Better Builder Magazine, Issue 11 / Fall 2014

1
BETTER
BuilderMAGAZINE
the builder’s source
ISSUE 11 | FALL 2014
WWW.BETTERBUILDER.CA
The
Healthy House
Issue
Good Health Starts at Home
Some Lessons Learned Building Healthy
To Have an HRV or Not
Living in the Clear
Daylight and Air Quality Become Standard
Tighter Homes with More Insulation –
Where Did the Water Go?
Publicationnumber42408014
IN THIS ISSUE

2 ISSUE 10 | SUMMER 2014
A b r e a t h o f f r e s h a i r .
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FEATURE STORY
16 People Like Us: Some Lessons Learned Building Healthy
BY HILTON TUDHOPE
18 +House: Sustainability and Contemporary LEED
Gold-Targeted Home
BY DALJIT BASAN
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
02 Publisher’s Note: Thinking Inside the Box
BY JOHN GODDEN
03 The Bada Test: To Have an HRV or Not
BY LOU BADA
04 Industry News: Engaging Sustainable Communities:
Driving the Future of Homeowner Engagement
BY ALEX NEWMAN
06 Industry Expert: Five Key Elements of Healthy Homes
BY GORD COOKE
08 Builder News: Living in the Clear
BY ALEX NEWMAN
13 Industry News: New Research for Healthier Homes
BY MICHAEL LIO
22 David Kelly Receives Dow Pinnacle Award
for Selling Excellence
BY THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY
24 Builder News: Follow the Leader: Daylight and Great
Air Quality Become Standard in Subdivision Housing
BY ALEX NEWMAN
27 From the Ground Up: Tighter Homes, More Insulation,
Less Energy, but Where Did the Water Go?
BY DOUG TARRY
31 Builder News:
for High Performance and Healthy Housing
BY BROOKFIELD RESIDENTIAL AND BETTER BUILDER
BETTER
BuilderMAGAZINE
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ISSUE 11 | FALL 2014
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Cover: Hilton Tudhope
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Publisher
Better Builder Magazine
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Toronto, ON M4P 2S8
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Better Builder Magazine is a
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Publishing editor
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managing editor
Wendy Shami
editorial@betterbuilder.ca
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contact sales@betterbuilder.ca
Feature Writers
Tracy Hanes, Alex Newman
ProoFreading
Janet Dimond
creative
Robert Robotham Graphics
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This magazine brings
together premium product
manufacturers and leading
builders to create better,
differentiated homes and
buildings that use less energy,
save water and reduce our
impact on the environment.
Publication number
42408014
Copyright by Better Builder
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and assumed to be original
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Better Builder Magazine
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Magazine is published four
times a year.
C
anada Mortgage and Housing Corpo-
ration (CMHC) recognizes builders
for constructing healthier homes in
Canada. To receive this honour builders must
embrace five principles – occupant health,
energy efficiency, resource efficiency, environ-
mental responsibility and affordability. I am
pleased to tell you that I received this recogni-
tion in 1997 as I incorporated these five prin-
ciples into every custom home I was involved
in building.
The interplay between occupant health/
safety and affordability has been a discussion
in residential housing
for almost 30 years.
The central issue is
that a healthy, more
durable box (house)
costs more money to
build. The very chemi-
cals that make building
materials inexpensive,
and quick to market, contain volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) that adversely affect hu-
man health.
So what’s the answer? It has been my
experience that the more educated both
builders and homebuyers are about the
building materials used in construction, the
more empowered both parties are to choose
materials that assure both occupant health
and environmental sustainability. It is the
educated selection of building materials and
mechanical systems that results in a win-win
situation. The builder can still turn a profit
and the homeowner receives the value they
are paying for.
Brookfield Homes is a great example of a
builder that has embraced the healthy home
approach to building. In this issue we have
included an article regarding Brookfield
Homes receiving the CMHC recognition at
their LEED Gold-certified model home in
Niagara. Brookfield has successfully sold
homebuyers on healthy home features and
upgrades through education, allowing the
homebuyer the full understanding of the ben-
efits they are paying for.
In this issue Lou Bada explores the why of
cost in his article “To Have an HRV or Not.”
His company has decided to balance efficien-
cy and occupant health by building Package
J for building permits. Michael Lio reminds
us of the growing concern about radon in
housing and that a closer investigation is
required.
Key to the discussion of healthy homes is
not only who builds
them, but how they
are designed. The
two homes featured
in this issue, +House
and the Active
House, were both
designed by superkül
architects. superkül
is pushing the boundaries of the definition of
green and sustainable homes. Their work with
private clients and builders like Great Gulf
help us all rethink what is healthy, durable
and affordable.
Alex Newman gives us two perspectives
on healthy building in this issue. The first is
of Great Gulf in her article on benefits and
building strategy behind the Active House.
The second is of a homeowner in her article
about a couple who has experienced the ben-
efits of living in a healthy home for years.
Gord Cooke has practical advice on how
builders can plan and integrate healthy hous-
ing into their programs. Doug Tarry raises key
questions about moisture management in our
current building practices.
As houses become more airtight and in-
sulated, the clear way to proceed is to think,
design and build both inside and outside the
box. Hopefully this issue opens up that pos-
sibility for you. BB
Thinking Inside the Box
publisher’snote
By J oh n G o dden
The very chemicals
that make building materials
inexpensive, and quick to
market, contain volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) that
adversely affect human health.

3WWW.BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 11 | FALL 2014
T
o paraphrase Os-
car Wilde: A cynic
is a man [person]
who knows the cost of
everything and the value
of nothing. Despite my
last column, for which
I’ve received much-
appreciated and varied
feedback, I believe most
new homebuilders are
not cynical. The decision-
making process for me
has always considered
value rather than cost.
What you pay and what
you receive in exchange
rather than focusing on
what something costs.
The very first question
that needs to be asked,
before you get to what
and how and how much,
is Why? Indoor air qual-
ity (IAQ) is one of the
most important compo-
nents of any building,
especially a residential
building. “Build it tight and ventilate
it right” is one of the first principles
of energy-efficient housing. Moisture
control is also important for building
durability – an often overlooked com-
ponent of sustainable housing.
In an earlier article, I alluded to the
decision-making process around insu-
lated exterior sheathing and our deci-
sion to embrace Package J for SB-12
compliance. I believe I also stated that
Package J was not the least expensive
method of construction. One of the
more costly components of Package
J is a heat recovery ventilator (HRV).
The cost per unit is +/- $1,000. For
an average-sized subdivision of 200
detached homes, this cost for a single
building component is very significant.
This is something that could have been
omitted with a different compliance
package (A to D, K, L or M).
So, why do it? Value. Although
homes can be ventilated through a
principal fan, we know our custom-
ers rarely run them adequately. HRVs
[and energy recovery ventilators
(ERVs) more so] are great pieces of
equipment and provide a healthier in-
door environment for our homeown-
ers. Granted they must be cleaned
and maintained regularly, but they
also provide heat recovery
and energy savings. Blowing
expensive conditioned air out
through a vent or window nev-
er made sense to me. Living in
a home with poor air quality
makes even less sense.
Control systems for HRVs
also provide for relative hu-
midity control, and as such
can reduce customer calls to
our office regarding window
condensation in cold weather. I
understand that some exhaust
fan suppliers are integrating
new technologies to make
exhaust fans more HRV-like.
Although I currently have no
firsthand experience with these
products, I welcome the in-
novation and if I see the value,
may use them.
It is true that some things
cannot have a price assigned
to them. Their value is just too
great. Our health is obviously
one of them. Adoption of good
technologies, at a cost, pro-
motes their evolution into a better
product. It eventually drives costs
down through competition and econ-
omies of scale. It inspires competing
products to innovate and get better.
The result is very much win-win.
HRVs were not mandated by SB-12,
but through some flexibility, allowed
to builders in choosing a builder
option package, were facilitated by
crafting some good government regu-
lation. No cynicism here. BB
Lou Bada is construction & contracts
manager for Starlane Homes.
To Have an HRV or Not
thebadatest
By L ou Ba da
PHOTO:WWW.SHUTTERSTOCK.COM(SKUNK)
If a house is not properly
ventilated, its air quality
will suffer.

