A typical household uses 185 to 300 gallons of water a day and the majority of it goes down the drain from the toilet and the shower. Updating your commodes will serve as a conservation effort while lowering your water bill.


Today's toilets use less water, prevent staining and resist clogging better than the older toilets and you might be surprised at how easy they are to install. Replacements generally cost from $100 to $300.
Toilets made in the 1950's used, on average, seven gallons per flush. Compare that with one that only uses 1.6 gallons per flush and it's a big saving. Multiply by the times a toilet is flushed in a year and the number of toilets in your home and it will save a lot of water.

Gallons of Water Saved in a Year with 1.6 gpf
Age of Toilet	Gallons Per Flush	Flush 3 times a day	Flush 5 times a day
Prior to 1950's	7.0	5,913	9,855
1960's	5.5	4,271	7,118
1980's	3.5	2,081	3,468
After 1994	1.6	-	-

Watch this video to see how easy the project is done and even if you decide to hire a plumber, you'll have a better understanding of how it works.

Start Your Projects!

Summertime is almost here and millions of Americans will be starting home improvement projects. Whether they're classified as maintenance, updating or energy saving, they should make homeownership more enjoyable.

Remodeling magazine's 2010-11 Cost vs. Value Report suggests that some improvements are a better investment than others. Front door and garage door replacements are two of the easiest and return the greatest percentage of cost on resale.

Kitchen and bathroom updates transform an older home and instantly give visitors and buyers a fresh impression. Countertops and appliances can be expensive but yield great results. Painting the cabinets and replacing the hardware is much less expensive to change the look and feel of the rooms.

Energy efficiency enhancements can improve your enjoyment of the home and help save money on utility costs.

• Replace older appliances - refrigerators, ceiling fans, water heaters, air-conditioners
• Add insulation to keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter
• Seal air leaks around doors and windows; holes in attics and crawl spaces with caulk, spray foam or weather stripping - more information
• Seal all heating and cooling system ducts - more information

Looking through the eyes of a buyer could show you what features most date your home and could order the priority that you tackle the projects.

8 Way to Go Green

Were you able to get to the Live Green Expo at the Plano Centre recently? This is their 5th year for Plano to bring this Expo with speakers and exhibits in order to learn how to make informed decisions and take action to lead more healthy lives with less impact on the environment.

The Plano Studio Movie Grill was showing “Bag It” as a documentary. Did you see it?

We have 8 suggestions to go green at your house right now that you can do:
1. Get a reusable water bottle and coffee cup; say no to disposables. (We do this, how about you?)
2. Use only energy-saving bulbs. (Use some....need to do better.)
3. Recycle all paper products. (We are good at this.)
4. Redecorating? Look at furniture and accessories you already have and change them from room to room for a new look, instead of tossing and buying new things.
5. Use the phone or video chat with Skype for meetings instead of driving your car. (We are trying this with our office meetings!)
6. Buy earth-friendly cleaning products when possible. (Some)
7. Try to buy local produce and food. (Sometimes)
8. Turn your car off while waiting in car-pool pickups to avoid idling. (Don't have kids but do it while I sit in the car on the phone, I need to turn it off....but it is hot!)

What else are you doing to be green?

What Are You Going To Do About Oil Dependency?

Today, at our TAR (Texas Association of Realtors) Convention in Dallas, we had our Legend’s Luncheon with the hostess of Ebby Halliday (98 years old!) and T. Boone Pickens (from my hometown of Amarillo, Tx!) He began to work on energy savings when he was 80 years old spending his own money on ads, traveling, speaking.

I thought some of his facts and his plan are very worth while to share. We do need to do something!

In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil.Today, it's more than 65% and growing.

In importing that much oil, it is additionally putting our security of our country into the hands of potentially unfriendly and unstable foreign nations. The US spent $475 billion on foreign oil in 2008 alone.

That's money taken out of our economy and sent to foreign nations, and it will continue to drain the life out of our economy.

Can you believe that 25% of the world's oil demand is being used by just 4% of the world's population (the U.S.)?

Two of the 4 pillars of the Pickens Plan are:
1. Providing incentives for homeowners and the owners of commercial buildings to upgrade their insulation and other energy saving options; and
2. Using America's natural gas to replace imported oil as a transportation fuel in addition to its other uses in power generation, chemicals, etc.

Pickens’ perfect idea is to aggressively move to shift America's car, light duty and heavy truck fleets from imported gasoline and diesel to domestic natural gas we can lower our need for foreign oil.

Nearly 20% of every barrel of oil we import is used by 18-wheelers moving goods around and across the country by burning imported diesel. Pickens’ plan is to have those 18-wheelers run on natural gas instead of oil.

Natural gas is not a permanent or complete solution to imported oil. It is a bridge fuel to slash our oil dependence while buying us time to develop new technologies that will ultimately replace fossil transportation fuels. Natural gas is the critical puzzle piece that will help us to keep more of the $350 to $450 billion we spend on imported oil every year at home, where it can power our economy and pay for our investments research for energy savings.

Go to www.PickensPlan.com to register for “his army” and find out more of what you can do to slow this dependency on oil down!

Trying to be green!

There are several things you, as a homeowner, can do to make your home more energy efficient. Here are a few:

• Replace furnace air filters regularly.
• Insulate hot water pipes and install heat trap fittings at flex connections. Insulate the first five fee of cold line.
• Install low-flow efficient showerheads and faucet aerators.
• Install gaskets behind electric outlets and switch plates on exterior walls.
• Install programmable thermostats.
• Install do-it-yourself plastic storm windows.
• Install dimmer switches, photocells, timers and motion detectors.
• Install do-it-yourself insulated panel or cover to seal the fireplace when not in use.

An energy audit will take the guess work out of the equation to find out where and how a house is losing energy! They evaluate the efficiency of a home’s heating, cooling and electrical systems. Air leakage accounts for 30% of heating expenses, experts estimate. Sealing a home by caulking and weather stripping gaps and cracks and doors is often the first step.

One of our clients is into auditing a house and the name of his company is The Home Intelligence Agency. You can contact Brad at Young-brad@sbcglobal.net for more information on how he can help you.

If you don’t want to hire an expert for a home audit, there is a do-it-yourself energy efficiency walk-through guide at www.eere.energy.gov.