Energy efficiency focus of retrofit of Topham Park house

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John Van Dusen's home looks much like those of his neighbours in the Topham Park neighbourhood. It's a quaint post-war, one-and-a-half-storey home with siding and shutters on a lot with mature trees. That's where many of the similarities end.

Van Dusen's home might be more than 60 years old, but it's one of the most advanced homes in the city. Or it will be once the solar panels have been hooked up and the renovations are complete on the home known as Now House.

The official unveiling of the retrofit takes place Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 11 a.m. People will get to take a look inside the 1,200-square-foot home that was transformed over the past few months as part of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Equilibrium sustainable housing competition. Twelve projects from across the country were chosen last year; the Now House project is the only retrofit.

Lorraine Gauthier and her firm Work Worth Doing led the team that researched and designed the net zero retrofit of the home which was built in 1946.

The design included the installation of new low-e windows, in-floor radiant heating in the basement, solar thermal and solar photovoltaic systems, a heat recovery ventilator, and a lot of new insulation in the walls and attic.

"Insulation is a big story. You can't take a house like this to net zero without addressing heat loss," Gauthier said.

In order to make the home as efficient as possible, heat loss had to be addressed so the home's siding was removed and a new five-inch frame was created to install a thick layer of foam insulation.

"I describe it as a large blanket wrapped around the house," Gauthier said.

The basement, foundation walls and attic were also insulated.

The solar thermal system was installed on the roof to collect heat for the home's hot water needs and the solar photovoltaic panels were added so the home could generate its own energy.

"If you're trying to hit net zero energy you have to provide heat, so in this case we're using solar panels," Gauthier said.

The Now House team wanted to retrofit a 1940s house to make it more efficient, and therefore have a smaller environmental impact, because there are more than one million similar homes across the country.

They knew the East York neighbourhood was full of homes built by the Wartime Housing Corporation (later CMHC) so the project team started knocking on doors and Van Dusen volunteered his home to be the guinea pig. The homes were built across the country between 1941 and 1947 as affordable housing for munitions workers and returning veterans.

He's been living in the construction site that is his home while the renovations have taken place. He's looking forward to having his new and improved home back.

"It's only going to be couple more weeks and then it'll be complete and I'll have my life back," he said at the end of August.

He was happy to play a role.

"In the long run if this doesn't help move the project forward for the environment...That's the important thing about all this," Van Dusen said. "I know I'm going to sleep better at night because I've done my part."

The team hopes to take the lessons learned at this house and apply them to the neighbourhood of similar homes in Topham Park and then other neighbourhoods across Canada.

The impact would be significant. Van Dusen's home produced 9.7 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually before the retrofit and now it will produce just 4.3 tonnes because of the envelope upgrades, load reductions and improved day lighting.

The energy costs associated with the home will also decrease dramatically, from $1,266.58 to $276.71, because of the use of solar power.

Efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, low-flow showerheads and faucets, and new windows were also installed.

"A lot of what we're doing is what most homeowners would be doing if they were looking at upgrading their home to make it more efficient," Gauthier said.

The project took a little longer to complete than the team first anticipated as they had to raise the money for the cost of the renovations through sponsorship, and then the weather didn't co-operate with a winter start. They are looking forward to being finished, and having the opportunity to start on more houses.

"We are looking forward to having a toast," Gauthier said.