Green home remodeling is becoming a major force in the renovation business and nowhere is this felt more than in San Antonio kitchens and bathrooms. Conserving scarce resources and recycling used home products has become the battle cry for remodelers in the southwest especially in the area of water. This is why San Antonio kitchens and bathrooms contractors are keeping up with the latest advances in green building technologies.

Green Building and Recycling

It used to be that building materials from demolished homes or renovation projects were just loaded into a dumpster and trucked to a landfill. Not only was this wasteful but it shortened the life of the landfill by filling it quickly. In addition, harmful toxic wastes were also being tossed into the mix.

Now, San Antonio kitchens and bathrooms contractors are taking care when demolishing before installing new materilas so that:

• Reusable materials are sorted out for the construction project
• Toxic materials such as roofing shingles, asbestos and lead are separated for proper disposal or reuse in other products.
• Broken materials such as wood, concrete, tiles and other inert materials are used for fill and kept out of landfills.

Green San Antonio Kitchens and Bathrooms

Kitchens and bathrooms are also on the radar for green renovations in San Antonio. To affect changes in these areas homeowners should start with a plan on what they hope to achieve:

Water Conservation

Water is the southwest is becoming a scarce commodity and so San Antonio contractors are coming up with ways to make each house a water miser.

Water Coolers: Most kitchen refrigerators nowadays have a water cooler feature so that the water does not have to be left running to get it cold enough for drinking. In addition, separate water coolers can be purchased that use very low energy to keep the water cold.

New Innovations: Low-flow toilets and showerheads are already decreasing water usage by over 50% but the homeowner can also help by repairing existing tap seals. In one day a leaky faucet can drain half a tank of hot water and this can lead to higher electrical or gas bills as well. To avoid these leaks from happening automatic turn on and shut-off taps are triggered by a motion detector, just like the ones in most new airports. The water will only stay on for a few seconds. In addition,

Gray Water Recycling: Another water conservation system in kitchens and bathrooms is separate gray water drainage. The disposed water from sinks and showers are given a mild decontamination with bleach and pumped into the toilet tanks. Irrigating the garden is another use for gray water and it can go straight into a weeping, root irrigation system without any treatment.

Power Miser Lights and Appliances

San Antonio kitchens are featuring the new EnergyStar-rated appliances for the best conservation of electricity available. Incandescent lighting has also changed, being replaced by compact fluorescent lights or other energy-efficient bulbs such as LED lighting.

Water Heating

Another big energy draw in San Antonio is the water heater, whether it is gas, oil or electric.

Tankless Water Heaters: An on-demand, or “tankless,” water heating unit is a small, wall-mounted  boiler that can be situated near bathrooms and/or kitchens for a shorter travel distance to the tap. When the hot water tap is turned on a sensor fires up the small boiler and heated water is instantly available. When the need ends the boiler shuts off. In other words, a tankless system only switches on when the need arises and the shuts off so there is no need to store hot water as does a regular water heater.

Solar-Assist Water Systems: The sun is something that San Antonio has in abundance and it can be put to work preheating water. A roof-mounted bank of tubes is placed in a sunny area and glycol – automobile anti-freeze – is circulated through these tubes absorbing the sun’s heat. This super-heated liquid is then pumped down to an exchanging tank where cold water moving through small copper pipes absorbs the heat energy. This pre-heated water boosts the temperature of the normal water heater which may not need to turn on at all, depending on the heat accumulation from the arrays..

Materials

Flooring: Products for the floor, such as cork and bamboo, are popular in San Antonio kitchens and bathrooms. Cork is actually tree bark that is harvested without harming the tree. Bamboo, on the other hand, is a grass that grows to maturity every two years. Both are usually made into an engineered flooring that is sealed to prevent moisture from getting into the joints.

Linoleum is also making a comeback as a flooring. Vinyl flooring, which replaced linoleum in the 1970’s, is made from volatile organic compounds (VOC) which off-gas on manufacture and toxi in landfills. Linoleum, on the other hand, is made from linseed oil with a natural jute backing. Like vinyl it comes in a variety of textures and colors.

Cabinets: Although most San Antonio homeowners want new cabinets in their kitchens and bathrooms many are beginning to look at redoing the doors or repainting rather than tearing out good quality cabinets.

Locally-Made Materials

Since many tones of fuel is burned trucking and shipping materials many homeowners are looking for bathroom and kitchen materials that are manufactured locally.

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