Home reno showcases less-toxic way to build
Twice-rebuilt Leslieville house is one of many tour sites for Green Energy Doors Open ’16
The brick three-storey house on Bertmount Ave. in Leslieville doesn’t look that different from its neighbours.
But after a “disastrous” first renovation, the homeowners had to rebuild the1920s, semi-detached brick house. And this time they went healthy and green, in ways that made it a model home for this weekend’s Green Energy Doors Open ’16, an event organized by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association that promotes environmentally friendly construction.
A product made of recycled jeans forms a sound barrier in ceilings, outside walls are insulated with recycled newsprint and much of the lumber used came from sustainable forests.
To make the house toxin-free — one of the owners is sensitive to allergens — renovators swapped out typical building materials for safer ones, using non-toxic adhesives to glue floorboards to joists and installing radiant-heating in floors in place of forced-air gas, to cut down on airborne pollutants. The home’s environmentally friendly features were on display Saturday, along with a variety of oth- er buildings and organizations that offered free tours and events.
“The cost of (a green) renovation was not much different than a typical renovation,” said Bryan Kaplan, project manager for Greening Homes, which was called in after a painter with the first crew told the family that some of the work, including electrical, was not up to code.
Major structural work was also done without a permit, said Christopher Phillips, who founded Greening Homes 10 years ago after he retrained, trading in a career in foreign aid and humanitarian ethics for completing a master’s degree in building science.
Of course, two renovations on one house — as was the case with the Bertmount St. house, which had to be gutted again down to the brick — don’t come cheap.
“The owners bought it and found there were mould and asbestos issues and they had to do some expensive abatement,” Phillips said. “Their original contractor misled them and did a lot of damage to the home.”
The contractor also used materials such as spray-foam insulation that were “inappropriate for the homeowner,” he said. “They were really victims here.” The blended family of six, including a toddler, is still waiting to move into the home purchased in 2014.