fiber-cement / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

A classic modern-style home with a beautiful grey stucco exterior
Exterior cladding

Stucco as a Home Exterior: Pro's & Con's

Stucco as an exterior home finish Stucco is a classic and versatile exterior finish that has been used for centuries to protect and beautify homes. A mixture of cement, sand, water, and lime, it is a durable and fire-resistant option that provides a seamless, monolithic look. However, choosing stucco for your home requ...

Rigid Rockwool mineral wool insulation boards being installed. Image © Ecohome
Insulation and soundproofing

What Are the Best Rigid Insulation Board Alternatives to Foam Panels?

The pursuit of a sustainable and fire-safe building envelope involves weighing complex trade-offs between different rigid insulation boards. While fossil-fuel-based materials like XPS and EPS face scrutiny for their embodied carbon and chemical blowing agents, they remain dominant for valid performance and cost reasons...

How to Insulate Exterior Walls from the Outside US Canada Ecohome
Walls and Roofs

The easiest way to insulate walls from the exterior in older homes

How to insulate house walls from the outside Adding extra insulation to the exterior walls of an older home when renovating or remodeling is a great way of improving a home's walls thermal performance and reducing energy use while reducing heating bills, carbon footprint and improving a building's comfort level. It may...

Prefab Passive House & LEED Kit Homes for Sale in Ontario & North Eastern US
Concept and design

Prefab Passive House & LEED ready kit homes - the future of buying a new home?

Prefab home kits are ideal for Passive House or LEED certified homes Écohabitation the French language Quebec organization, in conjunction with experienced LEED Architects & Passive House or LEED standard Kit home manufacturers, have launched a series of stylish & affordable prefabricated sustainable green kit ...

Hemp insulation products for USA & Canada rolling off the production line
Insulation and soundproofing

Hemp insulation in Canada & USA - insulating naturally is an eco-friendly alternative

A comprehensive guide to hemp insulation: a sustainable choice for insulating homes Hemp insulation is quickly becoming one of the most popular materials chosen for sustainable property owners who want to improve efficiency and make their homes green. As the focus on green building materials grows, hemp has emerged as ...

Dense-packed cellulose wall insulation
Wall assemblies - new construction

Dense-packed cellulose insulation wall systems

Dense-packed cellulose insulation - the history In 2005, Metric Homes of Carp, Ontario designed and built Canada's first Energy Star labelled home in Canada. This home was built with dense-packed (or dense-blown) cellulose as the wall insulation of choice. Their intent was to produce a better built home with the goal o...

Building a Passive House that's LEED Certified too - an Owner's Tale
Passive House

An owner/builder's account of building a Passive House

Building a Passive House that's also LEED certified This is an owner blog Ecohome posted following the personal experience of Sarah Cobb and William Murray of Rocket Construction Inc. as they built a home in Abercorn, Montérégie, Quebec. Setting the bar about as high as you can, they targeted both LEED certification an...

How to Fasten Cement Board Facing to slab on grade insulation
Slab on Grade

Finishing the exterior of an insulated slab-on-grade floor

See more videos about passive solar high performance home building here  Once a decision has been made to choose between a crawlspace or a slab foundation, you need to know how to finish the edge off durably. Typically the exterior edge of a slab on grade is made of EPS foam and can be parged. Having used rigid Rockwo...