THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE FAMILY SEPTIC TANK

I have written several well received blogs, of late, on plumbing smells as well as clogs and sewage backups so I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the proper care and maintenance of your septic system. If you are on a septic tank, as opposed to a public sewer system you are at the mercy of a complicated process that if not maintained can ruin your day in one flush.
To properly maintain your septic tank you need a basic understanding of how it works (SEE THE DRAWING). When your home was built a large concrete tank was buried in the yard in an area of good percolation. Now don’t get confused, this has nothing to do with your morning coffee. Percolation in this case defines how fast water poured into a hole in the yard seeps or percolates down into the ground. This is very important because if the ground is not porous enough or contains too much bedrock too close to the surface then your system will not drain properly and will back up into your house. Most county health departments require a “perc” test before a building permit is issued and this test defines the best placement for your septic system. The system itself is the aforementioned tank and a drain field of lines which radiate out from near the top of the tank and out across the “drain field”. Basically waste water from sinks, bathtubs, toilets and washing machines enter the system from the drain lines installed in your home. As the water sits in the septic tank it separates, the solids going to the bottom and grease, soap and dissolved waste effluent floats to the top. Micro-organisms in the sewage continuously work to break down the solids in the bottom and when they are dissolved enough they float to the top and join the waste water on its trip out into the drain field and then percolate into the ground. Although there are enzyme treatments such as “Ridex” available to assist the breakdown of these solids the key to your system working normally is just in using it on a regular basis. If you are not a full time resident in your home, such as a vacation home then you may need to boost the tanks operation with these enzymes or by adding some dissolved live yeast to the system to kick start it. To increase the time between having to clean out your septic system avoid pouring grease down your drains as it will clump together and float to the top of the tank eventually clogging the drain lines and causing a back-up into your house. Avoid flushing non-degradable items such as feminine sanitary products, q-tips, disposable diapers, plastic items, cigarette butts (very non PC these days) paper towels and if like my home, toys, the family cat or litter from the cat box..LOL
You should avoid planting trees and shrubs close to the drain field lines on your septic system. The roots from these plants will find their way into your field lines and eventually clog the drain field causing the tank to over fill and back up into the yard or worse into your house. A failed septic system can be a major expense and put the groundwater that supplies your drinking water at risk. No matter what the cause, septic system failure is a nuisance and a health hazard that should be fixed promptly. A failure can result in pollution of wells, lakes, and streams. Using more water than the soil can absorb is also a cause for septic system failure. Over saturated soil causes the sewage to be forced to the surface or backs up into the house. This problem is often the result of one of two problems. Either the system is improperly designed if your home is new, or as the result of a change in water use habits such as an increase in the size of the family or the addition of a water-using appliance. Also surface water draining from roofs, driveways, and roads onto the soil absorption field area can put an extra load on the system. If the soil is saturated with clean water, even seasonally, it cannot accept any more wastewater. The untreated wastewater will either rise to the surface or back up. Driving, paving, or building on top of a drain field can damage it. Pipes can shift or be crushed and the soil compacted. Damage of this sort can make it difficult to locate the septic tank and prevents access for regular pumping.
If you ever experience a septic system failure you will subscribe to the principle that the septic tank should be pumped about every 3 to 5 years to remove the sludge and scum retained in the tank and prevent clogging of the soil absorption field. More frequent pumping is needed if a garbage disposal is used in the home. It doesn’t take but that one bout of sewage backed up in your basement, bathtub or dishwasher to make you a believer. In theory it will back up into the lowest point of the plumbing system and further depending on how much resistance it encounters along the way. Not a pretty picture. So treat you septic tank well and feed it regularly.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

As many of you are aware, I am a retired accountant who specialized in startups and turnarounds. If you didn’t know you should spend a few moments to read my profile. I had, I think, one of the most interesting careers that an accountant could have. I have written and funded 22 projects for startup businesses and taken over 10 companies in financial trouble and turned them around to profitability. One of the things that you must do when considering a business to startup or when examining a business as to its ability to be successful is the pricing analysis of your market. Every on going business, to better survive and to know its market, must constantly know that it’s pricing is fair to both themselves and to their customer. A business that charges too little for its product can soon go under for lack of profit regardless of how much product it sells. The old analogy that you can make it up in volume does not work if you’re losing money on every sale. Inversely if you charge too much so as to make a profit you can still lose by not being able to sell enough. In this day and age when every knowledgeable consumer can go online and check pricing and order a product without ever speaking to a live person it becomes even more important that a business knows that it’s pricing is right and that the business does everything it can to educate the consumer as to the benefits of it’s business over the competition.
To this end I’ve spent the last couple of days doing some pricing analysis of the online plumbing fixtures market so as to better understand the pricing situation and to know what I can do to help educate the potential customer, my reader, so that they can make the best buying decision and to buy with confidence. The following are points that I see that are significant in the market today:
1. Most businesses offer some sort of price guarantee. If you can prove that a vendor beats your price then they will match or better it. This harkens back to the original principle of HD when it offered to match plus 10% on any product from a competitor. Obviously if a business is out of touch on both its own and its competition’s pricing they can soon lead to absolute failure by giving away a lot of merchandise at too low a price.
2. Secondly, especially on Ebay, the costs of shipping become a very integral part of price consideration. An Ebay merchant can offer to sell something very cheaply but when they steer you in they make their profit by charging exorbitant shipping and handling fees. Many times the customer is baited, hooked and reeled in before they know what these fees are. The same applies in the online plumbing business where freight and handling charges can be very high. A customer goes online simply looking for the best price, makes the decision to buy, loads his cart and then finds out that his shipping costs have made the price far higher than other merchants offered. Without some careful analysis before pushing that button to buy can this pitfall be avoided. This is what the devious merchant is hoping , you’ve fallen in love with his product, his web site and are tired of the chase so you forget what better pricing other sites offered.
3. Customer service is a major factor to consider. You may buy at a great price but what happens when the sale goes wrong? A part is missing? The product isn’t what you thought it would be? Does the vendor offer an easy return operation? Are you gigged with high restocking fees even on something that is their fault? I read a complaint in a forum last week where an online merchant charged a 15% restocking fee plus return freight on an item that was missing parts or offered to sell the customer the parts that were missing. Now that’s a way to make a profit! Charge the customer twice for the product or get your profit by service charge and never have to sell the product plus make a profit on marked up freight, that’s a whole new slant on inventory control.
4. Lastly you have the merchant who offers a product at a low price, gets the customer’s attention and gets the order, then pops the news that that the product is out of stock and can’t be delivered for some interminable amount of time. A good price on an item that you needed day before yesterday that won’t ship for 6 weeks is not a bargain, especially if you are on a construction schedule and the lack of the product holds up the rest of the work. A good merchant will show you his product availability before you push the buy button and will give you a good promised delivery date. Absent of this, a good price is not always the best price.

What does all this lead too? After doing my pricing analysis of some of the online plumbing supply businesses I find most guilty of all or most of the above problems, especially one of the vendors who is offered in many forums as the leader in the business and whose name most often shows up in product searches and paid advertising. Their initial pricing was the lowest but when you get to check out you find that the freight charges of $50 to $75 per order soon raises the price far above anyone else in the market. The availability, in the vast number of products reads “call for availability” which leads to finding that the low priced item is out of stock and an effort to up sell to another item presents itself. This is a smart move for the vendor but unfair to the customer. After all of that , the customer finds that the overpriced freight charges are based on the speed of a home loving snail and you will get your product in a few weeks as opposed to a few days or sooner. In other words they are not shipping by the fastest method while charging for it. I can only guess what their customer service would be like with the above things already in their modus operandi.
In summation, CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware), becomes the phrase of the day. You have the ability to shop for the best pricing availability and shipping at your finger tips online. Take the time to examine your choices and don’t hesitate to “empty that shopping cart” before you become victim to one of these online tricks.
A reminder, as I have discussed before, National Builder Supply offers the following without equivocation:
1. Low price guarantees
2. Free freight on any order (to the contiguous 48 states) over $100, shipped promptly
3. Availability on each item up front and a vast inventory of stocked items as opposed to relying on drop shipments from secondary sources.
4. World class customer service backed up in writing from satisfied customers.
DON’T FALL VICTIM TO ONLINE PRICING TRICKERY, SHOP WITH CONFIDENCE AT NBS