A
t the day-long
Engaging Sustain-
able Communities
event held in Toronto on
June 26, a diverse roster of
speakers delivered a con-
sistent message. Because
being green is not top of
mind for homeowners, the
way to create sustainable
housing and communities
is for builders, govern-
ment, banks and academics
to collaborate.
As keynote speaker for the event,
Ronn Stevenson said achieving col-
laboration would require a change of
thinking. “So many of us work on the
same thing, have the same ideas, but
because we work in silos we are not
aware of each other. Amazing things
could be accomplished if only groups
could get connected.”
The answer, Stevenson believes,
lies in accessible knowledge maps
that would enable groups to see who
is working on what. Not only would
this avoid reinventing the wheel, but it
makes collaboration a realizable goal.
When he attends meetings around the
city, he’s amazed at how easily ties
could be made if only each group and
organization knew what the others
were up to.
He cited a few examples. Recently,
a large unused west end lot was able
to realize its potential once interested
neighbourhood parties were brought
together. Research and neighbour-
hood studies conducted two decades
ago about the Woodbine
Racetrack redevelopment is
valuable info that could be
used now to great benefit
for groups working in the
area.
But it’s also necessary to
have a “champion” to drive
info and groups forward to
realize their goals, Ste-
venson adds. When Mary
Pickering of the Toronto
Atmospheric Fund, for
example, pushed for better
ways to implement rebates in sustain-
able energy programs, she paved the
way for the City of Toronto’s Home
Energy Loan program (HELP).
That program has made $10 mil-
lion available through long-term
loans for homeowners to make
energy-efficient
retrofits on existing
homes. Attached to
the property, and
not the owner, the
loan is passed on to
the next homeowner.
John Godden of Clearsphere noted
this kind of program “is a powerful
mechanism to finance improvements
for people who have reached the lim-
its of their lines of credit or mortgage
lending.”
Sonja Persram, president and CEO
of Sustainable Alternatives Consult-
ing, says loans like these (aka local
improvement charges or LICs) are
beneficial because they provide longer
terms, more security, and lower rates
that in turn encourage deeper green
upgrades and greater improvements.
She said these loans allow the munici-
pality to achieve energy use reduc-
tion, increase the quality of existing
housing stock, create jobs and protect
homeowners from future energy
poverty.
Encouraging people to apply for up
to 5 per cent of their home’s current
value, HELP aims to reach a thousand
homes. Phase one was launched in the
Beaches, Riverdale and South Scarbor-
ough, with expectations of rolling out
a second phase in soon-to-be-deter-
mined additional neighbourhoods.
To avoid getting snarled in com-
plicated procedure, the City has kept
things simple with five easy steps:
prequalification, home energy as-
sessment and fund request, property
owner agreement,
complete the im-
provements, repay-
ment. The aim is to
reduce energy con-
sumption by 25 per
cent. The hard part,
says Godden, is pounding the pave-
ment to get individual homeowners to
“buy in.”
Godden sees a role for business –
and banks – to play since government
doesn’t have the resources to con-
tinue funding this. He recently worked
with Scotiabank – and Enbridge – on
retrofits for existing homes to garner
a 25 per cent reduction in energy
use, and then again on the EcoLiving
Awards event.
Engaging Sustainable Communities:
Driving the Future of
Homeowner Engagement
industrynews
By Al e x Ne w m a n
Ronn Stevenson
“Amazing things
could be accomplished
if only groups could
get connected.
”
PHOTO:WWW.SUSTAINABLEPOWERPLANTS.COM

Government’s role, says Godden,
would be better used for giving tax in-
centives, because with programs and
rebates the government is “really just
giving us our own money back. What
I’d prefer to see is giving tax breaks
to people who spend money on their
energy reduction.”
For example, the Home Energy Rat-
ing System (HERS) is another standard
recognized by ANSI (American Na-
tional Standards Institute) – and now
by Enbridge and the Ontario Building
Code (OBC). But Godden would like to
see the LIC type of programs do the
same.
Godden also recognizes a need for
greater general literacy about energy.
“Homeowners, builders and renova-
tors need to be better informed about
what we’re trying to sell, which means
more education and awareness of
what the choices are.”
Dr. Dan McGillivray, executive
director of Ryerson’s Centre for Urban
Energy, agrees that “energy literacy
is a real challenge.” Recognizing the
power in narrative storytelling, he is
trying to get journalism students at
Ryerson engaged
in writing about
it.
McGillivray
also sees other
challenges –
mainly in ex-
pectations. We
have rapid urban
growth and an
aging infrastructure. There’s also the
disparity between rural and urban
centres in supply of and demand for
energy. For example in rural areas,
there’s a rising supply and falling
demand for power, meaning they will
have a surplus of power in the future.
However, in the city the demand for
power is rising to the point of exceed-
ing supply.
Add in a consumer raised on a
“culture of plenty [who] expects cheap,
limitless, reliable power,” but is reluc-
tant to put a generator in the backyard.
McGillivray also sees an upcoming
shortage of skilled
workers in the
sustainable field,
and an even greater
knowledge gap with
the aging work-
force. For every
two people leaving
the sustainability
sector, he said, only
one is coming in.
The whole purpose of the event
was to engage a variety of responses
to sustainability and carry those into
a meaningful dialogue in the public
sphere. Many conversations were
started that day. The hope is they will
continue. BB
Alex Newman is a writer, editor and researcher
at www.integritycommunications.ca.
“Homeowners, builders
and renovators need to
be better informed about
what we’re trying to sell,
which means more
education and awareness
of what the choices are.
”

A
t the Spring Training Camp,
an advanced building science
symposium our company
co-hosted this April, I was reminisc-
ing with two great builders, Stephen
Tobey of Gordon Tobey Developments
in eastern Ontario, and Vic Pongetti
of Thomas Cochren Homes in south-
western Ontario, about the Healthy
Housing recognition sponsored by the
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpo-
ration (CMHC) since the early 1990s.
Both companies were early recipients
of the program’s recognition of build-
ers and renovators having the knowl-
edge and skills necessary to construct
and renovate a healthier home in
response to client needs. Many of the
skills and principles of the Healthy
Housing initiative have in subsequent
years become either building code
requirements or at least common
practice for most professional build-
ers. Let’s look at the five key elements
identified by CMHC as characterizing
a healthy home and you can score
your skills and knowledge in each.
The actual checklist can be found at
www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/bude/
heho/heho_003.cfm
1. Occupant Health: Healthy Hous-
ing promotes superior quality of
indoor air, water and lighting.
The checklist for this element
includes effective and efficient ven-
tilation provided by a heat recovery
ventilator (HRV) or energy recovery
ventilator (ERV), a predominance
of hard surface flooring and sealed
combustion appliances. I suspect you
would easily meet these requirements.
Foundation moisture control is also
on the list and this is nicely addressed
by professional builders with drainage
products. The checklist also requires
use of low volatile organic compound
(VOC) coatings, adhesives and seal-
ants. These products too, although
not necessarily code requirements, are
now in common use. Work is still to
be done on the requirements for solid
wood or formaldehyde-free cabinets,
subfloor and trim products, but they
are widely available.
Healthy Hous-
ing reduces energy use for space
and water heating, and appliances
and lighting.
With energy efficiency firmly
engrained in Part 12 of the Ontario
Building Code (OBC), most builders
would get an A+ for the checklist
items in this element. Always room
for improvement, of course, as we
head toward net-zero homes.
Healthy
building materials and reduces
construction waste. Durability of
building components is essential.
Here, in my opinion and from my
travels, is where work is needed,
Five Key Elements of Healthy Homes
industryexpert
By G ord Cooke
Top 10 Water Management Details Checklist: Done This Year 1–3 years
01.
02.
03.
04. Drainage gap behind all exterior claddings
05.
06. Capillary break between footings and foundation
07. Below-grade exterior drainage layer
08
09. ERV v. HRV for ventilation
10. Eavestroughs and downspouts

