The federal government recently launched its Canada Greener Homes Grant. In brief, the grant provides various incentive options for existing homes to upgrade their energy efficiency, however no grants are available for new homes, even though housing starts in many parts of the country continue to grow (in our own local area, new builds are huge in a hot real estate market). In this article, we ask why the government won’t also support homeowners in building highly energy efficient homes right out of the gate.
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Renovate or build from scratch?
If you live in an older home that’s seen better days, is not very energy efficient, and perhaps just not working for how you live, the question is demolition or remodel?
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Ottawa Home & Remodelling Show starts Thursday!
The Ottawa Home & Remodelling Show starts tomorrow and we’ll be there. The show runs from January 23-26 at the EY Centre. After some down time over the holidays we’re really looking forward to new conversations!
Retrofitting an older home to Passive House standard
Next stop in our new series on retrofitting older homes: changes to attain Passive House standard. We have received many requests from readers on how to transform an existing home into a passive home.
Retrofitting an older home: taking a staged approach
Many of you have indicated that you’d like to hear from us about retrofitting older homes, and we love that idea too. We know not everyone is in the market for a brand new home!
There are a lot of good reasons to address the comfort and energy efficiency of an older home, particularly if you live in a neighbourhood that you love and don’t wish to leave. Staying in place and fixing what’s not working about your older home could be a really smart decision.
Much of our audience is in the Ottawa area, and a lot of great neighbourhoods full of older homes spring to mind.
So what to do when your home is many decades old, drafty and dependent on steep energy bills to keep it cool in summer and warm in winter?