.1908120858550.png)
Building a new home from scratch or remodeling an older home is no easy task. It requires a lot of foresight and preparation before you can begin the “fun parts” like the demolition or the decorating.
One of the most important and fundamental aspects of your home is the plumbing that runs through it. You would never build a modern house without running water, showers, or toilets, so make sure to set aside an appropriate amount of time to plan and prepare for the plumbing in your home.
When thinking about your plumbing, you first need to consider the materials you’re going to use.
Materials
There are many options available now for plumbing materials, including:
Copper
Galvanized steel
PVC
Cast iron
One material that has long been left out of plumbing practices is lead, and for a good reason. Lead pipes were pretty much invented alongside the invention of plumbing. We can see this through history and even looking at how the word “plumbing” was derived. Consider the elemental symbol for the lead on the periodic table; it’s Pb. Which is short for “plumbum” the Latin word for plumbing.
However, as we know through modern experiences and through historical ones, lead is incredibly toxic when ingested. Take the Romans; for example, they had lead pipes, lead-lined plates, and even lead-lined wine glasses, and many of their residents suffered and eventually died from lead poisoning.
For these reasons, we no longer use lead pipes in our plumbing and instead have found other alternatives like the ones we mentioned above. Make sure to hire an experienced plumber to help with your new home so that you can trust the integrity and functionality of your home’s plumbing for years to come.
Water Treatment
Hard water occurs in pretty much all homes and all locations whether you live in the rural countryside and get your water from a well or you’re reliant on the city for your water supply. Hard water occurs as water flows through various materials and collects minerals like calcium and magnesium along the way. These minerals won’t harm your health, but they can be a nuisance in your everyday life. Hard water affects your life in the following ways:
Body: the minerals and chemicals in hard water can be very harsh on your skin and your hair, causing dryness and brittleness in your hair.
Dishes: you’ll notice water spots on your dishes that don’t seem to go away no matter how many times you wash them.
Laundry: your clothing will begin to fade at a much more rapid pace because the detergent won’t be able to penetrate your clothing. The minerals in the water mix with the soap to form a thin film that coats everything it touches.
Fixtures: over time, all of your plumbing fixtures will be affected by the hard water in your home. The minerals buildup on the interior and exterior of the fixtures, making it more difficult for water to flow seamlessly from the fixtures.
We’ve all experienced the effects of hard water in our homes at one time or another, but while building your new home, explore the various ways you can avoid this nuisance in the future.
Start by installing a water treatment system. At The Plumbing Authority, we can help you install either a water softener system or a reverse osmosis system.
Water Softener
The purpose of a water softener is to reduce the hardness in your water. They use an ion-exchange to replace the minerals in your water (which make your water hard) with either sodium or potassium.
Reverse Osmosis
A reverse osmosis system is generally less efficient than a water softener; therefore, it should be installed at a single point of use like in the kitchen or master bedroom rather than used as a full house system.
Bathroom
This is where the fun part starts. Now that the foundation of your plumbing has been laid, you get to pick out all of the fixtures and appliances that everyone who visits your home will see. One factor to keep in mind while picking out your fixtures is efficiency. The types of fixtures and appliances you choose in your bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room can have a major impact on the amount of water your home uses and wastes.
Fixtures
A great resource when selecting the fixtures for your bathroom is the WaterSense website. They have a database that will tell you how many gallons of water your fixture uses per minute. If it uses more than 1.5 gallons per minute, then the fixture will not receive a seal of approval from WaterSense.
Not only are these WaterSense fixtures great for the environment and your water bill, but they look great too! WaterSense approved faucets come in hundreds of styles, and are made of all different kinds of materials.
Toilet
WaterSense also has these same specifications for toilets. Did you know that an older standard toilet used upwards of 7 gallons of water every time you flushed the toilet? That’s more than 15,000 gallons of water used every year just on toilets!
With a WaterSense toilet, you’ll use less than 1.3 gallons of water every time you flush while still providing the same amount of force with every flush.
Washing Machine
Washing your clothes can account for 20%-40% of your home’s annual water use. An old school washing machine uses approximately 40 gallons of water per load, and the average family of 4 does 300 loads of laundry per year. That’s an average of 12,000 gallons of water every year just for doing your laundry.
Luckily, most brands have made more efficient washing machines and moving into a new home is the perfect time to take advantage and upgrade your washing and drying units.
Building a new home or taking on a massive renovation is a stressful experience, but it can also be so rewarding if you have the right crew on your team. Call The Plumbing Authority today if you’re considering a major plumbing project and need some assistance. We can give you your dream bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room while making sure that pure and clean water flows throughout your home. Contact us today either through a contact form on our website or by giving us a call at (865) 238-2280!