@tygertygertyger and
@LaineyAZ - There are a couple of incentives that we are taking advantage of. Canada Greener Homes and a much smaller program through the Canadian Home Builder Association Net Zero.
So far we have financed this year's work ourselves (we are just shy of spending $50k CAN on the house).*
I have just completed a loan application for approx $34K. This loan, through Canada Greener Homes Loans is zero interest for 10 years. It is attached to our property taxes. I believe that it remains with the property if we sell, but we have no intention of moving ever. The HVAC installation and the energy audit and some of the insulating are eligible expenses.
We will get a grant of $8050 refunded eventually (apparently it is taking 15-18 months for processing) through the gas utility.
Engineering consulting to get us into the CHBA net zero program is covered by the study if we meet the targets. This included one company testing air flow at every register in the house (and determining that there wasn't enough, including three rooms that were so low to be undetectable). They handled everything through the program so I have no idea how much that cost and the financial benefit for us. Another HVAC engineer did sizing for the air handling and volumes required as well as drawings for a fuel change building permit. His bill - only $800, was passed along to the first engineer for the CHBA Net Zero. We won't personally see any money in this program, but are benefiting greatly from the expertise.
For CHBA Net Zero, the air sealing measurements from the earlier work we did in 2017-2018 are included in the assessments. For the Canada Greener Homes, only the work we are doing in this phase is eligible.
In 2018 we got a small amount back for insulating the basement. We haven't been able to maximize the grant allowance in either then or now. We can't do a large enough proportion. (in 2018 we couldn't afford to do more. In 2024, we didn't have enough areas needing insulation left. They don't measure the percentage of currently uninsulated, just the whole house against what you did during the grant window. In 2020 we did a fifth of the exterior walls on the main floor. In 2016 we re-insulated the attic. ($7000)
There have been a number of time consuming tasks, such as questionnaires, provide utility bills, and prove that our radon mitigation system is effective.** Meeting with the various trades takes a chunk of time as does finding them in the first place. For example - the electrician needed to visit and then needed peak load data from the utility. The HVAC contractor we ended up hiring visited 4 times prior to starting the work. They met twice with the engineer and their HVAC expert to see how to get the necessary size on the main run off the fan with the crazy structure of our house. The amount of plaster ripped out just kept filling bags.
We had a 200amp service already. Meter was installed in 2017 with the solar panels. (30,000 for 10kWp) 2019 we upgraded the panel to match the meter. And upgraded the service to a sub-panel in the other side of the basement. ($5,800)
Other activities - DH has been doing air sealing whereever he can. DS's closet light switch on a wall near the chimney. The valance in the living room over the patio door. Electrical receptacles in the living room. The basement bath exhaust fan. It now has a wooden cover that we open manually when we shower. The bathroom is noticeably warmer.
We hired a contractor to air seal and insulate the front hall ceiling. Another contractor hung drywall and taped. We painted. And rehung the lights and repair the dimmer switch that got smashed during the drywall phase. It felt really decadent (and expensive - $5 400) to pay someone for this work. But it was high up and we don't have scaffold and well beyond our physical strength. (and almost beyond the slight contractor and his younger brother)
We (in the royal sense) have added insulation on exterior walls in my office, the living room, under the stairs to the basement, the basement area under the kitchen this time around.
DH can do all the work himself but maneuvering drywall is much easier with two (DS helps, I open and shut doors to keep the cats in and the mosquitoes out). For my office, his brother came by a few times to help with re-handing a door and mudding and taping and using the special nailing tool for securing the bottom plate to the concrete floor.
DH trimmed out windows, including milling some wood for trim, sills and jam extensions. My Dad loved being a lumberjack and doing wood working so we have access to dry maple, cedar, poplar, ash and walnut and a full shop. I am sure we couldn't afford to hire out this type of finish carpentry.
DH is slowly but surely patching all the holes in the finished areas that needed to be taken down during the HVAC upgrades. The drywaller will come back to finish them and mock DH's workmanship.
We re-ran the central vac lines as code will not allow them inside the cold air returns. And it is a shorter, much less twisty line.
The cold air return no longer has speaker wire, sub-panel power, security system or any other crap in it.
There is no longer any water hammer. All the water lines are now secured at regular intervals. Same with all the wiring through the hallway and office.
I am repurposing drapes. It does feel cozier at night with curtains pulled, but I suspect this is just psychological.
Heat registers in the living room now make the curtains and leaves on the house plants move with warm air.
There have been many quality of life improvements from this phase work. So far the only negative: the system is louder but perhaps when all the holes are patched it will be less so. Small trade off to not having frozen toes.
Despite all the money we have put into this place, I think we are still ahead. Every day I am thankful for how luxurious it is. Sunday morning there were 7 different species of birds at the feeder. I was enjoying the activity from a comfortable chair in a warm room with a cuppa.
* With only one kid in university, relatively frugal habits, we are able to bank roll large purchases such as hiring HVAC/ electricians / plumbers for heat pump, duct work etc. We felt some discomfort but between not saving anything over the summer and tapping the emergency fund and the future car purchase savings account. [DH likes to pay for cars with cash and has his own little dreaming-about-wheels savings account. Since he bought a new car in December 2022, it wasn't able to cover the whole amount. When the loan lands in our account, we will do our TFSA contributions for 2024, restock the E-fund and the balance will go into regular savings.
** We discovered radon 7-10 years ago and have been running a fan thingy since then. Retested in 2017 by the radon mitigation specialist when the HRV was installed and determined that the dedicated fan was still necessary. At the time we paid $1600 to install the fan and all the testing. We also got a vent hole drilled through the foundation into the cold cellar.
The exterior vent in the cold cellar has enabled the cold air off the water heater to be ducted into the cold cellar. Initially the Rheem pumped 8-10C air into the basement area DH uses as his work from home space. He started working in the office again because he was freezing. There is a draft around the cold cellar door but DH is now used to working in the office. A consistent 8-10 cold cellar is a nice side benefit.
