Plumbing – How much water do water softeners waste

Most of your questions are the same question, just asked in a different form.

Before you even start looking -- Before you even find a realtor -- Do your research on a good home inspector in your area. If you are looking at an old house, make SURE to tell the home inspection service that you want someone who knows about houses xxxx years old. Most inspectors of newer (1-40 years) houses think everything in an old house needs replacement and will give a bad review of everything. Then get references and talk to people he's worked for. If he's not willing to give you references, then move on. When you find an inspector, go with them to the house & follow them around. You will learn a lot more than what will be written on the report, whether you buy the house or not.

Generally, you've got to look at the following areas:

1. Structure - Will it stand up
2. Membrane - Roof, cladding - Will it keep water out and heat in.
3. Foundation - is the basement dry? does it have cracks.
4. Electrical - Enough power, and properly wired.
5. Plumbing - Leaks and pressure.
6. Heating - Primarily this is the age and type of the furnace.
7. Doors and Windows - These cost more than you think, so get an estimate before buying.

Essentially, you don't want to mess with 1 and 3 at all, and the remainder, you need a good estimate of the costs.

The next important detail is Architecture. Are the rooms of appropriate size or is the floor plan easily convertible to something you can live with and enjoy.

I haven't included cosmetics at all. Because this is where you are going to do it yourself.

Money you can't avoid:

1. Roofing - This needs to be replaced every 20 - 30 years. It can range from a re-shingling to a full wood and insulation replacement.
2. Furnace - Again, 20-30 year replacement.
3. Electrical - IF you're hunting for a bargain, you'll probably need electrical work. Most of it is easy and you can DIY if you know what you're doing. (lights and sockets, pulling wires if the drywall is off) Talk to the guy at Lowes or Home Depot for a good book for your area. Get an electrician in for stuff around the box.

You're adding more points of failure, and when the small tank runs out, you will see a temperature drop until the tank fills with hot water from the reserve. You also have to worry about eventually reselling the home. Given that, my preference is to keep it simple with a single tank.

One option to give you the same effect is a single electric tank with the lower element turned down. You are then only keeping half of the tank hot but can easily adjust it to have full capacity.