5 Green Ways Water Can Boost Your Home’s Value
Water is often on everyone’s mind when it comes to buying a new home. How expensive are the water rates? What facilities are already installed? More recently people are starting to ask the more important questions, such as how eco-friendly is the water in this house?
This is so important that, if you take the time and a little effort, adopting greener methods of water usage can actually improve your home value. People feel better when they’re not knowingly harming the environment, and various green methods often save on bills over the years too! If you’re looking to raise your property’s worth, here are 5 green hacks that will help to increase your home’s value.
Efficient Water Usage
Water efficiency is always worthwhile, as people are looking for ways to bring their water down. This is one of the many reasons showers are becoming more popular than baths, for instance. As a home owner, you can use this to your advantage by installing more efficient means to water usage.
For a start, have a look at your shower pump. This is often an overlooked area – how often do you check your pump’s efficiency? A good eco-friendly pump or low flow shower head will be not waste water so easily and, again, adds value to the home. You can combine this with tap inserts or even a new, efficient boiler – it doesn’t matter where your water comes from or how much you use, sooner or later you will need hot water!
Reducing Water Waste
Most homes traditionally use water once than throw it away. However, with a few investments, you can reuse most of your water to cut down on both bills and consumption. Tap water from the sink and used water from the bath can both be used in the toilet for instance – since you’re only using it to flush, not consume – and there are many ways to do this. Dual flush toilets or bath diverters are easy examples that add instant value.
You can even take this further, by diverting water from your bath to a hose or collection point for your garden. If you think about how many baths you take, or how many times the toilet gets flushed or the kitchen taps get used, you’ll see why these investments are so desirable for prospective home owners.
Acquiring Softer Water
Having soft water can significantly save your pocket from the water treatment or piping expenses. Softwater keeps lime crusts from pipes and appliances. Having an eco-friendly water softener installation means there is no salt, chemical, or plumbing job to install it. More importantly, it can give you better drinking water. Good value-added to your home.
Steam Cleaning
One of the main uses of water is cleaning, yet the traditional means are very wasteful of water as a resource. Instead, it is better to invest in steam cleaning equipment. This works as you would expect, using the steam (or pressure) created from water to clean all manner of surfaces and areas of the home.
The benefit of this, other than conserving water, is that it doesn’t create mildew or mould and it avoids having to use ammonia and other strong chemicals. It’s a small investment with big rewards. While it doesn’t benefit the house value immediately, it keeps your home in much better shape for years to come. Of course, I think you could also throw the equipment in with the house to sweeten any deal.
Free Rainwater
Another effective way to cut water costs is to start collecting it for free – specifically, rainwater. There are many ways to do this, from advanced drainage systems to large collection rainwater tanks and tubs. The idea is simple – when it rains, receive free water! Of course this isn’t safe for consumption but you can install a filter that does exactly that.
How you do this may depend on your property, as you may wish to landscape the collection tank into the garden or simply hide it in a utility area such as the garage. In any case, it’s something new buyers are either looking for, or will be pleasantly surprised. The ability to save bills during bad weather is something few people can argue with!
Leaks and Old Pipes
Finally, as simple as it may seem, when was the last time you inspected all of your pipes? An old pipe will often have a small leak and, while this won’t stop water flowing, it does waste plenty of water along the way. In other words; it isn’t very green.
If you take the time to have a professional inspect your pipes, you can identify any flaws and potentially install new pipes of a greater durability and efficiency. This is something you can easily show when selling the real estate and lets the market know your home is prepared to be as water efficient as possible!
So, here are our 5 easy green hacks to help you raise your property’s value with water. It doesn’t matter if you’re not selling your house now, as these investments will benefit you in the meantime and they’ll always be there when you decide to put your home on the market!