Eco Friendly House And Garden

Welcome back – and I hope the first 2 eco bathroom tips made sense!

I’m still in this holiday cottage – and in just the bathroom alone I am still finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment by making simple changes to the design and function of their bathroom.  Obviously I haven’t mentioned everything – like having a smaller sink – but I hope to have covered the main areas that could easily benefit your home if you are planning an eco-upgrade!

Needless to say all the little things added together really can make a difference if you think of them in the long term and for the whole community too. I mean 1 extra squirt of sealant in your bathroom might not seem so bad this week – but if every household in your county all went to the store and brought a tube of sealant for the same thing in the next 12 months – then it becomes a serious eco issue!

3) Proper Sealing:
The floor is tiled in this cottage – but the skirting is wood – so there is no waterproofing on the floor for cleaning purposes.  I know that it isn’t a full wetroom, but when you mop these tiles, you are going to get the wooden panels wet and allow excess water to seep down behind them and into the floor – not such a good idea really.

photo credit: Ken Doerr

Why not use tiles as the skirting so that you can virtually waterproof the room by using the same grout as the floor and so protect the walls and ground beneath from absorbing moisture.

Same goes for the sink.  Why not get a sink with a raised protective back that reaches a little way up the wall.  So, rather than the white sealant between the wall and basin holding a layer of soap or toothpaste-filled water and eventually going yellow and rotten or becoming mildew – the sink itself is in one piece so feeds the excess water back into the plughole!

It will eliminate all of the above problems and reduce the amount of cleaning and maintenance needed to virtually nothing.

4) Protect The Walls:
I don’t know about you, but I always hit the wall with the swinging light pulls – the larger the handle the more banging seems to occur! As you can imagine, each bang is damaging the wall.

Also, people can’t always find the string in the dark, so end up touching the paintwork or – as I have done if the pull string is too near the wall (as it is here) – chipped off some paint and sometimes plaster under my fingernails!

As you can imagine, it doesn’t take long for the paint to become patchy or the wall to become a bit dirty – so protect the wall with a tile. If you put a large tile or 4 smaller ones in the area where the most contact and therefore damage will occur, you can save having to repaint the entire wall for just that dirty patch!

A few tiles or a whole tub of paint?

5) More Hanging Space:
There are only 2 of us here, but the hanging space in the bathroom is virtually non-existent – so what do we do with the wet towels?

Well, you have to hang them somewhere, don’t you – which will inevitably be the backs of wooden chairs or over other wooden furniture like the stair rail. (Don’t forget that we are in a little self-contained unit away from home and without a garden so a drying horse or washing line just aren’t an option unless supplied).

Needless to say, the moisture from the towels is now being absorbed by the furniture and the room so as a result this could all be reducing their workable lifespan. And seeing as this property is designed to be used almost continually by family after family it is going to get through furniture a lot quicker anyway.

The Answer?
Well, there is nothing much I can do here as it has already been installed by the owners, but it is certainly worth considering these things when redecorating or improving your own bathrooms.

The future is looking towards sustainability and the longevity of our resources – so why not help by reducing the amount of repair and replacement your bathroom needs!

PS – it’s not quite damage to the bathroom itself, but one other thing they did is certainly a big no no and was very uncomfortable too:

6) Toilet Roll Holder:
They have put it right behind the toilet, so you have to reach right round to pull off a few sheets – but inevitably you pull off way more sheets than you actually wanted as you are bent sideways. But now they are all unrolled and in your hand – you are going to use them all aren’t you.

I mean who but the most eco addicts would leave those extra few sheets to one side and use them later?

By swapping the toilet with the sink in this room, they could have had the toilet roll holder to the side of the toilet reducing the excessive use of this already over-used resource.

Eco design should be a part of your eco living – it’s not just about the individual products.

A chipped tile, damp carpet, loose bath panel: Can all those little things really add up?

If you are talking about continued use, accidental damage, and redecorating – then it’s a great big yes!  I am staying in a holiday cottage at the moment and they have made some big mistakes in the bathroom that could save them a lot of time, money and resources in the long run; and the planets resources!

Bearing in mind they are going to get different people with different lifestyles and ethics, they should make it almost ‘normal’ to be green.  But instead, they have made it quite acceptable to waste products and to allow damage to the fixtures and fittings – and the bathroom itself in general.

photo credit: Sitka Projects LLC

Here is a general summary of the worst offenders:
And by offenders, I mean things that are not being allowed to perform at their best or are being used in such a way that causes them more ‘wear and tear’ than is really necessary.

