When we bought our house in spring of 2007 we had only ever rented, or owned the "inside" of a house. I know that sounds odd, but the closest we'd been to ownership was our condominium of which we owned only the space up to and including the inside of the outer walls, doors and windows. So armed with only our interior knowledge we started a journey to make a greener home and, hopefully, qualify for some government money.The time-line was this; an initial inspection; 18 months to complete whatever improvements we considered most valuable; and a final audit inspection which would determine our success, which would then translate into grant money.
In the end, we spent $1,552.64 to insulate our attic and the crawl space under the dining room, install a low-flush toilet, replaced our water heater with tankless and seal our drafty doors and windows (this amount also includes $325.40 for the two inspections).April of this year we received $805.00 from Natural Resource Canada and last week we received $805.00 from the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
So apart from covering our costs, the big plus from this experience for me is I now feel very familiar to, and connected to, our house. We've examined interior walls, pressure-tested everything for drafts, had pipes scraped for lead and the water tested for toxins. The foundation has been examined for weakness, our rickety chimney was removed (made redundant by the tankless water heater) and our attic is snug as a bug. So, in this particular case, breaking even is pretty good.Now if only I could find an energy audit that will give me grant money for installing solar panels and a wind turbine ...
