Stairwell Insulated

With the tight stairwell down to the basement, we did not have much space to add insulation. We installed 1" thick pieces of insulating styrofoam on that wall, which has an insulation value of R5. I expect this will do little for insulating the house, but hopefully with the addition of vapour barrier and drywall, at least this stairwell will not be drafty. With most of the house now insulated at R14-R28, this will be one of the "weak spots" in the building envelope.

Ice Dam Refresher

The Green Building Advisor recently released a helpful article on ice dams. Ice dams are caused by the combination of 1) a sub-freezing outdoor temperature, 2) snow on the roof, and 3) a roof/attic that is above freezing. With this combination, the heat from the living space escapes out through the attic, melting the snow, which then runs down and re-freezes at the edge of the roof. This can cause damage to gutters and shingles, and can cause water leakage into the wall underneath the bottom edge of the roof. This image from the CMHC website illustrates the problem well.


How do you prevent ice dams?

1. Seal air leaks in your attic.
2. Increase your attic insulation (this depends on your climate zone, but for us the target is R-50).
3. Improve ventilation between the insulation and roof sheathing.
4. Cover the roof sheathing (i.e. underneath shingles) with rubberized membrane underlayment.

It is important to note that the first two steps (air sealing and insulation) will also help with the energy efficiency of your home. The third step (ventilation) might help with ice damming if your air sealing and insulation is not sufficient. The fourth step (ice and water shield) will do nothing to prevent ice damming, but will help to prevent water leakage caused by the ice dam.

If none of these options are available to you at this time, you can attach electrical cables to melt the snow/ice on the bottom portion of the roof, or use salt (which would need to be regularly replenished) to melt ice dams.

Basement Phase 5: Framing and Insulation

The new concrete floor was poured on Saturday morning of the long weekend, so I rested for most of that day while the concrete dried. The concrete process went as you would expect: one guy using a wheelbarrow to transport concrete from the truck into the chute, and three guys in the basement distributing and leveling the concrete.

Prior to framing and insulating the basement, I had a number of other tasks that needed to be completed. This included removing some old plumbing/electrical from the laundry machines, running the plumbing stack to the future first floor washroom, and running the new duct for the dryer. The biggest task was installing three basement windows, as well as a window to replace the milk box beside the side door.

I then proceeded to frame the three exterior walls. This was not very difficult, but it was time-consuming because I had to work around ductwork and other obstacles. I then insulated those walls by installing two layers of R14 batt insulation; the first layer was placed horizontally behind the studs, and then the second layer was placed vertically inside the studs. Because of space constraints, the wall beside the stairs was only insulated with a single layer of R5 styrofoam insulation.

We have since hooked up the washer and dryer, so for now the basement is essentially a huge laundry room. We will probably take it slow for the next few weeks, and then start working towards finishing the basement.

The Clock is Ticking

We have been procrastinating big time on the tasks that need to be completed in order for us to maximize our ecoEnergy rebates. We have a long to-do list, and a little over six weeks until we need to conduct the follow-up audit (must be done within 18 months of initial audit).

1. Insulate attic - We currently have R0 (yes, that is a zero), so we should have done this a long time ago, but somehow it just never topped the task list. We have scheduled a contractor to install cellulose insulation to R50 later this week, as this is actually cheaper than doing it ourselves (amazing, eh?).
2. Replace water heater - We currently rent an old, crappy electric water heater, and will be moving to a high-efficiency gas water heater. In order to direct vent up the chimney, we also need to have a new liner installed, but if that is not possible we will power vent instead.
3. Replace four basement windows - We ordered replacement slider windows yesterday. Two of the windows will be slightly larger than the originals, which will add more light into the basement. We do not need to add an egress window in our basement since we have a direct exit through the side door, and our basement windows are quite large so they easily exceed light/ventilation requirements. We also plan to replace the old milk drop box with a fixed window, which should add a little bit of light into the stairwell down to the basement.
4. Insulate the basement walls and headers - This does not seem like a very tall order, but prior to insulating, we need to break up the basement floor, re-do the drains underneath the house, upgrade the supply line, pour a new basement floor, and frame the exterior walls.

Sooooo, August should be a busy month at our house, especially considering we plan to spend some time in cottage country and I do not want to "waste" any vacation time on renovation projects. Can we get it done? I hope so.