Imber Akse House – Burlington’s LEED home

Now that we’ve moved in, did I say we’ve moved in, we’ve had a number of weeks to experience living in the house.

Like any honeymoon, the first couple of weeks weeks felt like a dreamy holiday away — lounging, pacing around, staring blissfully out the windows and admiring the details — getting to know each other away from reality.

Following this, we moved in for real and began to unpack, post honeymoon. Then the stark reality of the things remaining to do, the real unpacking and the beginning of maintenance slowly set in.

Now, weeks beyond that, we are starting to get to know the systems and get really familiar with each other, the house and us. Hence our first product review, the toilets.

Being a green home, we made every effort to find the best, most accessible and local products for the money and in the case of the toilets, we decided on the Kohler Water Sense — San Raphael™ Comfort Height® Pressure Lite® 1.0 gpf one piece elongated toilet with the Sloan FlushMate power flush!

Basically, this is a great toilet, doing everything it should and looking stylish while doing it. However, being one of those purchases you make blind, or at least not from experiencing it in the show room, I think there are some details worth discussing.

First, when they said power flush, we had no idea. This toilet uses the municipal water pressure to charge up an inner vessel within the tank with a combination of water and compressed air (Flushmate). Then, when you press the handle, a mini jet fighter engine blows one gallon of afterburner at the problem and down the drain, in a  similarly aggressive fashion as the toilet on plane on your honeymoon (If you are one of those people who are used to sitting on the toilet while you flush, I don’t recommend it).

Along with the water savings listed, there should be a sones rating. Cool technology but really loud. The good thing is that it is only loud for a second, then while it charges for a few more seconds, it’s much quiter than a typical toilet. So the trade is even I guess. Now in most plushy homes, this may not be an issue, but in our hard surface and sparsely fixtured place, sound get’s around, and around.

The second comment on the toilet is it’s rather tall. You’ll notice it’s called Comfort Height but we’re not entirely sure why. Perhaps the name calls on the same sense of irony as “Pressure Lite”. I’m 5′-10-3/4″ and the toilet is uncomfortably high at times. My 5′-4″ house boss definitely finds herself with toes pointing to the floor and the kids don’t stand a chance. Apparently Kohler suggests that Comfort Height is the height of an average chair, making it easier to sit and stand up. Indeed, if I was dining on the toilet, ok, but for many a subtle squat position may make the experience more rewarding.

On the positive side, the toilet looks great and is as sustainable as they come. It’s of very high quality, made in the US and uses very little water compared to traditional flushers. It’s important to note that so far, the toilets are also doing fine in combination with our grey water reclamations system which is using recovered sink and shower water for use by the toilets.

A side note is the need for a change of habit. Like many, we have a tendency to use toilet tissue for noses and the toilet for the disposal of such. In the case of the Pressure Lite flushers, they blow the tissue to bits resulting in a pulp solution worthy of paper making that is difficult to flush in one go. So if you are at all itchy to have a completely clear bowl (just paper no solids) then you’ll need to change that habit. The toilet is not a garbage can kids.

However, despite the Kohler San Raphael’s little ironies, I’d have to say we’re getting along just fine.

We received the green light – we’re moving in. The house looks spectacular and everything seems to be working as designed and to its function. Living in the space will give a more accurate perspective but from having had some time to get to know the place over the last few months, it amazes us how enjoyable the results of a little planning can be.

All of our stone comes from local quarries in Wiarton and Owen Sound. Limberlost Stone supplied a lot of it as they have that perfect warm buff colour along with the charcoal and grey striated limestone available in most any shape, size and cut.

Picking stone isn’t like selecting carpet samples, it is a natural product that is endlessly different from day to day and layer to layer throughout a quarry. This means it’s recommended to either go pick it yourself and have it put aside or if you chose not to pick it, just be happy with the surprise nature offers.

www.limberloststone.com

The landscaping has begun. We had a run of beautiful warm days last week and knocked off the front yard with the assistance of a bobcat artist named Wayne.

The landscape plan we developed hopes to maintain our goal of energy conservatism and sustainability but as usual with a large degree of pragmaticism. To follow LEED landscaping to the letter, we would have had to be way more diligent with our plant and material selections than we could as DIY’ers as well as provide the signature of a landscape architect for full points. In our case, we’re happy to use native (central Canada and Ontario, not exclusively Southern Ontario) hardy and drought resistant plantings along with locally sourced stone, screenings and soil as well as recovered mulch from local saw mills and fallen trees.

In addition, we designed the landscape to coordinate with our roof water run-off and site drainage so as to avoid site storm water run-off into the city municipal sewer system. We integrated berms, plantings, kitchy catch basins and mini-creeks or French trenches to keep water moving away from the foundation but with the goal to have it absorbed by plantings and the natural water table. We filled the catch basins and trenches with drainage tubes and covered with river rock for filtering, evaporation and simple clean aesthetics.

