Eco Friendly House And Garden

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!

A friend recently fell in love with my bathroom after a nights sleep-over!

I have underfloor heating in there, and she just loved stepping out of the shower and onto a lovely warm floor!  The heating was installed in the bathroom and the kitchen after we moved in, and I love it!

We originally had it installed when we moved into an old Victorian terraced house - with little space for a modern kitchen - and no discernible bathroom!  The bath was sitting in a lean-to at the back of the property, with pipes running down the wall for taps and a creaky and gappy wooden door out to the garden!

We had to re-design the back of the house to fit a real bathroom and didn’t want to waste an inch of what space we had with radiators - so did a bit of research on our options for heating the 2 rooms.

I was very pleased with the result, and have not regretted it at all.

So, How Did We Do It?
Firstly, we consulted a plumber as we were needing to fit a new condensing boiler at the same time.  He said that he had been fitting more an more underfloor heating systems in the past few years - and he even had it in his house too!

It’s really simple to do as well if you are laying a new floor - as we were - and you just need to lay enough flexible cable under the surface to create an even spread and then lay the floor as usual.  We had tiles in the bathroom and bamboo in the kitchen - not a problem he said.

It also turns out that there are many other benefits to underfloor heating other than not needing to cover your walls in radiators when you really need another cupboard there!

The Main Benefits:
Where shall I start - there are so many? 

Well, for starters it is more energy efficient to run this type of heating over conventional central heating, and the average home could increase efficiency of the whole system by between 10-25% - this can rise to around 60% more efficient in offices with high ceilings. 

Think of the money and energy you could be saving - plus being warmer in your own home or office!

The main reason for the savings is because radiators heat the room by convection; that is all their hot air is forced out of the radiator and then it rises up the wall towards the ceiling.  It only descends into the room after it has cooled slightly - and then heats your head while keeping your feet cold! 

Added to this, it is standard practice to place radiators underneath windows to counter the draughts - but inevitably helps you lose heat out of the windows before it even hits your ceiling in the first place!

Also, the pipes leading to the radiators are usually running along your walls are boiling hot - losing heat as they go (well, if the pipes feel hot, then they are releasing that heat before they get to the radiators)!  Finally, your radiators need the temperature of the water inside to be around 60-70 degrees to be effective - a temperature that can only be reached by burning gas and fossil fuels.

The exact opposite is true of underfloor heating.  Firstly, the heat rises slowly out of the floor creating an ambient temperature and no draughts.  It doesn’t move warm and cold air around the room, taking dust and allergens with it - it just creates a warm room and warm toes!

Secondly, all the pipes are under your floor so are only ‘losing heat’ up into your home - which is just where you want it.  And, there is no risk of children or the elderly scalding themselves on the pipes or radiators - all the heat is safely underground.

And thirdly, underfloor heating can run at a much lower temperature, therefore can be powered by energy sources such as solar and both air and ground source heat pumps instead of burning coal, oil or gas.

Further Benefits:
There are other benefits to this form of heating other than just more efficient heating and money saving running costs, and they include:

Reduced Allergies - With no convection currents circulating around your home, you will have less trouble with floating allergens and dust.
Better Design - With no bulky, hot radiators around your walls and hallways, you can change the layout of your home to suit you - not to simply ‘fit’ in.
Reduced Maintenance - With no fiddly radiators and pipes to clean, dust or paint, you can keep your home clean and tidy - or even repaint it - without having to spend extra time, energy and resources working around these space-wasters!
Less Stress On Your Boiler - Running at lower temperatures will be better for the life-span of your boiler.

So, don’t put ‘new slippers’ on your shopping list for gifts - put ‘underfloor heating’ instead!