both to the CMHC checklist and in
building practices. The checklist
speaks to simple items like set-back
thermostats and efficient water fix-
tures. However, that doesn’t address
the “essential” durability objective.
Remember that the number one thing
that destroys buildings and building
materials is moisture. Moreover, the
very elements that make homes more
efficient, like higher levels of insula-
tion, reduce the drying potential of
building assemblies. Having done
dozens of indoor air quality audits
under the CMHC Indoor Air Quality
Investigators’ protocol (a protocol
CMHC has inexplicably dropped
from its information resources), I can
confidently say builders need to reas-
sess flashing details at windows and
doors, roof to wall interfaces and at
decks. Red tape, goops of foam and
faced sealed caulking of exterior ele-
ments don’t withstand the rigours of
more complicated designs, reduced
drying potential and the higher
expectations of consumers. A full
and comprehensive weather barrier
should be the next action item for
every professional builder. Recent ex-
periences across the U.S. and Canada
indicate it can take 5 to10 years for
exterior moisture issues to show up
and none of us need that risk hang-
ing over us. Especially since proper
water management details represent
less than 1 per cent of total con-
struction costs, while water damage
represents 80 per cent of construc-
tion defects and litigation. On this
specific issue I highly recommend
readers check out the EPA’s Indoor
airPLUS construction specifications.
They have a great air quality check-
list that highlights comprehensive
and cost-effective water management
details. It can be found at www.epa.
gov/indoorairplus.
4. Environmental Responsibility:
Healthy Housing encourages site
planning that reduces land require-
landscaping and considers broader
community planning issues such as
transportation.
The fact that as many as 50 per cent
of new homes built in Ontario the last
few years have been multifamily speaks
to this principal element. The check-
list for this element also identifies
waste reduction, reuse and recycling of
building materials as a requirement of
healthy homes. There is always room
for improvement and diligence in this
regard, as it pays off in lower material
and waste disposal costs.
Many features of
-
able, and its design makes it easily
adaptable to its occupants’ chang-
ing needs.
Again, while land costs are still
rising in Canada, the lower energy
bills and wider range of innovative
multifamily projects is evidence the
industry has an eye to maintaining
affordability.
Having been connected to indoor
air quality from the early days design-
ing the second generation of HRVs
in 1984, it is wonderful for me to see
the commitment to improvement the
homebuilding industry has made with
respect to truly healthier homes. No
doubt you can proudly score yourself
well in this regard, and then immedi-
ately recognize the opportunity to re-
duce risks and liability, and offer cost
effectively an even healthier, more
durable, and therefore more sustain-
able home by putting an emphasis on
water management. BB
Gord Cooke is president of Building
Knowledge Canada.

O
n typical Toronto summer days
– muggy and still with only the
sound of crickets interrupting
the silence – the home of Chungsen
Leung and Deborah Chute is unaf-
fected by the heat, even though the
façade is almost entirely glass. Several
things make it quite unlike the other
houses on this Richmond Hill street.
For one, there is a 4 ft. overhang
from the steel roof which enables a
deep shadow to be cast over the up-
per floor, keeping it cool. The roof of
the house next door with its standard
12” soffit, for example, doesn’t throw
a shadow large enough to hit even the
top of the small traditional windows
on the second floor.
The overhang has also eliminated
the need for gutters and downspouts.
Instead, rainwater pours directly off
the roof into a drainage system just
below the ground around the home
(but above the frost line). This ir-
rigates the backyard where a bed of
smallish river rocks wends its way
through the butterfly-friendly garden.
It’s a standard design for an Asian
home, says Leung. The drains have a
semipermeable lining to keep pebbles
from sinking into the ground while al-
lowing water to irrigate. Since seepage
is slow, the excess water runs into the
collection pond in the back of the yard
and follows the swale as it drains into
the city sewage system during a deluge.
The Asian drains around the house
have a 6” permeable pipe to allow
faster drainage away from the building,
and they work for melting snow as well.
The garage too is different. Because
Leung and Chute both suffer from en-
vironmental allergies, it was decided to
separate the garage from the home to
prevent gas fumes from leaking inside.
Those allergies drove all construc-
tion decisions – from mechanical sys-
tems and building materials to finish-
es and paints – in efforts to make the
indoor air as pure as possible. And so
natural or very low volatile organic
compound (VOC) finishes were used,
floors are either ceramic tile or Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) hardwood,
and the HVAC system is forward
thinking even by today’s standards.
The wood finishes were tested out
to see which ones gave the least odour
and least offensive chemical com-
pounds, using ECOLOGO products in
some cases.
Along the way, it was discovered
that a healthy home can also be an
energy-efficient one and the couple
has enjoyed lower energy bills. Leung
figures they’ve shaved about 50 per
cent off their energy bills over the
past 11 years.
Built to R2000 standards, the 2,200
sq. ft. house (above ground, and below
is an additional 1,100 sq. ft.) is both
airtight and well ventilated. Fresh air
is drawn in from the outside through
a super high efficiency, fully ducted
heat recovery ventilator (HRV), then
purified by high efficiency particulate
air (HEPA) filters that remove pollen,
dust and pollutants. That system is
also energy efficient – warm air is
exhausted to preheat incoming air,
which keeps the air fresh and reduces
the energy required for heating and
cooling. As well, the couple opted for
two HRVs, one for the main house-
hold, and the other to vent closets be-
cause of Chute’s allergies to perfumes
and dry cleaning solutions.
Also nontoxic and odour-free is
the home’s 6” of polyicynene foam
insulation sprayed in on both sides of
the steel studs, between the drywall
and the brick exterior. The insulated
sheathing was covered in an exterior air
barrier system, one of the first times
it’s been used in Ontario. A blower door
test done – before drywall – revealed
the house surpassed R2000 standards.
Even on the exterior, builder John
Godden of Clearsphere was mindful
of chemical use, the only one being
caulking. All the rest of the glues and
finishes are natural – made from wax
Continued on page 10
buildernews
Living in the Clear
SUPPLIEDPHOTO

