For A New Home, Humidity Is a Double-Edged Sword!

Or, “You did not take me seriously when I told you to watch the humidity in your new home!”

Truss Uplift

I am really mad! In the recent month, I received 3 phone calls from my last year’s clients about their homes. The floor boards are splitting and the drywall is cracking.

On the new house? What is going on???

The physics behind these problems is pretty simple. Wood is a natural material that responds to fluctuations in its environmental moisture and temperature.

If, the adjoining air, has less moisture than the wood, the wood will dry out to balance to the air. As it dries, it shrinks. If, on the other hand, the surrounding air has more moisture than the wood, all the wooden pieces used to construct your home will expand.

When the quantity of moisture oscillates drastically, wood will expand or contract to a drastic degree. This natural behaviour of wood is responsible for most of the problems encountered in modern, well sealed houses.

It is what causes doors to close improperly, floors to squeak, gaps in wood flooring, uplift on roof trusses. It also causes kitchen cabinet doors to crack, casings and baseboards to shrink and come away from the walls, and miter joints to split.

On the other end of the scale, we all know that the excess humidity in the house causes hardwood to swell and cup. It also condenses a moisture on windows which may damage the surrounding wall. It also helps the mould to grow.

As you can see, humidity is a double-edged sword. Therefore, it is essential to control it in your new home.

Here, in southern Ontario, during spring, summer or fall the control is easy. Air is relatively moist, and as long as you keep your windows closed, your heat recovery ventilator should do the job. Where as winter air is extremely dry, it can drop the relative humidity in your house to the point where it can do damage to the finishes of your house and furniture and under extreme conditions even do structural damage.

Radiant floor heating does not help. It creates a hot dry climate at floor level, draining the moisture out of the floor structure.

For 30 years, I have been talking and discussing this problem with each and every new client. I make it a point to mention it in several occasions, especially when discussing the hardwood flooring and its warranty and again at the point of pre-delivery inspection.

I usually stress the numbers: “Please keep the humidity in your house between 35% and 60%!!!”

Why then, when we went to inspect the relative humidity from our callbacks this month, the highest number we found in those homes was 18%?. At one house relative humidity was 6%. Six percent relative humidity. We did not believe it. We did not know that it could go so low. It would definitely give you problems breathing.

Do you know who is going to carry the blame for cracked walls and split floors? The builder. That’s who. Me!

So, to avoid similar problems in the future, please take care of the relative humidity in your new home. Between 35% and 60% will be just fine.

The following is the list of ideas for keeping your humidity in check:

1) During the heating season, turn the dial on the HRV to the lowest setting available.

2) Do not constantly run bathroom and kitchens fans. They override the HRV system by creating negative pressure and thus drying supply air.

3) Watch your hygrometer carefully during the winter – maintain around 45% RH.

4) Keep indoor plants – they will improve air quality, especially during the winter.

5) Once in a while open the windows. Open windows will supply all the fresh air required.

6) If you notice that the air is on dry side, cook without turning on the fan.

7) Do not turn on the fan in bathrooms while showering.

8) After taking a bath leave bathtub water in the tub till it gets cold.

9) Get an air humidifier. There some models that integrate with your HRV system.

There is one small snag with keeping the house at that level of humidity – moisture on your windows.

As the temperature outside drops to -20 C, the inside pane of glass in a window becomes cold enough to cause condensation to form on the inside pane & start running down the window.

Similarly, the colder it gets outside, the worse the problem becomes. We suggest that you simply put up with the inconvenience of occasionally “mopping up” your windows – it’s all part of the responsibilities of home ownership.

If you find it useful please share it with your friends and groups!


For A New Home, Humidity Is a Double-Edged Sword!

Free-Download

“How To Build A New Home Without Going Broke”

Whether you’re hiring a Builder, or a General Contractor, using a Construction Consultant or managing your job as an Owner-Builder, you can use the resources presented to you here to get the home you want. Once in a while, you will also receive info on new products, specials, and promotions, and up to date information on lots for sale in Southern Ontario (often before they become available to the general public).

