Post Retrofit

This Friday we are having our long awaited post retrofit energy assessment done on our house. Which means we are getting judged on how "green" we've made our house.

I have a confession to make. I totally dropped the ball on the actual program. We did ALL these upgrades based on the program, and we were finally finished, so I made the call to get the post assessment done. Turns out the program ended in March, and I thought it ended in May. They both start in M!!! I wonder where most of my focus has gone.... Oh ya. New mom syndrome.

Luckily for me, LiveSmart BC just announced a new program and I was able to reapply. That made breaking the news to Adam much easier. At least we could still get some rebated back. This time around, it was based more on insulation and air tightness of the house, whereas the previous program was quite specific, like adding insulation, bathroom fans and replacing doors, etc.

Some of the things we did are no longer eligible for the the rebates (sorry Adam!) BUT they still add to the efficiency of our house. I'll just think about it as a rebate on our energy bill.

Here is a recap of all the things we've done to make our home "green".

Spray Foaming the Basement

This was a pretty big undertaking, and we definitely brought in the professionals for this one. I am positive it has made a HUGE difference. It was worth the investment, and it will reduce our heating bills dramatically. Totally recommend doing this if you can! 

Walls and box ends spray foamed. Good bye draft!

Spray foam close up

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Sealing Windows

One of a houses biggest heat loss is often the windows. Unfortunately, we didn't have it in the budget to replace the windows. Lucky for us, during our pre-assessment, we found out that the windows weren't actually that bad, so I just ripped down the trim, and Adam spray foamed the void around the frame.

It felt a little counterproductive ripping down the perfectly good trim, but from our previous lesson with the front door, I only cried a little ripping it down. There is just something about having the trim down that makes it feel like a construction zone again. Ah well. It's all for a reason! (See my previous post where we replaced our "exterior doors": When One Door Closes... Another One Opens)

Sealing the windows

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Say no to Cracks!

We had a few cracks in the foundation that definitely can't help in the heat loss aspect. So Adam pumped them full of hydraulic cement and fixed that problem. We also used Rustoleum Leak Seal to damp-proof the concrete, even though the Quick Plug Hydraulic Cement is water-proof. One can never be too safe! Just for the record, we used 2 large buckets of the hydraulic cement for our three foundation holes, so if you think this little box fixed our cracks, well, I'm letting you know this is just for touch ups. This wouldn't get you very far. Sorry.

Tools of the crack fixing trade!

Before

After (from the outside) Didn't Adam do a killer job?

Oh, the work of home ownership! I don't even see a break in sight, let alone the end! Like Adam always says, that's why a mortgage is for 25 years. Maybe in 25 years we'll have it the way we want it. But then again, who wants a 25 year old bathroom? Ah, it really will never end, will it? It's a good thing we actually enjoy it!

Thanks again for reading!

Jena xo