Cotton-Candy basement...

As promised, here are some pictures of our newly insulated basement!

Thanks again to Steve and Kurtis from Merkley Energy Solutions for the wonderful work they've done for us!

I still can't get over the difference these changes have made already. Between the 'can't-even-tell-if-it's-running' furnace and now our completely insulated basement - we're in for a cozy winter!!

Have you been taking advantage of the rebates available for these changes? What changes have you made to your own homes? Share your stories with me!

Let the games begin....

The day is finally here!

The very helpful guys from Merkley Energy Solutions arrived this morning to tackle our basement insulation project.

I'm excited to get home this evening to see our fully spray-foamed basement! As our basement was our biggest energy-waster, now that we've installed a new high-efficiency propane furnace and completely insulated the walls - we're that much closer to reaching our home-energy targets.

As I said in the beginning - this process may be far from the instant gratification I was hoping for - but step-by-step, I'm learning and seeing the benefits each upgrade will provide. There's a lot to be said for that!

Thanks to everyone who continues to share our journey. I'll share pictures with you soon!

Always learning...

It's been quite some time since I last wrote... my apologies! It's amazing how quickly the summer can come and go. Here we are - already on the cusp of fall!

With the onslaught of cooler weather, I've learned a couple of things about my new HVAC equipment.

The first... our new high-efficiency propane furnace is sooooo quiet! I remember having guests over during the holidays last winter and their look of alarm when the old furnace would fire up. It would rattle and shake the floors - it sounded like the house was trying to take flight! We decided to give the furnace a try on one of the chilly nights this week (I know... in August!!) - and loved it. I didn't have to turn the TV up - didn't have pictures rattling on the walls - what a treat!

The second... an instantaneous tankless hot water heater does not mean instant hot water out of your taps. (Hmmm, that sounds pretty straight forward now that I write it.... but I always thought otherwise!)

Tankless water heaters aren't for everyone - and we originally debated getting one for ourselves. In the end, we decided it would make sense for a household like ours. It was on a particularly cold morning when I was waiting for the water in the shower to get warm enough to hop in that I questioned the inner workings of our heater.

Now that I understand how it works - I'm not sure how I thought otherwise! Basically, an instantaneous tankless hot water heater means that as soon as you call upon hot water - it's instantly hot. Why you don't instantly feel that hot water from your taps is because it still needs to travel through the pipes to the tap. Once you have the hot water - it will stay that way indefinitely because you're not pulling the water from a storage tank (hence the tankless part). This is good news for some - bad news for others (i.e. parents of kids notorious for getting out of the shower only once they run out of hot water!)

While this information may not be news to most of you - it did make me realize that an important part of research is understanding! It's easy to become misguided when it comes to equipment we may not all understand - and that can lead to false expectations or disappointment.

Talk to a professional - ask questions - get informed!

Thanks Ben - you're a great teacher!

Some details...

Well, the basement has been cleaned - the walls are bare - we're ready to go!

Although I've mentioned it before - I haven't really given any details about the spray foam treatment we will be applying to our basement walls.

The product is called 'Heatlok Soya' - it's a closed-cell spray polyurethane foam made from recycled plastic and soya oil. According to the pamphlet, it uses recycled plastics and vegetable oils and claims to:
- have zero impact on the ozone layer,
- have one of (if not the) highest thermal value of any insulation product on the market, and
- increase the energy effeciency of the building.

An independent lab test confirms the long-term performance of the product's thermal properties and maintains that it does not support mold and mildew.

For you visual learners - here's their latest promotional video.

Isn't science great??

And onto the next...

Well, as I've reported, our new 98% efficient propane furnace, instantaneous tankless hot water heater, and HRV have been installed by Sauve Heating Ltd and our propane has been delivered - so on the heating side, we're good to go!

Next on the agenda - basement insulation. We've been slowly cleaning our basement so the guys from Merkley Drywall and Insulation won't have any problems making their way around. I'm sure you can imagine how much fun cleaning the basement can be - especially during the summer - so you probably understand why this hasn't happened sooner. But - we're on it! Sometime next week, we should have a fully insulated basement!

Once that's done - we'll be on the home stretch. As outlined in our eco-audit report, updating our heating system and insulating our basement will be our biggest money-savers. To compliment these efforts, however - we'll have to re-insulate the exterior of our home, as well.

I'm actually looking forward to moving on to the exterior-insulation phase because it means I need to start looking at siding options. While I know I'll have to consider what type of siding we choose - right now, I'm can't help but focus on colour!

C'mon, you can relate ..... right??

House guests...

With the appearance of summer, and as we start planning our interior and exterior home insulation, we've also started thinking about how nice it will be to have our home mostly sealed from creepy-crawlers. In my husband's case - this means spiders and for me - earwigs! (ew)

But - it wasn't until just recently that I realized this is also true of some of the bigger critters, too.

I was out hanging clothes on the line when I noticed a pretty unsightly pile of droppings below a vent hole in an unused chimney on the side of our house. It didn't take much to determine they were bat droppings. A lot of bat droppings.

While I have nothing against bats - and am actually happy to have them around, I know they're not the best thing for a home! Some facts (from the Humane Wildlife Control website):

1 - Bats can eat up to 3,000 insects in one night! Yes, that includes mosquitoes. On the flip side, if they're roosting in your home, they can also cause odor, damage and contamination.

2- Bat colonies can range from one to several hundred. Judging from the pile of droppings we have accumulating - we're definitely looking at more than one!!

3 - Bat colonies double in size every year. Unless they're removed (and the home sealed), bats do tend to return to the same property each year.

4 - Bats can bite. Although the rumors of bats getting tangled in your hair or sucking your blood are false, they can bite and are the most common carriers of rabies.

5 - A bat can produce several times its weight in waste each month. If inhaled, the droppings can actually cause histoplasmosis (identified as having flu-like symptoms).

6 - A bat can fit in a hole the size of a dime. Experts say that sealing the hole isn't good enough as the decay can cause waste and damage. The most effective way to deal with a bat colony is to get rid of all the bats and completely seal the entire building from further entry.

So, looks like we'll have to address our bat problem before we start insulating. I'm hoping we can find a new home on the property for our bat friends - because without a screened-in porch, we'll need all the help we can get against the mosquitoes!

Isn't it pretty?

Well, she's in! And I have to say - part of me even considered wishing it was colder so we could fire her up!

I know! Crazy....

Don't worry, that thought-process didn't last too long!

Sauve Heating did a fantastic job installing the equipment - which involved taking out our old oil tank and switching everything over to propane!

I included the picture to the right to hopefully remind you that not only do these upgrades mean a more efficient (and less-expensive to operate) home - but they also mean even more money back in your pockets. In the case of our instantaneous hot water heater - $630!

If this year has shown us anything, it's that we all need play a part in protecting our environment - and the economy. How great to be able to do both at once!