Free-Download

“How To Build A New Home Without Going Broke”

Whether you’re hiring a Builder, or a General Contractor, using a Construction Consultant or managing your job as an Owner-Builder, you can use the resources presented to you here to get the home you want. Once in a while, you will also receive info on new products, specials, and promotions, and up to date information on lots for sale in Southern Ontario (often before they become available to the general public).

For sale in Georgian Bay

Welcome to your brand new ICFhome.ca dream home.

This is the perfect three bedroom, two bathroom single level home design, offering more than 1800 square feet of living space for sale in Georgian Bay.

For sale in Georgian Bay

The home design features a post and beam front porch. Upon entering the home, the foyer leads you into the large open concept family room with a vaulted ceiling and an inviting fireplace. The family room flows nicely into the breakfast nook and modern kitchen. The kitchen features a breakfast bar, and 40” glass cabinets.

Off of the kitchen is a hallway that on one side leads you into the laundry room which offers quick access to the two-car garage. The other side of the hallway takes you into the spacious master suite, which also features tray ceilings.

The master suite offers home buyers a gorgeous master bathroom with large soaking tub and separate walk-in shower, a double sink vanity plus his and her walk-in closets.

If you venture to the opposite side of the great room you will find the two additional bedrooms that share their own personal bathroom. This floor plan allows for the ultimate privacy for you and your guest.

Georgian Bay Floor Plan

Off the back of the great room is a large rear deck, perfect for outdoor entertaining.

Features:

• Main Floor Bedrooms Walk In Closet


• Peninsula Eating Bar Breakfast Nook


• Unfinished Future Space


• Covered Rear Porch Covered Front Porch


• Stone and Siding Finish


• Hardwood and Tile Flooring


• High Efficiency Panorama Windows


• 9′ and Valued Ceilings


• Granite Kitchen and Bathroom Counters


• Direct access to the garage

Price: $399,000.00

 

On a beautiful lot in Tiny Township: 15 Blu Bird Lane

For sale in Georgian Bay

Cost of "Greening" Your New Home in Ontario

Green Home

Most builders, especially mass production builders, build to the Ontario Building Code standards only; meaning that they build to the minimum allowable standards equating to more profits for them.

In Supplementary Standard SB-12 Energy Efficiency For Housing, March 15, 2013 update, you can see those standards up to date.

If, when thinking about buying a new home, energy and water efficiency are high on your list of priorities, there are many options available to better those standards.

Apart from saving you money, energy efficiency will result in a more comfortable home for you and your family. It is also the most important step you can take to reduce your home’s impact on the environment.

The following is a list of common energy upgrades and their costs. As a base example for cost purposes, we used an average new home in Southern Ontario of approximately 2000 square feet,  priced at $400,000.00 plus the cost of the lot.

1.) More Insulation:

At the time of this article, the Ontario Building Code prescribes R-22 in the walls and R-50 in the ceiling. Below grade basement slab does not need to be insulated.

spray foam insulation

To make your home better insulated you have several choices:

1. You can insulate under basement slab. Typically it would be R-10 EPS Styrofoam insulation at the cost of approximately $3,500.00 extra to supply and instal.


2. You can beef up insulation in the walls by spray foam insulation. That would set you back approximately $8,000.00 and make your walls airtight. For about $6,000.00 more, you could insulate first 2 inches of your ceilings with the same stuff,  which would give you a complete control of the air coming into your home. Apart from windows and doors, your home would be completely airtight. The difference in price between fibreglass insulation, typically used in houses, and spray foam insulation is approximately $9,500.00 per house.


3. You could even go so far to build your new home with the newest technologies like insulated concrete forms (ICFs) or structural insulated panels (SIPs). With these techniques, it is possible to get the walls to perform as high as R-50 for the above mentioned home. However, that would set you down another $30,000.00 to $40,000.00.

2.) High-Performance Windows

Some say that windows can account for up to 25 percent of total heat loss in a house. Energy-efficient windows, doors, or skylights could reduce your home energy costs by 7 to 12% . 

High Performance Window

Window performance is measured  in a “U” value. It is referred to as an ‘overall heat transfer co-efficient’ and measures how well windows transfer heat. A low “U” value is a sign of high levels of insulation. The higher the U value the worse the thermal performance of the window.

Decrypted into R values a good triple pane windows will be in the R-5 through R-7 range, although some window manufacturers make a dual pane window with R-5 through R-9 (very expensive).

