Insulation: The Day Has Finally Arrived!

Eleven months ago we had our first energy audit done by Greensaver. We had a work plan with recommendations to make our house more energy efficient and more comfortable. We followed that with quotes from contractors but before we could begin work, we had to have any electrical work done first. When we were finally ready in August, I called Greensaver, and their first available appointment was Nov. 20 & 21. So we waited. It got colder. The Conservative government cancelled the EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) program. (Thank you Mr. Harper! The environment and future generations who must suffer the consequences of our energy wasting ways really appreciate it.) But finally, the day arrived.

The work consisted of sprayfoam insulation in the headers of the crawl space (which required removing the sub floor) & basement, blown cellulose insulation in the front wall of the house (both floors) and blown cellulose insulation in the attic. They also recommended filling the north wall of the house, since it is a hollow frame, but the previous owner put rigid foam insulation on the exterior wall before he had the siding installed.

The guys came in and did the spraying yesterday and the blowing today. It was extremely disruptive as we had to tear up the kitchen floor and move all the furniture away for the exterior walls in all the spaces that were going to be insulated - on all 3 levels. And to blow insulation into the wall, they had to drill a bunch of 2" holes into the plaster & lathe, every 16"or less, to access the cavities. But they guys patched them all. We are left with the task of sanding and repainting all the patches in the living room & upstairs bedroom. Plus now we can put everything back against the wall in the basement.

But what are we going to do about that kitchen floor? For now, we are covering the holes with pieces of the old kitchen cupboards and scraps of plywood. We need to get the floor in so that we can plug the stove back in. While we are making do with the toaster oven & microwave for now, it is not a long term solution. It is hard to believe that my desire to insulate the front wall has lead to a full on kitchen reno. I'm still exhausted from Sunday, and I'm freezing from being in an unheated house for two days.

We have our final energy audit on December 6. Hopefully our efforts will be rewarded with a better EnerGuide score a maybe even some $$ from the now defunct government program.