Canadian TV reno guru Mike Holmes writes about the importance of waiting for the right one – in The National Post. He expects to see a drop in the “grey market” (i.e. paying someone under the table for contracting work) because now folks like us can get the HRTC money back, so there is savings to be had there. He notes, I think wisely, that it was never a good idea to pay cash, but to use a “legitimate” contractor or else…

“That leaves you with the other guy: the guy who works for cash and who’s willing to cut his rate and cut a deal. But don’t kid yourself: Things cost what they cost – and don’t think for a minute any contractor is taking those cash discounts and deals out of his bottom line… That discount is coming out of your job, somewhere.”

Well, considering that Doug and I want a good job to be done on our renos, we are going to opt for the squeaky-clean ‘white’ market and pay by cheque, including the GST (and soon to be Harmonized Sales Tax - but we are going to beat that rap!!)

We want to find the RIGHT man for our eco-reno jobs, and you know what they [women)] say… It’s hard to find a good man!

In the meantime, Doug is taking it upon himself to do reno work:

• It took him 2.5 months (just ended last week) to drywall the newly insulated basement bedroom of his teen son – as well as install the laminate floor, build a large closet and install mirror doors, etc.

• He spent today installing a low-flush ecoEnergy-rebate-worthy toilet in the basement bathroom, which – as the tiles flew up from the floor – will no doubt now lead to the full-on gutting and rebuilt of that room. (We do have the new vanity cupboard/sink, shower stall etc. sitting in the garage the last six weeks!)

“No, we don’t do framing, nor batten-type insulation. No, we don’t knock through your knee walls, but we will create an attic hatch for you….”

That is just a sample of the different, sometimes conflicting information I’ve gleaned after visits from 3 insulation contractors in a 24-hour period. I took notes, and was guided by my husband’s (written) directions.

One insulator, from EnerLiv, went to his car for 20 minutes after his review of our insulation needs on all 3 levels of our home, and came back with an itemized quote on the spot. The other 2 contractors said they will phone in their quotes.

Our home energy audit report is already getting dog-eared after the number of times we flip through it to get “government-sanctioned” advice. And we are just starting to dip into the 130-page Keeping the Heat In book we got for free from our auditor, that’s published by Natural Resources Canada.

(Interesting, an energy consultant we meet last week at a Burlington mall giving demos to the public said she was shocked to discover how many local residents did NOT receive this apparently valuable book from their auditor… So we were lucky. If you weren’t so lucky, you can order the Keeping the Heat In book at 1-800-387-2000.)

Meanwhile, I just read a blog post warning of Typar vapour barrier woes when used for inside basement walls (an area we need to get insulated).  Yikes! We’re really going to need to be consumer-researchers extraordinaire!

Stay tuned for more on the insulators’ quotes.

“For the insulation guy we need a separate quote for each floor of the house
Upstairs
* Insulate the attic and side walls
* Install an attic hatch
* Fix and install attic ventilation as required

Main Floor
* Can any insulation be added to the walls on this floor?
* He will probably need to drill a hole in an outside wall to evaluate this. If he does please put the hole in an inconspicuous place (i.e. in the hall closet or in side one of the kitchen cabinets

Basement: There is no insulation from the furnace area, through the laundry room and around Hayden’s room.  Depending on the labour costs we might do this ourselves but you know how good we are at doing these sorts of projects.  Therefore please ask him for a quote and what kind of insulation he recommends for this
* As part of the quote we will need to frame in the parts that are not framed now so please ask him to include this in his quote
* Also as per the EcoEnergy Audit a big loss of heat comes from the headers – please ask him about this and ensure that they will be including this in their work

Wow, that’s the longest thing my husband has written to me in years! Doug wasn’t able to get the time off work to walk through with the insulators himself – as he did with the home auditor.

And to think, without his direction, I am was just going to tell the insulators:  “It’s cold in here… knock yourself out.”

Well, after 3 hours with 3 contractors, I’ve learned…

• You only “blow” insulation in when you’re doing an attic; otherwise you’re “spraying” or ‘battening”
• You cannot insulate a double-brick home without reconstruction of the walls, as there isn’t enough space between outside and inside worlds
• We have knee walls that, strangely, rise up past my shoulder
• We have enough room behind those knee walls to house a full children’s nursery or store large pieces of furniture, bikes, etc.

Stay tuned for a breakdown of the 3 contractors’ quotes as to insulating the 3 levels of our old, drafty house.