DECISIONS, DECISIONS......DECISIONS

I’m going OT, for you uninformed that means “off topic”, today. I’m going to veer from my usual home improvement subjects and blog today about what I consider a “life improvement” subject. DECISIONS, and how your inability to make good quick decisions can paralyze your personal and business life. In these days of bad economy, world turmoil and general confusion it becomes harder and harder for all of us to know where to turn next. Should we spend money and help improve the economy or continue to hide what little we have in the mattress or in the famous hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on “Funk & Wagnall’s front porch, in deference to the late Johnny Carson. For you who don’t know who Johnny Carson is well maybe I'm preaching to the wrong audience.
Let me start out by relating my favorite personal story about a person who couldn’t make a decision despite himself. I went to school with a guy named Pete Picci. One night a bunch of us in the dorm were going to go to McDonald’s and asked Pete of he wanted to go…”sure I’ll go, no…no I’ve got homework to do I’ll stay here bring me something back, NO never mind I’ll go…no I’d better not spend the money you go on without me… Yeah Yeah I’m going wait on me….No go on without me. Well needless to say the 5 of us that wanted to go were tired of waiting and so we just left and went on without him. We were gone for maybe 30 minutes got what we wanted came back and continued with our homework and as I passed Pete’s room I could hear coming from inside….No, No you all go ahead without me…Hey guys wait I’m going. We had been gone and back and poor Pete was still arguing with himself trying to make the simple decision as to whether to go or not and in the meantime he lost his chance. How many times in life and in business do you miss an opportunity because you just could not make a decision? Or worse is you business or life suffering because you are paralyzed with fear as to what to do these days because of the state of affairs? My guess is, like my friend Pete, many of you are doing the same thing…arguing with yourself trying to decide what to do next, spending sleepless nights with your mind racing with thoughts about what if I do the wrong thing, literally causing problems with your family, friends, employees or your employer because you are stuck on the fence of indecision. Now of all times is not the time to fall into that trap. Its time to do some quick self reflection, decide what it takes to come up with a plan of action you can agree with yourself on and dive in. Yes I know I said “decide”…there’s that word again so let me just tell you what to do and take the “decide” out of the equation.
After 30+ years of having to make some difficult decisions the one thing that I know is ME and what I need to satisfy myself that I have enough information to make a good decision. This is where most people fail from the starting line. They keep on gathering more and more information to help themselves make the decision when in reality the more information they gather the more confused they get. Depending on the given situation when faced with a question I immediately decide in my mind the simplest yet most important things that I need to know to make a good decision and set forth to ask questions do research and analyze the situation to satisfy myself that I have those questions answered. I do not allow myself the luxury of grass growing beneath my feet in getting these answers then proceed to say Yea or Nay and then I’m on to the next thing on my agenda. You will not find me sitting 30 minutes later saying….YES…..NO….YES….MAYBE….NO,NO, I am not Pete Picci. I’m am going to make the decision and lead my family, my employees, my friends, or if going it alone, take myself merrily on down the road to success or failure, BUT I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING. I'm not going to be sitting aside twiddling my thumbs letting the world and opportunity leave us behind for the lack of a decision. In reality the true secret is twofold and is not rocket science.
1. I know myself and have self confidence. After 61 years of life and 30 some odd years in business I know what I need to make a decision and I am confident in my abilities. This is where most people stumble from the beginning, they fear failure or lack the self confidence in their own abilities to carry out a plan of action. In the face of that fear of failure they, instead, don’t
make a decision or wait too long and miss the boat completely. In doing so they have become a self fulfilling prophecy .
2. To over come any of the points in #1, here’s the Warren Theory. SHHHHHHH! Not a word to anyone else, this will be just our secret. When faced with the dilemma of making a decision you think “what’s the worst thing that can happen if I’m wrong?” Plan for that eventuality, a plan B so to speak, and how you will correct your Plan A if it fails. With this plan of action in place you will have the confidence in yourself to proceed forward. You will not have to fear the unknown of “What If” that paralyzes so many folks. You will already have that answer in place and have nothing to fear.

Over simplified? Not at all. It is that simple. Most people can’t make decisions because they lack self confidence in their own abilities. The more decisions that you make that can be deemed to be successful the more confident you will become. Until the time that you have a few under your belt build your self confidence by simply always having your plan B in place and you will look and feel self confident. The biggest mistake you can make is to miss an opportunity because you did nothing. Don’t be a Pete Picci and go to bed hungry, join the crowd and go on to McDonald’s. Or in real life step out in faith and self confidence and do SOMETHING to better your business or your family as opposed to being paralyzed with fear and indecision.

CEILING FANS...GOING GREEN CAN BE A BREEZE

In my continuing discussion of ways to “go green”, an important addition to your home can be ceiling fans. Ceiling fans are similar in function to any other electric fans their main use is to generate air movement to improve the ventilation of a room. They are simply electric fans that are hanging from the ceiling. Most folks prefer to install ceiling fans rather than put traditional electric fans in the room because of the significant amount of space that is saved, as well as being a permanent fixture that is both decorative and out of the way. Most newer homes have these installed as a standard feature but the proper use of ceiling fans is what increases their value to you in comfort and savings on your heating and air conditioning costs and are a valuable retrofit in the older home. This is easily done by simply replacing a ceiling light fixture with a ceiling fan with a light kit attached. The fan and lights are then controlled by the existing light switch on the wall and fan and light controls on the fan itself. If you want the convenience of wall control, switches are available that fit in the existing box and are split to control the light and fan separately and are easily installed. The primary benefits ceiling fans give is the benefit of increased air circulation. Ceiling fans are proven to make people in a room feel four degrees cooler in the summer and provide an alternative for the air conditioner, when the heat is not too bad, and they are less costly in electricity. Most ceiling fans use only about as much power as a 100 watt light bulb. When used properly, ceiling fans can save you money in utility bills in both the winter and summer months.
Benefits in Winter Months. Each room has layers of air with varying degrees of temperature, the warmest lightest air near the ceiling. In the winter months, run your fan at a low speed in a clockwise direction which pushes the warm air up against the ceiling and then down the walls, recirculating warm air through the room without causing a chilling breeze. This technique has been proven to lower home or office heating costs by as much as 10% by offsetting the work load of your heating system.
Benefits in Summer Months. In the summer months, your ceiling fan offers the greatest energy saving benefits when run in a counter-clockwise direction. While a ceiling fan does not necessarily lower the temperature, it does make the room feel cooler by providing a circulatory breeze. If the outside temperature is not too high, you might be able to achieve a comfortable environment by turning off you’re A/C altogether, and opening a few windows allowing the ceiling fan pull air through the windows and create the breeze effect which can make you feel up to 8 degrees cooler, and reduce air conditioning bills by up to 40%.
Energy Star Ceiling Fans. As we have discussed in other blogs the best value from a “green” basis and maximum energy saving benefits, you should purchase an Energy Star appliances and ceiling fans are no exception. Make sure you look for the energy star branding. These fans circulate an average of 15% more air than other ceiling fans, without sacrificing style or attractiveness. Energy Star ceiling fans are 60% more efficient than the non branded variety.

Installation of Ceiling Fans for Optimal Efficiency. In order to reap the optimal energy saving benefits from your fans it's important to install several throughout your home placed in key locations in all of the most frequently used rooms. For optimal performance, the blades of your ceiling fan should be between 7-9 feet above the floor, and 10-12 inches below the ceiling. This adjustment is facilitated by style of the fan (ceiling hugger or hanging) and differing lengths of down rods. If the blades of your fan are too close to the ceiling, you will not be able to make use of the winter time benefits, and may be 40% less efficient even in the summer time. Finally, the blades should be at least 18 inches from the nearest wall.
In summation ceiling fans can do a lot of good for your home at a kow cost. It may not be as effective at lowering room temperature as an air conditioner, but it does help make a room a lot cooler in the summer and can assist in keeping your home warmer by recirculating warm air in the room during the winter.
National Builder Supply carries a full line of beautiful reasonably priced fans and light kits from PROGRESS LIGHTING as well as a full line of over 1700 light fixtures for your every need.

