Start with a small suburban Southern California home, strip it down to bare bones, add a second floor and then rebuild using as many "green" components as possible. That was the plan for the renovation/redesign/rebuild project to create a ultra-green living space in Irvine, Calif., for homeowners Tom and Anne Whitehair. The Whitehairs worked with a LEED-certified architect and a green builder to utilize eco-friendly and sustainable materials and reduce energy use in their dream home.
   Tapped for the extensive plumbing phase of the project was Richard Cadogan, president of Pristine Plumbing Inc., based in Irvine. A plumber in his native Trinidad before moving to the U.S. in 1998, Cadogan brought to the table his experience with a local plumbing contractor and accreditation as a GreenPlumber. At Orange Pacific Plumbing, he moved up the ranks to foreman, and then became head of quality control, working in new construction with major homebuilders before starting his own company in 2008.
   On the Irvine renovation, green concerns dictated every detail from paint choices to plumbing fixtures as the house grew from less than 1,600 to 2,800 square feet during six months of construction last year. The end result: an open floor plan bathed in natural light and reduced utility bills.
   Green features of this extreme makeover included: bamboo floors, drought-resistant plants and low-flow irrigation, passive solar design, low-flow and water-efficient fixtures, Energy Star appliances, radiant heating in selected floors, energy-efficient windows, energy-efficient lighting, a rainwater recovery system and even a "solar patio" for drying clothes. The project is awaiting approval as the first home in the city's Green Home Retrofit Program.
   Plumbing the "green" home was no small challenge. The project included completely plumbing and fitting three bathrooms, plumbing the kitchen, installing a water heating system and pre-plumbing for future solar water heating capacity. 
   The massive renovation changed the footprint of the house significantly. Of the three baths, only one was refitted in its original ground floor location. A second was moved to a new area and the third was a key component of the expansive second-level master suite addition to the structure.
   Walk into the master bath and what you see is luxury and comfort, not the old school notion that to be environmentally friendly you have to sacrifice aesthetics for functionality. The nod to the natural in each of the bathrooms is evident both in materials and color scheme. Bath flooring and shower walls were tiled in brown-toned limestone and/or slate; countertops are granite. 
   The green home's master bath showcases a roomy two-person shower with three Kohler body sprays and a Danze showerhead, a Hydro Systems whirlpool bath large enough for two and double vanities with matching above-counter black rectangular and square vessels fitted with offset brushed chrome Danze faucets. The tub is designed so you can still enjoy the benefits of the jets even at an extremely low water level; it's also self-cleaning and has an energy-saving component.
   The second bath boasts a shower/tub, toilet and vanity with above-counter vessel. The third bathroom is designated as a guest bath and has a shower, toilet and vanity with under-counter basin. 
   In each bath, Cadogan installed brushed chrome Danze faucets and high-efficiency 1.6 gallons per flush Kohler toilets, each MaP-tested to 800 grams. Danze fixtures also were installed in the kitchen, including a frequently used pot filler.
   A big challenge in plumbing this home was to incorporate some of the amenities of a luxury bath while achieving water and energy savings. The solution included a regulatory system that keeps the whole house water pressure at 50 PSI. In addition to low-flow faucets made more efficient by aerators, the lower pressure equates to lower flow rate, which still offers the desired shower experience, Cadogan said.
   

Current hot water demands are met by a system that includes a Rinnai tankless heater, a 6-gallon A.O. Smith electric water heater, and an on-demand Grundfos circulating pump. Pristine Plumbing photo.

The project was piped with insulated Wisbro Uponor PEX, chosen because of its heat retention characteristics and no-solder installation. A key concern for the homeowners was that the project avoid use of volatile organic compounds. And, because PEX is flexible, there were fewer 90-degree connections, meaning that higher water pressure wasn't required to send water through pipes to fixtures.
   Another part of the equation was how to heat water for the "green" house. Current hot water demands are met by a system that includes a Rinnai tankless heater, a 6-gallon A.O. Smith electric water heater, and an on-demand Grundfos circulating pump. The system was designed so that the homeowners would have hot water on demand with little or no waste water going down the drain. Cadogan pre-plumbed (and the electrician pre-wired) the home for solar water heating. The homeowners plan to install solar panels in the future.
   Experience working in new construction with other trades came in handy, Cadogan said, because it's vital for each trade to get the work done right and in a timely manner. That time spent in quality control in new home construction introduced Cadogan to every phase of the construction process. From roughing in to final fitting installation, subcontractors and builders have to time their work so that everything stays on schedule and the whole project doesn't grind to a halt. 
   For example, not only do the plumber and the electrician have to time their work in the same space, the plumber and tile installer have to be on the right page. A small inaccuracy in a measurement, for example, can add hours or even days to a job, he said.
   Cadogan admits that he prides himself on being meticulous and said attention to detail should be the hallmark of the professional plumber. The homeowners on this project named Pristine Plumbing their "favorite subcontractor" at the completed project's open house.
   Pristine Plumbing does service and repair as well as remodeling, but Cadogan feels he has a mission to educate his customers about their green options. He plans to put added focus on remodeling, retrofitting homes with water use reducing fixtures and doing water audits.
   Becoming a GreenPlumber "just seemed to be a natural fit for me," Cadogan said, adding many of the conservation tactics discussed in GreenPlumber training-like collecting water in cisterns-is a way of life in other parts of the world.
   "I know what green living is because I grew up in the Caribbean," he said. "We appreciated our water service because you never knew when it would be turned off. I lived with rainwater holding tanks, turning water on and off for showering and teeth brushing. We didn't know how green we were, we just knew that water was a valuable resource," he said. 
   "What is more green than protecting our water? That's what plumbers do. I have always encouraged my clients to install the latest in water-saving fixtures. At first, there were the questions about the low water flow 'doing the job', but later the reduced water flow became the norm. All it takes is a bit of a paradigm shift and we can all contribute to reducing water usage." 
   The economy has forced consumers to change their behaviors, he added. "Because of this, I also believe that environmental issues will mirror the economic changes and shake things up on the 'green' front. I think that there are many people in this area that will be looking more and more into what they can do to contribute to the environment, while saving money."