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.

Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

I am a conservationist and I want my home to be as energy efficient as possible, plus I like to save money. When we tore down the wall between the front room & hallway, we could see into the exterior wall - no insulation. Not even some old newspapers, just air blowing around. I called a bunch of folks from the yellow pages, but could not get somebody to do just that one wall (below the minimum charge), plus we'd have to wait a few weeks, and we'd already booked the drywaller. My friend Matthew suggested Greensaver, and told me all about the EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) program offered through the federal government. What a brilliant idea. Our government sponsors a program to help Canadians make their homes more energy efficient by getting an unbiased energy audit and work plan, plus you can qualify for a grant based on the improvements that you make.

Patrick, a consultant from Greensaver, came to do our audit. He did all kinds of poking and prodding to determine the amount of insulation in the walls & ceilings, but most exciting was the door blower test. He fit our front door with a giant fan that sucked all the air out of the house, creating negative pressure, which emphasized the cold air leaking into the house. It is a particularly cold day, so it was easy to feel the drafts. Patrick gave us a list of recommendations for retrofits, draft proofing, etc. And he told us that our house rated a 51/100 on the EnerGuide for Houses. That is pretty good for a house that is over 100 years old, but there is obviously ways to make it another 49% better. Patrick's model of our house showed that if we did all of his recommendations, we could get up to a 67, which would qualify us for a grant of over $900, and would cut our annual green house gas emissions by 3.9 tonnes. Something to consider.

I highly recommend the EnerGuide program. Canada is full of beautiful old houses that have zero insulation and can benefit from a program like this. Until the 70s, oil & gas were so cheap that nobody cared about efficiency. It is too bad that it takes an energy crisis before we care about conservation but necessity is the mother of invention, and possibly intention too.