andre. thanks for coming. we have had some great times in the past with some of these shows. you have been kitchen and bath in the past. >> i'm an architect. i do a lot of construction work. or >> do people look for when they do a bathroom remodels? >> that is a good question. kitchens are the ultimate and social room, while bathrooms are kind of the opposite. bathrooms, like kitchens, are part of homes and houses, so they are part of architecture, and they are opportunities for people to express themselves, to express their style. they are just an important element in the house is in san francisco. >> i think we can talk about how bathrooms had changed in san francisco. the old-style we're used to have a separate compartment for the bathtub, and now, we have a whole different concept. >> traditionally in san francisco with victorian and edwardian, we had split bathrooms. a separate room for a toilet, and a second room for a tub. i have done literally dozens of projects where we try to combine them. the difference in today's baffin's is there is a lot more stuff. double vanities, soaking tub, showers, toilets, bedets, a lot more things going on. >> has this economic decline at the moment -- has that affected people's desire for complexity in stuff? have you seen a short-term move toward simplicity? >> yes and no. people still love their bathrooms. people think of them as an important room, as an investment for their home. yes, there is the gamut. some people are really just for function and utilitarian. some of them are large and lavish and everything in between. >> we are going to start looking at a couple of little vignettes of bathrooms. we can talk about fixtures and use that as a springboard for questions for our audience and discussions from some of the manufacturers we have here. let's start by looking at one right back here. this is a really interesting one because this has some of the characteristics of a traditional san francisco building. it has this starting with the board, i think it is called, and it has both old-fashioned kind of pictures and real modern stuff. what do you see here? >> looking around, it has gone a soaking tub. >> it has little jets in a, so like a spot/hydrotherapy kind of thing? >> exactly. what people need to be mindful on for these types of tubs are two things -- number one, they have a motor, and you have to have an access panel on it. you have to be mindful of that. you cannot just stick it in there and hide the motor forever. it has waterjets here. really popular in these tubs is soaps and oils, and the water recycles them. sometimes the shampoos and oils clogged the system. an alternative to that is air jets. air jets do not do that. it has a pedestal sink and a matching toilet. it has a wonderful medicine cabinet here with a great feature now, so there is actually a locking compartment so you can put your medicines in there. >> there you go. excellent. and it has got its little shaving mirror or whatever. makeup mirror. normally, this would be recessed, right? >> yes, it would be pushed on the wall, so you have to be again mindful about that. when you are doing the construction, you have to leave a little opening for a period >> one of the big issues we always have is coordination and construction between the fixture's and the trade. the plumber might come along and put a vent pipe or some of the plumbing lines in the wall light real -- right where you want to resist the medicine cabinet, so we need to have the architect or someone coordinate between the contractor and the various subcontractors just to make sure that the homeowner gets what they had in mind when they designed it. >> absolutely. even in a bathroom, there is a lot going on. there is medicine cabinets. there is light sconces. you are going to have a light switch here, and our live here, so you want to be very thoughtful about where they placed them, and either a design professional or a good contractor will help you coordinate them. also, this is -- also, an alternative to a pedestal sink, this is very popular now, these are vessel sinks. this would be a basin, which is in a bowl shape that would sit on the counter. these are very popular. this is obviously very contemporary design for a very traditional design. i always tell the clients about worrying about cleaning and things like that. this bathtub also has a hand- held shower element, which is good forehand baiting and just for cleaning as well. >> i have some questions about these fixtures and fittings. they seem to oppose all kinds of plumbing issues. fortunately, we are here today with san francisco's chief plumbing inspector. i have a question for you. i'm concerned about the hand- held shower. i always hear about that flow prevention. if you were to drop the shower into the tub, you might contaminate the water supply. >> that is correct. that kind of installation on the bottom of that picture, you would actually have a vacuum they would install on the bottom where the host does connect to the faucet itself which would prevent any kind of back flow into the plumbing system. >> so it is isolating this from the water supply? >> is. the house itself, that line, it would contaminate it if you had it inside of the bathtub, but with the vacuum breaker, it would prevent any kind of water to get into the plumbing. >> so it you dropped it into dirty water, you not want that dirty water to enter and that flow and contaminated. >> that is 100% correct. >> what are the special requirements when you have a tub that has all kinds of special features and fittings like that? >> just the ones that we have here, like we said before, access to the motor is a key thing. a lot of people do