or tree sap – and paints are all organic.
Silicone used in the bathrooms was
low VOC. Chute researched grouts and
found a method of natural tile grout
commonly applied over a hundred
years ago, as well as the company that
still uses it today.
“Our Italian tile setter said this was
the same process used by his ances-
tors, and uses mostly sand and a little
cement for the base. So far we have
experienced no shifting of the floors,”
Leung says.
The couple is very happy about the
home. No longer do they struggle with
allergies, their utilities are lower, and
the house has tons of natural light.
Light coming in through the floor
to ceiling windows of the solarium
saturates the back of the house. Plus
it provides sweeping views of the
natural wild garden.
At the front, daylight – as well as
moonlight – stream in through the
large modern Inline fibreglass win-
dows that span both floors. The 4
ft. exterior overhang serves a vital
purpose that can be seen from inside.
It drastically reduces the amount of
direct summer sun that comes in. But
in winter, when the sun is lower on
the horizon, the slanting rays are able
to penetrate the interior.
So much light has one drawback –
few window coverings will stand up
to it, especially if they are made of
all-natural fibres like hemp and silk,
and without fire retardants which give
off fumes. Chute will be having new
ones made by a local seamstress in
the same material.
The couple is also replacing the hot
water system. A solar panel on the
roof heats water, which is then drawn
through a 90,000 BTU condensing
gas boiler to raise the temperature
– to 30°C for the radiant floors and
60°C for regular domestic use such
as showers and dishwasher (although
these are on separate loops).
The main source of heat for the
house is the radiant floors. Hot water
for the system is warmed through the
high efficiency gas boiler and then de-
livered via pipes buried in a 2” cement
subfloor that emits neither fumes nor
dust. Supplemental heat, if Chute and
Leung want it, comes from the airtight
EPA-rated fireplace in the living room,
which is a steel-enclosed fire box that
retains all the heat.
By building the fireplace inside the
walls of the house, and enclosing the
chimney in a cavity that heats up and
provides radiant heat to the upstairs,
Leung says they have been able to
capture more of its heat. During last
winter’s ice storm when electricity was
off for 72 hours, the house lost only
10°C due to the home’s air tightness.
But the boiler heats only 3.5 gal.
of water a minute, not enough to fill
the huge Japanese soaker tub in the
upstairs bath. Godden says the boiler
is a good one, but provides water on
demand – as opposed to a storage type
– which is a feature designed to save
energy. That means water needs warm-
ing up a few minutes before showers
or baths. One solution would be to
install a storage hot water tank that
will store the water heated through the
boiler. Leung and Chute have done just
that so they have a continuous supply
of hot water.
Continued from page 8
High performance windows and roof
overhangs help manage solar gain on
the south elevation.
PHOTO:JOHNGODDEN

The solar hot water heater
that preheats the water is first
generation, Godden says, and
the technology has certainly
been improved in the 11 years
since the house was built. It
could easily be updated as well.
The high velocity heating
and air distribution system is
used mostly for the air con-
ditioning. Air doesn’t need to
be moved around with radiant
floors, but it does for cooling
the air. It’s done via a distri-
bution system large enough
to counteract the temperature
increase that comes from so
many windows. After reduc-
ing the amount of windows by
about half, Godden selected
special coatings for the glass
to help with the home’s ther-
mal insulation. In 2003, Inline
windows was only one of a
few manufacturers offering
these selective coatings, which
reject heat when not needed –
like when the AC is on.
Even so, the AC had a sub-
stantial cooling load to deal
with. The cool air is circulated
through insulated ducts and
to each room via small ceiling
vents.
The downside of such a
large system is the sound lev-
els that go with it – the steady
hum of white noise – so Leung
and Chute have resized the
air handler to compensate for
such a large air conditioning
unit. They have invested in a
new fan motor that operates
at two speeds – when set on
low the air movement isn’t
audible. At the higher speed
it’s audible, but necessary in
the summer for cooling. At
the same time they switched
the system from AC to DC.
At the time of its construc-
tion, the house had one-half
the heat loss and used one-
third the energy of an equiva-
lent house constructed to
building code standards. It
also produced about half the
greenhouse gas emissions of
a regular house to code. Even
with today’s far more stringent
code, the house is still further
ahead in energy efficiency.
An exquisite element of the
home is its backyard. Extend-
ing 190 ft. back, Chute has
reclaimed it for a completely
natural indigenous garden,
with plants that attract bees
and butterflies, and require
little maintenance in terms of
fertilizer or watering.
“To my surprise and de-
light,” Chute says, “planting
native species has brought
lots of welcome activity to this
garden. Goldfinches enjoy the
seed heads of pale purple cone-
flower and prairie smoke. The
red and yellow flowers of wild
columbine attract humming-
birds in late spring. The Ameri-
can lady butterfly appears ev-
ery spring to pussytoes where
she lays her green-striped eggs.
Monarchs especially enjoy blaz-
ing star and swamp milkweed.
Eastern tiger swallowtails, red
and white admirals and ques-
tion marks appear later in the
summer.”
On warm sunny days
dragonflies appear, and
throughout the summer bees
come to feed on pollen and
nectar from Chute’s blooming
plants. “Their numbers are
severely declining in North
America because of pesticide
use so I use none here, mak-
ing it safe for them.” BB
Alex Newman is a writer, editor and
researcher at
www.integritycommunications.ca.

R
adon is seen by many as a
looming public health concern.
Radon is a soil gas that infil-
trates new and old buildings through
cracks in the foundation and gaps in
the air barrier. Long-term exposure to
radon increases the risk of developing
lung cancer. Some estimates place the
number of radon-induced lung cancer
deaths in Canada at over 3,000 per
year.1
Recent data from Public Health
Ontario suggest radon is attributable
to almost 850 lung cancer deaths per
year just in Ontario – more than two
deaths per day.2
That is equivalent to
two jumbo jets going down every year
at Pearson Airport. Tackling radon in-
filtration through changes in construc-
tion is key to creating healthier homes.
While many may be familiar with
the soil gas infiltration provisions
in the National Building Code (NBC
9.13.4.), there is a community of
radon professionals and civil servants,
led by Health Canada, who are contin-
ually working toward new methods of
lowering radon levels in buildings.
“One of the pillars of Health
Canada’s National Radon program is
support for radon research to mini-
mize radon exposure to Canadians,”
said Jeff Whyte, who runs the radon
technical operations section at Health
Canada’s Radiation Protection Bureau.
“The program has been involved in ef-
forts to reduce radon in new construc-
tion, which began in late 2007 when I
was part of a task group which led to
changes to the 2010 National Build-
ing Code (NBC). The result was the
incorporation of a rough-in for active
subslab depressurization, the most ef-
fective method of radon reduction.
“Health Canada also partners with
the National Research Council (NRC) to
support mitigation research. Most re-
cently, this partnership has resulted in
construction of the RIBETS (Radon Infil-
tration Building Envelope Test System)
test bed facility at NRC,“ continued
Whyte. “RIBETS will allow for the evalu-
ation of various construction elements
such as subslab membranes, concrete
slabs and gas permeable layers.”
“As the public becomes more aware
of radon, the research will help to
present effective and efficient solu-
PHOTO:WWW.DESIGNPICS.COM
New Research for
Healthier Homes
industrynews
By Mi c h a e l Li o
It is wise for home-
owners to check their
homes for radon.
1
CBC News. Radon linked to more lung cancer deaths than previously thought.
deaths-than-previously-thought-1.1209858
2
Illness.aspx#.U6goLPldW4I

