Renovation / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...renovation here Are triple pane windows worth the money? See here about choosing the most efficient windows with the best payback period Resilient design features for durable home building Learn about the benefits of a free Ecohome Network Membership here.

How to install windows correctly to avoid air or water leaks  The Edelweiss LEED Platinum V4 Demo House has been oriented towards the south to increase passive heat gain and reduce energy demand during operation. Choosing higher quality windows on all sides of your home will mean reduced heat loss over a poorer qualit...

...renovations involving plumbing relocation can be a real headache, and can border on impossible if the concrete is poured directly around pipes and electrical. Make sure you plan ahead and use sleeves for future access of any utility lines like electrical or water lines, or at the very least wrap the part that will end ...

Which windows are best? Windows are essential to our homes, so getting the choice of window right is important. They give us natural light, a way to ventilate the home without depending on mechanical systems, a means of emergency exit, and they offer an alternative way to heat homes free of charge through passive solar...

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...

The most common practices currently employed for finishing basement interiors as living space rarely account for the impacts that come with the added moisture load below grade, or the amount of heat that will be lost to the ground. Existing basements are typically under-insulated or not insulated at all, and if they ar...

...renovation project. It is much more affordable to deal with most humidity issues inside the building. The basement insulation solutions proposed here are for those that have no exterior protection. What causes mold to grow in basements? Mold can grow on virtually any organic material as long as the moisture levels it l...

How much insulation does a basement floor need? Insulating a basement is a great idea if it wasn't insulated when built, as before we began insulating foundation walls and below slabs (see slab on grade), it was generally estimated that basement heat loss accounted for about 1/3 of the total heat loss of a house. It is...

How to price a sustainable kitchen countertop? As a professional cabinetmaker, I have often been asked how much a kitchen costs. There is no accurate answer of course, though when pressed, I would have to say somewhere between $18-30,000. The size of your kitchen, material choices and your taste in finishing makes it i...

The best tips to save money and reduce bills? First of all, the best way to reduce bills & save money is to spend as little as possible for the maximum return, as not everyone who wants to be 'green' has a wad of bills they can throw at the latest and greatest renewable technologies for sustainable homes. So where ...

...renovations are eligible for a 10% refund of the Genworth mortgage insurance premium.  CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation): Buying an energy-efficient home or making energy-saving renovations can offer a 10% CMHC mortgage loan insurance premium refund, and a premium refund for a longer amortization period (i...