forget to leave space or have access to those motors. >> where does that usually occur? >> three places i have seen that they have had those motors would be one in the backside where you could see the headrest would be. that would be one spot. on the paneling in the front, there sometimes is irremovable panel that we remove so we can get to that murder, and the backside where the actual cost is. at this time, there would actually be an access panel in the back. it all depends on how it lays out, again, coordination with the contractor himself or professional that wants to be responsible for the location of where that is going to be. also, you could actually have motors in other locations. they could be up in an attic space or somewhere else that would provide servicing for that picture. >> so it is a good requirement that there is to be an access panel for that murder. >> that's right. 100% for plumbing and electrical as well. >> every one of these has to be independently tested and approved. you cannot make your own fixture? you have to have enlisted piece of equipment. >> settings and fixtures need to be listing accordingly. definitely. >>:. the next thing we are going to do is answer the question that i received in an e-mail from ray, who wanted to know about what a saving features in toilets and sinks. look at all of these toilets. this is great. we have everything from soda a very traditional toiletries some of these have real newfangled contraptions built into them, but we want to start by talking about green features and things that can reduce water use in san francisco. can you tell us a little bit about that? she is a toilet expert, by the way. >> toilets have all different flows, but carli, you have to have a 1.6 gallon or less. -- currently. >> that is the state plumbing code minimum standard. >> that is going to save your water compared to what a lot of people still have in their bathrooms. they have 3.5 or 5 gallons. that is using a ton of water. >> the year there is a new city ordinance requirement to reduce flow flesh? >> and a lot of manufacturers are real -- are already making those toilets. right here, we have a dual-flush toilet. this toilet uses 1.6 gallons on the full flush and 0.9 on the half less. >> what happened? >> it automatically opens. this is a fancy toilet. we can get to that later. >> this is the half loss, which is how many? >> 0.9. so it is very good toilet, water-saving. and then the other kind of toilet that saves water is and 1.28 gallons a flush. >> i know when people first started selling and installing the 1.6, there were problems with it was not clear in the bowl and all of that. have those generally been resolved? >> yes, they have come out with a lot of new technologies, and the flushing systems are a lot more powerful. this toilet in particular has the new double cyclone feature, which shoots out of the rim and the bowl. let's look at it. shoots out here and here, so it cleans the ball really well as it flushes. >> there are lots and lots of brands. this is just one brand. these are manufactured in japan? >> these are manufactured all over the world. they have two factories in georgia and then factories all around the world. >> what are the differences between these different kind of toilets? >> we have the 1.28, which is what all the manufacturers are doing now to conserve water. this is a siphon flush with a larger water surface area, much more conventional american type of toilet. it has been used around the world for many years as a water- conserving light of flushing. it has a small water surface area and is a wash down type of toilet. some americans are not happy that they might have to clean the sides of the ball more. then, we have the high end totally automated toilet as you were already noticing. when you walk up to it, it will sense that you are there and it will open up. it has another green feature, which washes you. it saves you on toilet paper. a roll of toilet paper can take as much as 28 gallons to be manufactured, so if you conserve on toilet paper by using water to wash yourself, you are saving the waste material of the toilet paper. >> does that count toward the flesh? >> it does not. >> how much water does it take? >> it takes just a few ounces. tens of how long the user leaves it on. it has a remote control that allows you to be able to control the spray features. it has a rear-cleaning, cleaning, stopped cleaning. it has a heated sea. it has a blow dryer. it has a deodorizer. and you can't flush the toilet with a push of the remote. >> ice cube maker, everything. look at that thing. and this is a little more conventional. >> these are the more conventional u.s. type of toilets where you can actually see the trap passageway on the side. >> tell us what goes in where and how does it come out. >> the bull has the water right here, and when it flushes, it fills up around this curve here, and it basically creates a siphon. >> so here we have passage through to the bottom. i do not know if people have ever seen the bottom of one of these. there is. we have a couple of holes here that are for mounting. usually, there is a flange on the floor. we do not have that here. then, we use a wax seal, something like this. >> is has a little cover on the wax, but it has a throat that sits down in the pipe, and this wax seals it's down there to make the seal on the floor. >> right. you do not want to take this off and stick it on because it is unbelievably lucky. so these things are very inexpensive. by the way, wax seals are really cheap. a but. and this is waterproof, so if you ever need contemporary waterproofing, this is great stuff. taken off, put this on the floor, and set the