R-Value is only ONE part of the equation. Windows must also be AIR TIGHT. A leaky window in winter will let in the cold and let out the warm air. The reverse is true in summer.

The other part of the equation is SOLAR GAIN. If you are in a heating dominated climate, having a lot of south facing windows that have a high SHGC will help heat your home during winter.

Upgrading those windows from the ones prescribed by the code will set you back from $5,000.00 to $10,000.00.

3.) Upgraded Heating and Cooling Systems.

65% of all Canadian homes are heated with forced-air furnaces. Of these, two-thirds are fired by natural gas, while the rest are fired by oil or propane.

These systems are popular for a number of reasons, notably their ability to heat the house quickly and the fact that their ductwork can also be used for air conditioning during the summer months.

In addition, a forced-air furnace can be equipped to multi-task as an air filter, humidifier and/or fresh-air ventilator.

The downside of forced-air systems is that it can feel drafty because of the air blowing out of the vents, which also may circulate dust. Ducts can carry noise from the furnace and blower throughout the house.

For the new homes being built since 2012 minimum furnace efficiency is at 90%. This means that for every dollar you spend on fuel, 10¢ goes up the chimney in the form of exhaust gases. Can we make this better?

Ground source or geothermal heat pumps:

For about $25,000.00 you can put in a ground source or geothermal heat pump. Geothermal heating and cooling systems take advantage of the stable temperature underground using a piping system that circulates water to exchange heat between your home, the ground source heat pump, and the earth, providing heating, cooling, and some of hot water at remarkably high efficiencies. It is supposed to save you at least 50% of your heating bill. Additional cost for your new home: $20,000.00 to $30,000.00.

Geothermal Heating

On-demand water heaters also called tankless water heaters: 

Heating water accounts for approximately 25  percent of the average home’s energy budget. Some makers of gas-fired tankless water heaters claim their products can cut your energy costs up to 30% over regular storage heaters. 

The main advantage is that they eliminate the extra cost of keeping 40 to 50 gallons of water hot in a storage tank, so you waste less energy. They also offer a continuous supply of hot water, which is ideal for filling a big hot tub or a whirlpool. They’re more compact than a standard water heater and mount on a wall. Some of them can also be used as a space heaters at the same time as they heat portable water. The efficiency in some condensing units goes as high as 99%.

There are many different makes and models, starting at about $1,500.00 and going up to $5,000.00 for a more sophisticated unit.

Solar water heaters

Also called solar domestic hot water systems can be a cost-effective way to generate hot water for your home. They can be used in any climate, and the fuel they use, sunshine, is free.

The energy you can expect to save by switching to a solar water heater depends on several factors such as the size of the collectors and storage tank, appliance efficiency, amount of sunlight in your region and the amount of water you use. A typical solar hot water system will reduce annual energy costs by 40 to 70 percent.

There are many different systems and models available and the cost is reasonable. Depending on a system, the cost for a new house will range between $5,000 and $10,000.00.

Radiant Floor Heating

The best heating system a house can have is the one you don’t realize is there. No radiators clanking in the night. No vents whooshing like a jet preparing for takeoff. No dust-spewing ductwork to run up your allergists’ bills. Just an even blanket of heat, right where you want it. That’s the appeal of radiant floor heating.

In a radiant setup, the warmth is supplied by hot-water tubes buried underneath the floor. As the waves of thermal radiation rise from below, they warm up any objects they strike, which radiate that captured heat in turn.

Though the air temperature remains relatively constant, you stay comfortable because the surrounding surfaces aren’t stealing warmth from your body. Not only does radiant floor heating keep your toes warm, but it ensures that the rest of your body will be kept at a comfortable temperature as well.

Setting up a hydronic heating system costs more than much more than forced air. One of the factors affecting the cost of an in-floor radiant heating installation is the method that will be used to heat the water.

Industry claims 30% savings on your heating bill, at the extra cost for the new installation around $20,000 to $30,000 depending on the system used.

Radiant Floor Heating

4.) Water efficiency

Similarly, water efficiency will result in lower costs and better use of resources. It is a hedge against future increases as many municipalities look to update decaying infrastructure, with users likely being asked to shoulder some of the cost.

