Net Zero Energy Certified
It’s official, we received our CHBA Net Zero certification label this week! Big thanks to capitalhomeenergy and twinlionscontracting for handling the paperwo...
Posts by Tag
- energy + CO2 25
- envelope 12
- permits 10
- deconstruction 6
- mechanical 5
- site work 5
- drainage 5
- solar 4
- art project 4
- framing 3
- electrical 3
- wildfire 2
- funding 1
- poetry 1
- plumbing 1
- landscaping 1
energy + CO2
Systems Run Down
Final few days of tweaking, touch ups and inspections. We spent the morning getting a run-down on our heat pump, HRV and heat-pump water heater. We were able...
Energuide Rating 0GJ
“This house produces more energy than it uses on an annual basis”.
Solar is Live!
Our solar team @puresolarcanada stopped by the house last week to switch on our panels. A big moment - we are now live and producing clean on-site electricity!
Solar
Today’s the day! 27 solar panels and 12.7MWh of annual production installed on the roof! A much anticipated moment and key part of the net zero equation. So ...
Insulation II
Happy Friday everyone! The majority of insulation is in and we’re onto drywall! It feels quieter and warmer in the house already.
Blower Door Test
@capitalhomeenergy stopped by this week to conduct a pre drywall blower door test.
Energy Storage and Back-Up Power
If you have solar panels on your roof, it makes sense to add batteries too so you can store excess energy, help smooth out peaks in demand, and power the hom...
Insulation and Flashing
We have rigid insulation going in on the ground floor slab this week (one of the advantages of increasing the ceiling height in the basement). Result will be...
Window Install
Thrilled to see our triple pane windows by Vinyltek go in this week!
Mechanical Systems
In an earlier post, we discussed our HVAC strategy overall. For those interested in the nuts and bolts of system selection, air tightness and makeup air, thi...
Sizing Heat Pumps
We’ve been working with our project team to narrow down our HVAC strategy for the house. With upped insulation in the walls, high performance windows and air...
Low-Carbon Concrete
It’s pour day!!! After a long stretch of sunny weather, it’s drizzling the day we pour concrete 🌧. We’ve opted for a low-carbon mix supplied by Rempel Bros /...
Foundation Update
We’ve needed to pause work as a decision taken by BC Housing as to whether our project remains a renovation or has tilted in the new build category. No major...
Embodied Carbon 2
We are nearing completion of our life cycle assessment (LCA). Overall it’s been an interesting process to learn what our highest carbon materials are, lower ...
Embodied Carbon 1
Embodied Carbon in buildings refers to “greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of ...
Gas Shutoff
Yesterday, Fortis came by and disconnected the gas.
Grants and Funding
The province and Canada have different funding available for energy efficiency retrofits.
Mechanical Design
image cred @sarahlazarovic
Windows
This week we’re looking at windows and two performance metrics in particular: 1) U value, or USI in metric (inverse of R value). Measures the insulation or t...
Net Zero Metrics
Long post! TLDR, we can hit net zero with our design. See our Net-Zero Energuide Report and CHBA Net-Zero Energy Design Summary.
Why Net Zero?
We’re targeting a deep energy retrofit with a stretch goal of net zero. Why? After transportation (road & air) and “stuff” we consume, our home represent...
Roof Design
The current roof is hand framed, with an addition out back ~1970s. Structural upgrades would be needed to support solar for net zero + if we were to add insu...
Air Tightness
A blower door test measures how well the building envelope prevents air leakage. The fewer air changes per hour (ACH) the more airtight the building.
Baseline Energy Use
We had an energy audit conducted in March 2022. See our Baseline Energuide Report. Our energy performance was estimated at 185GJ/year, or 0.74 GJ/m2/year, wh...
envelope
More siding, paint and blown-in insulation
The team has been working hard to get all our Hardie siding up. It’s looking fantastic - just the final sections to go at the soffit line.
Insulation II
Happy Friday everyone! The majority of insulation is in and we’re onto drywall! It feels quieter and warmer in the house already.
Blower Door Test
@capitalhomeenergy stopped by this week to conduct a pre drywall blower door test.
