Better Builder Magazine, Issue 34 / Summer 2020

PUBLICATIONNUMBER42408014
INSIDE
Sustainable Hardwood Flooring
Being Bottle-Free
Pursuing Energy Efficiency
Missing Spring Training Camp
High-Efficiency Foam
The Carbon Question
ISSUE 34 | SUMMER 2020
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BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 34 | SUMMER 2020
18
1
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
2
Being the Best We Can Be
by John Godden
THE BADA TEST
3
Bottle-free Community
Represents Important Shift
by Lou Bada
INDUSTRY EXPERT
5
What We Missed at
Spring Training Camp
by Gord Cooke
INDUSTRY NEWS
8
Heathwood Homes
A Tradition of Innovation
by Rob Blackstien
BUILDER NEWS
11
A Fitting Tribute
by Rob Blackstien
BUILDER NEWS
15
RESNET Conference and
Cross Border Builder
Challenge Awards
INDUSTRY NEWS
16
The Pursuit of Energy Efficiency
by Paul De Berardis
SITE SPECIFIC
24
Growing a Winner
Geranium Homes’ Pickering Project
by Alex Newman
BUILDER NEWS
27
Getting Better All the Time
Campanale’s Callahan Estates
by Alex Newman
BUILDER NEWS
30
Building a Culture of Excellence
Brookfield Sets Its Sights Higher
by Rob Blackstien
SPECIAL INTEREST
32
High-Efficiency Foam with Ultra-
Low Global Warming Potential
by Paul Duffy
FROM THE GROUND UP
34
The Carbon Question
by Doug Tarry
FEATURE STORY
18
Remaining Neutral
A Burnaby, B.C.-based hardwood flooring manufacturer is making a difference.
by Rob Blackstien
30
ISSUE 34 | SUMMER 2020
Cover: istockphoto © imaginima. Images internally supplied unless otherwise credited.
8
15

Being the Best
We Can Be
2
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C
OVID-19 has undoubtedly changed our lives. To stop its spread, we’ve been
asked to take both personal and collective actions – not only does every person
need to practice physical distancing, but entire populations worldwide must
act in concert to quell the outbreak.
This need to work as a global community isn’t any different from how we need to
respond to climate change. Just like our response to COVID-19, climate change requires
individual and collective leadership – and this issue offers some examples of how we
are doing this already.
This year’s RESNET/CRESNET Cross Border Builder Challenge reminds us that
international co-operation is key for any success. The challenge is a friendly annual
competition between American and Canadian home builders to determine just how
energy efficient builders can build. The rule is simple: the lowest Home Energy Rating
System (HERS)/Energy Rating Index (ERI) score wins.
There are five categories for Canadian builders, with awards sponsored by
Enbridge, Building Products of Canada, ROCKWOOL and RenewABILITY Energy.
This issue features each of the winners: Heathwood Homes, Tribute Communities,
Geranium Homes, Campanale Homes and Brookfield Residential (starting on page
8). Notably, they are all graduates of Enbridge’s Savings by Design (SBD) program,
which incentivizes builders to achieve 15% better performance than the 2017 Ontario
Building Code. When we wish to grade Canadian-built homes to American-built
ones (as we do in the Cross Border Builder Challenge), the ERI is a standards-based
approach to determine the lowest score of energy performance. In Ontario, under
SB-12 2017, a package A1 reference house scores an ERI or HERS 53 and exceeds the
International Efficiency Conservation Code (IECC) requirement of 54. ASHRAE 90.2,
Energy-efficient Design of Low-rise Residential Buildings, seeks to deliver 50% more
efficiency than the IECC 2006. The document employs site-to-source and neutral-cost
points through a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis for all weather zones in North
America. The chart on page 9 indicates a HERS 46 for Ontario. This year’s winners
surpassed that benchmark.
The international theme continues, with Gord Cooke sharing lessons from what
would have been the seventh annual Building Science Spring Training Camp (page
5). We also feature CRAFT, a B.C. flooring company that manufactures its products
overseas while staying sustainable, on page 18.
Meanwhile, Lou Bada describes a collaboration by two builders to curb plastic
water bottle use (page 3), and Doug Tarry shares insights on embodied carbon and how
each material choice affects greenhouse gas emissions (page 34).
I believe that this pandemic is a dress rehearsal for tackling larger issues, like
climate change. COVID-19 has given us a chance to pause and focus our priorities for
the future. Opportunities for change depend on co-operation, not division – humanity
is in this together. BB
publisher’snote / JOHN GODDEN
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Y
ou can lead a horse to
water, but you can’t make
it drink.” It’s a well-worn
adage. And while I would never dream
of comparing new-home buyers to
our equine companions, I hope that a
certain amount of horse sense applies
to most home buyers when it comes
to drinking water and the use of
disposable plastic bottles.
Starlane Homes and Rosehaven
Homes have committed to our first
“bottle-free” community, called
Ivy Rouge in Oakville. At this new
community, we hope to make
disposable plastic bottles a thing of
the past. By installing BWT in-line
water filters under the kitchen sink,
we hope that our customers will
be comfortable drinking excellent
water from the tap. The system is
reliable, manufactured by a large and
respected European company, and
easy and affordable to service. It’s
great for both home owners and home
builders. (Find out more about this
product at bwtservicecanada.ca.)
The adverse environmental
impact of plastics in general, and
water bottles in particular, is well
documented and intuitive. How
many times have you seen images
on TV news programs or online
documentaries of plastic bottles
choking our oceans? In addition, try
to imagine the energy required to
extract the raw materials, process
and ship the plastic, fill and ship the
bottles, and eventually recycle the
plastics or dispose of them (often
by shipping them overseas again).
Non-judicious use of plastics is at the
heart of environmental pollution, the
climate crisis and ultimately ecological
devastation.
That leads me to an old Italian
saying: “Tra dire e fare c’è un mare.”
Loosely translated, it means “Between
saying and doing, there is an ocean.” In
this case, possibly a sea of plastic. This
collaboration with BWT represents
Starlane and Rosehaven showing that
we want to help the environment – but
more importantly, that we want to
make a difference through the creation
of an environmental program. We
are putting into practice the social
conscience that our home buyers have
told us that they want and expect from
home builders. While acting with a
social conscience is the right thing to
do, it’s also good for business because
we’re protecting our planet.
We have come to understand that
the most important energy conserva
tion component in a new home is the
occupant. By making the process of
doing the right thing as convenient and
affordable as possible, we can make a
great impact. We hope that other home
builders will follow our lead to make a
difference for the environment.
We believe that our customers
will see the benefit of this technology
if they are wary of drinking directly
from the tap. Ultimately, like physical
distancing, our future is to a large
degree in our hands (which we all need
to wash with soap and water multiple
times a day).
Changing our behaviour in the
absence of an immediate crisis
is challenging. Hopefully, being
proactive in averting a crisis is now a
mainstream conversation for families,
friends and colleagues across Canada.
An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure. BB
Lou Bada is vice-
president of low-rise
construction at Starlane
Home Corporation
and on the board of
directors for the Residential Construction
Council of Ontario (RESCON).
3
thebadatest / LOU BADA
We are putting into
practice the social
conscience that our
home buyers have
told us that they
want and expect
from home builders.
Bottle-free Community
Represents Important Shift
in Home-building Landscape
26794597/DEPOSITPHOTOS

