I asked about grants and programs available to home owners a couple of months ago and wanted to share some of our results.
We had an appointment for an EcoEnergy Evaluation the end of September which I wrote about here. They come, look at your house, send you a report saying how you could make improvements and how much money you could receive. You have a year and a half to do the work then they visit again to verify it all. If it's up to par, they hand over the moola. Our inspector suggested taking plenty of pictures of the process when insulating inside of walls etc that get covered up.
We finally got our report back this week and woohoo!
we qualify for a bunch of grants.
For example:
"increase exterior wall insulation by a min of RSI 0.7 (R-3.8) to a max of RSI 1.59 (R-9)" =$70
BUT if we
"increase exterior wall insulation by an amount greater than RSI 1.59 (R-9)" then we'd get $1149.
Other suggestions were to insulate basement walls, headers, attic, and improve air sealing. Each job has a dollar amount we'd receive if completed and we can pick and choose what we do. If we did all the work to the max, we'd get about $2500 from the Federal program and then it says we could also qualify for $2032 from Hydro Quebec (our electric company because we have electric heat, common for our area).
This is all work we were going to do anyways and having the blower door test was awesome. As much fun as going to the circus.
We had trouble spots that we never imagined and would not have thought to insulate. Like, all the windows and doors are new, but the window over the kitchen sink was a different size. Not noticeable, but you can tell they didn't insulate around it and left some gaps under the trim. Air was being pulled through it like crazy, and through an outlet on the same wall. 
The only fee we pay is $150+tax upfront. Second visit cost nothing.
Oh, we also get $65 for buying a low flow toilet. How simple is that?! And the report has so many tips in it, both general and specific to our home.
This is a program above and beyond the Home Renovation Tax Credit, First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit etc. I think we picked the best time to buy and renovate a home!
Just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone was looking for similar programs. The EcoEnergy program is Federal, then there are other various programs for each province.
Oh, forgot to add our EnerGuide rating.
Um, our house is rated at 47 (out of 100
). They say if we do all the work they suggest, they think we could get it up to a 65. Similar aged houses (100 years old) in Qc average at 49 with the best rating at 81 (I'm aiming for 81!)
It also says
air leakage rate @50 Pa:19.56 ACH (number of air changes per hour)
I'm guessing that's not good.
I am really excited about insulating our house! I also replied on a thread about insulation... DH tried a DIY spray foam kit and it worked out really well. So quick and it's so much warmer in the rooms we did.
We had an appointment for an EcoEnergy Evaluation the end of September which I wrote about here. They come, look at your house, send you a report saying how you could make improvements and how much money you could receive. You have a year and a half to do the work then they visit again to verify it all. If it's up to par, they hand over the moola. Our inspector suggested taking plenty of pictures of the process when insulating inside of walls etc that get covered up.
We finally got our report back this week and woohoo!
we qualify for a bunch of grants.For example:
"increase exterior wall insulation by a min of RSI 0.7 (R-3.8) to a max of RSI 1.59 (R-9)" =$70
BUT if we
"increase exterior wall insulation by an amount greater than RSI 1.59 (R-9)" then we'd get $1149.
Other suggestions were to insulate basement walls, headers, attic, and improve air sealing. Each job has a dollar amount we'd receive if completed and we can pick and choose what we do. If we did all the work to the max, we'd get about $2500 from the Federal program and then it says we could also qualify for $2032 from Hydro Quebec (our electric company because we have electric heat, common for our area).
This is all work we were going to do anyways and having the blower door test was awesome. As much fun as going to the circus.
We had trouble spots that we never imagined and would not have thought to insulate. Like, all the windows and doors are new, but the window over the kitchen sink was a different size. Not noticeable, but you can tell they didn't insulate around it and left some gaps under the trim. Air was being pulled through it like crazy, and through an outlet on the same wall. The only fee we pay is $150+tax upfront. Second visit cost nothing.
Oh, we also get $65 for buying a low flow toilet. How simple is that?! And the report has so many tips in it, both general and specific to our home.
This is a program above and beyond the Home Renovation Tax Credit, First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit etc. I think we picked the best time to buy and renovate a home!
Just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone was looking for similar programs. The EcoEnergy program is Federal, then there are other various programs for each province.
Oh, forgot to add our EnerGuide rating.
Um, our house is rated at 47 (out of 100
). They say if we do all the work they suggest, they think we could get it up to a 65. Similar aged houses (100 years old) in Qc average at 49 with the best rating at 81 (I'm aiming for 81!)It also says
air leakage rate @50 Pa:19.56 ACH (number of air changes per hour)
I'm guessing that's not good.
I am really excited about insulating our house!
I also replied on a thread about insulation... DH tried a DIY spray foam kit and it worked out really well. So quick and it's so much warmer in the rooms we did.
)
And we *have* new windows! I guess it's everything propping up the windows that needs to have work done on it. 
A cheque from the provincial gov't (renoclimat) is on it's way for $1170. 
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