Rough In
A ton of plumbing, mechanical and electrical work happening behind the scenes lately. As well as ‘back framing’ – final interior framing around bulkheads, do...
Lock up
Lots of momentum while we’ve been away for spring break. Our house is now closed in and we have a key! ‘Lock-up’ means not only windows but doors in as well....
Insulation and Flashing
We have rigid insulation going in on the ground floor slab this week (one of the advantages of increasing the ceiling height in the basement). Result will be...
A Note on Air Barriers
With the framing progress this week, we were able to snap a couple close up photos of the air barrier system – the part of the home that will help keep our h...
Window Install
Thrilled to see our triple pane windows by Vinyltek go in this week!
Roofing
You know you are closing in on sheathing completion when a site visit includes a roof-top walkabout!
Windows
This week we’re looking at windows and two performance metrics in particular: 1) U value, or USI in metric (inverse of R value). Measures the insulation or t...
Roof Design
The current roof is hand framed, with an addition out back ~1970s. Structural upgrades would be needed to support solar for net zero + if we were to add insu...
Air Tightness
A blower door test measures how well the building envelope prevents air leakage. The fewer air changes per hour (ACH) the more airtight the building.
permits
Some Good News
We have a building permit in hand at long last. All further dispatches will be from site.
Wildfire Development Permit
We thought we’d be back to work on site by now. Unfortunately, the final go-ahead is still held up because we have been going through a Wildfire Development ...
Mind the Gap!
Haven’t posted anything in a while. We have been navigating the permitting gap between a deep energy retrofit and a new build.
Permit Update II
An update - In the last 3 weeks, we’ve bolstered our engineering capacity and come up with a plan to tie into the existing foundation 🙌.
Foundation Update
We’ve needed to pause work as a decision taken by BC Housing as to whether our project remains a renovation or has tilted in the new build category. No major...
Storm and Sewer
As a renovation project above a threshold value, the District required us to upgrade the street utility connections. Here is the storm & sewer being repl...
Permit Update
Breaking news, we have a permit in hand! Donuts, bubbly and thumbs up all round! Can’t wait to finally get started on this project. It’s taken us a year + 3 ...
Water, Sanitary, Storm
We will need to redo a number of District connections as part of our renovation including water, sanitary and perhaps storm. This is at the cost of the owner...
Permit and Patience
There are two things in life that, as adults, we don’t have any control over:
deconstruction
Foundation Update
We’ve needed to pause work as a decision taken by BC Housing as to whether our project remains a renovation or has tilted in the new build category. No major...
Digger
New year and things are now moving quickly. We have a digger on site! Have started to pull out the harder materials: front steps pebbledash walkway fo...
Deconstruction II
Deconstruction has been moving swiftly. Our roof is off, the back deck is dismantled and our backyard shed too.
Site Walkthrough
Our house has been stripped back to the basics! A few things seen on our site walkthrough:
Asbestos Removal
It’s taken ages to get all the asbestos out of the house, but we passed air clearance on Friday ✅✅ which means our team can get started on the work proper.
Deconstruction
Our permit is moving along and we are getting closer to go time! Anticipated start date is mid-September.
mechanical
Systems Run Down
Final few days of tweaking, touch ups and inspections. We spent the morning getting a run-down on our heat pump, HRV and heat-pump water heater. We were able...
Rough In
A ton of plumbing, mechanical and electrical work happening behind the scenes lately. As well as ‘back framing’ – final interior framing around bulkheads, do...
Mechanical Systems
In an earlier post, we discussed our HVAC strategy overall. For those interested in the nuts and bolts of system selection, air tightness and makeup air, thi...
Sizing Heat Pumps
We’ve been working with our project team to narrow down our HVAC strategy for the house. With upped insulation in the walls, high performance windows and air...
Mechanical Design
image cred @sarahlazarovic
site work
Tree Work
Big pruning work today to pull vegetation back from the roof ahead of solar install. Burley Boys Tree Service turned up bright and early to thin the canopy o...
Foundation Update
We’ve needed to pause work as a decision taken by BC Housing as to whether our project remains a renovation or has tilted in the new build category. No major...