Check out our website at www.gsw-wh.com

What We Missed at Spring Training Camp
The first thing we missed from
Spring Training Camp was the
return of Robert Bean. Robert,
in my opinion, is the foremost
authority on human comfort in
indoor environments. We had Robert
speak two years ago on the basics of
human comfort. He introduced us
to the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55,
Thermal Environmental Conditions
for Human Occupancy. That standard
defines comfort as “that condition
of mind that expresses satisfaction
with the thermal environment”
and is well known around the world
as the standard for designing,
commissioning and testing indoor
spaces and systems specifically for
their impact on occupant comfort.
We were inviting Robert back to
demonstrate some of the practical
design tools that are now available to
apply the elements of Standard 55 so
that builders and their mechanical
designers can avoid the most common
comfort complaints. Robert was to
remind us that the sense of comfort
in a space was dependent on up to
six variables: two that you have little
control of (the clothing choices and
metabolic rate of your home owners);
two that you measure and have some
control over (air temperature and
relative humidity); and two that have
become more important as the design
of houses has changed (air speeds and
radiant temperatures of surfaces that
surround us).
Robert can show you how to assess
and balance the impact of those
ever-larger windows that your home
buyers love, but that represent a highly
variable, intermittent thermal load
on spaces that are better insulated
and more airtight. That balancing act
might include more informed choices
on window glazings and coatings
versus heating and cooling choices that
can respond more quickly or precisely
to the solar gain on, say, a south-facing
feature window.
Thus, when assessing the value
of advancing window technologies,
add the comfort parameters into your
calculations. For example, a triple-
glazed window results in warmer
winter surface temperatures that
compensate for clients working from
home in light clothing and allows
for higher indoor relative humidity
without risk of excessive condensation.
Of current interest, perhaps, the ideal
relative humidity for discouraging the
viability of viruses is 40% to 50%. Try
maintaining that level in Canadian
homes without using triple-glazed
windows.
Fortunately, you don’t have to wait
until Spring Training Camp 2021 to
work with Robert. He will be providing
a live online advanced workshop
where participants will apply the
comfort calculation tools to specific
applications. For more information,
stay tuned to buildingknowledge.ca/
spring-camp-2020.
The second thing we missed at
Spring Training Camp 2020 was the
undoubtedly spirited conversation we
were to have with Chris Magwood, the
executive director of The Endeavour
Centre. Chris has been challenging the
housing industry to move past energy
efficiency metrics and onto the deeper
carbon emissions implications of
material choices we make.
Chris would have helped us
recognize the relative importance of
the embodied or upfront carbon of the
materials processed to construct a home
versus the operational carbon emitted
5
industryexpert / GORD COOKE
Chris Magwood has
been challenging the
housing industry to move
past energy efficiency
metrics and onto the
deeper carbon emissions
implications of material
choices we make.
I
have been collecting superlatives that attempt to capture the angst in both our
personal and professional lives created by the COVID-19 pandemic. I am up
to 12 words that I hear and see in government and industry communications
and in advertisements and promotions: from “uncertain” to “unprecedented” to
“devastating.” In one small aspect, I would use the word “disappointed,” in that
we were disappointed to have to cancel the Building Science Spring Training
Camp that Tex McLeod and Building Knowledge Canada have been hosting for
the last six years. So I thought that, in this article, I would introduce a few topics
that we were looking forward to having a conversation about, as we think they
will be an important part of our residential building world (even though, in the
short term, we respect our responsibility to the urgency of the pandemic).

over the lifespan of the building;
that is, the total life cycle assessment
of a building. It will be no surprise
that the inherent complexity of the
housing industry – with thousands of
parts and pieces, handled by dozens
of suppliers and trade partners over
a six- to nine-month build, culmin
ating in a structure that will be
occupied by generations of varying
families – makes Chris’s assessment
very challenging.
However, we do need to get
started on this, and there are already
helpful resources that more and
more manufacturers are beginning
to offer, such as the Environmental
Product Declaration (EPD). This
assessment converts the equivalent
carbon emission of a product into
a common metric of kilograms of
equivalent carbon dioxide (kgCO2
eq.). A seemingly simple example
would be a comparison between the
choice of a steel beam to support a
floor versus, say, a three-ply 2x12. The
incredible energy needed to extract,
process and extrude the steel beam –
in stark contrast to the sequestration of
carbon during the growth cycle of the
trees and relatively simple processing
of the lumber – gives the wood frame
construction a much lower EPD.
However, even this calculation
garners debate. The trees, if left
growing, could be counted upon to
absorb even more carbon from the
atmosphere, and perhaps even more
carbon was released from the soil
during the harvest. As you follow the
conversation about climate change,
you will note that our building
industry is always earmarked as a key
sector, inasmuch as between 25% and
45% of global emissions are related
to the construction and operation
of buildings. We had hoped to spark
a conversation on carbon this year
at Camp, but I will encourage you to
follow Chris at endeavourcentre.org/
endeavour-sustainable-building-
school/contact and we will be sure to
have him on the agenda in 2021.
Finally, I was looking forward to
doing a little update on airtightness.
Now that we have over a year under
our belt with the AeroBarrier whole-
home air sealing technology, I wanted
to review the successes – not just
in the consistency of results, but in
the process improvements it has
afforded builders. Imagine if, with
one phone call, every house could
be under 1.5 air changes per hour at
BUILDERSFORCLIMATEACTIONWWW.BUILDERSFORCLIMATEACTION.ORG
We have been so pleased
by the open, frank, spirited
conversations that Spring
Training Camp has sparked
as we came together each
of the last six years.
Excerpt from Low-rise Buildings as a Climate Change Solution put out by Builders for Climate Action.

50 Pascals pressure (ACH50). That
means fewer pollutants and odours
and less noise crossing party walls in
your multi-family projects. Perhaps,
in the current environment, your
clients would like to know how you
are controlling the air in their home.
It means you don’t need to obsess
over passing the 15-point air barrier
inspection every building official is
supposed to do. It means you don’t
need to worry about warm, moist air
condensing in your attics or exterior
walls, and it means you can trade off
other more complex energy efficiency
requirements by using a performance
path energy rating process. For
example, increasing airtightness
from 2.5 ACH50 to 1.5 ACH50 gives the
same energy benefit as adding R-8 of
continuous exterior insulation on a
single detached home. I was looking
forward to recounting the 45 years
of building science research into
airtightness, spurred by a Canadian
hero by the name of Harold Orr, that
can now be so easily accomplished by
every builder. I encourage you to check
out the Order of Canada recognition
given to Harold: www.gg.ca/en/
honours/recipients/146-16303.
We have been so pleased by the
open, frank, spirited conversations
that Spring Training Camp has
sparked as we came together each
of the last six years. It seems though
that the best thing we can do for our
families, our friends and our industry
is to stay apart – at least physically,
at least for a bit. We will be back
together, and I am confident that high-
performance building will be even
more important than ever. Indeed, the
same things we do for energy efficiency
increase the health, safety, durability
and sustainability of the indoor
environments you create. BB
Gord Cooke is
president of Building
Knowledge Canada.
7
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industrynews / ROB BLACKSTIEN
Silvio Longo, Heathwood chief
operating officer of construction, is
stoked about the company adding
to its collection of hardware. “It is
very exciting to see that the hard
work of the Heathwood team is
making a difference and giving
the home owners the best product,
saving energy, and reducing carbon
emissions into the atmosphere,” he
says. “That is a win-win for the home
owner and the environment.”
Just how effective were the
company’s energy efficiency efforts on
this project? Consider the fact that the
combined carbon emission savings
from the 225-home subdivision was
the equivalent of removing 74.3 cars
from the road – forever.
Two of Country Lane’s houses are
particularly special: one a discovery
home (lot 132) and one a model home
(lot 95).
The discovery home, built under
Enbridge’s Savings by Design program
(see issue 26, page 11), features the
Total Water Solution (see “A North
American First” in issue 28, page 20),
making Heathwood the first builder to
employ this innovation in Whitby.
At the heart of the solution is
Greyter’s greywater recycling system,
which “saves water and sewage cost for
both the home owner and the city,
resulting in a 25% reduction in water
consumption,” Longo explains. The
home earned a HERSH2O label (see “Hell
or High Water” in issue 33, page 28).
Savings by Design has a big fan in
Heathwood, which has leveraged the
program on a couple of occasions “to
educate the municipality about the
various features and systems and the
energy savings that the project would
have,” Longo explains.
By doing so, Longo says the town
ship awarded Heathwood permits for
Heathwood Homes
A Tradition of Innovation
Veteran Builder Wins Second President’s Award in Three Years
H
eathwood Homes may soon have to start recycling its acceptance speeches.
Just two years after taking home the Cross Border Builder Challenge
CRESNET President’s Award for its Richmond Hill subdivision, in which
the homes averaged a HERS score of 44 (see “Heathwood Homes: Inspired to
Make a Difference” in issue 26, page 4), Heathwood was again bestowed with the
contest’s most prestigious honour for lowering that average home score to 42 at
its Country Lane subdivision in Whitby.
Rocco Longo, Svetlana Ipatova, Matthew Soloman and Silvio Longo.

BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 34 | SUMMER 2020 9
the full site rather than just a percent
age. “Many of the municipalities
welcome builders that work hard
toward achieving a better performing
house that saves resources [and] water
and cuts carbon emissions,” he adds.
Lot 95 features the iFlow tankless,
on-demand water heater which
delivers zoned heating and cooling.
The system allows home owners to
control where heating or cooling
will go – ideal for saving energy by
distributing hot or cool air where
it’s needed most (for instance, living
areas during the day and bedrooms at
night). Heathwood is the only builder
that has employed the iFlow in Whitby.
“At Country Lane, we worked
very hard to simplify home owners’
concerns and satisfy customers’
comfort with heating system
commissioning,” Longo says.
Through a third party, Heathwood
ensures that the designed amount of
air gets delivered to each register.
It’s a program that’s been
extended to Heathwood’s Wallaceton
subdivision in Kitchener and will
be employed in upcoming phases in
Whitby and future sites, Longo says.
Further experiments in the lot
95 home include a hybrid insulation
system in the basement designed to
both manage moisture and provide
“a more continuous insulation
performance,” he explains. On the
exterior walls, R-20 four-inch graphite
insulation from Amvic was employed,
along with a metal track system, which
will allow the basement to be finished
with drywall in the future.
Heathwood believes that home
owner education is a big part of driving
its energy efficiency agendas forward.
After all, if the people buying its houses
don’t understand the benefits, it
becomes a harder sell.
With this in mind, the company
overhauled its website to include the
Heathwood Total Home section. With
a wide variety of features offered in its
better living package (including smart
home security, smart home locks,
smart carbon monoxide detectors and
smart garage door openers, among
other items), the company realized that
introducing these options to potential
customers through the site made life a
lot easier when it came time for those
people to talk to sales staff in person.
A one-time proponent of ENERGY
STAR, Heathwood has shifted over to
HERS in recent years, incorporating it
as part of its Heathwood Green Energy
Home Program.
Longo explains that using HERS
provides the company with the
flexibility to adopt its own building
packages to meet specific efficiency
goals for each subdivision. He says this
allows Heathwood to build homes that
are up to 25% better than the standard
Ontario Building Code requirements.
This approach has really put the
company ahead of the pack, both
in Canada and internationally. For
instance, Longo says its average HERS
score for Country Lane was 10% better
than the zero-ready threshold in the U.S.
“I know we are on the right path.
To achieve much better, our team
becomes more familiar with contin
uous improvements,” he says. BB
Rob Blackstien is a
Toronto-based freelance
writer. Pen-Ultimate.ca
HEATHWOOD HOMES — CRESNET PRESIDENT’S AWARD
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F O R O V E R 1 0 0 Y E A R S
INSULSHEATHING Panel
Introducing a Unique Innovation:

T
ribute Communities has long
been on the cutting edge of
sustainable home building, and
this year is no exception. In a fitting
tribute to the lasting legacy of one of
its fallen heroes, the company won
the RESNET Cross Border Builder
Challenge Award for the Lowest
HERS Index Score (Canadian Custom
Builder) with a score of 40.
The award was for Tribute’s
Westney Place project in Ajax, of
which 14 of the 22 homes were
rated and achieved well over the
20% better-than-code target. Using
structural insulated sheathing that
acts as an exterior air barrier and
two-stage variable speed furnaces
with electronically commutated
motors (ECMs) were among the key
components that drove the energy
efficiency rating of these houses.
Tragically, Tribute vice-president
of contracts, Frank MacPhee, was not
there to celebrate in the company’s
success – but given the influence he
had on Tribute’s sustainable building
practices, his fingerprints were all
over this award.
MacPhee passed away in Decem
ber 2018, and although he was taken
far too soon, his legacy continues
to burn bright within the company
and many of its employees that he
mentored along the way.
Nadia Winters, the company’s
construction project manager, recalls
how tough it was to return to the
office after the holidays when he
passed away. “I was usually the first
one in our department in the morning
and he was usually the second. Every
morning, he would stop at my door
to say good morning and have a little
story to tell me. For weeks, I would wait
for that morning visit.”
He was a man excited by the possi
bilities of energy-efficient housing,
and it showed in his willingness to try
new things, such as helping create TIPS
(Tribute’s Innovative Performance
Standard) – a program that fittingly
was introduced at the award-winning
Westney Place site. (For more on TIPS,
see “Tribute TIPS the Scales” in issue
27, page 16.)
MacPhee first developed his passion
for sustainable development as a teen
helping his uncle build log homes in his
hometown of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
By the time he arrived at Tribute, “he
dreamed of rain barrels standard with
every home well before they were a
part of a water reduction strategy by
municipalities, to bigger things like
greywater systems and photovoltaics,”
says his former assistant and now
successor, Lisa Grimshaw.
Ultimately, she says, “Frank was
the driving force behind any sort of
sustainability initiative for Tribute.”
Winters agrees, adding that MacPhee
was driven to steer Tribute into
sustainable building, but it had little to
do with the recognition and was more
about his ardent belief that this was
the future.
It’s clear that MacPhee’s enthusiasm
for sustainability came from his love
of nature. “He loved to garden, [and
seeing] the moon and the stars. He
enjoyed his morning nature walks
where he often brought his camera to
snap pictures of the sun rising or a bird
on a branch,” recalls Winters.
MacPhee spent over 30 years with
the company, and he truly bled Tribute
Blue, Grimshaw says. She says that he
would often declare “I have the best job
in the world.” “That kind of positivity
is infectious,” she says. “He was an
absolute joy to work with.”
Among his career highlights
11
A Fitting Tribute
Builder Honours the Legacy of One of Its Fallen Heroes
buildernews / ROB BLACKSTIEN
40
TRIBUTE COMMUNITIES — LOWEST SCORE CUSTOM

were serving as the president of the
Durham Region Homebuilders’ Asso
ciation (DRHBA) in 2004 and being
inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2017.
MacPhee was unaware of it, but
Winters says that company president
Al Libfeld and his son Steven had
MacPhee’s family flown in from Nova
Scotia to be there for the induction
ceremony with him. “I’m not sure
they would have done that for
anybody else – but for Frank, they
didn’t give it a second thought. He
was that special.”
Then again, perhaps it’s not that
surprising. After all, Winters says
that MacPhee pretty much devoted
his life to the company, and the
owners realized and appreciated it.
He was often described as ‘larger
than life,’ not only because of his big
physical stature, but more so given
the immensity of his personality.
“Everyone loved Frank – he was
one of those people who left a
lasting impression. He just had that
personality that drew people in,”
Winters adds.
MacPhee’s demeanour was a
comfort for all, and his willingness to
help others made him an invaluable
resource. “He could easily find
common ground with any individual,
no matter their age, creed or
religion, and everyone who came
in contact with him felt his warmth
and sincerity,” Grimshaw says. “He
gave everyone a sense of comfort
and offered exceptional advice – a
sounding board for many.”
Grimshaw describes MacPhee as
loyal and trustworthy, and that his
creation of genuine trade relationships
that improved the company’s financial
strength is his lasting impact. “He will
always be in our memories and, for
many of us, there isn’t a day that goes
by that we don’t think of him and say
‘What would Frankie do?’ I am hon
oured to have worked by his side for so
many years and am grateful for every
thing he taught me,” Grimshaw says. BB
Rob Blackstien is a
writer. Pen-Ultimate.ca 
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15
buildernews The 2020 Cross Border
Builder Challenge
Canadian Builders Up for the Challenge
Once again, Canadian builders represented the nation brilliantly at this year’s 7th Annual
RESNET/CRESNET Cross Border Builder Challenge, a competition celebrating excellence in
energy-efficient home building while promoting the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index.
MANY THANKS TO THE SPONSORS OF THIS YEAR’S CHALLENGE
John Godden (left) and Paul Duffy, CRESNET; Jim Neto and Silvana
Ramirez, Brookfield Residential; Tim Campanale, Campanale Homes;
and Rod Buchalter, RenewABILITY Energy Inc. at the RESNET annual
Cross Border Builder Challenge Awards in Scottsdale, Arizona
Erminio Labriola (left) and Silvana Ramirez, Brookfield Residential –
Lowest Score Production (over 100 homes)Tim Campanale, Campanale Homes – Lowest Score Mid-Production
Frank Mauro (left) and Vince Naccarato, Rodeo Fine Homes –
Honourable Mention
Lisa Grimshaw (left) and Nadia Winters, Tribute Communities –
Lowest Score Custom
Jim Couperthwaite (left), Geranium Homes – Innovation Award
presented by Paul Lowes, Building Products of Canada