Check their website at http://nationalbuildersupply.com

What is that Smell? Episode 2

Of all the articles that I have written the one titled “What’s that Smell?” has been the most popular. I cross publish some of my articles on some Ezine (that’s internet magazine slang) sites for further exposure and the chance to help more folks. This article consistently gets the most reads and comments and the problem is still one of the most frequently discussed in the chat rooms and forums. Now at my house the problem probably stems from too much fiber in my diet and I handle it with an industrial strength air freshener but most everyone else has septic or sewer gas (methane) seeping in to the house as I discussed in the aforementioned article. There is another offending problem, the rotten egg smell in the water not in the room is caused from sulfur dioxide. This rotten egg smell happens mostly to people who have well water. The reason this smell happens is because of the iron in the well water and from iron leeching from old cast iron piping in older homes. Water heaters do not tolerate this iron content. The odor happens when the iron in the water comes in contact with the aluminum anode rod in the tank, the purpose of the anode rod is to act as a sacrificial catcher of the impurities entering the tank and as it does that, it slowly dissolves. This rod needs to be replaced with one made of magnesium. The rod is located on the top of the tank usually behind and between the hot and cold water supply and looks like a big nut. A new magnesium anode will cost about $25 and to change it you will only need a socket set or wrench. The follow are the simple steps to facilitate this replacement:
Step1 Turn your gas control valve to the pilot position or trip the circuit breaker to turn the power off to the water heater. Turn the water supply off to the tank. Drain your tank completely. There should be a hose bib connection at the bottom of the heater on which you can connect a garden hose and drain to the closest drain or run outside. To be safe from a scalding danger let the heater cool off before draining.
Step 2 Remove the aluminum anode rod by loosening the old rod from the top with a socket of the appropriate size or with a wrench and replace it with the magnesium rod.
Step 3 The warranty on your water heater is based on the thickness of the anode rod, on a 6 year warranty the anode rod is dissolved in the 5th year, on a 9 year tank in the 8th year and so on. If you read the manual in some cases it states that if you remove the rod your warranty is voided. Regardless choose a rod of the thickness that will correspond with the age of the tank so that the dissolving will coordinate with the life expectancy of the tank. If you only have 5 years left on the tank there is no need to install an 8 year rod.
Step 4 Once you accomplished the removal and replacement of the rod it’s time to flush the tank. With the boiler drain valve at the bottom of the tank open, turn the water on in short spurts to flush as much of the iron sediment out of the bottom of the tank. You may have to repeat this numerous times so as to flush as much as you can to clear the tank.
Step 5 Now you should be ready to fill the tank. Shut the bottom boiler drain. Open the pressure relief valve to allow air to escape and turn the water supply back on. Turn on at least one hot water faucet in the house so your water pipes don’t fill with air which will cause your faucet to sputter and can contribute to water hammer. Shut your pressure relief valve the minute you see water and then turn off the faucet.
Step 6 (optional) To limit the amount of iron from entering your plumbing in the future install a sediment filter at the entry point of your water supply. Average cost should be $40.00. This will also help to keep your faucet aerators clean and increase your water pressure if it is inhibited by clogged aerators.
Step 7 Now you are ready to set your gas valve back to the on position or turn the circuit breaker back on.

Please note that you can burn your heating elements up in a hot water heater by turning it back on with no water in it, so make sure it has completely refilled before restarting.

Hopefully this will eliminate your smell problem with the water. If the smell is coming from a drain or you smell it in a room when you walk in, please refer back to my original article mentioned at the beginning.

WHO DO I BUY FROM AND WHY?

Although the discussion rooms and DIY forums struggle to prevent “spamming” (blatant commercialism in favor of a particular dealer), there is still plenty of opportunity to gauge the reputation of a dealer by reading these forums carefully. I admit a certain amount of prejudice towards NBS but it is based on personal experience not by a paycheck and by the feedback that I have received and that I am privy too from the customer service department. There was an article over the weekend about a cruise line giving away cruises and perks to passengers and bloggers to tout their cruises. I think if someone has a good experience with ANY online vendor of ANY product then they should share it. There are websites that do nothing but allow a forum for complaints and praises on various merchants and professionals and this allows for a real opportunity for us all to learn who the good and bad are but these opinions should be honest and not because of any compensation or ulterior motive. If I didn’t believe in my friends at NBS I wouldn’t promote them. There is one particular online plumbing vendor which I have run across on MANY forums and the bad references outweigh the good 10 to 1 so when I see a reference to this vendor I warn CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware) and caution that they research that vendor. I can honestly say that in reading some 30+ forums per day I have yet to see a negative mention of NBS. Are there other vendor s with good reputations ? Yes, and this allows that with some research you should be able to make an educated decision on from whom to buy from the viewpoint of a personal recommendation. These endorsements are probably the primary source of buying decisions in most people.
There are other things to consider. Price is always a factor but pricing can be misleading and you can buy something at a good price and never get the product or not get it on time. So you must add to your criteria some sense of how dependable the vendor is at on time shipping and whether or not they actually have the product you want in stock. Another factor of pricing is the old apples to apples analogy. Are you receiving the same product and service with the lower priced item? Many online dealers will lure you in with low pricing but you have to pay the freight or you find that what they are selling is a trimmed down version that is missing certain parts that you will have to buy separately.
Finally how do you feel about how you were treated in the transaction? Did you get answers promptly and in a friendly manner? Did you feel that you are indeed going to get what you ordered when promised? Why is that important? If something does go wrong you will be dealing with the same people and the same corporate philosophy. If you were treated badly or haphazardly during the sale how do you think you will be treated if you have a problem?
In summation and in preference to National Builder Supply you can expect the following:
1. Fair pricing with a price matching guarantee.
2. Pricing which offers free freight if the order is over $100 and a reasonable flat rate freight charge otherwise.
3. Pricing which includes a guarantee that you will get all that you need with the product. No short cuts. No side trips to the local "Big Box Store" for parts and pieces.
4. NBS maintains a large inventory of the merchandise its sells and rarely depends on second party to ship your purchase. This allows that if you are told the product is in stock and that it will ship tomorrow you can bank on it. This is not the cheapest way to do business. Most vendors don’t stock anything. They depend on secondary distribution sources to fulfill their orders thus losing control of your order the moment it’s placed. They have to depend on someone else to enforce their promises.
5. Fast, friendly customer service whether you are buying, inquiring or, in the unlikely event that there is a problem.
6. Lastly study the forums and the internet, “google” dealers and look for problems and compliments.
I am certain you will be satisfied with your experience with my friends at NBS.
I’m confident that if you compare these items to any other online vendor of building supplies you will see that NBS is at least one to consider. I would not be conceited enough, nor would they, to say they are the only one and I know my friends well enough to know that they don’t think for a minute that you don’t have a choice…you do and that’s why they try so hard to never let you down.

Toilet on the Patio? Now thats convenient!

My work is always interesting and I try my best to give good answers and to interject some humor to brighten my day if no one elses. A few months back I wrote a blog about the new toilet arriving and sitting in the garage...what now? Well I guess the guy that posted the question below either left his on the patio instead of in the garage or we all now know what he did with the old one. Believe me folks I'm good but not good enough to make up these questions....it's very real from a DIY forum today:

Question:
Before you ask why I would even consider this, I need to mention that it is someone else who intends doing this. I think it is inadvisable. Do you agree that it's not a good idea to re-install a toilet that has been left outside, on the patio, all winter?
My Answer:
There are a few things that could happen to a toilet left outside for the winter, freezing water could have caused a break or crack in the tank or bowl, the flushing mechanism could become corroded or otherwise corrupted or on the far side something could have made a home for itself causing a clog....could make for an exciting "ground hog day" if thats where he's hiding, but in the long run toilets are pretty tough and if checked over well and any of the above problems are not present I see no reason why it couldn't be installed. But where will people sit on the patio with the toilet gone?

Now I will admit that I could have gotten this from Jeff Foxworthy or from my middle son. He is the one that Jeff Foxworthy patterned his redneck jokes after. My son measures his whole net worth based on the number of old cars he has in the yard, he does watch TV on a set sitting ontop of a set ontop of a set and I'm sure if his porch fell it would crush at least 3 dogs and a couple of cats. With this said I dont think Ive seen a toilet on his patio but once when I needed one for a renovation he was able to come up with one from somewhere on his 4 acres of land and it looked like it had been sitting out for several winters before we cleaned it up. S0 I knew how to answer the above question...no problem, and YES it worked just fine.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is that if you need a new toilet and don't have one on the patio or somewhere in your yard, try National Builder Supply. They specialize in TOTO toilets undoubtedly the best on the market.

DESIGN BY GROHE

When I first met with Heath Hyneman, one of the owners National Builder Supply, he quickly set out to show me the difference between low cost and premium faucets. He simply handed me a Grohe faucet and a low cost brand for my examination. The difference was immediately evident. The Grohe faucet was heavier, more well made and distinctly different from a design standpoint. I was SOLD and from then on wanted nothing else. The faucet market, today, is dominated by imports as is the rule in most things. The largest segment of the import products are from China. Grohe is an import brand but hails from Germany and this adds an even more evident quality. I attribute my support of the Grohe product line to a simple yet maybe shallow statement…”I have a Mercedes in the driveway and want Grohe in my house.” From a press release dated February 16, 2009, Grohe explains it’s design process and philosophy.

