Even inexpensive upgrades aimed at improving energy efficiency in older homes can slow global warming, according to a local home inspector.
“If we want to make an impact on the environment, existing housing is where we have to focus,” says John Harris, president of the Orillia-based DSG Home Inspections. “Building new houses efficient is good, but there’s still a lot of existing housing stock out there.
“If we could reduce 50 per cent of the existing housing stock by a 30-per-cent reduction in energy consumption (which is a reasonable target for a 1950’s house), that starts to have a huge impact.”
Harris, a professional engineer, shares his nine-year-old company with partners David Faux and Peter Moody. Together, they provide a variety of residential inspection services for home owners throughout Simcoe County and Muskoka.
In order to facilitate real-estate transactions, DSG provides an educated and comprehensive visual inspection of the performance of the house and its systems for potential buyers during the pre-purchase phase; or to assist the vendor prior to listing the house.
They also inspect fireplaces and other wood-burning appliances, search for unhealthy contaminants like mould and lead (for example), carry out septic stress tests (which provides “a quick determination of imminent failure”), and will consult on other aspects of building sciences – especially when there is a problem.
He recalls one extreme example where half of a 1,000-square-foot bungalow sank more than six inches, causing the house to break in half and the floor to slope noticeably downhill. Having been built on an infill lot, the foundation hadn’t been established properly.
“My job as a consultant is to establish what the failure was and if it’s attributable to a particular party,” explains the expert. “In other words, who made the mistake, and who should have caught the mistake.”
But even before a new house is occupied, DSG will get called in to complete pre-delivery inspections and checks for deficiencies prior to the end of the Tarion new-home warranty period.
“Our job is to interpret building codes and building sciences for the homeowners because that’s not their area of specialty,” he says.
But with rising fuel costs and environmental concerns, more home owners are responding to federal and provincial funding incentives to reduce their energy consumption.
“A lot of people are under the misconception that houses can be too tight,” says Harris. “But it’s not true. We want to make the house as tight as possible, but ensure adequate ventilation to provide enough healthy fresh air.”
In order to qualify for government grants, a licenced energy advisor (like Harris) must complete an energy audit
“We measure the house, count the number and type of windows and examine the construction of the floor, walls and ceilings trying to assess all the components of the building envelope,” he says. “Then we take a look at the mechanical and ventilation systems.”
He checks the age and efficiency levels of the furnace and water heater and whether bathrooms have fans or heat-recovery ventilators, which efficiently recovers the heat from exhausted air to warm incoming fresh air.
“Some 50-year-old furnaces are still working well, just not as efficiently (as newer models),” he reports. The first of the high-efficient models, however, are starting to challenge their 15-to-20-year expected lifespan.
Once the inspection is complete, a large fan is placed in an exterior door to expel air at high speeds. As a result, fresh air is drawn through cracks and crevices and measures to determine the house’s efficiency.
“The number comes out in square inches,” Harris explains. “So if a house is 100 square inches, which is reasonable for the last 20 years (and considered efficient), it’s like leaving a 10-by-10-inch window open all year.
“In a 1950s postwar one-and-a-half-storey house (of which we have many in Orillia), they can be as high as 300 square inches, or leaving a 15-inch by 20-inch window open,” he adds. “You can imagine what leaving a window that size open all year would be like on your energy bill.”
Typical upgrades to that same house would include insulating the basement (which could have a 10-per-cent impact on your energy bill), replace the furnace (five to 25 per cent, depending on its age and generation), improved insulation in the attic (approximately five per cent), replace windows (three per cent) and stemming air leakage with caulking, spray foam, weather sealing and foam gaskets behind outlets and light switches.
Walls can often be improved, but this upgrade is generally considered cost-prohibitive, he adds.
Under Ottawa’s ecoEnergy Retrofit grant program, homeowners have 18 months to implement any or all of the recommendations their energy advisors have suggested.
A new furnace and basement insulation alone can bring $1,000 in rebates, says Harris. “During the followup, the energy advisor comes back, verifies what’s been done and submits the grant application on the homeowner’s behalf.”
The cost for the advisor to the initial assessment and followup visit (approximately $500), is also subject to the rebate program, regardless of whether any recommendations are implemented.
In new construction, builders are being encouraged to proceed according to Energy Star standards, which enables them to label the house as a top-performing house energy-wise.
“It’s the most popular program out there right now,” says Harris, who also acknowledges others such as the R-2000 program and the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, which has been a U.S.-pilot project. It is expected to have a Canadian version next spring, which will go so far as looking at recycling rainwater and renewable building materials.
“It’s a very broad view holistic look at how we build our houses and where we put them to reduce our impact on the environment,” says Harris, whose company is heavily motivated to promote the issues. In fact, he adds, Canada itself is on the leading edge on air leakage and energy efficiency.
“So if you’re motivated by reducing your carbon footprint, reducing dependence on fossil fuels or reducing your fuel bill, by improving your home’s energy efficiency, you get to save money, energy and carbon all in one fell swoop,” concludes Harris.
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