industrynews / PAUL DE BERARDIS
The feedback from this public
consultation will help shape the
content of the anticipated 2020
national codes and subsequently
the Ontario Building Code. Ontario
code users were strongly encouraged
to review and provide comments on
the national proposals as they are
expected to significantly influence the
content of future editions of Ontario’s
building code. As part of ongoing
efforts to transform the development
of construction codes, provinces,
territories and the federal government
have committed to increasing the
harmonization of the technical
requirements across Canada. This
initiative is being undertaken to
help streamline the national and
provincial code development process
to reduce duplication and increase
procedural efficiency, while providing
greater consistency across Canada.
As part of this arduous consulta
tion process, RESCON reviewed all the
proposed technical changes, focusing
on changes with potential impacts to
residential construction practices,
and provided commentary to numer
ous relevant proposed changes. With
respect to low-rise housing, this
consultation was largely dominated
by proposed changes to improve
operational energy efficiency. Other
noteworthy proposed changes related
to resistance to lateral loads, parti
cularly for seismic and wind loads.
Among the proposed changes was
the introduction of the Tiered Energy
Performance Compliance Prescriptive
Path. This four-tiered prescriptive
path introduces energy conservation
measures with associated point
equivalencies, whereby a minimum
number of points are required to meet
the increasingly stringent tiers. The
energy conservation measures award
points for effective RSI values of above-
ground wall assemblies, U-values
for fenestration, effective RSI values
for foundation walls, airtightness
levels, ventilation system sensible
heat-recovery efficiency, and energy
efficiency (EF or UEF) for water heating
equipment. This points scheme
favours improvements to the building
envelope and airtightness, while
occupant loads are largely ignored.
The proposed points framework
seemingly acts as a black box for
code users, as there is no explanation
regarding the merit of how points are
determined. Similarly, there is a paral
lel proposed change which introduces
a Tiered Energy Performance Compli
ance Path that deals with simulated
performance modelling. This proposal
utilizes five energy performance tiers,
with Tier 5 representing a ≥60% overall
energy efficiency improvement of
the proposed house compared to the
house energy target. So where is this all
headed and how fast will regulations
be changing? The proposal stated that
“builders complying with the tiered
energy requirements can expect cost
impacts and energy savings similar
to well-known voluntary housing
programs. … Tiers 2-5 approximate the
energy savings targets of ENERGY STAR,
R-2000, Net-Zero Energy Ready and
Passive House programs.”
Should things proceed as sched
uled, these energy-efficiency mandates
for new homes will be increasingly
ratcheted up from one tier to the next
within about 10 years. The proposed
changes provided some costing
data, with the estimated per-unit
incremental cost to achieve Tier 5 for
a gas-heated single-detached home
pegged at $30,800, which seems
optimistic by my estimates.
Within the next 10 years, will the
residential construction industry
be ready to build homes that are
constructed to Passive House levels of
energy efficiency for the mass market?
And more importantly, will new-home
buyers be willing to pay the price
premium? To answer this question
bluntly: not a chance. The federal
government’s commitment to the
ambitious Paris Agreement targets to
fight climate change has put the wheels
in motion, but maybe – just maybe –
the government has bitten off more
than the industry can chew.
The Pursuit of Energy Efficiency
T
he winter 2020 public consultation led by the National Research Council
of Canada (NRC) recently wrapped up in March. It focused on proposed
changes to national construction codes, including the National Building
Code of Canada, the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings and the
National Plumbing Code of Canada.
If we consider the impacts
of embodied carbon,
alternate strategies
may emerge in how we
develop future building
code requirements.

To complicate matters further, as if
the proposed changes and targets for
energy efficiency will not be difficult
enough to achieve, other proposed
changes seek to update provisions
for resistance to lateral loads due to
earthquakes and wind. As a result,
certain regions in Canada will now fall
outside the limits of the prescriptive
solutions in Part 9 and require design
per Part 4. The proposal stated that
trends in new-home construction have
shifted towards open concept floor
plans – having fewer interior partition
walls and larger windows resulting
in less lateral bracing for structural
stability for wind and seismic loads.
As such, lateral loads resulting
from earthquakes and winds could
negatively affect houses in low
seismic zones, which currently are
not required to be braced to resist
these loads. Coupled with the fact
that evolving energy-efficiency
requirements are pushing builders
to replace wood sheathing with
continuous exterior insulation,
the experience that Part 9 framing
is based on no longer applies and
reconsideration is warranted. The
proposed changes for energy efficien-
cy and lateral resistance represent
competing interests for above-ground
wall assemblies. The pursuit of energy
efficiency is pushing the effective RSI
value for above-ground walls as high
as 5.45 (m2
·K)/W in the prescriptive
tiered approach, increasing the use
of continuous exterior insulation.
Meanwhile, proposed lateral resistance
requirements seek to expand the use of
wood sheathing products and increased
fastening for structural strength. The
proposed change goes on to state that
for construction of exterior walls where
continuous exterior insulation is used
in combination with wood sheathing,
there will be a “small” cost premium.
It is obvious the pursuit of energy
efficiency and the target to achieve
net zero energy homes have become
paramount for the federal govern
ment’s Pan-Canadian Framework
on Clean Growth and Climate
Change, its overarching strategy for
reducing emissions to meet the Paris
Agreement. However, the proposed
changes relating to energy efficiency
only consider methods to reduce the
operational energy usage of homes.
But we must ask ourselves: while we
focus solely on reducing operational
energy usage, could the products
and methods of construction we are
using be inadvertently increasing
emissions through embodied energy?
If a home’s concrete foundation walls
become thicker to support the use
of more exterior polystyrene foam-
based continuous insulation, and
solar panels are utilized to generate
energy, are the accrued operational
savings more than enough to offset the
impacts of the manufacturing process
for the increasing usage of such
building elements?
To be honest, that is not a question
I can answer. But for building codes
to be so focused only on operational
energy efficiency and make drastic
policy decisions without considering
the effects of embodied energy (the
carbon footprint of a material) or life
cycle assessments (the evaluation
of the environmental impacts of a
product through all stages of its life
cycle), we may just be spinning our
wheels in the grand scheme of things.
If we consider the impacts of
embodied carbon, alternate strategies
may emerge in how we develop
future building code requirements
to reduce housing-related emissions,
considering both embodied and
operational energy. Ultimately, we
must remember the overarching goal
is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
to combat climate change, not blindly
focusing on how to regulate net zero
energy homes at all costs. It should
not matter if the emissions reductions
come from a home’s operation or the
embodied energy from what goes into
constructing a home – both aspects
should be equally considered. BB
Paul De Berardis is
RESCON’s director of
building science and
innovation. Email him at
deberardis@rescon.com.
17
National Building Code Proposed 9.36 Energy Code Tiers
Baseline is current 9.36 performance,* plug/lighting loads not included.
15% IMPROVEMENT — CURRENT OBC SB-12 2017
TIERS 4 AND 5 IN DANGER FOR MUNICIPAL OVERREACH
TIER 1 — 0% IMPROVEMENT
WITH MANDATORY AIR TEST AT 2.5 ACH

featurestory / ROB BLACKSTIEN
A Burnaby, B.C.-based hardwood flooring manufacturer is making
Remaining
I
f Rod Gray had a nickel for every time
someone wondered how his product
can possibly be sustainable, he’d
probably have enough money to make
the planet much more environmentally
friendly.
The president and Chief Sustain
ability Officer of Burnaby, B.C.-based
Creative At Home Inc. hears it all the
time about his company’s hardwood
flooring brand, CRAFT Artisan Wood
Floors: How can you be sustainable
when you ship your wood to China to
have it processed, and then return it to
Canada as a finished product?
It’s a question any reasonable
person might pose, and the answer will
surprise you. Because the fact is this:
CRAFT is a company committed to
environmentally friendly practices and
is a true industry leader as the world
grapples with becoming carbon neutral.
But first, a little history lesson
is needed about both Gray and the
company.
Launched in 2002, Creative At

BETTERBUILDER.CA | ISSUE 34 | SUMMER 2020 19
a difference through its commitment to sustainable products.
Neutral
Home has grown to 25 employees:
15 at the head office and 10 sales reps
spread out across Canada and the
U.S. Pacific Northwest. Three years
ago, Creative rebranded its hardwood
flooring product as CRAFT Floors,
a high-end artisanal product that
slots in the middle of the pack from a
pricing perspective (about 20% to 30%
cheaper than the most expensive, and
about 20% to 30% more costly than
the cheapest options), Gray says.
With an extensive background in
building materials, Gray says he’s “not
a militant environmentalist” – instead,
his motivations for sustainability come
from a more honest and simple place.
“It sounds corny, but I truly love
nature.”
Decimated by Climate
Change
Gray says he’s very aware of the impact
society is having on the environment,
and nowhere more so than in the sea.
As a hardcore diver, he’s observed that
“the oceans are just getting decimated
by climate change, because of the
change of the acidity levels of the water
and the temperature change in the
water. You don’t actually see it as much
on land as you do in the ocean.”
Creative’s goal was to get the
company carbon neutral by 2020 (in
other words, to establish its overall
carbon footprint and buy carbon
offsets, a credit for GHG reductions
achieved by another company that the
first company ‘purchases’ to balance
COURTESYCRAFTARTISANWOODFLOORS/CREATIVEATHOMEINC.