tions,” said Dr. Liang Grace Zhou, who
is leading radon research at the NRC.
Her team at NRC is researching practi-
cal and cost-effective solutions at the
Canadian Centre for Housing Technol-
ogy twin house, and the Indoor Air
Research Laboratory and the RIBETS
facility in Ottawa. Specifically her team
will answer the following questions:
Will radon discharged from mitiga-
tion exhaust fans re-enter neigh-
bouring buildings? This aspect is
especially important for densely
built developments, where outdoor
air intakes, windows and doors usu-
ally are close to discharged air.
By how much can improved mem-
branes and concrete assemblies
featuring reduced permeability for
radon reduce concentrations in
basements or first floors?
Will an adjustable speed drive (ASD)
fan or ventilation system triggered
by the detection of indoor radon
concentration and air pressure
reduce indoor concentrations in
basements or first floors, and save
energy at the same time?
Will the negative pressure created
by a radon fan increase the risk of
back drafting of harmful exhaust
gases from combustion appliances
in the basement?
“This research will benefit both
home builders and the public,” she
said.
Dr. Zhou also recently completed
testing on Radon Guard, a new
structural underslab ventilation panel
designed for radon mitigation. Randi
Fox, principal of Fox Architecture and
inventor of Radon Guard, said, “Radon
Guard acts as a 1:1 replacement of
the requirement for a gas permeable
layer in the code. It acts as a capil-
lary break for moisture, and the clear
channels along the bottom of the
panel allow for easy radon mitigation.
The expanded polystyrene panel also
provides underslab insulation.” The
panel was designed to replace the gas
permeable layer for areas of Canada
where clean granular fill is hard to
obtain or prohibitively expensive.
Fox participated in the recent Brit-
ish Columbia Building Code (BCBC)
revision process. The modifications,
currently out for public comment,
propose a change of wording from
“clean granular fill” to “gas permeable
layer” to allow for products such as
Radon Guard. “The proposed BCBC
changes also include a change from
the rough-in stub requirements of
the National Building Code (NBC) to
the installation of a full passive-stack
radon mitigation system,” Fox contin-
ued. “In the code revision discussions,
the building community was happy
to include a system that could reduce
radon levels from the day of installa-
tion, instead of a stub that may not be
used by the homeowner. The number
of homeowners who will test their
homes for radon is still low, and the
number who will mitigate high levels
is lower, but a passive system can
proactively reduce radon levels and
better protect homeowners. And if
there is no radon problem, then there
is no harm done.”
Two new national radon standards
are under development. “Health
Canada has recently partnered with
the Canadian General Standards Board
(CGSB) to create two national stan-
dards on radon mitigation, one for
existing construction and one for new
construction,” mentioned Whyte.
Annie Joannette, senior advisor,
media and public relations at Pub-
lic Works and Government Services
Canada, provided the objectives of
these standards:
To provide requirements, specifica-
tions, guidelines and characteristics
that can be used consistently to
ensure that materials, products,
processes and services used in the
radon mitigation of low-rise residen-
tial homes are fit for their purpose.
To harmonize technical specifica-
tions of products and services
with the goal of making the radon
industry more efficient by applying
standard practices in mitigation.
To provide organizations and radon
mitigation professionals in the
industry a measure/tool to ensure
their products and services are con-
sistent, compatible, effective and
safe.
To ensure conformity to standards
so that products and services are
safe, reliable and of good quality for
Canadians.
“There are two working groups that
are responsible for drafting each of the
two standards, which will then be re-
viewed by the full technical committee,”
mentioned Joannette. “These working
groups have held numerous teleconfer-
ences in the last year to advance the
work on the draft standards. The first
full committee meeting was held on
March 24 and 25, 2014 in Ottawa. The
next technical committee meeting is
planned for September 2014.”
“These standards will provide guid-
ance to builders and renovators re-
garding reducing radon levels in both
new and existing construction, and
will be finalized in 2015,” said Whyte.
Health Canada has also begun col-
laborating with builders across Canada
on radon research initiatives. “It is
truly exciting to work with so many
organizations and individuals who are
all working so passionately to reduce
radon exposure in order to protect the
health of Canadians,” he said. BB
Michael Lio is president and Ceara Allen is
manager, technical services, at buildABILITY
Corporation. michael@buildability.ca.
industrynews
By M ichael Lio
For more information:
technical operations section, Health
Canada, 613-957-1926
environment, NRC, 613-990-1220
-
ture, 250-681-3691

Features

featurestory
By H i l t on Tu dh ope
People Like Us:
Some Lessons Learned
D
on’t be surprised if more people with health
concerns are showing up at your offices or pre-
sentation centres these days. The total chemical
load in our environment is increasing every year
and taxing our bodies’ ability to deal with it. We
adapt, but our bodies get overloaded, and the detoxifica-
tion systems of some people simply cannot keep up with
eliminating the toxins. Acquired sensitivity to electromag-
netic fields (EMF) and cell phone radiation often makes the
impact of these problems much worse.
While these topics are controversial, one thing is certain
– to individuals experiencing the health impacts of chemi-
cal or electromagnetic pollution, the effects can be very
real and debilitating.
For those like my wife Barbara, who endured years when
her immune system was so compromised by toxic chemi-
cals and poor function that it attacked almost everything
in her body, a healthy living environment is a necessity
of life. Ensuring that she would not slide backwards after
several years of hard-won gains in her vitality is what led
us to build our own healthy house, a LEED Gold-targeted
sanctuary near the Bruce Trail in Mulmur, Ont. If you need
to – or want to – deal with people like us, there are a few
lessons we learned building healthy that may help you
through the process. And help your clients get the healthi-
est house possible for the money they have to spend.
Believe in your clients’ health issues or aspirations.
Don’t bother going down the healthy building route unless
you’re open to embracing your clients’ health issues – or at
least their importance to clients. As my wife succinctly put
it early on, “We need to find people who are open to the
possibility that I experience my environment differently.”
We were fortunate to be introduced to superkül (www.
superkul.ca), a small and highly regarded architectural
firm in Toronto, who in turn introduced us to our even-
tual choice as contractor, Toronto-based Wilson Project
Management (www.wilsonproject.ca). We threw down the
challenge – design and build us a contemporary home on
a demanding site, and ensure it will not make Barbara sick
when we move in. We gave them Paula Baker-Laporte’s
Prescriptions for a Healthy House: A Practical Guide for
Architects, Builders & Homeowners (New Society Publishers,
3rd Edition, 2008), a detailed guide to healthy building,
and insisted it be the touchstone for virtually every deci-
sion to be made about the design and materials.
Whatever skepticism the architect and contractor had
about meeting our requirements, we never knew. Both
were willing to fight the inertia of the status quo and trust
in the process of finding the right answers when nothing
seemed to be right. What bound us, beyond the client-
supplier relationship, was the common intention to create
something great and healthy.
It’s mostly about the materials. While there are ele-
ments of design that contribute to the health of a house
– passive and active ventilation, how light enters the home,
water diversion, minimal dust-collecting surfaces – we
found that healthy building is mostly about the materials
used in construction.
Prescriptions for a Healthy House identifies a great num-
ber of healthier, alternative products. But what was newer
or might work for Barbara’s specific sensitivities? Finding
out put the onus of initial product research squarely on
superkül’s shoulders. Andre D’Elia, the lead architect, told
us, “We always wanted more than one product – three, in
fact – in case all three failed. Overall, I’d say the house was
65 per cent new product for us.”
By “failed” he meant a product that did not pass my
wife’s “sniff test.” Prior to construction, she literally
sniffed every material that went into the interior of the
house to gauge her reaction, from headache to sneezing.
We don’t necessarily recommend this procedure for ev-
eryone, especially the very sensitive, but we knew it would
work for Barbara despite her discomfort.
Even before the testing phase, superkül rejected dozens
of potential construction components they knew would not
react well with my wife. It was a process they later claimed
taught them as much about healthy building as the prod-
ucts they eventually specified for the house. In the end,
there were only a few materials used in the construction
that didn’t test well, and most of those were on the exterior,

