step / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

BC Energy Step Code - Builder Design Guide &  Requirements explained
Building codes

The new BC energy step code: builder design guide & requirements explained - Vancouver

...steps are there in the BC step code? Steps in the new BC Step Code are categorized as ‘lower’ and ‘upper’ steps depending on building type. Step one is just to help you get your head in the game, there are no major change in building techniques, at this stage it is about having an energy modelling of the building desi...

Lasagna Gardening - How to Build an Easy Vegetable Garden
Food production

Lasagna gardening - the easiest vegetable garden at home?

...steps to creating a backyard lasagna garden are: 1) Lasagne gardens; Lay out the garden boundaries When lasagne gardening, design the perimeter in whatever way floats your boat – use a string line, lay down some logs or old 2x4s to help create perfectly straight angles and lines. Or, if you’re not the kind of person wh...

Faulty Toilet Flappers Leak a Lot of Water - here's how to replace them
Bathrooms

Faulty toilet flappers are the leading cause of leaking or running toilets, here's how to fix them

...Step 1 for fixing a constantly running toilet Before even opening the toilet cistern, turn off the isolation valve underneath to save any water escaping unnecessarily or just in case you catch anything in there by accident during the process. Experience tells me this is a really good plan whenever renovating anything t...

Canada Greener Homes Grant 2022 - How to apply fiberglass attic insulation
Grants and incentives

Canada Greener Homes Grant 2022 - the "how to apply" guide - step by step

...step in the right direction. Now you know how to apply for the Canada Greener Homes Grant 2022. Learn more about best practices for energy efficient and durable home construction and renovations in these pages: Top Tips for Getting a House Ready for Winter Frost in Attics: What causes Attic Ice? How to Fix it? When...

Aerial view of BRE Innovation Park Living City Campus
Lifestyle and environment

Seven experimental homes being built at the Living City Campus North of Toronto

...STEP) is run out of The Living City Campus at Kortright, ON, where currently you can find a duplex called The Archetype Sustainable House (ASH). The twin houses act as a living laboratory with more than 400 calibrated sensors that monitor the performance of the buildings' systems.  ASH will now be joined by a small sub...

Slab-on-grade construction technical guide
Slab on Grade

Slab-on-grade technical guide

...step by step detailed guide to building a frost protected shallow slab on grade foundation using foam forms here. Skirt insulation around slabs and foundations prevents concrete from freezing © CMHC Skirt insulation is a very simple and cost-effective solution that could (and should) be applied to basement f...

Blower Door Tests - What's the Cost & Who Does Them?
Air and vapour barriers

What is a blower door test? What's the cost? How do you find a company to do one?

...Step Code in British Columbia, Canada is one example.  A blower door test is often an essential part of a home audit, we don’t know for sure just yet if it will be part of the free home energy audits promised by the Canadian Liberal Government in Oct 2019 as part of their as part of their Net Zero Home Grants & Int...

Step by step guide for slab-on-grade home construction
Slab on Grade

Slab-on-grade construction: the ecoHOME A to Z Slab building guide

...step by step Instructions for problem expansive soils and high water tables EXCAVATION for Slab on Grade foundation: Hire an engineer to establish how to seat the footing for the foundations. Soil tests will often be ordered to determine how to proceed. On expansive clay, unknown soils or infill, engineers will someti...

Bike lanes in Vancouver
Lifestyle, location and commuting

Vancouver's goal of becoming the Greenest City by 2020

...Step Code, or sustainable building practices in the Ecohome Green Building Guides, at Ecohome, North America's favorite green building website.  

What is Interstitial Condensation? (And how to stop it!)
Walls and Roofs

What is Interstitial Condensation in Walls or Roofs? (And how to stop it!)

...step one would be humidity monitoring, followed by installing adequate heat recovery ventilation,  and a dehumidifier sized properly for the volume of air you need to condition if necessary.  Ironically, interstitial condensation is more of a common issue in new, modern structures than older structures. This is due to ...

How to Find & Order In-Stock Essential Products Online COVID-19 & Coronavirus

Life Hacks to help stay Eco during COVID-19 Quarantine & Ordering Online

Finding essentials while at home with the kids - ordering online What a year this week has been! As we're quarantined for 14 days, we've been brainstorming about relevant and helpful subjects to write about for during these testing times with the coronavirus or COVID-19 (which word is even the right one to use there?)....