its own emissions), but Gray explains
that this had to be delayed until 2021
as the world shifted into COVID-19
survival mode.
When the pandemic struck,
CRAFT was in the midst of having
a proper environmental product
declaration performed, a process
that would reveal the flooring’s exact
carbon intensity. Gray says they’re
already ahead of the game simply
based on the fact that wood is a less
carbon-intensive material than steel,
aluminum or glass, for example. After
all, wood is a renewable resource
– especially when it comes from
sustainable sources.
One of the ways Creative ensures
its products come from sustainable
sources is through its certification
by the Sustainable Forest Initiative
(SFI), one of the forestry certification
standards that offer companies a
chain of custody to guarantee the
wood is genuinely sustainable.
A competing brand of the much
better known Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC), SFI had a bad reputa
tion when it launched. But Gray says
that since it underwent a restructur
ing, SFI is now on par with the FSC.
“Think of them as being Pepsi and
Coke. They’re two slightly different
flavours of the same thing,” Gray says.
Creative wanted to use only
North American wood; however,
most engineered wood flooring uses
plywood, and most of that comes
from very unsustainable sources like
decimated Russian forests, Gray notes.
Controlling the Process
The answer for Creative was to
control the process by making its
own core using Canadian spruce,
so it could know where the material
originated. Given that most of that
material comes from well-managed
and sustainable B.C. forests that are
certified to the SFI standard, “it made
sense for us to go with the SFI chain of
custody,” Gray explains.
He says that when a manufacturer
gets Chain-of-Custody certified by one
of these organizations, they are able to
advertise this fact. However, “it does
not mean that everything they make
is certified. All it means is that they
have the ability to buy certified wood,
make it into a product, and then pass
that certification on to the finished
product,” Gray says. “They have the
ability to do it but not necessarily the
commitment to do it.”
“So what happens is, a lot of these
companies – the vast, vast majority
that use FSC – they proudly display the
logo, but they very rarely actually make
products out of FSC certified wood,”
he explains. Gray adds that when a
consumer demands certified product,
It takes a village: The Creative At Home team.
Conditioning the components in a special kiln increases the stability of CRAFT’s flooring.

all of a sudden the cost goes way up
and they have to wait extended lead
times while the manufacturer tries to
go out and source certified wood.
No Game Playing
“We’re the only company that I’m
aware of that has made the commit
ment. We’re saying ‘we’re not going
to play that game. That’s green
washing.’ All of our products are
certified,” Gray says.
But still, the $64,000 question
remains: how can they ship to and
from China and remain sustainable?
The vast majority of the product’s
journey is via ocean freight (much
more environmentally friendly than
truck or rail). And with its Burnaby
warehouse so close to the port, and
its factory in Jiashan, China, also
very close to the port, the company’s
internal carbon footprint analysis
discovered that the round trip is
equivalent to trucking the product
from the warehouse to just east of
Winnipeg.
Gray explains that given the
artisan quality and labour-intensive
nature of their product, it makes
sense to employ the more inexpensive
labour in China; the fact that their
area specializes in making high-end
wood products clinches the deal.
Further, because Creative At Home
owns the factory, it knows that its
products are built with full adherence
to environmental standards.
Besides, Gray says, the perception
of China as a child labour state
producing massive toxins is largely
outdated and inaccurate now. In
some ways, he says, it’s stricter there.
In Canada, Gray says, you might
get a penalty or fine for flaunting
environmental laws; in China, you
can be thrown in jail.
Because they choose only the
best coatings and stains, the volatile
organic compound (VOC) emissions
are low enough on CRAFT floors that
it has achieved GREENGUARD Gold
certification, meaning it can be used
in hospitals and schools. This, and the
fact that all its products are SFI Chain-
of-Custody Standard certified, are
the company’s major environmental
differentiators, he explains.
21
IT’S OUR NATURE
CRAFT is dedicated to creating uncommonly beautiful wood
floors that are as kind to the planet as they are luxurious.
TALK TO US 1 877 828 1888 hello@craftfloor.com
SHOP AND SAMPLE NOW: craftfloor.com

A CLOSER LOOK
22
Not Just Talk
Unlike many of its competitors, Gray
says Creative doesn’t just talk about
sustainability – it walks the walk.
“The big thing we do that nobody
else does is we are fully committed
to making 100% of our products
from wood that comes from certified
sustainable forests,” he says. “The
vast majority of our competition
couldn’t care less – and so they don’t
do anything positive for the planet,
except for the bare minimum.”
Gray says that while many focus
on the sustainability angle (made all
the more remarkable because of the
journey the product takes), at the
end of the day, CRAFT’s enduring tale
should simply be one of quality, as it’s a
beautiful, high-end product.
In making its wideplank, long-
length, engineered hardwood floors,
CRAFT takes “a much more artisanal
approach than most other companies,”
he says. “We put a lot of effort into
sourcing the highest quality of wood,
and then we put a lot of manual labour
into sorting and grading each batch of
wood, with the result being that we can
create detailed looks and effects that
other manufacturers find impossible to
replicate.”
You can call it a labour of love,
one designed to help save what really
matters to Gray: the planet itself. BB
Rob Blackstien is a
writer. Pen-Ultimate.ca 
Gray says that while
many focus on the
sustainability angle,
at the end of the day,
CRAFT’s enduring
tale should simply
be one of quality,
as it’s a beautiful,
high-end product.
A CLOSER LOOK
CRAFT
BY JOHN GODDEN
BETTER BUILDER
In the past, my decisions were based on aesthetic and price. The truth is, the best value is
usually in the middle.
Now my decisions are made based on where products come from and how they are made.
This process must include sustainable practices, durability in design and manufacturing,
crafted by people who care about what they are making. Claims about being “green”
abound, but careful examination always reveals the truth.
I chose CRAFT flooring based on the following factors:
• The company’s philosophy of excellence and
commitment to reducing their carbon footprint
• Locally sourced, sustainably harvested wood
from B.C. forests certified to SFI
• In my experience, not all engineered hardwood
flooring is structurally stable, especially in older
homes where it’s difficult to maintain optimum
relative humidity; the components of a CRAFT
floor go through an extra “conditioning” step that
ensures material stability (see photo, page 20)
The fact that CRAFT flooring is fabricated in China may seem counterintuitive with respect
to carbon emissions. However, CRAFT’s warehouse is close to an ocean port in Burnaby,
B.C., Canada and the same is true for the plant in Jiashan, China, meaning that the bulk of
the journey that their materials travel is by low-carbon ocean freight. This ocean round trip
is equivalent to the more carbon-intensive trucking from Burnaby to just east of Winnipeg.
All things considered, CRAFT flooring is the best sustainable, durable value at a mid-price
point for engineered hardwood flooring. I encourage you to take a closer look at the product.
• Every bundle of CRAFT flooring has
little waste and few defects because the
wood is carefully selected and sorted
• In the instance of my own home, I have
a long room with natural daylight; the
long planks (8' to 10') result in fewer
seams and create a beautiful finish
• GREENGUARD Gold certification for low
volatile organic compound emissions
and a healthy living environment