The GROHE Design Team

GROHE products are typified by aspirational designs which are created by an in-house team of international designers. Design is a key pillar of the GROHE product strategy under which the design team strives to strike the perfect balance of quality, technology and design. In doing so, the team stimulates creativity and open-minded thinking throughout the organisation at all levels, across all geographies and across disciplines from engineering to marketing, thereby laying the foundation for a “creative osmosis”. The head of the 14-strong international design team reports directly to the CEO. This unique position affords the design team an exemplary level of freedom to innovate. The international designers draw on their culturally diverse backgrounds when creating products for the global market. In April 2008, the team relocated to the new Design Studio at the company’s new head office designed by world renowned architect Richard Meier in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, Germany. Designed by the in-house team, the studio mirrors the creative process. This inspiring environment is open and transparent to allow for cross-fertilisation of ideas and ensure all products radiate the core values of GROHE.

The Design Philosophy

The GROHE design team is committed to a straightforward consumer-centric design philosophy based on the belief that good design should surpass form and function in order to connect with users on an emotional level and surprise and delight the user throughout its entire life cycle. The GROHE products and even the newly designed website show that this philosophy is successful. They reflect the care and attention to every detail and resonate the passion and creativity from which they were created. The success of this philosophy is not least proven by the many design awards won by the design team both nationally and internationally. These awards underline the success of the world class GROHE design team. Apart from the "red dot: best of the best" and the "Good Design Award", the team was credited in the “Leading Designers of the World” directory. The European Centre of Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies has included Paul Flowers, Senior Vice President of Design at GROHE, in its prestigious "Europe 40 under 40" list which recognises the top 40 European creative talents under the age of 40.The

GROHE Design Studio – the creative heart of the company.

Visit the National Builder Supply website http://nationalbuildersupply.com to view an inventory of approximately 1000 Grohe faucets and fixtures and experience the Grohe design and quality for yourself at a guaranteed low price.

Why is My Hot Water Heater Leaking?

I answered this question a couple of times over this weekend on 2 different forums and in the process realized how few people really know what the basics of a hot water heater are as well as the many things that can go wrong. In reality a hot water heater is made to last for many years and shouldn't leak as far as the tank is concerned. One forum questioner stated that his water heater looked new so he couldn't understand why it would leak. What you see of your heater is just a protective shell which holds insulation around the actual tank which you can not see. If a hot water heater is safely and dryly stored inside it should look new. What would cause it to age?


As I said most tanks are made to last for many years and leaks are rare early on. Instead of a leak it is more frequently the T&P (temperature and pressure relief valve) doing its job. This valve is installed to avoid an explosion of the tank if it overheats. By code in most areas the T&P valve should be piped out of the house for drainage outside so that the water blown out will not damage the house. I have seen some installations where the tank was in a location in the house where a drain line was not easily installed and a simple pipe down the side of the heater carried the overflow down to a catch pan under the tank. In some sloppy careless installations this pipe just runs out onto the floor which, of course, then looks like a leak and obviously can cause some major damage to the home if not caught soon enough.

Regardless there is still a problem if the valve discharges. It can be a faulty valve, which should be replaced if it every time it goes off, but usually is caused by the tank overheating. Overheating can be caused by a faulty thermostat or in the case of an electric heater can be caused by a heating element overheating in the process of burning out. The fix for these problems is replacement of the offending part.

If a tank is really leaking it is usually because it has corroded or rusted out or because the anode in the bottom of the tank has corroded and is leaking. Either way the entire water heater will need to be replaced. If replacing your hot water heater, it's a perfect time to consider a more efficient way to heat water. There are many alternatives today. The best, in my opinion would be to install one of the new generation of tankless, instant hot water systems. Although these are more expensive, initially, the money saved in heating costs repays this initial expense quickly. Another choice can be solar collector systems which pipe water through collector cells and store it for later use. If nothing else shop wisely when replacing your existing hot water heater to get the most efficient model available.

LETS TALK CLOGS

I think its time to discuss plumbing clogs again because the hot topic on ALL of the DIY discussion forums of late has been clogs. The one that I see more than most is the one that leaves me absolutely incredulous. I am a FIRM believer in DIY forums but for the life of me this one floors me….”HELP!!!! my toilet is over flowing and I don’t know what to do…somebody help me quick!!!!”. Well my friends isn’t the answer pretty obvious? Shut the damn water off, look under the toilet and find the shut off valve and turn it. Don’t have a shut off valve? Where were you 3 months ago when I cautioned everyone about having them on every fixture? Well then go and shut off the main water connection. Oh, I guess if you don’t know how to stop the toilet from overflowing you haven’t bothered to find the main shut off valve or maybe didn’t know you had one. In either case even if I tell you how to fix the clog its not likely you will be able to handle the high tech super declogger device (plunger, see picture above) that I recommend that everyone have close by. FOR GOODNESS SAKE CALL A PLUMBER! Don’t wait for your house to be two feet deep in water and toilet effluent. Seriously there are three basic reasons why a toilet overflows.
One reason is that you have a teenage son like mind that only goes to the bathroom, for bowel functions, say once a month, is in their for a couple of hours of which I’m not always sure is devoted to the original task and when he is through the toilet is clogged and the smell takes care of the idea that any insects could be alive in there. Or maybe you have a small child or as in my case, the beloved grandson, who can do not wrong, who has learned how to flush all sorts of things down the toilet including the family cat. The cat wasn’t happy, by the way, but the scratches will heal and both the cat and the grandbaby have learned to avoid one another. The quick way to know that this is a localized toilet clog is that all the rest of the toilets and drains in the house are clearing properly. You would not believe how many people immediately assume that if one toilet is clogged they all are. Either way, try to free the obvious material and use a plunger. If this doesn’t work try a short snake device inserted from the toilet. If this doesn’t work a longer snake inserted through the clean out opening in your drain system should clear it.

The second cause can be very subtle and sometimes completely overlooked. Every drain in the house is linked to a vent stack. The vent stack allows air into the system so that no vacuum is created and water can flow freely out through the lowest point on the system, the main drain. If your vent stack becomes clogged, usually with leaves and debris, some times with a bird or animal builds a nest in it, then your system can’t breathe and drain properly. Like the first clog, the vent can be a simple thing to clear of you have a snake or high pressure garden hose and feel adept at navigating your roof. Every vent exits the house through your roof and can be cleared by simply blowing it out or snaking it. The exception to this rule is when you discover that the bird that has built it’s nest is a rare endangered species which is protected by law or that your next door neighbor is the local president of PETA and mounts a protest group in your yard because you are trying to harm some small animal. In either case it’s time to call the local “port-a-potty” company and be prepared to wait for the hatching or leaving of the nest. Maybe you could learn to navigate the roof under the cover of darkness so as to escape discovery?

That brings me to the third type of clog and that is the main drain. This happens for several reasons. A major clog from one toilet has migrated to the main drain and stopped it up, a simple short snake or sometimes a serious plunging still should take care of it. By the way, toilets are not the only offender. I once caused a major main drain clog by peeling potatoes, for Christmas dinner, and trying to dispose of the peelings through the garbage disposal. A second common cause can be that your main drain has become impinged by roots growing through. This doesn’t happen over night and you should have noticed that all the household drains have become increasingly slower. Thirdly your septic system can be full or the drain field has become compromised, again not a sudden problem. If you are not on a septic system you local sewer system can be backed up because of a simple grease trap clogged or maybe due to its own inadequacy after a rainstorm. All of these non localized clogs will require more serious plumbing expertise than most are capable of. I’m pretty DIY adept and could handle a 25’ snake with the best of them, as long as its not the teenagers Burmese python, which would allow me to clear the average main drain clog. But if you have a septic tank problem its time to call a septic system specialist. If it’s a sewer problem call your county/city provider. It is their responsibility to unclog it. This main drain clog can become, quickly, more serious than just a clogged toilet. A clogged main has to go somewhere and that is usually up and through the lowest point in your house. This can be a drain in the basement, a tub on the first floor and so on. This is a very unpleasant experience because it can be more than just your sewage that comes back into your home. If you are down hill from others on a sewer system you can have everyone up hill from you dumping their every flush into your house.
The best way to avoid any of these situations is to be alert watch how your drains are clearing, eat lots of fiber…LOL, listen for gurgling noises which might indicate an on coming clog either from the previously mentions vent stack or main drain not clearing. As to preparing yourself for the inevitable clog, keep a good plunger nearby, invest in a 25’ manual plumbing snake, locate your shut off valves, both for each fixture and the entire house, find your clean out access, look at where the vent stacks come out through your roof and keep a good local plumber’s phone number close by, possibly tattooed to the back of your right hand. Last but not least you don’t have time to wait for one of us in the forums to give you an answer.

