Retrofits for Rebates

For over ten years, Green$aver has been providing retrofit services to improve energy efficiency of the homes and other buildings. Our installation crews are trained the Green$aver way to ensure your retrofits are expertly installed on time and on budget.

Many of our retrofit services are eligible for the ecoENERGY Retrofit Initiative.

Green$aver provides the following services:

• Building Insulation
• Attic Insulation
• Wall Insulation
• Insulating Crawl Spaces
• Air sealing and Draftproofing
• Other energy efficiency related work

There are many benefits in making energy saving improvements in your home. These improvements can reduce: energy use, drafts, summer overheating, moisture and condensation problems, noise from outside the house and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as indoor air quality and humidity levels.

Building Insulation

The GTA, and especially Metro Toronto, is full of older houses that have no insulation in their walls, very little in their attics (an average of R12 insulation, compared to Ontario Building Code minimum of R32), and lose over 25% of their energy through cracks.

On average the typical Toronto home loses a great deal of heat out through air leaks in its exterior thermal envelope and the average home has two third less insulation in the attic as is currently required by building codes. The old real estate adage of location, location, location does not apply here - energy inefficient homes can be found in any part of the city. On top of that, a newly renovated home, in a desirable neighbourhood, is no guarantee that it is energy efficient.

While insulating a house may seem like an easy DIY job, professional advice and service can often mean the difference between a job well done and having a long term comfort and indoor environment hotspot.

Our services include:

Attic insulation

Usually the least taxing upgrade to a home is adding more insulation to the attic. However, it is important that the attic should not be insulated until the attic floor has been professionally air sealed, while still ensuring adequate ventilation. Once you add more insulation, the temperature in the attic will drop dramatically and that means any warm moist air that gets pushed from your living space into the attic will condense inside the attic possibly causing mould to grow or long term structural damage.

The preferred material for attic insulation is cellulose. Not only is it a low embodied energy material, but it has all the strengths of the best insulations;

• It has a high R value per unit area
• It is very safe
• It meets all the requirements for insulation as set out by Building Scientists, and is widely used throughout the world.
• Is moderately priced
• Its high density and small fibre size mean its better at trapping warm air and keeping it from moving out than other fibrous materials.

Wall insulation

Generally, there are only two choices in insulating framed walls: injecting cellulose, or tearing off the plaster, and insulating using conventional materials, followed by drywall. Both methods, when professionally done, will provide good end results. By using the conventional approach, you will be able to upgrade wiring, plumbing and telecommunications wires. The greatest advantage with cellulose is that the end result in terms of energy efficiency is the same (high R value at about R14) but the cost is only a fraction, and the retrofit can be done in a few days, as opposed to a few weeks.

Crawlspaces

The typical crawlspace leaves the back of the house feeling cold and uncomfortable. Each crawlspace should be carefully considered in trying to upgrade it. Our preferred method is to bring that crawl volume into the warm heated space of the house by insulating the perimeter of the house, and airsealing it with spray foam. Each crawlspace is different, and we urge you to consult a professional.

Air Sealing

Because the average GTA home loses 25% -40% of its heat by air leakage, we've developed a professional service that use the Blower Door Technology. We spend our time air sealing your house with various sealants only where its necessary. Not all cracks leak, and we know the difference, so we can save you money by sealing only what needs to be done. If you think that your problems are mainly related to inadequate air sealing, you may want to consider our Intelligent Draftproofing service.

Other Energy Related Retrofits

These include:

• Assistance with upgrades to your furnace, boiler and windows
• Assistance with lighting, A/C and appliance retrofits
• Providing professional advice and supervision, for the energy related portion of the work that your contractors are completing

Please call (416) 203-3106 or email retrofits@greensaver.org for more information.

Find out more about the low interest Alterna Green$aver Improvement Loan

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