The starting point for home buyers is low-flow toilets and faucets, as well as water-conserving landscaping. If you are interested in taking water efficiency further, talk with your builder about grey water recycling and rain collection for non-potable water use.

Almost all new bathroom and kitchen fixtures come with water saving features. Cost is usually negligible.

5.) Green products

There is a vast selection of resource-smart products that give you the look and function you want while reducing the impact on the environment. This includes products made from recycled waste or from easily renewable or well-managed sources; locally produced products, and products with a longer lifespan. Ask for details, so you know if a product is truly green and better for the environment.

 6.) Smaller Home Sizes Make a Big Difference for  Future

As a rule, a smaller home uses less energy than a larger one of a similar age. Attached homes like duplexes, row houses, and apartments use less energy on a square footage basis than single-detached homes.

Sometimes bigger isn’t necessarily better. Look for a home that gives you the space you and your family need, but think twice about going too big. Depending on your family’s needs, aim for 500 square feet per person. Look for homes that have an open plan or can be easily renovated to create an open plan in the main living areas. Open-plan homes feel more spacious even with a smaller total square footage.

Further Reading:   Study of Energy Efficiency Measures for Part 9 Housing in the Ontario Building Code

Cost of "Greening" Your New Home in Ontario

100 or 200 Amp Electrical Service?

One of the most frequent questions the new home buyers ask is weather to get 100 or 200 Amp service for their new home. Is the 200 Amp service worth extra expense?

200 Amp Electrical Panel

If you don’t have any 220 volt electricity hogs, such as electric heat, hot water tank, dryer, range or central AC a 100 amp service for a modest size home will serve most families. But this is the minimum service size allowed by the National Electrical Code, and you leave little room for future expansion.

Adding 30% to the cost now may seem large, but if the time comes when you can’t do with 100 amps, replacing your new 100 amp service with a 200 amp service increases the price by approximately 30%.

We have added a detailed calculation sheet at the end of this article but the following is the way to calculate your load:

The National Electrical Code uses Volt-Amperes (VA) in calculations, but for a residence you can use Watts and be so close it doesn’t matter.

Here is how you can get an estimate of your load.

3 Watts per square foot for lighting and general outlets; say 7500 for a 2500 square foot house.

Now add electric dryer (5500), electric water heater (4500), electric stove or cook top + oven (8500), two kitchen appliance outlets at 1500 (3000), laundry outlet (1500), two tons of air conditioning (3000 watts). Let’s add 6000 watts for your shop (6000). You probably aren’t running your welder and your saw at the same time.

Total is about 39,500 Watts or Volt-Amperes. We are going to round it up to 40,000 to make the calculations easier.

Now all of those things are not operating at one time, so the NEC lets you take 100% of the first 10,000 Volt-amperes, and 40% of the balance. So you have 10,000 + 0.4 x 30,000 = 10,000 + 12,000 = 22,000 Volt Amperes.

Now 22,000 VA/ 240 Volts = 91.7 Amps, say 92 Amps.

It is good practice to have 25% margin, and 125% of 92 Amps = 115 Amps. THAT IS YOUR LOAD, for the assumptions that we made. You may not have an electric water heater or electric dryer.

You are limited to 42 breakers/circuits in a panel. A large 2-pole breaker to a sub panel counts as two circuits. A tandem breaker (two breakers in one slot) is two circuits. You DON’T add the circuits in the main and the sub panel.

You want to balance your loads. The 240 Volt loads on 2-pole breakers are automatically balanced. It is very hard to create unbalanced loads, because breakers that are one-above-the-other on the same side of the panel are on opposite poles of the service. The easiest way to create an unbalance is to use large tandem 115 Volt breakers. Stay away from tandem 30 amp breakers.

Another thought to consider, when selling the house some day you may find it an easier sell, and may make back your 30% and then some, with an attractive feature like a 200 amp service. One thing home shoppers don’t like to think about is the possibility of having to mess with the electrical system.

Calculate Electrical Load Worksheet Download!

100 or 200 Amp Electrical Service?

ICF Foundation Pros and Cons

The foundation of every building is fundamental in the transfer of all loads throughout a building into the ground. In areas where earthquakes and high winds are a hazard, it must also act to anchor the buildings structure.

