ENVIR07

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

On June 1 we celebrated the unveiling of Envir07. What a great day! Mike Holmes, star of the hit TV series Holmes on Homes spent the day with us, the boys received a special award from CMHC, and both the Carleton Place and Almonte High Schools were recipients of awards from both the CMHC and the Canadian Home Builder's Association.

SOLD IN A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're pleased to report that Envir07 sold on the day of unveiling! The happy homeowners were on hand for the festivities and took the keys to their new home from none other than Mike Holmes himself! One of the key attractions of the home were it's energy efficient profile and its air quality. Our new homeowners were particularly concerned with air quality and, upon being exposed to the many features of Envir07 - whole house HEPA filtration, fully ducted Heat Recovery ventilator, Low/No VOC paints and materials, and R2000 performance standards - the decision making process became quite simple. Congratulations to our new homeowners!

Air Leakage Test - We PassWith Flying Colors!

One day before official unveiling, the folks from Homesol were in to perform the air change test. This test, which consists of placing a special blower door on the entrance and placing the home under pressure, measures the air leakage of the home. R2000 guidelines call for an air leakage rating of no more than 1.5 air changes per hour. The Envirohome specification must beat this target by at least 15%. The test results? An incredible 0.72 air changes per hour - twice as good as the nominal standard for R2000 and likely one of the top 5 homes measured in the whole country in 2007. Now the boys can truly say: "Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt!"

Onward and Forward to June 1!

It's May 17. Two weeks from launch day and still plenty of work to do. The healthy pure wool carpets are due in next week but before these can go in there are many tasks left to accomplish - railings, trim touch-ups, caulking and above all else CLEANING, CLEANING and more CLEANING!

Final Sprint!

It's a beehive of activity as everyone rushes to get things completed by launch date - June 1, 2007. There's been little time to update the blog. Every effort has gone into 101 tasks and several sponsors have pitched in to help by being on site, on time, and on schedule.

Paint On!

No matter how fast a project seems to be moving along, it always seems to stall when it comes to drywall. That's because drywall is a tedious and time consuming task. Nonetheless, the boys stuck with it through several grueling weeks. With drywall up and primed it was time to move on to finishing - trim, baseboards, casing, mouldings, and fixtures! Here's a sneak peek.

DAILY COMMERCIAL NEWS AND CONSTRUCTION RECORD

Great article from Korky Koroluk, of the Daily Commercial News and Construction Record!

Download dcn_and_construction_record.jpg

HERE COME THE REINFORCEMENTS!

The reinforcements arrived just in time for the second semester. Joining us on Envir07 are, from left to right: Steve Pook, Phil McLean and Phil Campbell. Welcome guys!

PRIMED AND PROPER!

It's a beehive of activity right now. Drywall is underway in the basement walkout area, while upstairs the boys are trying to get ahead of the game by priming the walls. Envir07 uses No VOC/Low VOC paints exclusively - better for the environment and better for the future homeowner. Paints and varnishes generally emit low levels of toxic emissions for years. Oils and alkyds are still out there, and clean-up and  disposal  is always a challenge with all paints. Envir07 found a better way to do things through the use of low/No VOC paints, simplifying clean-up, disposal, and ensuring better air quality in the home. Added Bonus? They don't smell!

Drywall Time!

In early January the drywall arrived. The boys are hard at it installing board and getting ready to learn the fine art of mudding. And yes, it is definitely an art!

In order to ensure that the vapour barrier was not punctured or compromised in any way, the lads marked off stud and strap spacings on each board. It would be a shame at this stage to compromise the airtight shell, especially after all the work that's gone into getting it right!