This one-piece, elongated 1.6 gallons-per-flush-toilet made of vitreous china uses a self-closing, flapper-free flush valve for durability. It also has a low rim height for easier accessibility. (Photo courtesy American Standard.)

Efficient toilets

Lowering water use without performance ‘drain’

BY JAMES DULLEY

Dear Jim: We’d like to replace our old toilets with water-saving ones. What options are available?

—Jerry M., Cairo

Dear Jerry: Flushing toilets is one of the major water-consuming activities in the home. Most older toilets use 3.5 to 5 gpf (gallons per flush) of water. Some old models consume as much as 7 gpf. You can identify these by a large, tall toilet tank.

New toilets, by law, cannot use more than 1.6 gpf. With a modern bowl and internal plumbing designs, these new water-saving toilets flush effectively. Some FloWise models by American Standard use as little as 1.28 gpf with standard gravity-flush technology.

There are many toilet options, ranging from relatively standard 1.6 gpf gravity models to almost no water at all. “Gravity” is the pressure of the weight of water while flushing. When a gravity model is flushed, water going into the bowl is used to clean the sides of the bowl. Most of the water flows down inside the back of the toilet, creating negative pressure that literally sucks the water and waste out of the toilet bowl.

Another design uses pressure-assist for a flush with low water use. The water pressure compresses air trapped in a vessel inside the tank. When the toilet flushes, this pressure assists gravity to create an effective flushing action inside the back of the toilet. The flush is rapid, but it is louder than a standard toilet, so you may not want to install this model by a bedroom.

Toilet tips
Most low-cost toilets at retail stores are 1.6-gallons-per-flush gravity designs. These are typically two-piece toilets with a separate tank that bolts to the bowl, and are more common and less expensive than the designer one-piece toilets. Being in two pieces, they are easier to carry and install for do-it-yourself projects. The water use for one- and two-piece models is the same.

If you have several men in your family, consider installing a urinal. They use less than half as much water as a standard toilet and are not difficult to install. Most major bathroom fixture manufacturers offer urinals.

Another option is a dual-flush toilet. These offer a standard flush of 1.6 gallons for solid wastes, or a water-saving flush of 1.1 gallons for liquid wastes. They look identical to standard toilets except for the dual-option flush handle.

The following companies offer water-saving toilets: American Standard, (800) 442-1902, www.americanstandard-us.com; Biolet, (800) 524-6538, www.biolet.com; Briggs Plumbing, (800) 627-4443, www.briggsplumbing.com; Microphor, (800) 358-8280, www.microphor.com; and Saniflo, (800) 363-5874, www.saniflo.com.

Have a question for Jim? Send inquiries to: James Dulley, GEORGIA Magazine, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.

•     •     •

Toilets and energy consumption

People know old, water-guzzling toilets can increase their water bills, but they often don’t realize these toilets may also increase their heating bills. Each time an old toilet is flushed, the tank is refilled with about five gallons of cold water. During the summer, the cold water actually makes the toilet tank sweat.

As cold water rests in the tank, it draws heat from the bathroom as the water warms to room temperature. Water has a high-heat content and absorbs room heat. This is why water is often used as an effective heat storage medium for solar systems. Your furnace or heat pump has to run longer to replenish the heat the toilet tank water absorbs.

Before

After

The decor is in the detail, shown before and after, in this bathroom staged by Jeanne Westmoreland.

Beyond curb appeal

Staging your house to sell

BY KATHY WITT • PHOTOS BY JEANNE WESTMORELAND

If you want to sell your home in today’s super-sluggish housing market, your best chance for success is to stage your home. Better yet, step aside and let a professional do it.

Until recently, a “home stager” was virtually unheard of, yet the term has been around since the 1970s, having been coined by Barb Schwarz, founder and president of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. Thanks to the IAHSP, HGTV and the aforementioned dismal housing market, home stagers—many holding the designation of ASP (Accredited Staging Professional)—are popping up everywhere, accompanied by a full arsenal of tried-and-true tips to help homeowners move homes.

“In this market, it’s going to be challenging to sell a home, period,” says Bridget Gramith of Staging By Bridget in Alpharetta. “You generally control two aspects of your home, presentation and price; improving presentation is critical.”

