Cleaning Bathrooms with Environmentally Friendly Materials
Cleaning your bathroom with environment-friendly products can help you minimize risk to the environment and reduce personal health risks from chemical cleaners. Store-bought bathroom products usually leave behind potentially harmful residue on the tiles and surfaces of your bathroom. Showerheads and toilets that waste water can significantly increase your utility costs. Fortunately, there are fun and creative ways to be more eco-friendly with how you maintain your bathrooms. Follow these ideas from a master bathroom designer below.
Use a Water-Efficient Toilet
About 30% of your water consumption at home comes from your toilet. Newer homes might now have low-flow toilets, but older toilets can still use up to eight gallons of water with each flush. Water conservation in the bathroom has come a long way in recent years. The flushing capabilities of newer toilet models now come with dual-flush options for solid or liquid waste. Both options use much less water to get rid of waste with the liquid flush option using less than one gallon in some cases. Replace your old toilet with one that’s water-efficient to reduce your water usage and, ultimately, reduce your water bill.
Use Natural Mold-Fighting Solutions
Mold is one of your bathroom’s primary health irritants. It’s easy to get rid of it, but when left untreated, it can quickly turn into a big health hazard. To avoid mold, use an all-natural mold cleaner in place of the more toxic commercial brand cleaning agents that can cause more harm to your airways when inhaled. As a preventive measure, regularly spray your bathroom with lavender oil, tea tree oil or white vinegar. Open a window to create a natural ventilation to prevent mold build-up. Use hot water, soap and baking soda to take care of more stubborn mold areas.
Use Baking Soda for Heavy Cleaning
Baking soda might be as abrasive as chemical cleaning agents, but it doesn’t have many of the unsafe additives some manufacture use for coloring, aromas and to help control production costs. If you need to deal with a big amount of heavy-duty mildew or mold, baking soda is an acceptable eco-friendly choice. Combine baking soda with water, liquid soap and essential oil to effectively clean your bathroom surfaces and tiles. This solution forms a paste that can clean even the dirtiest bathroom. Keep your cloth clean during the rinse process and minimize the amount of water you use when rinsing by letting the cloth do more of the work.
Use a Low-Flow Showerhead
Just like water-efficient toilets, these are a great way to make your bathroom more environment-friendly and these specially designed heads will decrease your water bill. Today’s low-flow showerheads conserve energy and water without compromising you with a satisfying shower. Until recently, showerheads deliver up to 8 gallons a minute. Newer models now dispense about 2.5 gallons of water per minute, but many households continue to waste water with their old showerheads. Get a low-flow showerhead and significantly decrease your water consumption. Oh, taking shorter showers will help too.
Use Eco-Friendly Shower Curtains
Another way to have a greener bathroom is in the decor you choose. A study conducted by the US Center for Health, Environment and Justice found that poor quality plastic shower curtains can release possibly harmful substances into the bathroom. But despite potential health risks, shower curtains made of PVC remain to be widely available. It’s a good thing that major retailers are now getting rid of PVC. As a safer alternative, buy a shower curtain made of organic fibers like hemp, linen, or organic cotton. It is important to keep these cloth curtains clean and mold free though.
Use Organic Bathroom Products
You might have your doubts, but the all-natural cleaning solution of white vinegar and water actually works. It’ll leave your mirrors and windows streak-free minus the chemical additives of store-bought cleaners. Take your efforts further and buy organic bath care products. Replace your old moisturizers with Shea butter or any other natural oil, use disposable razors with replaceable heads and standard shampoos with preservative-free formulations that weren’t tested on animals.
For you to transform your bathroom in an environment-friendly haven, incorporate these organic and natural tips into your bath décor. If you want to completely overhaul to an eco-friendly bathroom, a spa bathroom designer can help you pick and install the right green fixtures and products.