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sitespecific / ALEX NEWMAN
A
design workshop. A passion
for building well. And some
stakeholder incentives. That’s
the equation that netted Geranium
its recent win at the RESNET Cross
Border Builder Challenge.
Getting the Most Out of the
Savings by Design Program
Long before the challenge, and even
before building permits were applied
for, Geranium principal Boaz Feiner
and senior project manager Diana
Sousa were involved in a workshop from
the Enbridge Gas Savings by Design
program. The workshop included City
of Pickering planning and sustainability
officials; Michelle Vestergaard, senior
advisor with Enbridge Gas’ Savings by
Design Program; and John Bell from
Clearsphere. Manufacturers’ reps and
designers, as well as the builders’ site
staff, also attended the seminar.
The aim of the Savings by Design
program is to help builders improve
the energy and environmental
performance of new construction
projects. Participating builders must
construct homes to achieve an energy
reduction target of at least 15% better
than code, and in return, financial
incentives are available to help them
implement energy-saving goals.
During the workshop, various
construction components are
considered – mechanicals, insulation
values and air tightness, to name a
few – in order to create an energy-
efficient housing product.
“It’s setting the bar high,” admits
Sousa. “The incentive is nice, though
it doesn’t cover the costs to do all the
upgrades. We’ve always done more
than minimum, always gone above the
minimum code, because we believe the
end-product is important – comfort in a
home is ultimately what people want.”
Free and available to Ontario
builders in areas served by the former
Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., the
program sometimes sees builders
having to redesign parts of the homes.
As Vestergaard explains, “maybe the
insulation needs to be increased, or
better technologies need to be adopted
and incorporated to run the home.
Blower door tests are standard once
homes are built because the 15%
improvement has to be verified.”
Enbridge Gas offers incentives.
There’s the monetary reward of $2,000
per home with a cap of $100,000, but
more important are “the experts we
bring to the table free of charge,”
Vestergaard says. “These experts
sit with the builder and have really
valuable conversations about design
improvement. You can’t really put a
price on that, to get all those people in
one room talking it out.”
According to previous participants,
the program saves money in the long
run, Vestergaard says. “When you have
experts involved earlier in the process,
builders avoid costly changes later;
that’s a value-add to them. If we can
talk solutions before homes are built,
they’re way ahead of the process. For
example, if the builder preplans using an
integrated design process, determines
exactly how much material the house
will use, there will be a cost savings.”
Currently, the Pickering site is
under construction. Everyone –
including seven sets of home owners
who have moved in – is pleased with
how their home has performed. In
addition to this, Geranium won the
coveted Enbridge Gas Innovation
Growing a Winner
Geranium Homes Leverages Savings by Design
for Its Award-winning Pickering Project
45
GERANIUM HOMES — ENBRIDGE INNOVATION AWARD

Award at RESNET’s Cross Border
Builder Challenge, held this past
February in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Enbridge Gas has been involved in the
Cross Border Builder Challenge for
five years, and for the past three has
sponsored the Innovation Award.
One of the main reasons why
Geranium’s Edgewood project was
chosen over other submissions, says
Vestergaard, is because “they made a
commitment to do a whole subdivi
sion – 21 homes – which aligned with
our market transformation goals.
They are leading the industry ahead
of their peers.”
Going with Greywater
The award-winning innovation in the
Edgewood project is that 21 homes
operate with greywater recycling, which
reduces water usage by up to 25%.
While Geranium roughs in for
greywater recycling on all its projects,
they teamed up with Greyter on this
one. The greywater recycling company
installed the full system in each home.
It’s an expensive proposition, but it
garners Geranium a first – it’s become
the first company to install greywater
recycling in an entire subdivision in
Canada. It’s important to note that
the support from Enbridge Gas has
helped make this possible. With this,
Geranium perpetuates their brand of
building high-quality homes that offer
as much comfort to the home owner as
it does to the future life of the planet.
Edgewood will prove somewhat
of a test case for Geranium, Sousa
says. “We’re interested in using the
data from Edgewood to see how
performance of that is going. We also
went with HERS scores on this site.
We’ll try it to see how it works. Above
all we like to remain flexible, and
everything always depends on the
market. In today’s uncertain times,
we need to be able to adapt.”
While HERS doesn’t have the same
branding as ENERGY STAR, Sousa says
regardless of what you call it or what kind
of rating you use, it’s all about having
energy-efficient features. “ENERGY
STAR was standard on all our products,
but we’ve discovered that we needed
more flexibility. ENERGY STAR was
prescriptive, always changing, and every
few years there were new guidelines.
HERS has allowed us to do our own
modelling and compare it to the code.”
Water is a precious resource and
Canadians are one of its highest users,
Sousa says. “There are communities –
especially in northern Ontario – that
do not have access to enough clean
water. We’ll continue to rough in for
greywater recycling in our detached
homes, so home owners have the
option to buy and install a system
down the road.”
“And it’s a great case study for other
municipalities and builders,” Vester
gaard says. “It’s not cheap to do this
kind of building, but it’s a win-win – for
Geranium, for their home owners, for the
city and the environment.” Each home
will receive a HERS energy label and a
HERSH20 water score, which verifies
15% better than code performance.
Having the municipality’s involve
ment was “huge,” says Sousa. “Having
officials working with you makes for
a much better experience. If you have
questions, you can ask and know you’ll
get supportive answers. It felt like we
were collaborating as a team on this
project.” BB
Alex Newman is a writer,
editor and researcher at
alexnewmanwriter.com.
25
PROUD SPONSOR
OF THE CROSS
BORDER BUILDER
CHALLENGE

But for this year’s Cross Border
Builder Challenge, the winner – a tract
home in the Callahan Estates project
in Arnprior – achieved a whopping
30% better than code and an enviable
HERS score of 38. The company,
which deliberately branded itself as
an energy-efficient local builder, aims
to outdo itself on every project.
One great incentive – apart from
the pride of winning the RESNET
award – was the financial reward from
participating in Enbridge’s Savings by
Design program. If it weren’t for the
incentive, Campanale says he doesn’t
know if he could have “convinced the
rest of the shareholders this was a good
idea.” Even with the $100,000 cap per
project, it was a substantial amount of
money for the 64-unit subdivision and
a second project with 150 homes.
Far more beneficial, however, are
the long-term effects of the program,
Campanale adds. As more builders take
up the mantle of energy efficiency, it
creates a supply chain benefit. Greater
demand means more production, which
means lower cost per item, so that the
trades can manufacture, service and
install products less expensively.
Campanale continues to experi
ment with different products in efforts
to improve efficiency and achieve a
higher HERS score. While it might call
for spray foam insulation in one appli
cation but batts in another, the main
goal is always airtightness, he says.
Recently, the builder started
using an exterior sheathing product
that has a higher R-value, structural
stability and insulating value for the
same or lower price than the one they
previously used. “Finding something
cost effective but better efficiency is a
win,” Campanale says.
The company no longer uses the
more traditional ENERGY STAR rating
because “it’s always changing, and
since you can never build the same
house twice, we find HERS to be less
restrictive. It gave more flexibility and
27
Getting Better (Than Code)
All the Time
Campanale Wins Again with Callahan Estates Project
buildernews / ALEX NEWMAN
F
or the second year in a row, Campanale Homes has garnered a coveted
RESNET award for energy efficient home building. After winning for Net
Zero Canadian Builder in 2019, this year they walked away with the award
for Lowest HERS Index Score, Canadian Mid Production Builder.
While Campanale always promises at least 10% better than code on each
home, most homes come in around 15% better for rentals and 20% better for
homes for sale. “We tend to compete with ourselves to find increasing ways to
improve energy efficiency, but the contest does add an extra incentive to do so,”
says contracts manager Tim Campanale.
38
CAMPANALE HOMES — CRESNET MID PRODUCTION LOWEST SCORE