Enter the stager
Stagers look well beyond the benefits of a fresh coat of paint and curb appeal. They move some furnishings out and bring others in, accessorizing and accenting, minimizing homeowner “presence” to maximize buyer interest and generally creating a picture of “Home Sweet Home” that prospective buyers can mentally (and emotionally) insert themselves into. And their efforts pay off for the homeowner: According to the IAHSP, 94.9 percent of ASP-staged homes sell, on average and based on market conditions current in the latter half of 2008, in 35 days or less.

Bill Golden of Re/Max Metro Atlanta Cityside estimates he has staged hundreds of homes in the past 20 years. His top three staging maneuvers? Clearing out “stuff”—the knick-knacks, photos and accessories; paring down furniture to the bare minimum; and ratcheting up curb appeal.

Of the 30 or so homes Gramith has staged, most have been empty. “There is a difference between staging an empty house and one in which the seller is still living,” she notes.

Her most effective tactics for attracting buyers to empty nests include an appealing and well-maintained exterior, a tasteful interior and a pleasant scent. “Air fresheners are a simple, inexpensive necessity.”

She calls staging a lived-in house a “de-staging,” where the goal, just like in the case of an empty house, is to make every room look clean, inviting, yet homelike and pleasantly aromatic.

Both Gramith and Golden agree that a properly staged house for sale operates on the “less is more” principle, which can make rooms look larger, too.

Sounds easy enough. But stagers know that homeowners can—and do—resist change. Says Golden: “Clients are so used to living in their homes the way they are that they have a hard time seeing that they have too much stuff.”

“The third set of eyes is critical here,” adds Jeanne Westmoreland, ASP master and owner of Atlanta-based Classic Staging and Design. “ASPs are trained to showcase a property so it shows at its very competitive best, grabs at the emotions of the buyer and ultimately results in a sale.”

The dollars and sense of staging
According to Golden, most sellers will spend a few hundred dollars or less to stage their home. For others, staging won’t cost a dime, but can often be accomplished by implementing the two R’s: rearranging and removing.

When staging a vacant home, Gramith says costs can range from $200 to $500 for materials, depending on the sale price and size of the home. Larger homes may require tastefully placed pieces—artwork, a hall table with a lamp.

“There are professionals who do full furniture/artwork staging for $2,500 and up, depending on the home’s size,” says Gramith. “For a high-end home, this could be a great investment.”

The key to a successful staging is knowing how much to add and when to stop.

“A correctly accessorized and arranged room is inviting and can help the buyer imagine a certain lifestyle or perhaps fulfill a dream by living in this house,” says Westmoreland, who adds, “This is what changes the space from a box of plain vanilla ice cream to a banana split.”

—Kathy Witt is an award-winning writer and author from Northern Kentucky.

•     •     •

Tips for setting the stage

Here are guidelines from home stagers Bridget Gramith and Jeanne Westmoreland:

•  Remove personal items (family photos, diplomas, children’s artwork, etc.).

•  Remove excess furniture.

•  Warm up a living area simply, with a well decorated fireplace mantle or bookshelves, cozy rug and greenery.

•  Stage kitchen with towels, rugs and napkins for color; candles, flowers or decorative coffee cups and a bag of fresh coffee beans. “This lends some creativity to the prospective cook’s imagination,” says Gramith.

•  In bathrooms, go for a clean spa look and feel with simple, yet decorative, white shower curtains, white rugs, white towels and candles, soap and lotion sets.

•  Correctly arrange the furniture in each room. “Very few people can visualize how to highlight a focal point, allow for clear traffic flow and create an invitation into a room through correct furniture placement,” says Westmoreland. “This is critical in order to provide the proper perspective of the room size to the buyer and to showcase the architectural details at the same time.”

•  Contrary to popular belief, a vacant room seems smaller than larger, because there is no way to gauge perspective. When properly staged, buyers can see, for example, that a king-size bed will fit in the space.

•  Get “big bang for your buck.” Westmoreland contends that punches of color and accessories in a room add spirit and seem inviting without cluttering the space too much.

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The Power Monitor allows you to view the cost of an appliance’s electricity usage in real time. This knowledge will help you alter the use of appliances to save energy dollars. (Photo courtesy Black & Decker.)

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