Storm and Sewer
As a renovation project above a threshold value, the District required us to upgrade the street utility connections. Here is the storm & sewer being repl...
Drainage
This week is all about trenching for drainage and below grade plumbing. It’s been a very wet few weeks (North Van, what can you do!) but at least the tempera...
Digger
New year and things are now moving quickly. We have a digger on site! Have started to pull out the harder materials: front steps pebbledash walkway fo...
drainage
Atmospheric River
We had record amounts of rainfall on the North Shore this past weekend in the first ‘atmospheric river’ of the season. Over 250mm of rain (>10”) 🤯 fell ov...
Permeable Driveway
Lots of action on site this week as we complete the driveway and hardscape. Because of the site’s poor drainage (see Stormwater Management post 11/24/2023), ...
Stormwater Management
This week, we’ve passed inspection on our stormwater management system. This is a District requirement, targeting new builds and homes adding significant sur...
Storm and Sewer
As a renovation project above a threshold value, the District required us to upgrade the street utility connections. Here is the storm & sewer being repl...
Drainage
This week is all about trenching for drainage and below grade plumbing. It’s been a very wet few weeks (North Van, what can you do!) but at least the tempera...
solar
Solar is Live!
Our solar team @puresolarcanada stopped by the house last week to switch on our panels. A big moment - we are now live and producing clean on-site electricity!
Solar
Today’s the day! 27 solar panels and 12.7MWh of annual production installed on the roof! A much anticipated moment and key part of the net zero equation. So ...
Energy Storage and Back-Up Power
If you have solar panels on your roof, it makes sense to add batteries too so you can store excess energy, help smooth out peaks in demand, and power the hom...
Roof Design
The current roof is hand framed, with an addition out back ~1970s. Structural upgrades would be needed to support solar for net zero + if we were to add insu...
art project
Art Work
Superposition, 2022 by james.nizam with galleryjones. We offered up our 1958 house as a canvas before deconstruction, and the results were extraordinary. Fas...
Superposition
Throwback to September when we partnered with @galleryjones and artist @James.Nizam who turned our red room into a work of art 🙌
Red room becomes art
So awesome to be able to support this project ahead of our reno.
Art Project
Exciting things underway in our red room as we await permit! With artist @james.nizam
framing
Framing Inspection
We passed framing inspection this week! High fives to our team @twinlionscontracting for hitting this major milestone. We spent some time documenting what’s ...
Framing 2
Another couple of weeks and the makings of a ground floor! Loving these engineered floor joists, parallel strand (PSL) beams and old studs sandwiched between...
Framing
Really great progress while we’ve been away. Nice to see some framing starting to take shape. A mix of new lumber, old lumber and parallel strand lumber (PSL...
electrical
Solar is Live!
Our solar team @puresolarcanada stopped by the house last week to switch on our panels. A big moment - we are now live and producing clean on-site electricity!
Energy Storage and Back-Up Power
If you have solar panels on your roof, it makes sense to add batteries too so you can store excess energy, help smooth out peaks in demand, and power the hom...
Rough In
A ton of plumbing, mechanical and electrical work happening behind the scenes lately. As well as ‘back framing’ – final interior framing around bulkheads, do...
wildfire
Soffits
Cedar soffit install has been progressing nicely with scaffolding moving about the house one side at a time.
Wildfire Development Permit
We thought we’d be back to work on site by now. Unfortunately, the final go-ahead is still held up because we have been going through a Wildfire Development ...
funding
Grants and Funding
The province and Canada have different funding available for energy efficiency retrofits.
poetry
Energy Efficient Building Poem
In celebration of the season here is a Christmas greeting from ChatGPT. Prompt was “A short Christmas Poem about an Energy Efficient Building”
plumbing
Rough In
A ton of plumbing, mechanical and electrical work happening behind the scenes lately. As well as ‘back framing’ – final interior framing around bulkheads, do...
landscaping
Permeable Driveway
Lots of action on site this week as we complete the driveway and hardscape. Because of the site’s poor drainage (see Stormwater Management post 11/24/2023), ...