toilet on top. by the way, i don't believe it takes a plumbing permit to replace the toilet fixtures. as long as you are not making a change in the plumbing. and of course, every time you do it, you should replace the blacks. terrific. all right. let's sit this guy back up. the stock closed seat. >> will await the seepage of the sleeping people in the night. -- will not wake the sleeping people in the night. this one has a toilet seat mounted on it that has the washer with feature >> this is just a seat that is mounted on a toilet. >> you could retrofit an existing toilet with all of these features if you want. you just need to have an outlet in the room. you can see on this one that we cannot see the drop passageway. it has a skirted side to it, which is very popular with the consumer because it is easier to clean. it is an area that is not prone to picking up all that dust and things like that, a little cover for where the bull is going. in order to mount that, instead of using just the wax seal, we're going to put this down first. we are going to use the wax seal -- there is the sticky wax. we are going to put that wax seal on the bottom of this, mount this down on the floor flanged and mount the toilet on to this. >> good. does not look like it takes a great deal of expertise to do it, but you have to have the right parts and equipment. terrific. i want to ask andre. tell us, from a design point of view, what is that people are looking for these days in toilets. >> when we look at toilets, first of all, are we doing a traditional or contemporary design? obviously, we picked a traditional design. traditional design for traditional patterns. contemporary toilet for contemporary bathroom. we look about the lines of the toilet and how easy they are to clean. some of these are very sleek and come down to the floor. that is good. they are very even and clean and very easy to clean. we also think about americans with disabilities act, about handicapped toilets. those tend to have the seats and a little bit higher, so they are easier to get in and out. >> i would like to continue that discussion when we talk about aging in place. as people get older in their homes, we need to accommodate the special needs. good. and some of these are -- i guess these are all one piece. we used to see separate tanks. >> that is the new trend. traditionally, it would be a separate tank and a separate seat, and now, there are melding together. i like that look a lot. it is a very clean line. again, less things to clean. a low profile. very elegant looking. >> you have people in your showroom, and they look around and look at toilets, what do you see that they are looking for? what do they buy? >> number one, they want a toilet they can flush. that is definitely important. but then, water savings. i guess lastly would be the esthetics of it. the ada, or comfort height, as they call it -- >> let me interrupt you. hey, how're you doing? are you shopping for a toilet? walk right over here. are you in a shopping for a toilet? if you were, were your shopping for a toilet, what would you look for? >> i don't know. some banks eco-friendly. -- something eco-friendly. >> do you have a lot of people say that? >> yes. water savings, and most have rebates, so you are saving on costs. that is important today. >> let's talk for a minute about aging in place because it is such an important issue. we have a seat height to be concerned about, but a lot of other things. for example, people worry about getting into bathtubs because they are slippery. how do you deal with that? >> it all depends. the most important thing you can do is have a grab bar for the tub and shower. we think about the toilet heights. we think about having barrier- free back from -- bathrooms. if you are in a wheelchair, a shower curtain would be a barrier. thinking about the door to the bathroom. you want to have a nice, white door. 3 feet would be very nice. even a little bit larger bathrooms are you could maneuver in it would be helpful. >> let's look at some six. we got an e-mail from some of who watches us online who had a question about whether or not there are any downside to getting one of these vessels sinks, one of the six that sits on top of the counter. >> that is one of the reasons i like j.c. plumbing. they have a great selection, and i can make my point. let's compare these two six. this is a bowl shape, and this is a ceramic that comes straight down. the disadvantage of this -- and it is very beautiful and makes quite a statement -- and i alluded to this before. it is about cleaning this, and coming year. getting down here, that is difficult to do, so that is going to be more difficult to clean. this is a good one. again, clean lines that come straight down. there is no difficulty cleaning that. >> would someone call that -- caulk that? >> absolutely. make it watertight. >> are there any other disadvantages? these all have an external mounts. >> it is a little more complicated, so you have to have a tall faucet to come down. wall-mounted faucets. but again, these are very popular. i'm always wondering how popular they are going to be in five or six years. think about that. >> i have heard that there are already shift in style happening, but those happen all the time. what is the real traditional kind of laboratory? >> some good examples are behind us here. this is a vanity. it has the countertop and the basin. it has the areas for storage. this is something that people would like. another popular trend -- i do not know if the camera can catch it, but below here, so people would roll up their towels. >> this also allows you to have one more step toward aging in place and accessibility. if