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Brookside Farmhouse - An R-2000 Renovation

By Rowena Moyes

When Steven Crowell looked over the 1857 “Brookside” farm home Paul and Linda Dennison wanted to renovate, he had two instant thoughts: “This is a great old structure – but it leaks air and energy like a sieve” and “We can make it R-2000!”
The Nova Scotia certified R-2000 new home builder and renovator has been proven right on both counts.
Before the work started, the house barely measured a 15 under the EnerGuide Energy Rating System. Following Crowell Construction’s deep energy retrofit, the rating skyrocketed to 87. The new building envelope, along with a ground-source direct-exchange heat pump with solar assist and heat recovery ventilator, brought heating and hot water energy consumption down to less than half of the target set by the R-2000 program’s HOT2000 computer modelling.
The Brookside project received its official R-2000 certification at the end of 2012. Alan Stewart of Sustainable Housing and Education (S.H.E.) oversaw the project’s R-2000 evaluation.
“Brookside met or exceeded all requirements and didn’t get any special accommodations for being a renovation project rather than a new home,” said Stewart. “Based on current information, this project would also meet or exceed proposed R-2000 requirements now being drafted to take effect in 2014, including those for the building envelope.”
Steven Crowell, owner of Crowell Construction, is quick to add that the house met or exceeded requirements “in a way that makes it a candidate for a Net Zero Ready home.” He stresses that it’s time to get the word out: R-2000-level energy performance is possible in some renovations. “Not all [renovation] projects are suitable for R-2000, but some definitely are. Those should be encouraged.”

Preservation, Restoration & Performance
The Dennisons wanted to retire into the Brookside home, which had been in the family since 1947, but it was badly in need of an overhaul. They came to Crowell with three criteria: preserve as much as possible of the original home, restore it to the way it looked in 1857, and make it perform for the 21st century.
“It was clear in my mind that the project had to meet or exceed the R-2000 Standard,” said Crowell. “That’s the vision I shared with the owners. They are highly informed and motivated, and they were more than pleased to know that their 150-year-old home could perform as well as or better than a newly constructed one. It’s a matter of informing clients about the possibilities, measuring the value of the investment (and value often is more than a simple financial payback), identifying options and creating a design that provides the most ‘bang for the buck’, tailored to their specific needs and priorities.”
What projects does Crowell think would lend themselves to an R-2000 renovation? “Probably it would have to be a whole-house renovation. And you need to be able to address air sealing in a practical and effective way.”
Air sealing can be a big challenge for renovation projects. “If you don’t have the opportunity to replace the exterior siding, windows and doors and do most of the air sealing from the exterior—as we did here—you lose your key tools,” said Crowell.

Achieving R2000
The Brookside farmhouse had three major segments, all two storeys above grade:

Crowell was able to gut the main house and the back summer kitchen down to the original post and beam and superstructure, also keeping the exterior sheathing. His new walls use a built-up system. From the exterior inward, this consists of:

New non-structural wall, enabling another layer of R12 fibreglass insulation to be installed (Electrical, plumbing and mechanicals, including full ducting for ventilation, were placed in the non-structural wall cavity, so that the installations did not penetrate the air barriers.)
All the original windows and doors were replaced with high efficiency, low-E, argon-filled glazing. The rear extension’s upper floor was given two operable roof windows, which enabled natural lighting and ventilation for the new office area without changing the original roof line of the home.
Ceiling areas were for the most part R60 blown cellulose. Sloped areas utilized a built-up design of rigid foam and blown cellulose to achieve R45. Air sealing was provided with a continuous 6-mil poly vapour-and-air barrier.
The Dennisons wanted to preserve the original fieldstone foundation. It wasn’t possible to air seal that, so Crowell used a built-up floor system to isolate the basement from the heated living area of the house. Over that, they laid 3/8” spruce plywood, then did a 1.5” concrete overpour with in-floor radiant hydronic heating, covered with a finished floor of wide, 3/4” pine tongue and groove planks.
The lot was large enough to accommodate a ground-source direct-exchange heat pump system with solar assist for heating living space and domestic hot water. From late March to the latter part of October, most of that will run on the solar thermal. Solar panels were located on the roof at the back, so they aren’t visible from the street. 
Crowell would like to see more of these projects go through the R-2000 process. “Given the number of existing houses that need energy retrofits, using R-2000 to recognize high performance renovations seems a logical step.”
CHBA’s R-2000 coordinator Gary Sharp agrees. “Deep energy retrofit renovations aren’t likely ever to be mainstream, but we should encourage R-2000 builders who have the training and experience—and suitable projects—to follow this path.”


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