The main thing we wanted was a natural easy unstructured feel of the yard to balance the purposely structured building. This unstructured format will also be forgiving of a more wild result when the grasses and native plants start to mature and get slightly unruly – allowing us the grace to not use too much energy in maintenance.

The check list we achieved
+ minimal costs for max results (cost means more money through the wasteful industrial engine)
+ native species of plantings (creating habitat for native wildlife & suit local conditions to avoid artificial support)
+ low energy and efficient use and distribution of site rain water (gravity waters our plants)
+ drought resistance (but the plants don’t need it)
+ low mechanical maintenance (no grass to mow or trim, no fertilizers, no watering from municipal)
+ encourage or restore water table (moist soil is more absorbent and adds to natural plant moisture evaporation cycle)
+ minimized hard surfaces on site (most of our hard surfaces are porous or have cracks for drainage into site)

In the end, we have a natural and pro looking landscape design that works in conjunction with the house and ecology in a practical and achievable way without breaking the bank — though it did my back.

Resources

Native Plant Species Planning — Jason Pepetone (email)

Native Plant material — www.connon.ca

Stone — www.limberloststone.com

Clover Valley Ironworks

Finding a company to custom fabricate and install stairs is surprisingly difficult. There are a lot of commodity stair manufacturers that service the production building markets as well as industrial suppliers, but if what you are looking for are architectural, high quality finished stairs to compliment your home and suit your needs, good luck.

We got lucky. We found Clover Valley Ironworks, a Burlington – Hamilton based manufacturer, while sourcing suppliers to fabricate custom metal work for signage and retail displays that we designed. Jon Luff of Clover Valley is a true multidisciplinary artist that can work in most materials and you name it in fabrication techniques.

His love however is stairs and certainly the art of the stair, in all its complexity of math and planning, suits him well. We provided Jon with a design on a napkin and together hashed out a plan that would work to suit our needs and style. Clover Valley is used to working from technical drawings as much as they are well versed in styles and designs to assist homeowners with magazine clippings. They also distribute a range of the very best imported prefabricated metal and wood modern stairs from Edelco, Ferone and Metal Concept if magazine predictability is what you need.

Clover Valley has a great portfolio online to see for yourself how versatile they are in all styles from modern stairs, like ours, to transitional retail fixtures and traditional iron fences and railings.

www.clovervalleyironworks.com

So close. The house is done but we’ve been awaiting an occupancy from the city for a few weeks — you see the city won’t issue it until we get a letter from 4 Seasons Geothermal stating they have completed their installation to suit the engineering requirements and specifications – essentially guaranteeing their work — easy right? Nope. Apparently we’re getting a letter today and this can get wrapped up.

There’s been a lot of discussion around the recent Canadian renovation incentives, especially the energy retrofit programs. As there should be. These programs are a great way to stimulate both the economy through the renovation market as well as highlight the need for aiming for higher standards of efficiency in legacy homes. As many people have seen who have engaged in the program, it’s easy money and the improvements to old homes with regard to efficiency has been like shooting fish in a barrel.

That said, this is where it ends. In the new home construction market, the incentive cupboard is mostly bare. No way you say. Way. Believe it or not, the majority if not all of the incentives are directed toward the retrofit market, as well as non-profit and commercial – quietly avoiding new homes. Tough question why but the official answer is that the retrofit market has more to gain than the new homes market being that older homes are less efficient, new homes are built to a better standard, so incentives aimed at old homes will be more effective, shooting fish in a barrel. Also, retrofits are a more significant proportion of the voting population… Did I say that.

That said, if the majority of homes that can make a difference are legacy, and new ones represent an insignificant amount, what difference will it make in the grand scheme of things to include them too? How much more would it really cost or what’s it take extra to incentify the few new homes? Strange enough to wonder if there is another reason.

I think if you were to really think about it, you could consider that with time in the equation, putting tax money into an old home to plug this leak and that will bring it up to a moderate, though better, energy standard than it was. Obvious. This will be likely good for another 10-15 years before the next or subsequent owner decides it’s time to reno and improve once again – but likely not before. So, the chance of energy improvements on this legacy before another decade is slim.

On the other hand, putting tax money into a new standard home that could take it from marginally better – and I mean only marginally in many cases with some builders (http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/new_home_nightmares/main.html) – to much better could mean a home that far exceeds legacy standards for the next 25 to 30 years before a reno is required or desired. This equates to almost twice as long. Over simplified logic but logic at that. Because this is at least arguable, it leaves me wondering why new homes could be left out at all when they stand the greater chance of reversing our negative trend of destructive consumption on our planet and resources.

Never the less, this is the case and it’s not about to change.

Enough complaining. There are a few incentives that exist for new green homes worth pursuing. The difficulty in finding and interpreting these is another discussion but with the help of Google and some assistance from our geothermal equipment supplier we were able to locate the following incentives, tax rebates or rumours. I’ll certainly let you know how it goes.