The Bathrooms of My Life

Ever wonder why I have a seeming fascination with bathrooms? I write blogs about nearly every aspect of bathrooms. My thoughts today were triggered by a forum post that I read where the question centered around how to effectively conceal a person in a glassed in shower. This question caused me to think of all of the bathrooms or lack thereof that I have owned and experienced in my life and I will close with the one that I believe is the best answer for the forum question. First lets talk about why I’ve had so many and a little about some of the ones that stick in my mind. I have lived in many homes in my lifetime, mostly due to a career which took me all over the country.
Probably my first was the one in the old family home, in the Atlanta area, in which the front 2 rooms were built in 1842. Although there were no out houses in my generation you would have to know that there had been at one time. In my time there the old house had 3 bathrooms that were still in probably the second or third phase of their existence. Not totally currently up to date, i.e. this was the fifties and we had no pink and gray or aqua tile, tubs, sink or toilet but we didn’t have a claw foot tub either. My grandparent’s home did have the only one of those in my life experience. Although the old family home did not provide me with the “outhouse” experience it did not keep me from having it any way although mine would not have been of the Sears catalog or corn cob variety. Growing up my family had a small cabin in the North Georgia mountains where we spent wonderful weekends and vacations. The cabin’s answer to running water and refrigeration was a very cold mountain stream outside the back door and an out house on the side of the hill many feet away from the cabin. What made this out house special was my father’s desire to keep my Mom happy. It was fully tiled inside, had a nice toilet seat with a lid, real toilet paper and holder, no corn cobs for us, and a magazine rack for the proper reading materials.
Other bathrooms of my life came by way of building and designing several homes along the way including state of the art, as it was at that time, bathrooms. Yes this means I have owned bathtubs and toilets in most every color possible in the past 40 years. Add to this the many other homes I’ve owned or occupied during my life that I didn’t build but bought and lived with as they were or remodeled to bring them up to the latest trend. One of the more significant homes I have owned was a circa 1928 Spanish styled 10,000 sq. ft mansion that I had the privilege to own in Los Angeles and although the house had been modernized in many ways, state of the art kitchen etc, the bathrooms had been untouched and were still in their original Art Deco style. I have had at least 2 houses with actual separate Jacuzzi styled hot tubs in the bathroom not just a whirlpool tub. I have had glass shower door, no shower doors, shower curtains and at one brief time lived in an office situation with no shower or bath and had to bathe at friends homes. I have lived in a motor home and had to squeeze my size 54 body into a size 36 bathroom. I have had 2 company planes one with no bathroom but with a tube which allowed you to at least pee in mid air and another that even though it had a “head” I couldn’t get into it.
Now, for the bathroom that caused this whole stream of thought for today. When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1981 the first house I bought was what we referred to as the $50,000 house with the $200.000 view. This was a small house, only 1400 sq. ft. on a 40’ x 60’ lot in the Hollywood hills. This lot afforded beautiful views all the way to downtown L.A. and to the ocean. Because it was build on a steep hillside it was multiple levels down the slope with each level all glass with the view. The most significant view was in the shower in the master bedroom which had a glass wall tub to ceiling end to end. As you stood in the shower you had an unimpeded view and of course anyone that happened to be around the canyon or had a telescope or binoculars had a view of you. One of my first guests to see the house immediately commented on the shower and their concern about people seeing me in the buff. My answer was simple….they would only look once!!

If its time to build yourself a new bathroom or renovate the one you have there is no better place than National Builder Supply to seek help with your planning as well as to purchase the latest in plumbing fixtures of every variety, style and cost.

An Ode to the Clogged Toilet....is it really the poor toilet's fault?

In the continuing discussion about the “green revolution” and its effects and consequences on us today. Barely a day goes by that I don’t read multiple complaints on the discussion groups and DIY forums about toilets clogging. I own 2 low CFM (cubic feet per minute) toilets and I’m a big guy(300+ lbs). Yes, that means what goes in eventually comes out the other end, in equal volume, and if anyone was going to stop up a toilet it would be me. Does it happen? Occasionally, but honestly no more frequently with my 1.6 CFM toilets than back when I had the 6 CFM toilets. I am the proud father of 3 wonderful sons and the youngest could clog a toilet with urine only and so we kept the latest in high tech plungers immediately next to his toilet at all times. I answered a typical question this morning on the DIY Network forum where the poster was complaining that both of the family toilets were clogging about every 2 weeks and immediately the posters jumped on the band wagon of what was his flush capacity? what brand toilet was it? Just how many golf balls was he trying to flush when it became clogged. The point is that our preoccupation with low flush toilets has the vast majority of the public immediately assuming that it’s the toilet’s fault. It couldn’t possibly be that we have a serious lack of fiber in our diet nor that we have always clogged toilets regardless of the CFM. My answer was that if it was intermittent and there was no real difference in the volume or density of the solid waste then had anyone thought that it might not be the toilet at all. This problem could very easily be the beginnings of a clog down stream in the main drain line. This occasional clogging can easily be the harbinger of more serious things to come down the road when the main drain becomes so clogged that it backs up into the lowest point of the house (usually a downstairs bath tub) and causes a mess that only a remediation company can begin to repair. Instead of joining the chorus on blaming the toilets, they were 5 years old and the clogging has just begun, I recommended an aggressive snaking of the main drain from each toilet out and down through the main line to the septic or sewer system. A clogged grease trap on the sewer system can cause this. Although it wasn’t mentioned as to whether this user was on a septic tank or not , a full septic tank can cause the same effect, or clogging drain field lines on the septic tank can be the cause especially after a heavy rain. In summation before you start discussing with God the destiny of the soul of the inventor of the low flush toilet, before you yell at your teenager that he has to start eating more high fiber pizza, before you join the chorus of well meaning yet possibly mislead complainers, stop and think your way through your situation. Look at the whole situation about your clogging problems and don’t just stop by blaming the poor toilet that’s trying to help conserve water while we still have some to conserve.

HOW TO CONSERVE ELECTRICITY...or my take on the "Green Revolution" Part #3

As promised in my last Blog here’s a stab at some helpful hints to save electricity in your home in furtherance of the “green revolution”. Every one has heard and many people are using the compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). Although expensive, initially, to purchase these light bulbs fit in a standard lamp socket in the place of the old incandescent style bulb. They burn cooler giving off little or no heat, have a pleasant bright white light and last an estimated 10 times longer than the average light bulb. This long life goes a long way toward offsetting the initial cost but where the real savings comes is from the low electricity usage. Lighting accounts for close to 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill. ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy (electricity) than incandescent light bulbs and they provide a quick return on investment. Although may I also remind you of your Dad who went through the house screaming “who left all these lights on?” He was right. We are an amazing people who go through life turning on lights, during broad daylight, when entering a a room and going through the house turning them all off when we get ready to go to bed at night. My family and I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980’s in a nice little house up in the Hollywood Hills whose main attraction was a breathtaking view of the entire L.A. basin spread out before you. We made a game for the children out of watching to see when the first light would come on at night but in reality the lights were always already on all day and truth be known the view was never dark, millions of lights burning all night long in homes and buildings with no one there. Is your home or office that way still today?

You can consider the old tricks. Set back thermostats to control your HVAC systems while you are away and during peak usage times have been around for over 20 years and are now standard equipment on newer homes and are an easy 15 minute fix for your older home at a minimum investment for as little as $20. This can be made up in the first week of proper use. You can invest in “energy star” rated appliances that are certified to save electricity over older models and in some instances can repay the initial costs of replacing some energy hog appliances.



There are some newer tricks that you may not have considered. Have you checked your hot water heater? As I discussed in the last blog you can live with a lower temperature setting on your water heater which should never exceed 120 degrees F any way. The Manufactured home builders long ago built in lighted switches that allow you to completely turn the hot water tank off. These lighted switches fit in a standard outlet box, usually in a hallway or bathroom but instead or being a 15 or 20 amp switch they are 60 amps or greater to control the high voltage on the heater. You can accomplish the same thing by simply tripping your circuit breaker and turn the device off at times when you will be away or it’s less likely that you will need hot water. Most Hot water heaters are terribly inefficient and many people are replacing them with the new tankless varieties that provide instant hot water and when not in use are not using any only small amounts of energy. I live alone and have found that simply keeping my hot water heater turned off saves at least 15% on my monthly electricity bill. Additionally as I mentioned in the previous blog on water conservation if you wash your clothes in cold water that eliminates the need for the hot water tank to be working overtime. Additionally look at the settings on your dish washer. Are you stepping up the water temp by using a Pot scrubber cycle? Are you allowing the dishwasher to dry the dishes by using the drying cycle? Have you ever heard of a dish rack and a hand towel??? Do you have children? how are they earning their allowance?Many people rarely look at their dishwasher settings and are uselessly wasting electricity on those 2 settings alone.

