Ever felt confused while prioritizing home upgrades or wasted money on improvements that didn’t perform as promised? You’re not alone. WestPro is here to help.
Learn to make your home more energy efficient, comfortable and healthy, while spending your money wisely, with an EnerGuide home evaluation. This takes the guesswork out of which upgrade would work best for you and your family.
Many Energy Efficiency Upgrades Are Not Cost Effective and Can Actually Be Detrimental to Your Home.
Most people believe that new windows or more insulation increase a home’s comfort: You wouldn’t be the first to believe that. Although, neither of those are a one-and-done solution, some of these renovations may actually create more issues than you think. You need to ask yourself: “How does changing one thing affect the operation of my home as a whole?”
An EnerGuide Home Evaluation approaches your home as “one system” and gives you information on how to improve your whole home.
Your home is a system
Your home is comprised of many different parts: walls, windows, ceilings, a foundation, a heating system, occupants and their activities; All of which interact with each other. With heat, moisture, and air, both inside and outside of the home, changes to any part of the system may affect the way heat, moisture, and air interact with each other. This may have detrimental effects on the home. Keeping this in mind, you need to understand building science to carry out effective energy efficiency measures. At WestPro Inspections, an EnerGuide home evaluation is more than just an energy audit. We understand and approach your home as a system before recommending any upgrades.
Benefits
Renovate with Confidence:
- Become better informed and educated so as to make better decisions
- Receive third-party expert advice based on facts, not opinions or marketing upsells
- Renovations or upgrades may be eligible for the mortgage premium refund
- Make your home more comfortable
Reduce Energy Costs:
- Receive a renovation upgrade report that provides a detailed and customized roadmap with recommendations on how to improve your home’s energy performance.
- Learn where to spend your money wisely, by taking the guesswork out of renovation. Prioritizing what is really needed and truly cost effective.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint:
Energy reduction going green saving the planet with global warming by reducing your carbon foot print
- Reduce energy consumption
- Understand and participate in green initiatives
- Understand and participate in reducing the effects of global warming
An EnerGuide Home Evaluation may make your home eligible for a 25% refund on CMHC premium mortgage loan insurance
CMHC Green Home offers a premium refund of up to 25% to borrowers who either buy, build or renovate for energy efficiency using CMHC-insured financing. If you purchase an existing home and make energy-efficient improvements you may be eligible for a CMHC Green Home premium refund*. To qualify, your home must be assessed by a Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) qualified energy advisor before and after the energy efficiency improvements are made.
Energy-efficient Housing Made More Affordable with Mortgage Loan Insurance
Click here to learn more
about CMHC Green Home Incentives: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/moloin/moloin_008.cfm
What you receive with an EnerGuide Home Evaluation for your home
A Homeowner Information Sheet:
A homeowner Information sheet includes detailed information about your home and its energy use.
An EnerGuide Rating and Label:
An EnerGuide rating and label displays the energy performance of your home. This is done by estimating the net amount of energy a home utilizes in a year and displays the rated energy consumption in GJ/year per square meter.
A Renovation Upgrade Report: A renovation upgrade report provides a detailed and customized roadmap with recommendations on how to improve your home’s energy performance. This is ideal for existing homeowners who are looking to renovate their home and implement more energy efficient upgrades.
What to expect during an EnerGuide Home Evaluation.
During the on-site evaluation, we will collect the following data from your home:
- We will perform a comprehensive assessment of the building envelope: windows, doors, ceilings, walls, foundation. A visual inspection and measurement is done to determine surface area, insulation levels, dimensions/volume and the orientation (to accommodate for solar gain) of your home.
- We perform a comprehensive assessment of mechanical systems: heating system, air conditioning, ventilation system and water heater.
- Blower door test: (A Blower Door Test is performed to determine the air tightness of your home and identify air leaks) With the
- Blower Door running, we will walk with you throughout your home to identify common areas of air infiltration. A Blower Door test will determine:
- Measurement of air changes per hour at 50 Pa
- Location of major air leakage areas/ ELA (estimated leakage area) of the home. The ELA is expressed in square inches
- Depressurization test when required (combustion spillage)
- Energy modelling of all components to determine the energy efficiency of your home.
- By comparing your home to a home built to a 2010 NBC National Building Code (as a baseline)
- Recommended home upgrades and potential energy savings
- ERS certified label for your home
- Intensity energy rating of your home
The energy assessment will provide you with calculated potential energy savings on any recommended upgrades. A custom certified ERS report and label for your home.
Am I obliged to undertake the recommended upgrades?
No. This is simply a consulting service that provides homeowners information on increasing energy efficiency and comfort in their home. There is no obligation to undertake any of the recommended upgrades.
When is a follow-up evaluation recommended?
- When applying for government grants (In Alberta CMHC mortgage insurance rebate is the only option presently) https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/moloin/moloin_008.cfm
- If you have made major improvements to the energy efficiency of your home after the initial energy evaluation, new rating and label is recommended. Especially if you are selling your home as this a great feature to have and may increase your home value.