Visitors Memories

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As Told to Kathy From Atlantic Canada, A 1990’S HOUSE

When I interview Mr. R. about his house in a small university town, he said that it was built in 1990. The construction was called “R-2000” which indicates that it is highly insulated and air tight. Mr.R.explains that an R-2000 house meets specified standards set out by the Department of Natural Resources in Canada. “For example it has superior insulation in regards to the roof, and the perimeter walls, including the basement.” His whole house takes in just under 2000 square feet. Mr. R. continues, “What the R-2000 principle is -- it is ‘stick-built’ as they say. What you have is a two by six framing around the exterior, and then a vapour barrier; then a two by three additional wall inside of that. Ultimately, you end up with a nine inch thick exterior wall and that is where your superior insulation and energy efficiency come from.” The site that his house stands on was chosen for two reasons – to get a view of the marsh and to allow for southern exposure on the rear of the house. Mr. R. comments that the house is, “… tilted off- angle to the street and that gives us a full southern exposure. We have fairly extensive glass on the southern side of the house. There is virtually no glass on the north face. We have some passive solar advantages, because of the exposure on the rear of the house.”

Mr. R’s house is heated with electric heat, but because it is so energy-efficient it offsets the rising cost of electricity. He reflects, “The rule of thumb that I use is that we moved from a 1,000 foot bungalow, that was built in the early 70’s, into this house and our energy costs actually went down for heat, light, and hot water. So that was a testimony of its efficiency. The other thing about an R-2000 house is that it is certified by independent inspectors after the construction process. It does give confidence to future buyers about the claims for efficiency. Integral to the R-2000 concept is a heat- air exchanger. There is constant air movement in the house.” The concept of the heat-air exchanger is that the outside air is warmed as it comes into the house and humidity can be controlled as well.

With regards to the interior of the house Mr. R. states, “We have ceramic tile in a good portion of the first floor and that’s for passive solar retention, but it’s traditional broadloom wall-to-wall in other areas. One thing that’s interesting about an R-2000 approach is that it has a concrete foundation, but we insulated the basement floor. The basement floor has four inches of Styrofoam underneath it, so that supports the energy-efficiency of the house as well.” The furniture is “standard contemporary”, and there aren’t any antiques. Mr. R. remarks, “On the first floor we use ‘radiant heat’ from the ceilings as opposed to floor level registers. Basically the heat radiates from panels that contain the heating elements. It’s kind of like a plastic sheet – almost like a four by eight size. Encased within that plastic sheet are heating elements. The plastic sheets reside between the gyprock and the strapping in the ceiling.” This allows furniture to be put near the walls, since there are no registers to be cautious about.

The house has two and one-half bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, an open-concept family room/ kitchen area, and a finished basement which contains an office, a playroom, and a mechanical room with a work bench. The kitchen has cabinets that are white melamine and the counters are made of that also. All the appliances are white and modern. In conclusion, Mr. R. calculated that it cost 10-15% more to build his R-2000 house, but he has recovered this money in five years because his heating costs have gone down. He reports that his house is warm in the winter and nice and cool in the summer.