Many electric utilities offer a rebate on your power bill of you will allow them to install a radio frequency device inline with your meter that lets them shed your 220 power off during peak times of demand. This demand times are usually early mornings and late afternoons when people are getting ready for work or getting home from the office and starting dinner and during peak heating and cooling demand times. Can’t live without the HVAC, clothes dryer, hot water heater at those times? I lived in Lakeland Florida or 8 years and had the system in place in my home an never once knew it was working. They also offer rebate plans for new high efficiency appliances and fixtures. Call your utilities today and ask what they can do for you.


I am sure that I have missed many more easy ways to save energy but here is the one that you will disbelieve when I tell you yet it will allow you to save the most electricity in the easiest manner. UNPLUG THINGS. Did you know that if you have an “instant on” TV, VCR, DVD player or stereo system that they are using 70% of the electricity while turned off that they use when running or turned on? If your device has a red power light that shows that it is turned off then its using power and not just to keep the light on. These devices keep the main power supply on so that it does not have to "warm up" to provide the necessary power to operate the device. Unplug it or plug it into a plug strip with a single "on/off" switch that allows you to turn on everything at once. Make sure the strip you use is only using power to light the light. Yes you may have to wait 20 seconds for the TV to come on but think of how much energy its wasting sitting there waiting for you to come home just so you can save that 20 sec wait. The same thing applies to a toaster, toaster ovens, microwave ovens, and literally every appliance that you have plugged in. They are all using electricity even when not turned on. The only small appliance plugged in all the time in my kitchen is the microwave oven which is built in and I’m thinking about having it wired to a switch or a plug outlet so I can turn the darn thing off. I don’t need the clock on it, there are 3 others in the kitchen already that have to be reset every time there’s a power failure and that’s the only thing it does for me when its not heating food.


In summation we can all save electricity just by being a little smarter or “frugal”, which doesn’t mean cheap. Think of your dad once in a while and call him if you're still lucky enough have him and tell him he was right and maybe an “I love you” would go a long way too. I write this while sitting by the phone waiting for the call from my children and no the recharger for the cell phone is not plugged in because it uses power all the time too and that goes for the computer CPU and the recharger for the laptop and……get the message?

Twelve Easy Ways to Conserve Water

Well As I wrote last week, my campaign to determine the enthusiasm of Americans for “green” subjects came up a tremendous flop. Apathy won out. Regardless I’m not easily defeated. AS many of you may know the Atlanta metro area is now going into it’s 3rd year of drastic drought and lack of water resources. Landscaping and nursery businesses have gone under, some ending decades of being in business. The city long known for its beautiful lawns and mature landscapes has suffered more than you can imagine. Easily watering your lawn, washing your car or planting gardens is almost impossible. With all this in mind I have spent the last few days thinking of ways to easily conserve water and will write more in the days to come on how we can all do other things to help recycle and ease the impact on our environment.
The following are a few ideas on conserving water:
1. Plant xeroscaped landscaping. That means utilizing plants that need little in the way of daily watering. These can include succulents, cacti and flora that survive well in desert environments. Replace grass with gravel and rock gardens. The zen look is very in today. I never liked mowing and weeding a yard anyway. Let it go back to nature. The mountain community where I lived until recently and where my youngest son still lives doesn’t allow grass or lawns at all. All landscaping must be natural. The deer help with this by eating everything you plant that doesn’t occur naturally.
2. Do not wash your car with hose. Soap it up with water in a bucket and rinse with a bucket or sparingly with a garden hose. Better yet take it to a car wash that reclaims or recycles the used water. If you’re like me you drive it dirty!
3. Turn the water off in the bathroom sink when brushing your teeth, shaving etc. If washing dishes in the kitchen sink only leave the water on while rinsing. I recently discovered a neat kitchen sponge device with a handle and reservoir for dish washing soap. You simply hand wash the dishes with the sponge and rinse. This doesn’t even require a sink of water to soak the dishes.
4. Wash clothes only in full loads and cold water only. You can buy very effective laundry detergents that work in cold water.
5. Load your dish washer efficiently, loading as many dishes as possible while still allowing for efficient cleaning. Failure to do this frequently causes multiple cycles.
6. Take showers instead of bathes and if you are really serious about conserving water use the “navy” method..shower with a friend….no I mean rinse yourself down, turn the water off and soap up then turn the water back on and rinse off.
7. Repair leaking faucets and toilets. These can be the biggest cause of wasted water and are practically invisible to us as we go through our days.
8. To protect from the possibility of leaking or broken pipes, insulate your exterior piping.
9. To save energy used to heat water make sure your hot water heater is insulated and set the temperature at the lowest temperature possible and still be efficient. This should never be in excess of 120 degrees F. If you are nearing the time to replace your hot water heater consider one of the new tankless varieties or at least resize the replacement with a tank that is the smallest that your family can live with. A 2 person family does not need a 60 gallon hot water heater.
10. If its time to replace your faucets, look at the newest water saving faucets and shower heads. The market place is full of choices. National Builder Supply has a full line of water saving fixtures. Check the web site or call one of their friendly customer service folks to see all of the many varieties.
11. Replace your old toilets with new high efficiency models. These toilets can do a couple of things to conserve water. The old toilets use from 3 to 6 gallons of water per flush. The new ones can use as little as 1.23 cfm (cubic feet per minute) to flush and there are several versions that have a 2 stage flushing capacity which allows you choose liquid or solid waste flushing. Many local communities and state governments are offering tax incentives and rebates towards the purchase of high efficiency plumbing and appliances. Georgia, as an example offers tax free weekends, from time to time, saving sales tax on high efficiency devices. Check with your local utilities to see what is available to you.
12. Many home owners are replumbing their homes and planning new homes and renovations to allow for grey water drainage lines. This allows that grey water sources such as sinks , washers, dishwashers, tubs etc all drain into a storage area to be used to water your yard or garden. The only thing that drains into the septic tank or sewer line is human waste materials. This grey water process not only conserves water for use in the yard it cuts down the amount of sewage that must be treated or can allow your septic tank to go many years longer with out expensive draining and repairs. You can also apply this same principle to installing a rain barrel system to your gutters. This system allows you to easily capture rain water in 55 gallons drums to use for watering the yard, washing the car etc. I’m sure there are dozens of other ways that we can all work together to conserve water. Let me know what works for you and what I may have missed.

The Score is The Green Revolution 6....Apathy 235,000,000

The topic du jour of most of the forums and the most politically correct thing to take action on these days is the “green” revolution. Local governments are mandating water conserving appliances and fixtures, sometimes out of pure necessity as mentioned in my comments below. The thing that seems to be troubling most people in the forums is getting used to the low CFM toilets and whether they flush well without stopping up. This problem gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “anal retentive” and it seems that the toilet manufacturer that has the lead in this technology is TOTO. As I discuss, below, briefly in my subject thread, the Atlanta area has suffered with a long term drought situation. The State of Georgia has enacted a sales tax revenue holiday once a year to abate the tax that would normally have to be paid on any product that is energy or water saving. This abatement also applies to the best of the “Energy Star” appliances. Local governments in Georgia and across the country have enacted new code restrictions which require new construction and renovations utilize low CFM toilets and fixtures. If you sell your home you have to retrofit it with these new fixtures before closing.
In December I proposed a thread in a popular DIY discussion group and although I received another posting just yesterday, I was disappointed that I wasn’t absolutely covered up with opinions. Here is my thread question and the responses I received.