When determining the best foundation system to use for your home, it is critical to take into consideration the type and bearing capacity of the soil it is to be built on, settling, water and frost.

The conventional foundations are constructed by pouring concrete into temporary forms, which are removed when the concrete has cured. When built with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), foundation forms remain in place, and provide insulation on each side of the concrete.

ICF Foundation

How much more does it cost more to build foundations with ICFs?

Typically, a foundation built with ICFs will cost a little more than a comparable concrete or block foundation.

Through several studies of ICF construction costs, it has been determined that using ICF wall construction as a rule adds about 5 to 10 percent to the total foundation price.

However, in the one step that would have produced a bare concrete wall, an ICF wall produces a furred out and insulated wall with a vapour barrier, all the way up to the floor joist.

Foundation walls built with ICFs are easier and faster to construct than either concrete masonry unit or cast-in-place concrete foundations.

Insulating forms protect the concrete from freezing or rapid drying.

After any concrete wall is poured there is a curing process that needs to occur. Without adequate curing conditions this does not happen, and the wall weakens and is prone to cracking and even shifting.

One of the most common complaints in new homes is leaky basements due to cracked foundation walls. With ICF construction, concrete is protected by the very forms that create its shape, which means that the curing process will complete as required.

In fact, because of its optimum curing environment, an ICF wall cures to be stronger than a conventional wall. Rest assured that your ICF wall will not leak, or crack regardless of what season you build in.

In extremely hot weather, in which evaporation is a concern, the top of the form need only be covered with plastic sheeting.

On the other hand, concrete can be poured in ICFs when ambient temperature is as low as -15 Celsius, requiring only the top of the form to be protected with insulating blankets.

ICF foundations can be built in any season, regardless of temperature

Can anyone do it?

This is not a “Do-It-Yourself” job. Putting the ICF formwork together is easy enough for anybody who has read the manual and achieves a shared understanding of all the sections. However, the ICF form bracing and the concrete pouring is much more demanding. Those sections should be performed by an experienced builder.

How well do ICF walls hold up in a fire?

In “firewall” tests ICF walls were subjected to continuous gas flames and temperatures of up to 2,000°F for as long as four hours. None of the ICF walls ever failed structurally, in contrast to wood-frame walls, which typically collapse in one hour or less.

In one step, the lower level is poured, framed, and insulated all the way up to the floor joists, even throughout daylight and walkout areas; eliminating the need for any work before the subfloor can be installed.

What is the average R-value of ICF walls?

Walls made of Insulated Concrete Forms are rated on average, like a wood-frame wall constructed with R-25 insulation. But that’s not the whole story. The equivalent R-value performance of ICFs consists of three factors.

First is the R-value of the expanded polystyrene.

Second, the thermal stability of massive concrete walls reduces the temperature fluctuations and, consequently, the heat load requirements that are common to wood-frame buildings.

Finally, air leakage (infiltration) can account for 20 to 40 percent of the heat load requirements of a wood-frame building. ICFs eliminate this air infiltration through the wall assembly.

As a result, with the combined performance of the R-value of the expanded polystyrene, the stabilizing effects of the thermal mass of the concrete, and the reduced air infiltration, ICF walls actually perform as high as R-40 to R-50 — or more in some areas of the country.

Won’t the foam burn or give off harmful emissions?

The foams in ICFs are manufactured with flame-retardant additives. The National Research Council reviewed the numerous existing studies of fire emissions and concluded that the emissions from polystyrene foams are no more toxic than those of typical softwoods used in home construction.

Can radius and angled walls be constructed with ICFs?

Pre-formed 90 and 45-degree corners are available to speed construction since they are the most commonly used corner angles. Radius walls are easily constructed by miter-cutting the form at the proper angle and using foam to join the edges. Some manufacturers will deliver already curbed walls.

One thing to keep in mind is that you have to finish the basement with drywall due to the building code regulations.  you can not have a “unfinished” basement due to the styrofoam fumes if it ever catches fire.

An ICF basement should be called a “lower level” since the old stereotypes about basement do not apply to them. An ICF foundation is warm, dry, quiet, comfortable, and provides no opportunity for mold growth; since there is no cavity where warm, moist air meets a cold wall and condenses.

