Daily Home Renovation Tips

Editor’s Note: To view the 500+ different energy and water conservation tips for the home we have collected, simply access our Un-Official Guide To Home Energy & Water Conservation, 2nd Edition

Today we begin to review the collection of ideas on how to reduce  home water conservation outside the house which could cost us a few dollars and cents (but not too much).

Remember to use the vertical scroll bar on the listing below to view all of the home water conservation ideas for outside the home.

Number 487, Install Rain Barrel. Several of the ideas in this grouping of water conservation tips for the outside related to installing a rain barrel. You can pick these up almost at any building supply / garden store. The idea is that you use them to collect rain water which you can use later. We don’t have any yet but based on the number of suggestions we received in our recent home energy and water conservation contest, it is on my to do list …. hopefully I’ll get to it before summer’s end. As I type this it is raining very hard outside, one of those brief yet heavy down pours. Wish I had a rain barrel.

Number 488, Use Rain Barrel Water for Garden Plants. So, what to do with the water collected in a rain barrel? This tip says use it to water the garden plants so you won’t have to use clean water from your outdoors tap. If you have a small garden and are in an area in which it rains frequently, you might be able to capture enough water for all of your garden throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Number 489, Use Rain Barrel Water for Lawn. While likely not sufficient for your lawn’s full watering needs, of course water from a rain barrel can be used to water a portion of your lawn so you don’t use water from your septic tank / town / city water distribution system and save yourself some money on lower water utility bills.

Number 490, Use Rain Barrel to Wash Car. I never would have thought of this one. But sure, why not? What a great water conservation idea for the home we received.

Number 491, Plant Native Plants in Yard, Less Watering. This is a great idea in certain areas of North America. Even if you really, really like a Maple tree, why try and grow it in Arizona or New Mexico? On the other hand, don’t assume that every type of plant native to your region is going to have the same watering needs. Check it out first with your favourite local garden store.

Number 492, Use Auto-Shut-Off Nozzle on Hose. I used to work during the summer in my early teens at my Uncle’s Chrysanthemum farm where he would grow and harvest Mums for the Big Apple (New York City, of Course). We never gave it a second thought of running the hose from the barn. It never had a nozzle at the end. However, with any of our homes in which we have lived, we have always had a nozzle at the end. It seems so foolish now not to have one.

Number 493, Install Rain Water Sensor With Sprinkler System. This is the first house we have had which came with an underground sprinkler system. The rain sensor our first two years hear worked like a charm. Why have the sprinkler system water the lawn just because it has been two or three days since the last time? Unfortunately, this year I am not so sure that our rain sensor is working. I’ll have to look into it.

Number 494, Set Lawn Sprinkler on a Timer. That is one of the things I really like about our underground sprinkler system is that it goes on for 15 minutes and then shuts off. I think back to our prior homes where I would run the hose and fan type sprinkler for an hour until I remembered to change it to another part of the lawn….unless I forgot it was one and it ran for a couple of hours. Geesh.

Number 495, Repair Lawn Sprinkler Leaks. This can cost a little … cost a lot, depending on what is needed to fix the leak. However, fix it; otherwise you will be wasting money every time you use the sprinkler through higher water utility bills as well as of course wasting a increasingly scarce resource … clean water.

Tomorrow, we review the remaining ideas for reducing the amount of water used outside the house.