
How TORLYS Makes a Difference
TORLYS floors are made out of 100% recycled and reclaimed cork and leather and are LEED® and FSC® certified. We make our floors for sustainable, long-lasting and with as little environmental impact as possible. Check out how TORLYS is working towards a better future.