a competitive advantage. ENERGY
STAR is used so much it’s lost its
meaning, while HERS is very specific
about how much better than code
a particular product is. And that’s
something you can put a monetary
value to,” Campanale explains.
In order to ensure home owners
“buy in” to a rating they are less
accustomed to seeing, Campanale
invests a lot in communication. The
company’s marketing efforts are
geared to the message that energy
efficiency should do three things:
save money, increase interior air
quality and general home comfort,
and contribute to reducing the global
carbon footprint.
They communicate that message
through two things: first, a model
home outfitted with clear labels
explaining how each component
works and what it does. Most of this
is in the basement, where the HVAC
is located. But highly detailed labels
can be found throughout the model.
Additionally, whoever tours a potential
buyer around the house will personally
explain everything.
The second communication piece
is the website, in which the company
has invested a lot of time and effort.
A whiteboard video makes the inner
workings of the home and its HVAC
system very easy to understand.
Separate pages further explain other
elements, such as the solar components.
Their market, consisting mainly of
first-time buyers and empty nesters,
appreciates both the improved air
quality and comfort of the home, and
its money-saving aspects (about a 20%
per year reduction on operating costs
as an average). Both groups are also
pleased they are “doing their part” for
the planet, Campanale adds.
In its commitment to conserve
vital resources, the company is also
looking seriously into the new HERSH2O
rating. “It’s a new thing but necessary,”
Campanale says. “We toured a house
in Arizona where they have a serious
water problem. Internally we’re
in discussions on adopting it, and
whether it gives us the opportunity to
market a water savings program, apply
a monetary value to it and properly
educate customers about it.”
Recent strides in energy efficiency
and resource management have relied
on a number of factors – from greater
acceptance and use of new energy
efficient products to government
programs and restrictions. Campanale
is not entirely convinced about the
government role in ensuring optimum
energy efficiency: “Personally, I’m for
less government involvement – when
they get involved it can go either way.
But I guess it depends on the market.
You can build and sell anything in a
good market, so government inter
vention right now is good because it
creates more stringent building codes
and weeds out the cash-grab builders.
I believe if the government didn’t
regulate these energy requirements,
half of the builders wouldn’t imple
ment. In a down market though, you
don’t need the interventions as much,
because the survivors in bad times are
those who have always offered good
product with the best efficiencies at
competitive prices.” BB
Alex Newman is a writer,
editor and researcher at
alexnewmanwriter.com.
519-489-2541
airsealingpros.ca
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Airtightness testing.
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buildernews / ROB BLACKSTIEN
N
o stranger to success in the
Cross Border Builder Challenge,
Brookfield Residential once
again this year came away victorious,
taking home the award for the
Lowest HERS Index Score, Canadian
Production Builder, with a score of 39.
This really is par for the course
for a company that’s been using the
HERS system to drive top quality
home building and that infuses
this ethos into its very fibres. And in
an effort to continue this journey,
Brookfield sent Silvana Ramirez and
Jimmy Neto to this year’s RESNET
conference in Arizona to bring back
new information to further increase
the company’s energy efficiency
building prowess.
In winning the award for its
discovery home in its Pickering-based
New Seaton community, Brookfield
used a combination of energy
efficiency features that “proved
to be highly efficient, not only for
energy consumption but also for
constructability,” says production
supervisor Silvana Ramirez.
“Our goal for each discovery home
is to find that sweet spot where we
design and build the best possible
high energy efficient home that is
also production efficient, durable
and maintains with high quality
standards,” she adds.
In achieving a HERS score that was
18% better than its standard home
and 26% better than the Ontario
Building Code standard, Ramirez
says Brookfield employed a number of
strategies, including: a highly energy
efficient envelope that is durable, cost
effective and construction friendly,
featuring continuous insulation that
combines rigid insulated sheathing
with semi-rigid stone wool insulation;
triple-pane windows and patio doors; a
below-grade hydronic heating system,
an 84% efficient energy recovery
ventilator (ERV); a 96% efficient
two-stage furnace with 15 SEER air
conditioning; a 90% efficient hot water
tank; a greywater recycling system;
and 90% efficient LED lights.
Next door to the discovery home,
Brookfield continued its experiments,
with this house focusing on the
mechanical systems. Ramirez says
the company installed a combination
gas hybrid system with a zoned
electronically commutated motor
(ECM) air handler and a 15 SEER air
conditioner heat pump.
“This hybrid system divides the
home in two different zones – South
and North – allowing the home owner
to control the level of heat and AC in
each of these zones individually,” she
explains. “It saves energy consumption
by distributing heat and AC efficiently.
Our goal is to compare the energy
consumption of this home versus other
homes with standard furnace and AC
systems.”
She says Brookfield is a big believer
in discovery homes and the lessons they
provide because they help the company
understand what it takes to craft
highly energy efficient houses while
investigating new building techniques
and other sustainability features that
could be used on a production level.
The company performs a cost-
benefit analysis to assess which
features will be included as standard,
so it reaches a balance of affordability
and energy efficiency in each home.
Further, Ramirez says, this analysis
helps Brookfield create different tiers of
sustainability packages to offer home
buyers that are specifically interested
in purchasing the most energy efficient
home available.
Building a Culture of Excellence
Brookfield Keeps Setting Its Sights Higher
39
BROOKFIELD HOMES — CRESNET PRODUCTION LOWEST SCORE

This process of learning and applying mirrors Ramirez’s
experience at the RESNET conference. “I was able to
attend presentations that helped me better understand
construction best practices and to be able to see the
sustainability path other builders are taking,” she says.
While the entire experience proved invaluable, three
presentations in particular really resonated for Ramirez:
Salcido Solutions reviewed how builders achieved
the lowest HERS scores in 2019 and offered some insight
about how to lower scores across the industry. “It allowed
me to have an inside look at industry-wide trends and
where other builders are tackling construction elements
in order to improve their scores,” she explains.
Sandra Adomatis from the Appraisal Institute
talked about how to grow the customer base, promote
efficiencies and capture additional business by
demonstrating the importance of high-performance
homes, HERS scores and rating services. The techniques
she presented help builders and realtors sell more by
educating home buyers and unravelling facts that seem
like a mystery to the general public. “Brookfield can take
inspiration for upcoming marketing strategies that give
fresh approach to our sales team and HERS ratings. By
applying these techniques, Brookfield can promote and
educate our better-than-code homes while adding value
in our services,” Ramirez says.
CR Herro from Meritage Homes talked about its
discovery home, calling this Vision Home “a template for
sustainable building.” He discussed the building science,
sustainable design and green building features of the
home – an off-the-grid, net-positive home that optimizes
demand-side energy management and incorporates the
most advanced green building products, systems and
technologies available, all at an accessible price point.
“He presented the design and building challenges, and
explained the valuable lesson of working together with
sustainability consultants and third parties to educate
municipalities in order to create an environment that
promotes development of this sustainability endeavour.”
Given Brookfield’s modus operandi, you can bet that
the lessons Ramirez took home from this conference
will soon be manifesting themselves in the company’s
offerings to its customers. BB
Rob Blackstien is a Toronto-based
freelance writer. Pen-Ultimate.ca
31
AMVIC AMDECK
MODULAR ONE-WAY
CONCRETE SLAB
ICFVL FLOOR LEDGER
CONNECTOR SYSTEM
ELECTRICAL
OUTLET

specialinterest / PAUL DUFFY
Add to this the need to improve
performance in other ways, and the
task of improving homes can seem
insurmountable.
• Building science experts will tell
you that, when you lessen heat loss
into a building component, you
decrease drying potential, which
means that better moisture control
is even more critical in energy-
efficient houses.
• Energy-efficient houses are more
airtight, so you want to avoid
products that cause indoor air
quality problems.
• The whole push for energy efficien-
cy is an environmental imperative,
so the last thing you want is an
environmental problem associated
with the materials you choose.
Builders aren’t the only ones being
forced to innovate, either. Building
product manufacturers, too, are being
forced to innovate like never before.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that
foam insulation products are changing
and the applications for using them are
becoming more varied.
At a recent renovation project
in midtown Toronto, Better Builder
caught up with Bruce Young, national
sales director for Icynene-Lapolla (now
part of Huntsman Building Solutions),
to talk about the latest innovations
in spray foam. Coincidentally, one of
Icynene’s newest innovative products,
Icynene ProSeal HFO T2, was being
sprayed on site.
The technical specs on the product
are impressive:
• High thermal resistance:
Long Term Thermal Resistance
LTTR = 2.03 at 50 mm thick
• Zero ozone depletion
• Ultra-low global warming potential
(GWP) of 1
• Water vapour permeance of 43 ng/
Pa.s.m2
And it boasts great physical proper
ties as well. In plain language, you get
a long-term R-value at R-6 per inch in
a product that air seals and doesn’t
need a supplemental vapour barrier.
Even better, you don’t compromise
on things like global warming and
ozone depletion because the blowing
agent in the foam exceeds the strictest
standards for blowing agent perform
ance set by Environment Canada.
Builders also like the fact that the
product adds rigidity and toughness to
roof, wall and floor structures, creating
a performance improvement that is
noticeable.
Young notes “spray foam adheres
to surfaces it is sprayed to, so on a
renovation like the one we visited, you
can get air barrier continuity at the
sheathing level, or at the structural
element, or even connect to the interior
finish and existing vapour barrier in
the walls you are attaching to. It is very
versatile.”
Some builders choose to install
the product on the exterior. The great
news there is that because the product
has high R-value, it minimizes the
need to expand wall dimensions to
accommodate insulation. The techies
in the crowd will like the fact that
insulation of the exterior of the wall
cavity helps keep wall cavities warm
High-Efficiency Foam
with Ultra-Low Global Warming Potential
A
s builders progress up the ladder of building more and more energy-efficient
homes, the challenges become more daunting. As you solve more and more
issues, the opportunities to improve performance that are left become
smaller and harder to find. How do I squeeze more R-value performance into a wall?
How do I get better airtightness performance? These can be challenging questions.
L-R: Blowing initial coat 2 maximum per pass. Best application of foam in flat roof to maximize
R-value in cavity (R-36). Flash and batt system with ProSeal HFO T2 foam and ROCKWOOL.