You can download “COSTS AND BENEFITS OF INSULATING CONCRETE FORMS FOR RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION” a study done by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research by clicking here! 

ICF Foundation Pros and Cons

Test Post from Ontario Home Builders

Test Post from Ontario Home Builders http://buildersontario.com

How Much For a New Home?

One of the most typically asked about question will be: “What does it end up costing to build your home?” The true price of building a brand new home can vary depending upon on how well prepared you are before you start the process. If you wish to save yourself the maximum amount of money as is possible it is important to research prices.

Quite often, people are simply looking to get a house which makes them content and meets their needs. Due to diverse variety of valued clients, its extremely important to determine what the actual requirements are of the house for the purchaser, and start to generate a quotation price depending on the fulfillment of those goals.

The biggest issues to consider that may have an impact on the cost of a house will be the following:

1. Municipal Charges and Services along with Regional Building Permit Costs:

Depending on what municipality you build in, charges for building and development charges can vary from as low as $10,000 to as much as $40,000. By way of example, using a two thousand square foot home, this results in a difference of $15.00 per sq . ft .. Building permit rates are based on a share of the total construction cost, including all supplies along with work involved in the proposed work.

2. Building Site

Project site conditions which can raise construction expenses are: bad soil conditions, wetlands, polluted materials used, conflicting utilities (buried water pipe, cables, overhead lines, and so forth.), ecologically sensitivity area, surface water, lake or stream crossings, high-traffic, buried storage tanks, historical sites, endangered species environment as well as other existing conditions.

3. Size and Layout

Colonial homes have easy gabled roofs. In the simplest examples the roof is created completely with just one particular truss configuration. French county roofs are typically hipped as opposed to gabled (hips will be more expensive) and are also normally steeply pitched - additional raw lumber is required, additionally, the roofing work is more expensive. Every angle, intersecting roof, bay window, porch as well as level change contributes complexness to a house. In case you’re considering a number of home design concepts, try to find complexities in the layout that could make one significantly more expensive to construct compared to other. The design of the outside perimeter is a crucial factor in calculating the total building expense. Usually, the more elaborate the shape, the greater expensive the structure per square foot of floor area. Typically, 2 storey homes will be the lowest priced home to construct compared to their alternatives. The city attitude of ‘building up’ will cost less than ‘building out.’ A 2 storey provides a more compact foundation and therefore, significantly less concrete, not to mention less roof top, in addition to plumbing and mechanicals will be more compacted on a two storey with smaller runs. .

4. Finishing Touches

The degree of surface finishes also has an evident impact on the price of the home. As an example, the gap between a $20,000 kitchen or a $60,000 kitchen changes the square-footage price considerably, and that is just for the kitchen. Different finishes also create diverse labour costs. Employing a stone mason to set up natural stone cladding will be considerably more expensive when compared with utilizing bricklayers to install regular brick.

5. Mechanicals:

They may be the items that are within the walls which you will in no way see, plus the products in the mechanical area. The common residence will have fiberglass insulation and also a gas furnace. Custom household may have much more expensive spray foam insulation, and high efficiency furnaces could be combined with air exchanges and electronic air cleaners, and in floor heat to raise the level of comfort for occupants.

So what does a custom household cost?

Most custom residences will perform out to price in the selection of $175 square foot to $300 per square foot, depending on size, style, systems, finishes, place. This will not incorporate design and style costs, services and municipal charges that will differ extensively depending on the individual lot characteristics. A builder will check out the plans and establish what goes into constructing the home to come up with an correct construction price tag.

More Info http://buildersontario.com

Garden & home builder (Volume 4)

Computerizing the estimating process can help remodelers double their estimating productivity while increasing accuracy. The right software package can also make it easier to revise cost estimates and keep track of running costs. Modeled after the CAD Reference Guide For Residential Construction, this book is written to help you choose the right computer estimating software package for your company. It guides you through the steps of selecting and implementing an estimating system, introduces you to takeoff and analytical tools available from most programs and gives you practical tips that will help you increase productivity. Includes profiles of estimating software packages, a glossary of terms and an estimating software buyer's checklist. From Home Builder Press, 1998, 98 pp.

Click here to buy from Amazon