you ever need to roll a wheelchair in, you have an opportunity here. >> absolutely. >> this does not have an overflow. is that required? >> overflows are not technically required. >> what i mean is one of the little holes like this where the city will run out so it will not spill out onto the floor. >> they are practical and important to have, but they are not a code requirement. if you have children or something, you might want to have an overflow. if you are comfortable having one without, then you would have that choice. >> i was particularly intrigued by this sink. i know the manufacturers were up this year. this is made out of some extremely heavy duty class. here is bob, who is the rep from oceana who manufactures this thing. this is not the type of sync that would set on top. it recesses. what is this made of? >> it is actually made of glass. it is a company in pittsburgh, and it is an extremely durable class. they actually do the globe in chicago for a recovery like standards. >> and outdoor material in chicago has to withstand the heat of chicago and the cold -- the heat of summer and cold >> of winter > exactly. this piece comes in about 12 different colors. it has a backing to it, to. you cannot see through it, but it gets a lot of light back through it, so you could actually back like it if you want. >> we really like all these different styles. some of these that sit on top have advantages as well as disadvantages -- cleaning -- but they are stylish. but this has real advantage. when you lay it down, flesh, dram, and it has the faucet holes in here. it has the race area here so water will not run back off of it. >> let's go take a look at shower fittings and fixtures and the shower systems year. they are fascinating and very, very modern looking. all sorts of great stuff. do people like these in their homes? >> yes, i think this is a great example of how people do not want their parents shower anymore. this is the new generation of shower systems, and they have and what occurred, -- accouterments. they just give a wide volume of water distribution. >> is that a problem with water flow? >> these technically meet those standards. the shower head distributes it, so it just kind of gives an appearance of more volume. these are body sprays that will take your body. this is a hand-held, and this is a good example where you could put a bar here. you could leave it in place as the traditional shower, or you could take it, and you could do it, and this is also great for cleaning and washing your dog and things like that. >> right, so you cannot get your hair wet while your taking a shower. i suppose this has the same kind of back float servants and -- backflow prevention built in. >> right, and it shows the variety of finishes here. the chrome. this looks like brushed stainless steel. what you do not see is brass, and press has really become -- is in favor these days. kroll is probably the most popular. it is similar to in kitchen appliances, stainless steel. is good. it goes with all color schemes. >> there was a recent change to san francisco's codes that said you could not have more than one sitting turned on at any more than one time. so you cannot have multiple salaries and more for water savings. >> right. a lot of people like showers for two, and now, you are saying one valve for one shower. >> i think you could probably sit flow rates could be adjusted, and you could probably make it happen, but it is beginning to be very tightly regulated. tell us, when people come in to buy, what is it that they like? what are they actually buying? >> a lot of it has to do with style. first is for the lab faucet's. you have the widespread, the two handles, hot and cold. very modern design. >> people like modern. >> people like modern, but we are in san francisco, so we get a wide range. then the one hand, very popular, ada-approved. saves water. very easy to use >> > one of the standards for commercial, not residential, is that you have to be able to operate equipment with a single operation without tight grasping or pinching. so this actually allows that to happen. you can operate without having to grab and pitch and twist something. this is very user-friendly. it is also reduced flow, and you do not have to have two faucet's running. >> only have to cut one hole in your credit. . granite. this is really traditional, very popular fish. >> nice. and this is, -- chrome, and brushed nicke. >> as far south as there, and showers are popular right now. rain heads are popular, but you want something that is functional for what you use, so hand showers are great. >> is this one of the ones that has a sheet of water? >> it does. waterfalls of this type come down to a point when you turn them on. this particular one, because we have reworked the inside of it in a fairly complex plumbing system in there, it will actually come out as a sheet of water like a true waterfall. >> but it still meets the flow requirements? >> it does. many of the process we are shipping today will be these standard at 1.5. >> i think 1.5 is the california appliance efficiency standard. >> that's right. that is what we are shipping out. >> terrific. what do you call this kind of head? >> there are just the regular overhead tight showerheads. they can be mounted, or they could come out at different lengths. >> so you could screw this on to enormous shower? >> as long as they can rotate. some of them are fixed flat. >> that is terrific. thank you for joining us today for "building san francisco" and we hope to see you on the third wednesday of every month. sometimes we do leches with guests in our studio. please join us, and you can get more information that sfgov.org.