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Video: Bathrooms - Clean and Green Bathroom Remodel

The Old House Web

Back to Video Series: Going Green in an Old Home

Old is the New Green - Green Bathroom Remodel

 

 

Summary

 

Green Bathroom Addition Video Summary

In this video Matt Grocoff, the Green renovation Expert for Old House Web and host of Greenovation.TV, gives viewers a tour of his 110 year old home's bathroom addition. He explains how he saved money and kept his renovation as green as possible while overcoming a few challenges along the way.

When Matt and his wife Kelly moved into their 110 year old house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, there was only one bathroom. It had a tub (no shower) and was on the first floor. It was important to the Grocoffs to add an upstairs bathroom. 

The Grocoffs took a large upstairs bedroom, added a wall, and created a bathroom without increasing the footprint of the house.

Green Bathroom Addition: Budget- and Planet-Friendly

Some highlights from this green bathroom addition:

  • Installing a low flow showerhead that uses 1.5 gallons a minute.
  • Adding recycled ceramic tile.
  • Installing a salvaged claw foot tub purchased off of Craigslist and reglazed for around 300 dollars. With the money they saved they purchased replica hardware.
  • The bathroom addition was green from the ceiling to the floor. Baseboards were salvaged from the original bathroom, which kept them out of a landfill, and saved some money.
  • They chose a healthy, zero VOC, (Volatile Organic Chemicals) paint from AFM Safecoat in order to maintain healthy indoor air quality.
  • Installing a Caroma dual flush toilet. A dual flush toilet offers a half flush that only uses .8 gallons of water. That has the potential of saving a household thousands and thousands of gallons of water each year.
  • Medicine Cabinet. Just as Old House Web blogger Elaine found some great ways to repurpose old doors, The Grocoffs were able to repurpose an antique picture frame and use it as the front of their medicine chest. (The project also included some mirrored glass, hinges, and tiles for the interior of the cabinet).

Installing the Bathroom Door

Figuring out what type of door to install was a challenge. Swinging doors would have eaten up too much space. Because a load bearing wall was involved, and another wall had plumbing running through it, pocket doors weren't an option.

The solution was custom barn door slides. The Grocoffs found beautiful reclaimed doors for only two hundred dollars at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore then purchased door hardware on the Internet.

The Grocoff's new green bathroom addition on their beautiful 100+ year old Folk Victorian house is should last us at least another hundred years. They've proved that you can remodel with style and efficiency, while having a low impact on the environment.

 

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