It seems the incentives for new homes are focused around Geothermal, Solar, Wind, Insulation, and of course appliances which include all items installed that become “property” of the home — requiring install rather than furniture — ie. Refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens, HRV’s and built-in fans, AC units, etc.

For us, we will pursue the straightforward — geothermal, appliance and HRV credits or tax deductions. It’s a long shot if insulation has a chance since the wording in the website is very convoluted. For clarity on geothermal, I contacted our Canadian heat pump manufacturer as I believed they should know and happily they turned out to be very helpful.

Randy Waylett – National Sales Manager of Northern Heat Pump says:

“Ontario Government:  http://www.mei.gov.on.ca.wsd6.korax.net/english/energy/renewable/index.cfm?page=geothermal
Ontario Government should match the amount received from the Canadian Government program – $4375 ??

Canadian Government:
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/retrofit-homes/retrofit-qualify-grant.cfm?attr=4
Should qualify for rebate of up to $4375 for the geothermal system installation – both retrofit and new system construction

The Ontario Government has been matching the Federal Government rebates which used to be $3500 for the Fed Government program and $3500 matched by the Ontario Government program for a total of $7000.

Please see http://www.mei.gov.on.ca.wsd6.korax.net/english/energy/renewable/index.cfm?page=geothermal and click on Financing A Geothermal System.

Now the Federal Government program has been increased to $4375 and I am assuming the Ontario Government is still matching?? You should check with your installing contractor of the heat pump system who will need to certify the system through the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition (CGC) in order to qualify for these rebates. They should be familiar with the process required and all the paperwork that needs to be filled out in order to get the rebate monies, etc.

Regards, Randy

CGC website:  http://www.geo-exchange.ca/en/geoexchange_financial_support_grants_rsc70.php“

In addition to Randy’s advice, I located:

Geothermal
Retail Sales Tax – 3.4% of Invoice
http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/refund/windgeo/
http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/notices/rst/44b.html

$8750
http://www.homeperformance.com/ontario-rebates-toronto-hamilton-london-barrie-orillia
http://www.homeperformance.com/ontario-geothermal-rebate-grants-for-geothermal-heating

Real Property – Appliances, lighting, room A/C
http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/notices/rst/68.html

HRV
$750
http://www.homeperformance.com/ontario-hrv-rebate-grants-for-heat-recovery-ventilator


To sum up, finding and understanding whether we qualify for grants or rebates has been tedious at best. Many many hours have been spent and up until recently, we have been sure there were none. Though our supplier, 4 Seasons could be educated in this area of understanding, as most certainly it would help them to sell a unit or two, they haven’t offered assistance in this perspective as I can guess is similar with other suppliers for various practical reasons; mainly that information just isn’t available to them any more than it is to you and me.

So the short of it is, do your homework, ensure your supplier is qualified and certified by the CGC to do the work, as is 4 Seasons, and inquire if the supplier is willing to do the paperwork for you or provide guidance as part of the deal up front – you don’t want this to be an additional cost as it can be time consuming.

Last note, the grass is never greener over there for me but the US have a leg up on us with a 30% rebate on the geothermal bill – wow:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index#c6

Brian Miller of Creative Woodworks delivered our bar stools that he made for us the other day. Wow, what a beautiful job. These stools integrate into our island so that when we aren’t using them, my obsessive order personality won’t be urged to constantly arrange them.

The great thing about designing for working with artists and craftspeople like Brian is in the collaborative process. We design to our needs and esthetic and the artist uses their experience and guidance to make it work better. The collaborative result is greater than if you just asked someone to make something and follow specification to the letter. As long as the process involves open communication as to what will evolve and for what reason, there are no surprises except for how dam good it can be.

A little about the kitchen and stools. The cabinets are made from solid and veneered walnut harvested locally in Dundas. Many of the Walnut trees in that area are coming to the end of their lifespan and falling naturally where a number of mills are collecting and milling for lumber. The counter tops are both solid Walnut from Dundas and Maple — both protected with a natural oil except for the cooking countertop which is an Ontario granite called Kodiak (brushed). The cabinets are no VOC formaldehyde free veneered plywood and coated with a no VOC waterbase sealer.

Creative Woodworks (905.659.8888) www.creativewoodworks.ca

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Incidentally, some health conscious readers may wish to wade into the learning about Radon and its relation to Granite and new homes. Though we may opt to test our home for radon emissions, we’re not worried with the materials we’ve chosen including this Ontario Granite.Make sure you read the comments following the article as the article is a little leading and fluffy to base an opinion.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/28/granite-linked-to-high-levels-of-radon-gas-exposure/
http://www.nsraweb.com/forums/news-5/radon-granite-testing-9130.html

It’s down to paint, wood coatings and a touch more tile now — just a week or so to go. Everything looks amazing and we’ve been testing all the systems to ensure they run as planned. I’ve updated the gallery with many great images of the kitchen and stairs with more to come soon.

The final finesse work is underway – paint is finishing, bathroom tile underway, vanities and the kitchen goes in next.