or isolated in one way or another from the living space.
Look for the unseen. For the environmentally sensi-
tive person, it’s often what you can’t see in a house that
has the most potential for harm. Our home may look like
a typically constructed contemporary home, but every
precaution was taken to reduce or eliminate material off-
gassing, electromagnetic radiation and airborne pollutants.
Where we could not avoid a material that off-gassed,
we treated it with an AFM Safecoat product to lock in
the gases. The interior walls are finished in plaster-like
American Clay. Millwork panels were double sealed and
heat treated before fabrication, and every exposed edge
was then resealed to minimize off-gassing. Broadloom was
out of the question. A hospital-grade Lifebreath air cleaner
removes nearly all airborne allergens and pollutants.
EMFs were also a major concern because of their poten-
tial impact on sleep. Our demand was clear – limit average
EMF readings to less than 1 milliGauss. As a result, much of
the wiring runs through flexible metal conduit. Three-way
switches were checked and double checked for correct con-
nections. The main supply, smart meter and internet modem
are isolated from the house. The result of these and numer-
ous other strategies? An EMF reading of about 0.5 milliGauss
and a relieved electrical contractor.
So how do you deal with people like us in a production
home environment in which costs and margins are impor-
tant considerations? Do your research so you can become
an ally, not an adversary. Prescriptions for a Healthy House
is a great place to start. Focus on what you and your trades
can deliver at a reasonable cost, like substantially reduced
volatile organic compounds (VOC) and better air filtration.
And pay extra attention to air quality and EMFs in the most
important rooms – the bedrooms. It’s where we regenerate
each night, and they should be the healthiest part of any
house on which you put your name. BB
Hilton Tudhope is a business writer based in Dallas, Texas
and Mulmur, Ont.
A healthy living environment is a necessity of life. Hilton and Barbara
Tudhope built their own healthy house in Mulmur, Ont.
Building Healthy
PHOTO: HILTON TUDHOPE

featurestory
By Da l j i t Ba sa n a n d Be t t e r Bu i lder
C
ombining contemporary design principles with sus-
tainability and environmental sensibilities, +House
located in Mulmur, Ont., was awarded the 2012 Design
Excellence Award by the Ontario Association of Architects.
The +House is equally unique and sustainable. Mindscape
Innovations collaborated with superkül to provide consult-
ing services in pursuit of acquiring LEED Gold certification.
The home was designed with a keen eye toward environ-
mental sensitivities by carefully selecting each component
in the building design.
Project Summary
Project Goal: LEED for Homes gold certification
Project Type: Single-family residential on previously devel-
oped land, 2150 sq. ft.
Project Partners: superkül Inc.
Sustainable Metrics
Annual energy consumption: 25,378 ekWh
Energy density: 126.89 ekWh/m2
+House: Sustainability and Contemporary
LEED Gold-Targeted Home
Continued on page 20
The +House is healthy inside and out with maximized natural light, a green roof, and is built on a sustainable site with natural landscaping.
ALLPHOTOS:HILTONTUDHOPE

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20 WWW.BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 11 | FALL 201420 WWW.BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 11 | FALL 2014
Environmental and Healthy Design
In creating this healthy home design, the architect careful-
ly secured materials, systems, and finishes to ensure there
would be no adverse physical reaction by an environmen-
tally sensitive client. Working with the client in selecting
the materials was a key step in ensuring the house is truly
safe for the homeowner.
+House has targeted LEED Gold certification by reduc-
ing the cost and environmental impact of the home. To
learn about some of the innovative features of the home,
see photos and descriptions below. BB
Daljit Basan, BES, is sustainable design specialist
at Mindscape Innovations Group Inc.
Continued from page 18
Geothermal System (above left): clean and safe source for heating and cooling, reduced utility costs, enhanced comfort, low
maintenance. In pond, not trenched or drilled. Environmentally Preferable Products (above right): inert concrete blocks that
produce no VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and inhibit the growth of fungi and moulds, natural clay plaster for interior wall
Green Roof (below):
ALLPHOTOS:HILTONTUDHOPE

wood used
from forests that are responsibly managed and meet strict environmental
and social standards. greater insula-
natural daylighting across 100 per

sitespecific
By The Dow Chemical Com pa n y
M
idland, Mich. – June 30, 2014 – David Kelly has
been named a 2013 recipient of The Dow Chemi-
cal Company’s prestigious Pinnacle Award, in
recognition of his outstanding achievements in the Dow
Building Solutions business. Dave has worked at Dow for
25 years and currently holds the position of senior account
manager for the Ontario residential market. This is Dave’s
4th Pinnacle Award.
The Pinnacle Award, established in 1995, pays tribute to
Dow professionals who continually make strategic think-
ing, creativity, innovative problem solving and customer
satisfaction their inspiration for success. The results of
their efforts are unsurpassed customer loyalty and out-
standing results. Those receiving the award represent the
top 5 per cent of Dow’s global organization.
“Customer loyalty evolves through outstanding service,
responsiveness, creativity and innovation,
and the Pinnacle recipients demonstrate
the ability to reach beyond their boundar-
ies and identify exceptional ways to ensure
long-term customer satisfaction. Their pas-
sion and efforts are a critical component
of Dow’s growth strategy and an inspira-
tion to us all,” said Heinz Haller, executive
vice president, chief commercial officer
and president of Dow Europe, Middle East
and Africa.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of
science and technology to passionately in-
novate what is essential to human prog-
ress. The company is driving innovations
that extract value from the intersection of
chemical, physical and biological sciences
to help address many of the world’s most
challenging problems such as the need for
clean water, clean energy generation, con-
servation and increasing agricultural pro-
ductivity. Dow’s integrated, market-driven,
industry-leading portfolio of specialty
chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences
and plastics businesses delivers a broad
range of technology-based products and solutions to cus-
tomers in approximately 180 countries and in high growth
sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and
agriculture. In 2013, Dow had annual sales of more than
$57 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people
worldwide. The company’s more than 6,000 products
are manufactured at 201 sites in 36 countries across the
globe. References to “Dow” or the “company” mean The
Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries
unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about
Dow can be found at www.dow.com. BB
Kathleen Davis, communications, The Dow Chemical
Company. kadavis1@dow.com.
David Kelly Receives Dow Pinnacle
Award for Selling Excellence
David Kelly (r) has worked at Dow for 25 years and has just received his fourth Pin-
nacle Award.
SUPPLIEDPHOTO

®™The DOW Diamond Logo is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company © 2014
Dow’s full house of insulation, air sealants
and adhesives work together to create an air-
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Whole-House Solutions
THAT HELP BUILDERS AND
CONTRACTORS OUTPERFORM