Q. Are you in on the "Green Revolution”?
This is not politically motivated, strictly for discussion and curiosity. We in the Atlanta area are now into our second year of drought and the effects of water rationing and out and out loss of water resources. Lawns have died and more importantly we are losing scores of small businesses, landscapers, nurseries etc due to the problem. I would be interested in hearing from the forum members how important it is to them , personally, to seek out and use plumbing fixtures not just low flush toilets but showerheads, faucets etc that are designed for smart water useage. Is lowering your footprint as important as how the faucet looks? How has your family and community been affected of late by the loss of water resources?thanks Richard
Answer: The fact is you should be able to have low-flow fixtures, toilets, faucets and shower heads while still keeping the exact same aesthetics. I was in Atlanta just over a year ago, and the drought was effecting me just for the week I was there. I think water conservation is something that many homeowners and builders don't really think about. Hopefully the word will spread nationwide
My Response: I hope so also. Thanks for the support. We are really suffering here in Atlanta and what triggered my thread question was that so many people seem to be hung up on the esthetics as you mention. I like a pretty bathroom or Kitchen faucet as much as the next guy but you know I like one that puts out water when you turn it on no matter what it looks like.
Answer: Seems like if everyone's lawn is dying, it's time to start selling alternatives that are drought resistant...traditional lawns are huge water suckers, and there are a lot of alternatives that are less work and require less water. Granted, for us, lowering our footprint is more important. However, I've not yet had a problem finding fixtures that also look good, and I'm pretty finicky about this stuff. We replaced the shower head as soon as we moved in, and our new low-flow one looks nicer and works better than the old one. We're considering replacing the old toilet, and I've seen several low flows that look nice.PA has had way too much water this year...my basil actually drowned last May in a raised bed because we had 3 times our normal amount of rain. It's doing terrible things to the old sewage and storm water drains that weren't meant to handle this much water. Here's hoping the balance gets restored soon.
Answer: the only real way to get people to use less water is to charge more money, if like most utility companies, the Atlanta area water companies are unable to raise rates to match this new environment, then other draconian efforts by governments usually end up being enacted and often not working. That said I'm a big fan of the green revolution, as long as people really understand what going green is. Going green doesn't mean tearing out your kitchen and replacing all those products with "environmentally friendly" products unless you were going to remodel your kitchen anyway, and even then, its probably greener not to remodel. I've read lots of articles about supposed green buildings using lots of glass, glass has a horrible R rating and would suck a lot of energy out of the building during the cold months. Answer: Are the bamboo floors really environmentally friendly if they have to be shipped from china? Anything wrong using renewable Pine? Although questions will have more hype than good answers over the next few years. I'm going to do my best to reduce my waste starting with solid wastes (trash & recycling) and then energy with gas & electricity, and lastly water. With the price of water, and abundance in my part of the country, it doesn't make sense to place much priority on it.
Answer: We haven't had many problems with water shortages up here in Michigan except a couple times during the year when we aren’t suppose to water our lawns everyday only every other day. We try to conserve anyways though. Some LED lighting I've seen is something that can help conserve large amounts of electricity doesn't really help with the water.
Answer: I bought a low flow shower head about 10 years ago when we lived in a house with low water pressure. I like a shower head that's close to a fire hose and this little European model delivered. It was $9 at Home Depot. Is it pretty? Maybe not, but then again, I don't think shower heads are a pretty item anyway. So now we have a low flow toilet, low flow shower and sinks....and a washer that only puts in the water necessary for the load I'm doing without having to select small, medium or large.
Answer: I never water my lawn Just makes it grow then I have to mow it Of course it doesn't get that hot around here I also l have a stream on the property At some point I will put in a well for irrigation. My garden is located down low near the river It gets watered very rarely & the tomatoes grow 8' tall I have (5) 55g barrels to catch rainwater for my flower gardens. Other than that I don't use water outside. We use 1700g of water every 3 months for a family of 3. I'm actually looking for lower flow shower heads - 1.5 -1.89gpm. As soon as I find one I like I'll buy it. I take long showers so that could save 5-10g per day.

I had a total of 6 responses over a 7 week period. If we used my thread as a barometer of the American public’s regard for the “green revolution” then there would be no revolution at all. It wouldn’t even qualify as a minor protest. The police wouldn’t even have to be there to break up the action, hell, we wouldn’t even block a sidewalk with the protesters. The other 235,000,000 folks in the U.S. couldn't care less or at least the ones that read this particular forum.

To say the least, as a person who has lived with the effects of a drought and the precursors to global warming, I was disappointed. Tell me what you think.

The Economy Page 2... Same Song Second Verse

OK guys sit back and brace yourselves this one is not going to be funny. After I posted my blog on last Friday regarding my take on todays eonomy I began to see other opinions especially regarding it's effect on the modern day homeowner’s plan's or lack thereof on home renovations. In a blog posted 2/1/09 on “Walletpop” entitled “Home slump hits home decor trends”, Zac Bisonette cites “fancy kitchens and fireplaces that were so important to buyers during the housing boom are going out of style”. He goes on to say “It's hard to know what to make of these trends. Are they long-term changes in taste or is luxury just taking a leave of absence while people cope with plummeting job security….Even if luxury items like granite countertops and fireplaces are desirable, they may not be desirable enough to justify the additional expense.”
In the high flying days of the past ten years homeowners had available easy credit in the form of home equity loans, readily available credit cards and revolving credit terms from retailers. In 2008 with the U.S. banking and real estate crisis in full free fall these facilities have all but vanished. Banks have stopped lending, home mortgage loans are virtually a thing of the past and credit card companies have raised their interest rates and lower the credit available even to their best customers. Its easy to see why American’s taste for luxury items has diminished. The fact still remains, as I pointed out in my blog of 2/13/09, that this does not eliminate the need for refreshing of that tired old kitchen or bathroom to make your house more saleable if that is your fate or to make you home feel better to your family in these tough times. What it does mandate is a more frugal approach. Frugal does not mean “cheap” but instead indicates a more careful reasoned approach to how something is expended. Can you afford to replace your old laminated countertops with granite? Can you reasonably replace that linoleum in the kitchen with real hardwood floors? Can you afford custom made cabinets? new stainless steel appliances? Glass tile backsplashes? And the list goes on and on. In general the frugal answer is NO! This does not mean that you can’t make reasonable, attractive and useful changes to your kitchen or bathroom. You just have to be smarter in your choices as well as shopping smarter.
Here are some recommendations. Instead of granite you can choose from a wide assortment of man made surfaces, such as Corian, which in most cases can be half the cost of Granite and a whole lot easier to maintain. You can choose from dozens of forms of laminated flooring, such as "Pergo” instead of hardwood floors again saving 50% or more. When recently finishing a family room/kitchen project in our basement I was able to find a weekend sale on laminated flooring at a major retailer for $.99 a square foot. That’s less than the $9.00 per sq.yard and less than the least expensive carpet plus my son was able to install it. We could not have installed carpet and that would have added another $3 to $4 per sq.yd or more to the price and we had the look of hardwood at a fraction of the price. As for custom made cabinets the best buy in cabinets and vanities today is in prefab cabinets which come broken down flat in cartons and you assemble them yourself. The most familiar of these come from vendors such as “Ikea” or like “Kraftmaid” available at the large home improvement stores. Not only are these cabinets a great buy but are high in quality and features. Can’t afford stainless steel appliances? Look at “Craigslist” any day and you will find great deals in practically new appliances at a drastic cut in price. The bottom line is shop smart and make educated choices. Take these ideas and team them with the suggestions I made in my previous blog such as upgraded faucets, sinks, new paint and other fixtures and you can have a great looking functional new look and space in your home at a reasonable attainable price. To reiterate my point, it is far more important than just vanity that we consider making these improvements. The economy is consumer driven. If we expect things to turn around quickly we all must regain our confidence that the American economy is resilient and has been a shining example to the world for 200+ years. To this end we need to invest in reasonable improvements. We need to spend carefully but we need to spend. Money sitting in a savings account drawing zero interest is not helping the economy. The banks aren’t lending the money, they are sitting on it. Investing in home improvements creates demand, creates jobs and works to restore the public confidence in our economic system.

