With more than 30 years’ experience in the residential and commercial water treatment space, Mark Nelson is a Class 1 Drinking-Water Operator and a CBWA (Canadian Bottled Water Association) Certified Plant Operator. As founder and president of Nelson Water in Ottawa, Mark focuses on dealing with challenging water treatment system designs for problem water. He also heads the largest water bottling plant in the city of Ottawa with a delivery network throughout the Valley.
If you’re thinking about selling your home, the current market conditions may not be ideal. There are many homes on the market right now, and the buyer is firmly in the driving seat when it comes to securing a great deal. So, as a home seller, you’re going to need every advantage to make your home stand out from the rest. There are many things that you can do to increase the value of your home, and installing a water softener may be a great move.
What is a Water Softener?
Many people are not familiar with water softeners, and they may misunderstand how they work. The most effective form of water softening is the ion exchange method that replaces calcium and magnesium ions with sodium or potassium. This makes the water easier to work with, and it reduces the stress on the entire home. In recent years, many people have made the switch to softer water and they cannot believe the difference. If a home buyer is coming from a home where they had a water softener installed, they would be very positive about having one in a home they are interested in buying.
How Can a Water Softener Increase the Value of Your Home?
Some research has shown that you can add $5,000 to $10,000 to the equity of your home if you install a water softener. The value of most home investments can pay for themselves in the end. So, if you take the time and effort to choose a high quality water softener that’s efficient and easy to use, it could pay off later. It’s not just the value of the equipment that you choose to install. It’s the benefits to the new homeowner. A high efficiency water softener will lower the utility costs, and it will increase the lifespan of water using appliances in the home. This will be extremely attractive for a potential home buyer because it will reduce many potential problems, including corroded pipe repairs, water heater installations, replacing bathroom fixtures, and many more.
How Can a Water Softener Installation Save You Money Right Now?
Unless you’re very lucky, you may not find a buyer for your home immediately. Also, it takes time to install a water softener, and you need to make sure it’s working efficiently. So, why not install a high efficiency water softener now and save money while you’re waiting to sell your home?
When you make the switch to soft water, you will notice many improvements. One of the first things that people notice is that they use less soap and detergent. In fact, studies have shown that you can reduce your soap use by as much as 80% with no drop in cleaning power. This is because the elevated mineral content in hard water actually inhibits the formation of soap suds. This means that it’s hard to achieve a lather, people attempt to compensate by adding more soap, but this doesn’t work. When you’re using 80% less soap, you can save a lot of money on soap, shampoo, and shower gels over the year.
This lack of soap lathering can also affect your laundry efforts. When you wash your clothes with hard water, you need 50% more detergent. This is because detergent doesn’t mix well with hard water, so if you switch to soft water, your detergent use will be significantly reduced. Another factor is that you need to wash your clothes and fabrics on a hotter setting to try and get your clothes clean. This is not necessary when you’re washing your clothes in soft water, and you can use lower temperatures. So, you can reduce the amount of energy that’s used per load leading to lower utility bills. Finally, when you wash your fabrics, they will last longer because the hard water minerals are not tangled in your fibers. Washing in hard water is the primary cause of fading colors and damage to your clothes.
Another minor and yet annoying aspect of hard water is that it can create stains and residue that’s hard to clean. Removing the scale from plumbing fixtures is hard, and it requires a lot of elbow grease. Hard water spots on glass are easier to clean, but these types of problems always recur until you address the underlying problem. When you’re trying to keep your home clean because it’s on the market, it can be harder if you’re using hard water.
The scale build-up that you can see on your plumbing fixtures is only the scale that you can see. If you’ve been supplied with hard water for a long time, it’s likely that you will have scale on the inside of your plumbing pipes. Over time this will narrow the diameter and slow the flow of water leading to water pressure problems. This will eventually damage your pipes leading to cracks and breaks. Installing a water softener may not reverse the existing damage, but it will prevent it from getting worse.
In Conclusion
Installing a high quality water softener is a key detail that many people selling a home miss. Most home buyers want to purchase a home where many key problems have already been solved. If you think back to when you last moved home, the last thing that you wanted was to spend your time installing systems to improve your life. We all like to make our homes our own, but this is typically limited to decor and soft furnishings.
If you make the decision to install a water softener now, you can benefit from it immediately. You will quickly notice that your bathing, laundry, and cleaning experiences are far easier. Your utility bills and soap consumption will decrease without any loss of cleaning power. In fact, you may be surprised at the positive changes you notice in the condition of your skin, hair, and nails.
When it does come time to sell, you may find that the relatively small investment that you made in a water softener system was the clincher. Everyone selling a home is looking for a way to stand out from the rest, and a high efficiency water softener may make all the difference!