E
veryone knows climate change is
occurring much faster than origi-
nally expected. We know that
homes and vehicles are responsible for
about a third of all carbon emissions.
We also know that when people are
motivated, change happens – witness
the closing of the gaps in the ozone
layer thanks to global initiatives.
In spite of this knowledge, the
environment is no longer top of mind
for most homebuyers, so builders,
developers – and even climate change
experts – have taken a different tack.
Appeals to being socially responsible
don’t work, but offering comfortable,
light-filled homes that happen to be
energy efficient do.
Enter the Active House.
Not unique for a custom home, the
Active House is unusual for subdivi-
sion/tract developers and builders.
Great Gulf decided to take a risk and
build such a home in a Thorold, Ont.,
subdivision because they believed buy-
ers would be interested in paying for
a home that was environmentally sus-
tainable as long as it was also healthy
on the inside – light filled, open and
with good air quality.
Tad Putyra, Great Gulf’s president
and COO of low rise and a trained
architect, explains the company’s inter-
est in being green since building one of
the first R2000 homes, and since then
trying various green systems. The chal-
lenge has been getting buyers to pay
extra, even as little as $1 per square
foot, for energy efficiency.
In 2009 during a trip to Europe,
when Putyra saw the Active House
concept, he realized the pitch was all
wrong. What was different about this
concept, he says, is addressing the
buyer. “We’d always addressed en-
ergy efficiency and appealed to social
responsibility, which is good and may
create awareness, but it doesn’t create
demand. Now we look at comfort. The
product has to improve quality of life
with a holistic approach. This house
does that, providing an indoor climate
that promotes well-being through good
air distribution and daylighting. Stud-
ies prove that daylight is critical to our
well-being, so we decided to measure
and design for it.”
Around the Active House was an
alliance of scientists, designers and
builders who were taking energy re-
duction in a serious way, Putyra says.
When it came time to test the concept
here, Great Gulf collaborated with ar-
chitects Meg Graham and Andre D’Elia,
principals of the firm superkül.
That collaboration, says D’Elia, mar-
ried the best of skills – Great Gulf’s
vast experience in developing, con-
struction and design, which resulted
in knowing exactly what could be built
and for how much, and superkül’s
esthetics in design and understanding
of what makes a house healthy – excel-
lent indoor air circulation, daylighting
and natural materials.
Through many meetings the designs
went back and forth, with comments
on the proportions, material, con-
structability (money and time, durabil-
ity), and decisions having to be made
based on a certain set of criteria. The
community of Thorold too had some
guidelines which dictated some of the
form and materiality so there would be
some kind of cohesiveness.
The result is a home that estheti-
cally fits with the surrounding neigh-
bourhood – its roofline, exterior profile
and material palette are not dissimilar
from neighbouring homes. But that’s
where the similarities end.
“This is a very modern house built
in a traditional residential develop-
ment that looks, feels and behaves
completely differently from the
normative model,” says Graham. “It’s
a watershed in Canadian suburban
development.”
Inside, the home is modern, spa-
cious and airy, with high ceilings
under a gable roof that allowed for
large skylights that, along with the
many windows, flood the interior with
so much natural light that it’s rarely
necessary to turn on lights during the
buildernews
Follow the Leader:
Daylight and great air quality become standard in subdivision housing.
HISTORY: Energy concerns have waxed and waned over the past
40 years, starting with the oil crisis of the 1970s which caused
builders to look at an increasingly tight building envelope. But
once you seal houses that tightly, Graham points out, all the
advances in building materials – plastics, resins, composites –
conspire to create bad indoor air quality.
“There’s a growing sense not just in the building industry, but
-
dants, that the farther we get along the technological path with
chemicals and products, there’s a corollary question to what are
we putting in and around our bodies?” Graham says. “Now that
people are generally more health conscious, that also changes
the consumer demand for better, healthier and more sustainable
construction, but it’s an evolving kind of conversation as we get to
know more about what’s available to use, and we understand that
some things aren’t as good or healthy as we initially thought.”

day. With white walls, floors a pale
hardwood and glass stair railings, it
looks and feels breathable.
What drove the design was the
desire for natural daylight and ventila-
tion, made possible through an open
cross-axial plan, operable VELUX roof
skylights, and many windows that re-
duce the need for artificial light during
the day. “When you bring the outside
in through so much glazing, the spatial
quality is very different and the house
is going to feel different, and bigger.”
What enabled such an open plan,
Graham says, was the gabled roof. “It
allowed for lots of natural light and
superior environmental performance,
removing barriers between living spac-
es which helps make the home seem
larger than its 3200 sq. ft. In addition,
the two intersecting axes maximize
crossbreezes and natural ventilation,
thereby minimizing reliance on air
conditioning.”
“Off the bat, we knew we had to
do a pitched roof, either gable or hip,
and we reinterpreted in order to get a
double height space plus skylights to
bring light deep into the home,” D’Elia
says. At the ground level you can see
almost the entire house with gables
and skylights.
To complement this, the HVAC
system includes zoned heating, heat
recovery ventilators (HRVs) and a high
efficiency furnace. The HRV is a cop-
per pipe that acts as a heat exchanger
within the stack, which recovers the
heat energy from warm to hot waste-
water. It requires no maintenance and
is a passive form of energy. An ERV
heat exchanger exhausts warm air that
heats up outside winter air coming in
from outside, and does the reverse in
summer, reducing the amount of elec-
tricity to heat the home. A second HRV
is located in the attic to keep fresh air
circulating at all times.
The south-facing windows are triple
glazed to maximize solar heat gain in
winter, while overhangs and shades
keep it cooler in summer. There’s also
a solar water heating system, all lights
are light-emitting diode (LED), and all
finishes and paints are low volatile
organic compound (VOC).
The home also includes a water
conservation system, unusual in a sub-
division home considering water is not
on the radar of most buyers. “We take
water for granted. We’re the land of
lakes, and we grew up wasting water,”
D’Elia says.
The system includes a means of
rainwater collection, capturing rain
from the roof as well as the weeping
tile, and channeling to a cistern, which
then circulates the water for use in
the garden and in flushing toilets.
This allows the house to achieve a
35 per cent reduction in water us-
age based on the annual rainfall in
Ontario, and complements the whole
Active House philosophy to have as
little impact on the environment as
possible, D’Elia says.
The construction of the Active House
is also unique. Built entirely off-site in
Brockport’s Kitchener-Waterloo factory,
the house is flat packed and assembled
on-site. The prefab panels – roof, floors
and walls – are insulated – above-grade
walls at R35, basement walls at R22,
and ceiling (which has no attic) at R40.
As a baseline all homes should be
built to this Active House standard,
Graham says. What’s held most buyers
back are the extra costs. But Putyra
believes that once people try out a
home that feels this good, and with
this much natural daylight, “It’s like
a smartphone – you get addicted to it
and can’t give it up.” BB
Alex Newman is a writer, editor and researcher
at www.integritycommunications.ca.
EcoLiving Awards Finalists
superkül received an honourable mention for this home in the very tight race between
designed the chemically sensitive home featured in this same issue.
In the brochure accompanying their entry, the Active House was described as
“being designed to push the boundaries of green residential building … stressing en-
-
sign, neither of which contributes to human or environmental health,” while working
within a tight budget and creating a heavily insulated building envelope. The house
also includes a solar domestic hot water system, drainwater heat recovery, rainwater
Active House design
maximizes daylighting with
skylights and windows.
PHOTOS©FOTOGRAFTORBENESKEROD

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fromthegroundup
By Dou g Ta rry
A
s an industry we are building
much tighter homes than even
a few years ago, increasing the
amount of insulation in the walls, put-
ting vapour barriers on the inside and
oriented strand board (OSB) or rigid
insulation on the outside of our walls.
Basically we are building a selection
of large, ready to fill water containers
made of wood and plastic, and then
we wonder why they fail when we let
moisture into these spaces.
This never used to be much of an
issue when we built drafty houses
that were poorly insulated, because
heat loss and air flow through the
walls provided a great deal of dry-
ing potential. That does not mean we
need to go back to leaky houses with
little insulation. It means we have to
figure out how to build walls that are
more forgiving and durable.
This past spring I had the oppor-
tunity to attend the Building Science
Spring Training Camp put on by John
Straube, Gord Cooke and Tex McLeod.
It was great fun and very informative.
I was honoured to be asked to pres-
ent on the Optimum Basement Wall,
and the need to rethink basement
wall designs and the use of poly. I’ve
written about this extensively, so I
thought it was time to get out of the
basement and share some thoughts
about above-grade walls.
During the camp we discussed
challenges of building tighter homes
with more insulation and the result-
ing performance issues we have seen
over the last two decades. One of
our presenters was Mark Gauvin, a
builder based in Vancouver, B.C., who
has done extensive research on walls
and why they fail. Not to oversimplify
it, but moisture, moisture, moisture.
Mark was so frustrated by what he
saw happening in B.C., he offered to
work with Dr. John Straube and Dr.
Joe Lstiburek on a test hut to study
the performance of a variety of wall
types under a variety of conditions
over what turned out to be a number
of years.
Mark discussed the challenges
with building tighter walls with more
insulation during his presentation at
the spring training sessions. Some of
the key takeaways from his studies
that we need to consider as we design
tighter, more energy-efficient wall as-
semblies are:
Drying is slow in any modern insu-
lated wall assembly.
Therefore, rainwater management
is critical for all assemblies. In
Vancouver rainscreen cavity walls
provide a drainage space, capillary
break and ventilation to assist dry-
ing.
Wetting is also caused by interior
and exterior relative humidity.
(Remember that wood moisture
content increases with increasing
relative humidity.)
In a given environment, decreasing
temperature will increase relative hu-
midity and condensation potential.
More stud cavity insulation de-
creases the temperature of exterior
sheathing, pushing relative humid-
Tighter Homes, More Insulation, Less
Energy, but Where Did the Water Go?
New homes are well insulated,
but that can create water and
moisture problems.
PHOTO:WWW.DESIGNPICS.COM