The Economy and the Part that we all Play

Herb Sargent was one of the early writers for the original “Saturday Night Live” and was more frequently known as “Father Guido Sarducci” a character he played on SNL as well as an alter ego that he maintained all of his life on TV and comedy clubs as well as recordings. I think of him with every mention of today’s economy. He had a famous comedy routine called the “5 minute university”. The premise of this university was to teach you, in 5 minutes, everything that you would remember from your college education 5 years after graduation. As example he taught what you would remember if you took Spanish….”como esta usted” (how are you?) , in business he taught the single principle that you buy an item and sell it for more money and the reason I think of him relative to the economy he taught that it all relates to supply and demand. Even though this routine has been around for over 30 years it still rings of the truth. Truly the primary principle of economics is that of supply and demand. If something is in short supply the seller can sell it for money and inversely if the market place is rife with inventory then it’s a buyer’s market and the price is driven down. No better example of this, today, is the housing market. With the current state of inventory of unsold homes, due to the foreclosure crisis in America today, it is truly a buyers market. The massive number of foreclosed homes has contributed to the largest drop in housing prices since the great depression. Add to this fact, even if your home isn’t in foreclosure, with the largest unemployment rate in 30 years, people all over the U.S. are faced with having to sell their homes to avoid the inevitable foreclosure. These folks are finding it nearly impossible to sell their home at or near what they owe if they can sell it at all. It is truly a buyers market, a real example of supply and demand. The other abiding principle of America’s economy that Father Sarducci didn’t teach but is equally true and may be even more important is that two thirds of our economy is consumer driven and is the reason for the government’s stimulus packages, reason for the constant bombardment we are under, of information trying to build up our confidence. You see if the American consumer has no confidence in the market place, no confidence that he or she is going to keep their jobs, no confidence that the government has it all under control then instead of spending money and driving the economy with the need for consumer goods the consumer saves their money. We have, today, the highest rate of savings since the Carter administration. Consumers are simply afraid to spend and their savings are paying little or nothing in the way of interest not even keeping up with the rate of inflation so the economy can’t even grow from investment growth.
So what are we to do? In the simplest terms we need to regain our confidence in the system and begin to spend money. This doesn’t mean careless spending but as banks begin to relax their lending restrictions we need to buy cars again, if we need one, we need to buy major consumer items such as appliances and electronics and we should take advantage of this buyers market and invest in housing. During the great depression the people who survived and built the fortunes of today were the people who bought stocks and invested in companies and houses when the market was depressed. Warren Buffet, probably known as America’s most famous investor, has not retreated into a shell and hidden his cash under his mattress, he is out there buying up cheap stocks and investing in companies. He has confidence in the market and for us to pull out of this slide we must also have confidence.
If you are one of the American’s who has found yourselves in a position of having to sell your home or you are worried about its value, now is the time to do something to differentiate your home from the one just like it down the street. You need to make your house easier to sell. You need to make it more desirable to the potential buyer thereby making it “advantage…seller” to reverse the buyers market trend. Even tough buyers are looking for a better deal and are out there looking for bargains, we are still a people that want something nicer, something that is right and doesn’t need improvement and that buyer will buy your house at a better price if it is clean, modernized and is different from the rest of the houses on the street. With this thought in mind, now is the time to “kill 2 birds with one stone”. Take a look around your home and see what small projects you can perform to better your home and in doing so you will spend money in the market place. This money will again begin to drive the market, create demand and new jobs. Is it going to solve the problems of today’s economy overnight? NO, but it is a step in the right direction. That’s where National Builder Supply comes in as well as you’re local contractors and suppliers of other home based consumer goods. A way to improve you home without spending a fortune can be as simple as painting, new faucets and lighting. If you can go further you can consider new cabinetry, flooring and appliances. These investments can increase your home’s marketability and help the economy by driving the need for consumer goods and creating new jobs. Its “supply and demand” at work.

Bidets to Urinals...something for everyone

Thinking about a major renovation of your master bathroom? Tired of the male guests “missing” the toilet in the guest bath or powder room? Married to one of those husbands that always leaves the seat up? Dreamed of the finer things you experienced in Europe but rarely see in the U.S. except in the finest of homes? Well I have the answers to all of those questions wrapped up in two items. A urinal for that careless man in your family, and as a man myself and the father of 3 sons I can personally attest to our carelessness, and a bidet for that luxury addition and feel to your home. Additionally the “green” factor has become a major issue with many of us these days and the addition of a bidet can drastically eliminate paper usage and its disposal.
I began with the mention of “major” renovation because both of these items require significant plumbing changes to your home. Most houses today are set up with drain lines for sinks, toilets and tubs but to add a urinal means having a drain line in the wall instead of the floor and the bathrooms only have a single floor drain for a single toilet, thus the difficulty in retrofitting for a urinal or bidet. Although the fixtures themselves are not significant in cost the retrofitting of the plumbing can be costly. Drainage is the problem. Drain lines for the plumbing system is a real challenge and one of the reasons, I believe, that plumbers who specialize in new construction or “rough in” work are really talented. The main factor in installing proper drainage lines is what is called “fall”. Fall allows for the drain lines in your home from the highest point to the lowest point and then to the exit point to always be running down hill so to speak. By definition and most codes fall must be ¼” of drop for every foot horizonal drain line. If any where along the line a pipe doesn’t continue to drop downwards your plumbing will back up and will literally be useless. If you have a multiple story home you can imagine that it would be easy to make the lines always drain easily but imagine how many drains there are in your home and that you have a single story home and every line has to have a continuous fall you can begin to see the art in plumbing. If you are building a new home from scratch it’s an easy and less expensive process to add either of these fixtures. A urinal can be purchased for between $150 and $250 and the bidets can cost only slightly more per fixture. If plumbed from new it is just a design factor and an additional drain line installed. When renovating it can mean major wall and floor damage to access existing drain lines and to try to add additional drains to the system to allow for these drain lines and the additional space that will have to be allocated.
Is it worth it? Statistics show that, even with today’s soft real estate market, money put into kitchen and bathroom renovations return the highest percentage of costs and that buyers of new properties are still looking for luxury and something different from the norm. This has led to the major trend of granite countertops, unique faucets and fixtures and other luxury materials for both kitchens and baths. With this in mind you may want to consider the extra cost and space allocation to add a bidet, at least to your master bath, and if space allows, a urinal for those men in the family.
As always, National Builder Supply offers a large selection of styles and prices of both urinals and bidets and the customer service department can answer all of your questions. http://www.nationalbuildersupply.com/?source=RW886

When do you actually listen to your wife and call the plumber?

When do you decide to actually listen to your wife and call the plumber instead of doing it yourself? Well we can always resort back to the “Hennecy” rule. If you are a regular reader of my blogs you will recall that my best friend for 40+ years, Mike Hennecy, has been struck by lightning twice and nearly electrocuted numerous times while trying to perform simple household do-it-yourself projects. So if your history hasn’t been filled with successes, if you have had to call the electric or water utility because something you did caused the neighborhood to lose power or water, or if your insurance claim adjuster is more familiar with your home than members of your family then you should consider calling a professional to do the job. I spent my entire career as an accountant and lived by an old adage. I agreed to not doing plumbing work if the plumber wouldn’t do taxes. I always felt I could make more money working at my career than I could as a plumber so it was more profitable to stay an accountant and earn enough to pay the plumber. It also kept peace in the family and saved thousands in damages to my home and in insurance deductibles.
The following are some guide lines as to when you should consider calling a plumber instead of doing it yourself:
1. You don’t know where the main shut off valve is or worse yet you don’t know that there are even main shut off valves on houses to start with. By code and sensibility all homes have a main shut off valve which closes off the water from the source, well or city water line, to you primary water line. Sometimes this valve is somewhere on the exterior of the house or if you have a basement will probably be where the main line enters the house in the basement. There should also be smaller shut off valves at each fixture which allow you to cut the water off for a specific sink toilet, etc without having to shut the water off to the whole house.
2. If you don’t own the proper tools to do the job which includes having to Google for the definition of “pipe wrench”. You may be a tool collector and think that good tools are a great investment but if you do your own plumbing only once in a 5 year period the plumber should be cheaper than the tools. Without the tools you won’t have to lend them to your neighbor who never returns anything either.
3. You have a sudden loss of water pressure and you haven’t done ANYTHING TO CAUSE IT, or especially if you DID DO SOMETHING TO CAUSE IT. READ POINT #1 AGAIN AND GO SHUT THE WATER OFF! Yeah it could be a supply problem but “Murphy’s Law” proves that it’s actually a broken pipe in the basement. Just in case it’s a supply problem and if you’re not on your own water source, check with your neighbors to see of they have lost water pressure also. This will save you a plumber’s trip charge only to find out that the city water department is repairing a broken main down the street.
4. You have no hot water. A bad sign is when you open the closet where the hot water heater is located and you are greeted by a small Tsunami. You might also check the circuit breaker on your hot water heater, if its electric. This will mandate whether you will need an electrician or a plumber or if you have Mike Hennecy’s luck maybe you will need both and the fire department
5. Sewage water is backing up into your house and down the halls, then you notice that large pool of mushy grass and bad smell coming from your septic tank. This means you have more than a stopped up sink or toilet. When sewage backs up into the house it usually means that your drain lines have been compromised in some way. This can be roots growing through the lines or a septic tank that has reached its maximum or both.
6. It was 7 degrees outside last night and you were more concerned with keeping your feet warm than protecting your pipes. The give away to this problem is when as the temperature outside climbs the water level in your basement rises. You may also notice that you can take a shower in rooms other than the bathroom because water is spewing from the ceiling. A simple protective action is to keep a trickle of water running with several faucets in the house. The theory is that moving water is more difficult to freeze. If you live in a more frigid climate you can take more severe precautions which include wrapping main pipes with low voltage wiring to heat the water lines or install insulation on all pipes which are subjected to cold weather. These last two items you should be able to do yourself.

One final thought, as referenced in my opening, you should always call a professional to do the job when your significant other is screaming for you to do so and is known for not forgetting ANY OF YOUR PREVIOUS HANDYMAN ADVENTURES. Remember plumbers usually are cheaper than divorce lawyers. I said USUALLY. There are exceptions to every rule.