You might think that some of these might be a bit ‘picky’ for you to consider – like preventing a broken tile in your bathroom – but don’t forget that it isn’t just your bathroom that I am thinking of.  There are probably over 100 bathrooms in the streets around your house, and 100 communities just like yours close by.  Now tell me that saving 10,000 broken tiles isn’t worth the effort! 

1) No Handle In The Bath:
They have opted for the half-bath here to limit the amount of water used (as they could have fitted a full size one easily) – however, it has no side handles.

Now although I am still agile enough to get in and out of the bath without them – I am causing a bit of a moist mess in the process!  I have to hold the side of the bath to steady myself or to get out – and as a result - all the water from my hand and arm is sliding over the edge of the bath, down the front of the wooden bath panel and down behind the wooden skirting that encircles the entire bathroom.

Needless to say, this continued moistening is gradually going to cause damage and the misshaping of the panel front until it all needs replacing.  Unless, like me – everyone who stays here dries off while standing in the bath to avoid the drips!  Which isn’t going to happen…

2) No Window To Outside:
As always, no window from this moist room means that there needs to be an electric fan running all the time you are in there – wasting energy.

They are also very ineffective, I find, over time and so the whole room will be susceptible to damp and mould growth.  And to get the best results from the fan the door to the bathroom needs to be kept closed all the time – unfortunately, this only adds to the problem by sealing it in.

This windowless room also needs a light on all the time otherwise the fan won’t work (as they are seemingly always linked together).  This also means that when you are not having a bath or the room isn’t damp but you need to use the bathroom for anything else – you have to have the fan on as well!  What if you just need to nip in to clean your teeth, or grab your nail clippers from the shelf – on comes the fan for another 5 minutes!

Even a tiny window would eliminate this waste of energy and make the whole place lighter, dryer and fresher.  I mean what creates damage more than a damp, dark, small, sealed room?

Planning So Far:
These first 2 things are so easy to eliminate when planning your new bathroom, but some people only think about working with what is already there for ease – rather than thinking ahead over the lifetime of the room.

By thinking how it will be used for the next 5 years makes eco thinking so much easier.  Yes, its easy to just replace the damp panel ‘for now’, pint over the damp or to leave the fan on for longer – but when you add up the costs of just ‘covering up’ the problem each time rather than fixing it – you are paying more in resources.

I mean, imagine taking painkillers for the rest of your life rather than having a simple filling, or replacing the hallway carpet every winter due to muddy footprints rather than just buy a large doormat!

Take a look at Part 2 of this article for more bathroom money-wasters from this holiday cottage!

Bathrooms are sometimes overlooked in a property – but they could make a huge difference!

Today’s families are not only looking for energy efficient additions to a home – they are looking for the eco basics as well – I mean, who would want a ginormous sunken bath or a thick carpet in the bathroom these days?

People want to feel warm and – lets be honest – a little spoilt in their bathrooms. We might want underfloor heating to keep it warm, a shower enclosure to reduce moisture or spills or even low-flow taps to reduce waste. But we still want the mod cons in there.

Everyone visits your bathroom at least twice a day – so why ignore it for it’s eco potential – and for it’s ability to sell your home when you need to move on.

The Eco Benefits:
I’m not suggesting that you start renovating your bathroom now for no reason other than for ‘a change’ as this really would be a waste of resources – but if you have been staring at the same old tiles for years now, or need to make a change for financial or growing family reasons – then why not start considering your options.

For example, if you have many people living under your roof, you might now realise the simplicity (and water-saving ability) of a shower. With 3 or 4 people needing to wash in the morning, a bath each just isn’t an option – and neither is sharing your bath with your grown-up children!

Toilet flushing for a large family can also be a particular drain on water (and your expenses) – so installing a smaller flush facility might well be something you would be considering in the near future.

Personal Change:
Younger children on the way or already in the home might make you think of a smaller bath tub. Well, they certainly don’t need the whole length of it filled with heated water – being only a few feet long themselves.  However, reducing a few feet of your bath could leave room in the corner for that lovely shower you have been waiting for (and save litres and litres of water every week!).

Older people may well also be considering a change around in the bathroom for safety and mobility issues – both being great opportunities to swap old fixtures and fittings for more eco friendly options.

Selling Your Home:
If you are thinking of changing your bathroom for a house sale – then it could well be worth it.

Making sure that this particular room is clean, fresh and full of eco friendly money-saving features could well swing the sale – and people just love to ‘move right in’ without the added worry and cost of having to redecorate.

Also, some people don’t want to work too hard to save energy, so by opting for modern fixtures that do it all for you could have real selling appeal!

And even if they don’t even notice it’s all eco friendly – it will still look great!