Ottawa Citizen Interview

On Tuesday, I gave a writer for the Ottawa Citizen a tour of the house. She wants to do a series of articles on the renovation process for the 'In and Around the House' section of the Citizen. The idea came through a friend of mine that is also a member of the OTC (go Louise go).

I knew that if she saw the house then she would definitely want to do the articles. There is a lot of material to write about there! I think that the plan is write about the renovation experience including the 'green' side of the project (decision-making 101). I think that there is a lot to be said about retrofit projects - not just about green and new home construction. The articles will keep us on our toes.

I included this photo as another example of the current state of energy efficiency in our house. This window was the worst one during our energy audit.

I will post the date when I know when the first article is coming out. As for the latest changes to the inside of the house, we no longer have the wood paneling in the basement (ceiling or walls) or the very, very temporary old wall stuffed with newspaper. If you ignore the mold, it almost looks clean down there.

Volatile Organic Compounds

I just wrote out the full name for VOCs to get my Dad, the science nerd, to read this blog entry.

The use of materials with low VOCs is a common tool used in sustainable design projects. We did not make the effort to use paints with low/no VOCs in our kitchen reno for our current place and I am still not 100% sure why (laziness?). While research still has to be done for the big reno project, I am inspired to now not just ignore the issue but to learn what I can about off-gasing (please don't let the lack of enthusiasm and delivery for our last reno project detract from your confidence in our commitment to follow through this time).

At the Home Show today, the following was said: low VOC paint means white paint because VOCs are associated with pigment. Is this true?

For substances that off-gas from the material inside cabinets (formaldehyde in OSB), one solution is said to be to paint all cabinets on all sides with a low VOC paint to "seal" them off. This would be instead of buying cabinets that do not off-gas in the first place which is a cost and sourcing issue.

Plan Ahead for a 'Green' Project

Today was the Ottawa Fall Home Show where we attended a seminar put on by our Design-Build company. Watching him talk about "what you really need to consider when building or renovating green" made us even more excited about our project. I really don't think that we are "thinking green" to be part of the trend. I really think that we are committed to the challenge and opportunity.

During the presentation and under the heading "Plan Ahead for a Green Project" the audience was asked to think about establishing priorities for their project - is energy efficiency the most important thing to you? indoor air quality?

My gut reaction is energy efficiency first, but with indoor air quality as a close second. Maybe I want (and expect) too much. In our case though I think that we can follow through with this if we make the effort now. I recognize that we are in a unique situation due the fact that we can enter this game in the first place (old house in a great neighbourhood with a great location and the ability to actually undertake a renovation). The upfront costs may be high but the pay back is there. The example I heard the other day has to do with commuting. By living where we are and not having to drive long distances to work (even walk/bike to work) then we are paying the upfront costs for the location instead of paying for it over the years in gas, etc.

One of the other priority areas could be water conservation. I am going to dedicate a separate blog entry to this subject....

Of course there are other priority areas such as material selection and water diversion/reduction... what are your priorities in terms of money/effort spent for green?

Central Vac versus a good ol'fashion broom

What are your thoughts on central vac? One thought is that since we are most likely going to have the walls opened up then this is the time to install it. The other thought is that the 30 ft hoses are annoying to store and lug around (even with one outlet per floor).

We found two companies that install them in Ottawa. Supervac sells the Canovac which is made by a company in Owen Sound (founded in 1968). The other company is Vacuum Ottawa and they sell Nilfisk central vacs (Swedish). They have a special on right now for the Fall Home Show (20% off and no tax). Both are comparable in terms of cost to install and would be flexible in terms of when it goes in (i.e., when the walls are open which is who knows when). Is having central vac worth the $1000 price tag?