Let’s Talk Toilets!

Toilets account for almost 30% of residential indoor water use in the United States.

Toilets are also a major source of wasted water due to leaks and inefficiency. In a home that was built prior to 1993 it is most likely that the toilet uses 3.5 gallons or more for every single flush (in Dekalb County alone, approx. 165,000 homes were built prior to 1993 – there are approx. 1 Mio. Homes in the Greater Atlanta area that still have old, inefficient toilets in use). Experts say that the minimum needed to meet the basic human needs of drinking, cooking and hygiene is five gallons of clean water per person per day. It’s far from enough to ensure health and well-being-just enough to get by. Do we really need to flush down that much each time we go “Number One”?

In the beginning of modern toilets there was the seven-gallon flushing porcelain lavatory. Then there was the low-flush toilet. And by the time you’d flushed several times the bowl was “clear” and you had flushed more water than you did with the faithful lavatory.

Then there was the new and improved low-flush toilet, which was better but still not what always got the job done. And finally, the High-Efficiency toilet arrived; you now have your choice of flushing as little as .8 gallons with dual flush toilets. The best part is that they really work!

What Are High-Efficiency Toilets?

Under federal law, toilets must not exceed 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf). High-efficiency toilets (HETs) go beyond the standard and use less than 1.3 gpf. The WaterSense label will be used on HETs that are certified by independent laboratory testing to meet rigorous criteria for both performance and efficiency. Only HETs that complete the third-party certification process can earn the WaterSense label.

Do High Efficiency Toilets Work?

Everyone is concerned about the performance of low-flow toilets. Do they clear the bowl and leave it clean? Do they stop up frequently? Unlike the first 1.6 gallon / flush toilets, WaterSense HETs combine high efficiency with high performance. Advances in toilet design permit WaterSense HETs to save water without loss of flushing power. In fact, many perform better than standard toilets in consumer testing.

How Much Water and Money Do HETs Save?

High efficiency toilets save you money by reducing your water and wastewater costs. Over the course of a lifetime, an average person flushes the toilet nearly 140,000 times. If you install a WaterSense HET, you can save 4,000 gallons per year and your children can each save about a third of a million gallons during their lifetime. If a family of four replaces one 3.5 gpf toilet made between 1980 and 1994 with a WaterSense toilet, they can save $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet. If the toilet being replaced was made before 1980, it uses 5 gallons per flush so the savings will be much greater. If you’d like to calculate how much water you can save try the water savings calculator on www.ecotransitions.com.

With these savings, new high-efficiency toilets can pay for themselves in only a few years. Even better, many local utilities offer substantial rebates for replacing old toilets with HETs. Detailed information on the rebates available in Georgia can be found here Rebates in Georgia.

What are Dual Flush toilets?

Dual flush toilets offer a patented dual flush technology consisting of a 0.8 Gal flush for liquid waste and a 1.6 Gal flush for solids. They can save up to 40% (approx. 4600 gallons) compared to today’s standard 1.6-gallon single flush toilets. On an average of 4/1 uses a day, Dual Flush toilets have the lowest water consumption of all – 0.96 Gallons per flush. Caroma, an Australian manufacturer that invented the Dual Flush technology manufactures award winning toilets that are both user friendly and, with a full 4″ trap way, virtually blockage-free! Wouldn’t that be nice to be able to finally kiss the plunger good bye? Beware of some products reducing the amount of water flushed to use with your existing toilet. Existing bowls are not designed to perform with reduced amounts of water, so the likelihood of clogging your toilet while you are trying to flush paper and solid waste increases drastically.

Select a WaterSense Labeled High-Efficiency Toilet!

Whether you are remodeling a bathroom, beginning construction of a new house, or just want to replace an old, leaky toilet, a WaterSense labeled HET is your best bet. Look for the WaterSense label on any toilet you buy. If every home in the United States replaced just one old toilet with a new HET, we would save almost one trillion (spelled with a T) gallons of water per year, equal to more than two weeks of the water flowing over Niagara Falls!

Note that some manufacturers offer high-efficiency and ordinary models with very similar names, so be sure and look for the WaterSense label. A list of WaterSense labeled High-Efficiency Toilets can be found here List of WaterSense labeled HET’s published by the EPA.

Where can I find a HET?To find WaterSense partners and resources in your area, please follow the link and click on your state below or choose from the list that follows. EPA - Where you live

For a watersavings calculator and more information on Dual Flush toilets please visit www.ecotransitions.com.

Do I Need a Permit When Finishing Off My Basement?

Recently one of my client’s posed this question to me…”Do I need to get a permit from the county when I finish off my basement?” When getting bids from contractors, most were pushing back on this as it creates so much of a hassle for the contractor and adds delays and expense to the process. My client was concerned about whether not getting a permit would impact them when it came time to sell their house.

Here has been my experience with basement permits….rarely have I seen it come up as a question from a potential buyer as to whether or not the remodeling was permitted….especially if it is professionally completed.

It was also implied in the original client’s email to me that the contractor(s) thought not obtaining a permit could impact the square footage calculation upon resale of the home. That was news to me, so I also called an appraiser/past client of mine to get his take. He confirmed that they never take into consideration whether or not a basement has been permitted when assessing a home’s value on an appraisal. At the same time, finishing a home’s basement may not carry the same value as the main living spaces of the home…it all depends on the quality of the finishes.

However, the one person that would take permitting and square footage into account is the tax assessor…which is why people often do not get permits, they don’t want to increase their tax base because their s.f. has increased.

I think the more important thing to do is ensure that any contractors that are hired to finish your basement are qualified guys that will build to code. Should you go to sell, there is a question on the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement that asks if there was any work done that was not permitted. You disclose it there and just indicate that you used professional contractors that built to code (I have not really seen this typically questioned by buyers even if disclosed as such…again, if it looks professional). If the Buyer still has questions, they can conduct their own general inspection as part of the normal home buying process to ease their concerns.

Ultimately, the decision is yours as to whether or not you require permits and the amount of risk/expense that creates for you as a result. In my real estate experience the only time I have seen the question of permits come up has been when there is a poor quality of construction (like on an older home that was remodeled) or perhaps a deck that was built near a flood plain or something like that.