and avoid concealed condensation
problems. Applying a continuous layer
of air-impermeable insulation creates
an air barrier in a location where
there
are fewer penetrations, so it is easier
to make a building more airtight.
Builders are used to buying
insulation products based on
R-value, so when products have
other properties, the evaluation of
the product can be confusing. You
will want to consider the fact that
when you use a product like Icynene
ProSeal HFO T2 spray foam, you
can greatly simplify air sealing. You
might be able to eliminate the need
for a supplemental vapour barrier,
and when applied on the exterior,
you might not need a building wrap
or building paper and you might not
need to enlarge the foundation to get
higher R-value performance in your
walls. The fact that your insulation
is your plane of airtightness lets you
inspect air sealing details before
expensive finishes are applied on the
interior and on the exterior. That may
be the assurance and peace of mind
you need to commit to a higher level
of performance! BB
33
World leading spray
polyurethane foam company.
Born in May 2020, with
150 years’ combined heritage.
The beginning of building solutions by
Icynene-Lapolla and Demilec
High
Performance
Annual Energy
Consumption
with Fossil Fuels
Code
MINIMUM
High
Performance
Step 1
Zero Net
Energy
Step 2
Zero Net
Carbon
Step 3
Annual Energy
Consumption
without Fossil Fuels
Renewable
Energy
Embodied
Carbon
High Performance Definitions
Getting to step three requires using
building materials with low carbon content
like ProSeal HFO T2 spray foam (GWP of 1).

fromthegroundup / DOUG TARRY
T
he following article is an
excerpt from A Builder’s
Guide to Net Zero Homes.
This particular chapter is called “The
Carbon Question” and deals with
product selection to help lower the
overall carbon footprint of the build.
A special thanks to Chris Magwood
from The Endeavour Centre for his
excellent insights on this issue.
Chapter 5.0:
The Carbon
Question
Expert Advice:
The number of “new” concerns
facing builders these days can
seem overwhelming. Codes are
getting more stringent about energy
efficiency and pushing toward net
zero, airtightness needs to improve,
and off-gassing materials are
becoming a concern, as is waste.
And customers still want affordable
homes. So, it may seem like the issue
of embodied carbon is yet one more
burden for builders.
However, you don’t need to
think of it as a burden. In many
ways, reducing the up-front carbon
footprint of your homes might be the
easiest of all these issues to address.
It’s all about smart material selection.
In fact, you may be making some
excellent material choices already
without even knowing it.
The key to choosing the best
materials is finding the right data
to inform you. Manufacturers
can provide a document called an
Environmental Product Declaration
(EPD), which is like a food nutritional
label but for building materials.
Among the information provided
in an EPD is the global warming
potential (or GWP) of the material.
The GWP multiplied by the amount
of material used gives you the total
carbon footprint of the material.
It can be a lot of work to track down
EPDs and do these calculations, but
luckily there are resources that can help
with this. Builders for Climate Action,
Building Transparency and the Athena
Institute all offer free calculators,
and Tally and One Click LCA (among
others) offer subscription-based access
to life cycle calculators. These tools can
quickly show you which materials have
a lower carbon footprint.
The Carbon Question
Materials Matter
The same building can have very different
up-front embodied carbon emissions (UEC)
High UEC
Assembly includes:
High carbon concrete
XPS closed cell spray
foam
Brick cladding
Steel interior framing
Drywall
Vinyl windows
Tile carpet flooring
Clay tile roofing
Typical UEC
Assembly includes:
Average carbon concrete
Mineral wool insulation
Fiber cement cladding
Wood TJI interior framing
Drywall
Vinyl windows
Engineered wood vinyl
flooring
Asphalt shingle roofing
Best Conventional UEC
Assembly includes:
High SCM concrete
Cellulose wood
fiberboard insulation
Wood cladding
Wood interior framing
Drywall wood walls
Aluminum clad wood
windows
Engineered wood
FSC hardwood flooring
Steel roofing
ILLUSTRATIONCOURTESYOFCHRISMAGWOOD,THEENDEAVOURCENTREBUILDERSFORCLIMATEACTIONWWW.BUILDERSFORCLIMATEACTION.ORG

The difference between materials
can be very dramatic. The same
building can have a very high carbon
footprint or, in fact, be carbon-storing,
all based on simple material selection.
The case study at left (“Materials
Matter”) gives an example of the
variations in up-front carbon footprint.
The best materials, from a carbon
footprint point of view, are not always
more expensive. In fact, sometimes
the least expensive option can be the
best choice for lowering the carbon
footprint.
Action Plan:
When you are considering the
different products that need to be
included into your home, consider
changing to products that will either
have a lower quantity of embodied
carbon, or products that have the
ability to store carbon.
In general, plant-based materials
and materials that are made from a
high content of recycled material tend
to have the lowest carbon footprint.
Typically, the largest portion
of a building’s carbon footprint is
associated with the concrete used.
Reducing concrete use is a high-
impact way to lower your carbon
footprint. Ordering concrete with a
high percentage of supplementary
cementitious material (SCM), such as
35
Reducing the up-front
carbon footprint of
your homes might be
the easiest of all these
issues to address.
It’s all about smart
material selection.
LowCostCodeCompliancewiththeBetterThanCodePlatform
This rating is available for homes
built by leading edge builders
who have chosen to advance
beyond current energy
efﬁciency programs and have
taken the next step on the
path to full sustainability.
BetterThanCode
This Platform helps Builders with Municipal Approvals, Subdivision
Agreements and Building Permits. Navigating the performance path
can be complicated. A code change happened in 2017 which is causing
some confusion. A new code will be coming in 2022. How will you comply
with the new requirements? Let the BTC Platform – including the HERS
Index – help you secure Municipal Subdivision Approvals and Building
Permits and enhance your marketing by selling your homes’ energy efﬁciency.
45
BetterThanCodeUsestheHERSIndextoMeasureEnergyEfficiency
TheLowertheScoretheBetter–MeasureableandMarketable
OBC 2012 OBC 2017 NEAR ZERO
80 60 40 20
betterthancode.ca Email info@clearsphere.ca or call 416-481-7517

slag or fly ash, can reduce the carbon
footprint of concrete by 20% to 40%,
without costing any more.
Eliminating materials that have
high emissions from chemical pro
cesses, such as spray foam and XPS
foam, is another high-impact choice.
In some cases, the products we
use, such as spray foam and XPS
foam noted above, are being changed
for us. For example, foam plastic
insulation, including closed-cell spray
foams, are changing blowing agents
from hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to
hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs). This is
being done so that these products will
comply with the Montreal Protocol,
which is meant to use blowing agents
with lower global warming potential
(GWP). HFOs have been shown to have
significantly less GWP than the HFCs
they are replacing. These changes are
being reflected in the updating of stan
dards within the National Building Code
and come into effect January 1, 2021.
Some simple carbon-storing
materials, such as cellulose insulation,
can greatly reduce the overall
carbon footprint of your building
without increasing costs. Sustainably
harvested wood is also an important
carbon-storing material.
Other plant-based materials – like
wood fiberboard, cork, recycled denim,
wool and cement-bonded wood fiber
insulating concrete forms (ICFs) – can
also make a big impact, but may prove
to be a worthwhile investment if your
client’s goals include a reduced carbon
footprint.
Approximate Cost:
With careful product selection, the cost
of addressing embodied carbon and
carbon storage may have little to no
impact on the total home cost. Starting
with the cost-effective options can at
least get your team thinking about the
concept at the same time as reducing
your total carbon footprint.
I look forward to the opportunity
of discussing carbon-efficient net
zero homes once we are able to do
so. In the meantime, I appreciate
the opportunity to share some of the
excerpts through Better Builder. BB
Doug Tarry Jr is director
of marketing at Doug
Tarry Homes in St.
Thomas, Ontario. 
In some cases, the
products we use,
such as spray foam
and XPS foam, are
being changed for us.

Trailblazer
Matt Risinger
Builder and building
science expert
COMFORTBOARD™
has received ICC-ES validated product acceptance as continuous
insulation for multiple applications. For more information visit rockwool.com/comfortboard
Continuous stone wool insulation that improves thermal performance
Trailblazing requires conﬁdence, expertise and a desire
to do things right. Matt Risinger uses non-combustible,
vapor-permeable and water-repellent COMFORTBOARD™
to help wall assemblies dry to the outside, keeping clients
comfortable inside. It cuts down on heat loss and
improves energy efﬁciency so that what you build
today positively impacts your business tomorrow.
3773

Better Builder Magazine, Issue 34 / Summer 2020

Better Builder Magazine, Issue 34 / Summer 2020

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Better Builder Magazine, Issue 34 / Summer 2020