{"id":258,"date":"2015-04-19T21:19:52","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T21:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=258"},"modified":"2015-04-22T21:57:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T21:57:07","slug":"the-greenest-tool-in-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=258","title":{"rendered":"The Greenest Tool in the House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday just before dinner: time to sit and write after a long, busy day of home improvements and maintenance. The weather broke today, and we of course started another project. My husband was off to the toy store (Home Depot) before I was even done with my morning coffee(s). Home improvement projects are exciting and exhausting and I love the investment in our home and the bolstering of our skill set.\u00a0 We\u2019re continually learning what to do and what not to do, not only on big projects but on general maintenance things.\u00a0 Sometimes the lessons are quickly learned, and sometimes it takes a few tries.\u00a0 Case in point; our old plumbing.<\/p>\n

Our first lesson \u2013 when the walls are open, replace what you can.<\/strong>\u00a0 When we renovated, the exterior wall of the kitchen was wide open and we had the opportunity to replace old galvanized supply piping, but we opted not to because everything was \u201cfine\u201d.\u00a0 We had tested water flow upstairs before we bought the home and it all worked. \u00a0Yup, fine until we installed our on demand hot water heater.\u00a0 Did you know that galvanized pipes can rust or oxidize inside and lose flow diameter over time?\u00a0 We didn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was a total shock when our supply to our shower was too low<\/span> to trigger the on-demand heater!\u00a0 So now we had an ice cold shower.\u00a0 We quickly paid to replace the piping with PEX.\u00a0 All it took from us was our checkbook, a couple of holes in our stair wall and my skills with mud and paint.<\/p>\n

Next lesson \u2013 pipes must be protected from Upstate NY winter temps<\/strong>.\u00a0 When the PEX was snaked up through the<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Can you see the PEX pipes?<\/p><\/div>\n

existing exterior wall, they stayed in-board of the insulation, except in the one spot where they bent around the edge of the floorboards at the first floor.\u00a0 And that bend pushed the pipes tight to the exterior cladding, totally unprotected from the cold<\/p>\n

and unreachable to insulate. After several years of aiming hair dryers at 2am at the reachable part of the pipe in the basement we spent the few hundred dollars in labor and the $80 or so in materials to again run supply pipes to the tub and shower, but this time entirely inside the house. Brilliant.\u00a0 No freezing this year.<\/p>\n

Third lesson \u2013 Buy the magic tool<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is the tool that is by far the greenest tool in our house and one I wish we had bought seven years ago when we first moved here.\u00a0 It is the perfect home maintenance tool and has, since its purchase, improved our flow and given us the ability to maintain good flow.\u00a0 It is human powered, reusable, non\u2013toxic, almost a \u201csimple machine\u201d in its elegance and totally sensible.\u00a0 It is\u2026wait for it\u2026a plumbing snake.<\/p>\n

\"Simple,<\/a>

Simple, manual plumbing snake – the magic tool.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yes, I know, hardly romantic.\u00a0 But this little piece of mechanical smarts does great work, pulls out clogs and clears drains so well and so completely, that I do not understand why we didn\u2019t have one of these puppies from day one.\u00a0 This should be part of the homeowner\u2019s tool kit that comes with EVERY house.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes it can be messy and smelly but it is a mechanical intervention for a mechanical issue.<\/p>\n

It is green for all the reasons I mentioned earlier, the biggest in my book being the \u201cnon-toxic\u201d one, and because it connects us with the problem.\u00a0 I now actually know what has been clogging my drain, and with that knowledge I can make smarter decisions literally in \u201cfront of the pipe\u201d.\u00a0 Low flow from high efficiency toilet and low flow faucets can mean more clogs because soap and other things are not moving as quickly through the pipes.\u00a0 We have low flow everything.\u00a0 We\u2019ve tried weekly applications of vinegar and baking soda, we\u2019ve bought enzymatic cleaners at the local co-op, and we have even (on more occasions that I\u2019d like to admit) resorted to harsh chemical applications.\u00a0 Plumbers hate these, by the way.\u00a0 They make it very dangerous for a plumber to work on your pipes, they are caustic, and they not only can clear blockages but can damage pipes and they do damage water treatment facilities.<\/p>\n

I know now after using my magic tool what I need to pay<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A little car-dozing. The point is the loooong hair.<\/p><\/div>\n

attention to.\u00a0 Two in our house have very long hair, and combing hair over the sink isn\u2019t a great plan.\u00a0 Wiped up cat fur and dust from the floor shouldn\u2019t be flushed and too much soap is really just too much soap. Oh, and cleaning out the bearded dragon\u2019s food dish should maybe not be done in the bathroom sink.\u00a0 I also know how to deal with a problem once it occurs.<\/p>\n

There you go, three lessons learned about plumbing. \u00a0I am homeowner, I am empowered and I am green.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday just before dinner: time to sit and write after a long, busy day of home improvements and maintenance. The weather broke today, and we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gbtools","category-personal-reflections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p40KlT-4a","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1045,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=1045","url_meta":{"origin":258,"position":0},"title":"Co-creation","author":"greenerjsa","date":"October 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I am working on a resiliency project with an excellent consultant and wonderfully attentive owner involvement. 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