Every insulation product has a different R-rating per inch (i.e. Extruded Polystyrene is rated R-5 per inch).

Under the Ontario Home Energy Retrofit Program for renovation grants, the brand name or type of product doesn’t matter, as long as the R-value is achieved. Be sure to check past the marketing material for insulation to make sure what the true R-value is of a product. This is an useful summary of R-values: http://cmhc.ca/en/co/maho/enefcosa/enefcosa_002.cfm.

Interesting fact: having a good amount of insulation in your home not only keeps the heat in during the winter, but also helps to keep the heat out in the summer! A well insulated home means a comfortable home, all year round.

Your home may have poor air tightness, or a lot of air loss, due to leakage in a number of places. Typically, homeowners feel or notice heat loss around their drafty windows and doors (this isn’t always the door or window’s fault,  sometimes it’s the framing around the unit). You also may notice heat escaping through your fireplace chimney, especially if it’s an old fireplace that is never used. That’s a pretty big hole to have in your house! Air leakage can also occur in old furnace vents that remain in the house and go out through a chimney, or perhaps you have an unsealed attic hatch. A lot of air can escape up and out through the cracks around the hatch. Overall, you may experience heat loss due to poor construction or renovation practices around the entire perimeter of your house.

During an energy assessment, the Certified Energy Advisor will actually measure the volume of air leakage in your home and will recommend how you can improve it. Sometimes this involves many little things (caulking, foam gaskets behind electrical plates, weather stripping) and sometimes it’s much more complicated, it depends on the house.

For more tips about improving the airt tightness of your home, visit the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (http://cmhc.ca/en/co/co_001.cfm). They offer many free publications under the About Your House series.

The grants are for fuels where there is waste, such as natural gas, propane and oil. Electricty is 100% efficient, meaning that for every $1 you spend on electric heat, you get $1 worth of heat. Whereas, with something like gas, you might get 96-98% worth for every dollar. The grants in the Ontario Home Energy Retrofit Program are for natural gas, propane, oil, hot water and wood appliances only.

Now, you may have an electric forced air furnace that is actually fueled by gas or oil, so be sure to check that. If you do, and you are planning to upgrade it, then there would be a grant for this.

Confusing? Call us!

People used to be told not to insulate to the floor due to flooding, but when you think about it, what are the chances of a flood in your basement, compared to the many days and years that will go by where you had no insulation in the place where you need it most? If you are prone to flooding, then these issues should be taken care of before you insulate to the floor. But generally speaking, take it right down to the bottom!

Remember to ask your window vendor if the windows you are purchasing are ENERGY STAR qualified for your climate zone, in order to qualify. You can find out more about ENERGY STAR here.