ity and wood moisture content
higher, and increasing condensation
potential.
Exterior insulation has the opposite
effect, raising wintertime sheathing
temperatures – and helps reduce:
running wood moisture content
condensation potential due to
air leakage.
Ventilation is important – for con-
trol of indoor relative humidity.
These points certainly verify what
we’ve been noticing with some of the
home performance issues we’ve been
observing. Here are some of the solu-
tions we have implemented at Doug
Tarry Homes to help control moisture
within the home:
24” overhangs with eaves, down-
spouts and splash blocks
whole home Tyvek HomeWrap with
window and door flashing details,
and Tyvek StuccoWrap behind
stucco and cement board siding
air conditioning and energy recov-
ery ventilators (ERV) in all homes
along with providing a dehumidifier
for the shoulder seasons
ongoing education of our home-
owners about the need to control
humidity levels within the home
commercial dehumidification units
during construction to reduce con-
struction moisture levels within the
home
R5 rigid insulation on the exterior
walls along with advanced framing
details to allow for more insulation
in the walls
basement poly replaced with smart
membrane (as described with the
Optimum Basement Wall).
For me, moisture management of
wall assemblies has become an ongo-
ing journey of discovery as we try
to understand how to build a more
durable home and reduce costly war-
ranty callbacks. It is time for a major
rethink of how we build wall assem-
blies for our homes and install vapour
barriers. It is comforting to know
there are other builders out there like
Mark Gauvin doing some really great
work on our behalf.
More information is available about
the Vancouver Test Hut project at www.
vancouver.buildingscience.com. BB
Doug Tarry Jr. is director of marketing at
Doug Tarry Homes in St. Thomas, Ont.
fromthegroundup
By Doug Tarry

N
iagara: July 14, 2014 – Brook-
field Residential was honoured
to receive three outstanding
recognition certificates at their leader-
ship in energy and environmental
design (LEED) gold presentation
centre and model home at The Village,
Niagara-on-the-Lake. First, the Healthy
Housing Recognition from the Canada
Mortgage and Housing Corporation
(CMHC) for their efforts in building
healthier homes, second for exceed-
ing the required points scored, and
third for winning the Cross Border
Challenge for building the highest
performing houses rated on the home
energy rating system (HERS) index in
both Canada and the United States.
CMHC’s Healthy Housing Recogni-
tion program honours builders and
others in Ontario who put their knowl-
edge of CMHC’s five Healthy Housing
principles into practice. These five prin-
ciples include occupant health, energy
efficiency, resource efficiency, environ-
mental responsibility and affordability.
The program recognizes housing indus-
try professionals who demonstrate
their knowledge by building, renovating
or designing a home that meets criteria
under the principles.
Brookfield’s presentation centre
and model home at 24 Norton Street
in Niagara-on-the-Lake’s The Village is
the only LEED for Homes project that
has achieved gold certification in the
Niagara region.
In terms of its energy efficiency,
the house performs 27 per cent better
than a comparable house built to to-
day’s building code. The model home
boasts the highest efficiency furnace
with a zoned system to maximize oc-
cupant comfort, and incorporates the
latest ventilation technology using a
Vanee ERV (energy recovery ventilator).
To reduce water demand, Brookfield
installed a greywater recycling system
buildernews
By Brookfi e l d Residential
an d Be t t e r Bu i l de r
Brookfield Receives Accolades for
High Performance & Healthy Housing
Front Row, left to right: John Hawley, Lord Mayor Dave Eke, Brian Couperthwaite, Steve Jacques and William Grieg. Back Row, left to right: John Godden,
Anthony Competiello, Bob Stewart, Rolf Wiens and Jamie Shipley.
PHOTO:JORDANLANE

RELIABLE,
CONSISTENT,
MARTINOHeating • Air Conditioning • Indoor Air Quality • HVAC Design
www.martinohvac.com1-800-465-5700
™
integrated with drainwater heat recov-
ery, lowering water usage and heating
costs by up to 35 per cent. The house
has an extremely durable building
envelope comprised of a drainage layer
of Henry Blueskin and ROXUL [COM-
FORTBOARD] IS (insulated sheath-
ing). To top off the list of sustainable
features, the house is landscaped with
draught-tolerant grass and a specially
designed irrigation system.
“We are so honoured to be recog-
nized for doing what we absolutely
love doing – creating the best places
to call home – and what better back-
drop for the presentation than this
high performance model home in Ni-
agara-on-the-Lake,” said Brian Couper-
thwaite, vice-president of construction
at Brookfield Homes. “This model is
inspiring and provides our homeown-
ers with a glimpse of how they might
take advantage of space, see great
design ideas, and also learn about the
benefits of living in a healthier and
more energy-efficient home.”
Brookfield is dedicated to creating
the best places to call home and has
built more than 25,000 homes in On-
tario since 1956. Brookfield’s ongoing
commitment to quality, design, and
customer service has earned the com-
pany several highly coveted industry
recognitions including the J.D. Power
and Associates Award for Highest in
Customer Satisfaction and Ontario
Builder of the Year from the Ontario
Home Builders’ Association (OHBA)
and Tarion.
Brookfield currently has active
communities in Alliston (Treetops),
Aurora (Arbors), Bradford (Grand Cen-
tral), Bowmanville (BrookHill), Caledon
East (Pathways), Mono (Fieldstone),
Niagara-on-the-Lake (The Village) and
Tottenham (Willow Glen). For more
information about Brookfield, please
visit www.brookfieldhomes.ca. BB

With residential building codes changing across Canada you need
an exterior insulated sheathing that measures up. In the move
from nominal to effective R-values, ROXUL®
COMFORTBOARD™
IS
provides a stable solution.
Vapour permeable, it dries easily even if the framing gets wet,
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Find comfort in a world of change.

PAGE TITLE
Features
To learn more, visit
www.savingsbydesign.ca
TM
Helping builders design and build
more energy efficient homes.
New building codes require new approaches to housing
design and energy performance. Enbridge’s Savings
by Design program is here to help. The program offers
free access to design and technical experts, as well
as valuable incentives to help design and build more
energy efficient homes.
Using our unique and collaborative Integrated Design
Process (IDP), we will work with you to identify optimal
solutions for improving energy efficiency 25% beyond
Ontario Building Code 2012.

Better Builder Magazine, Issue 11 / Fall 2014

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Better Builder Magazine, Issue 11 / Fall 2014