One look at my wilted pathetic lawn last summer said it all, either I hated yard work or water around Atlanta was in short supply. We Georgians felt what our friends on the left coast had been feeling for some time as we watched our lakes dwindle into ponds, our thirsty lawns crisp in the hot Georgia sun and our parched gardens die in the sweltering summer heat. We didn’t get it at first, we complained about watering restrictions and khaki colored grass, but as the drought lingered on we realized that maybe we needed to adapt. We are humans after all and that is what we do, we adapt. When the realization of water conservation sunk in, we began looking for ways to make it happen. Obviously, we watered our lawns and gardens less and maybe we stopping letting the faucet flow when we brushed our teeth, but we knew that wasn’t far enough. We needed to look for, and remedy, the true water wasters and we need to start with the biggest water guzzler of them all, the bathroom.
From toilets to tubs, we use around 60% or our household water supply in the bathroom. Don’t fret though there a few simple changes we can tackle that can dramatically reduce that consumption and there is one helluva good way to finance it. First I’ll show you the biggest water wasters, then I am going to show you how to finance the change with a FHA 203K Renovation Loan…
Inefficient Toilets — Toilets guzzle nearly 27% of your household water supply every year. Older homes often have toilets that average nearly 3.5 GALLONS PER FLUSH! If you haven’t updated that old toilet I suggest you get hopping as newer low flow toilets consume less than a third of that outdated guzzler you have now. In fact, if you toilet is using more than 1.6 GPF then it is time to make a change.
Wasteful Showers — Although not as bad as toilets, showers can also be huge water wasters. Some fancier systems with multiple heads can actually burn through 60 gallons per minute. You people with 22 shower heads know who you are. Federal guidelines for a single head shower require 2.5 gallons per minute or less, but you can take it even further and get one of Delta’s new H20 Kinetics head that only use 1.6 GPM.
Water Heaters — American households waste an average of 6.35 gallons of water per day waiting around for the water to heat up. Wait no more however and get yourself a tankless on demand water heater to have instantly hot water. Check for your individual state, but you might just get a tax credit for purchasing one.
Faucets — Finally, while you are making all the other water saving changes you might just want to go ahead and increase efficiency at the faucet as well. Most faucets run about 2.2 GPM or less, but newer models may just use a paltry 1.5 GPM.
So, are you ready to get with the program and stop wasting all that water? Jonathan, I’d love to, but bathroom remodels are expensive and the economy sucks. Never fear, FHA 203K is here and can be used to finance energy saving improvements throughout the entire house. Money is tight, why not cut down on your water, electricity, and gas bills? Wouldn’t it be nice to save hundreds of dollars a month in energy costs? Whether purchasing new or refinancing your existing home; you can get the cash you need in one low fixed rate FHA 203K loan based on the “after repair value” of your home to complete all the energy saving improvements your little green heart desires. We can even finance solar panels. So, what’s the hold up? The process is simple to start; just visit my FHA 203K Renovation Advisor and enter the word “green” in the comment section. All my clients who renovate green get a free HERS energy report compliments of me. If you want to read more on green renovations and how to finance them visit my BLOG or contact me today.
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