Ontario's Home Energy Audit provides rebates to home owners who improve their home in some way to reduce energy consumption and waste. The program provides rebates from $60.00 per energy-star qualified window, to $1,000.00 for a high efficiency furnace, to $3,000.00 for insulating the exterior of your home. Why is the largest grant (by category) given to Exterior Wall Insulation? One of the reasons is it can have the largest impact on keeping the heat inside your home as home owners typically see a 20-30% reduction in their heating and cooling bills after renovating the exterior of their walls with EIFS (synthetic stucco).
First Thing is First
In order to qualify for the rebates, you need to first have someone do the Ontario Home Energy Audit. This involves contacting the Government's ecoENERGY program to have an inspector come to your house and evaluate your eligibility. You will fall into various categories ranging from not eligible (because there is nothing that needs to be done), to partial benefits to improve certain aspects, to the full grant for adding something that is not currently there. The majority of homes do not have insulation on the exterior of their homes (from the sheating substrate and outward), which makes most home owners eligible for the full $3,000.00 rebate. From the day of the inspection, you have exactly 18 months to complete all your retrofits and get the auditor back.
Get Quotes For an EIFS Retrofit
It may even be a good idea to do this first so you don't waste time trying to find contractors and prices. It is important to get multiple quotes, from different contractors to get a feel for what the price should be. They can be found via the internet, yellowpages, referrals, or preferably by the EIFS manufacturer who will recommend you to a few contractors they know that do quality work. Speaking with different contractors will open your eyes to aspects others may not mention, such as decorative items or things you need to consider like temporarily removing your soffit. Things that may affect your quotes include:
- Time of year will affect price, which is higher during the winter and busy season
- Not requiring a weather barrier (only if going over brick, concrete or CMU) will save money
- Small portions (such as dormers) often cost extra
- Decorative elements such as mouldings and cornices cost extra
Let's say you understand what your options and prices are after getting 5 quotes, which do you choose? To start, if one is far below the others, toss it immediately. Any money you will save will come back to bite you down the road, and the repair can be more expensive than your synthetic stucco retrofit in the first place. Most of the time you want to go with quote #3 or #4 in terms of price. Don't forget that you can add decorative elements (like window sills, quoins, trim) at a later date -- one of the great benefits of EIFS.
Thickness of Styrofoam
Though this will affect the price and is up to your discretion, a minimum of 2.5" of "Type 1 Expanded PolyStyrene" (the white styrofoam) is required to qualify for the full $3,000.00 rebate. Typical styrofoam thickness is 2", which would get you the $1,800.00 rebate, however the additional 1/2" will not (or rather, should not) run you an additional $1,200.00, which means you will actually save money.
For the technically inclined, a total of R-3.8 to R-9 will qualify you for $1,800.00, while an R-value of 9 or above qualifies for the full $3,000.00 rebate. Type 1 Expanded PolyStyrene (the type of white styrofoam EIFS manufacturers carry and specify) is rated at R-3.71(per inch). This means adding 1" of styrofoam qualifies you for no rebate (yes, they are serious about that 0.09 of R value missing), while 2.5" will qualify you for the whole $3,000.00 (2.5 x 3.71 = 9.275). The other layers of EIFS do provide some R-value (arguable enough that 1" would qualify you for the rebate), however the government stipulates that the R-value is calculated solely on what is added to the wall via styrofoam.
Plan All Your Retrofits, Then Proceed
You want to consider other renovations at the same time as your Synthetic Stucco retrofit. If you intend to add Energy Star qualified windows, they must be installed prior to adding Synthetic Stucco so that they can be properly "tied in" to the wall, that is, to prevent moisture intrusion. You will want to cover these windows while the EIFS is being installed to lessen the chances of them getting dirty. Again, soffits need to be removed during installation to avoid unsightly gaps at the top of your wall which double as a point for water to penetrate. A little bit of planning goes a long way in saving you money and head aches.
Get The Auditor Back
Once everything is finished it's time to have the inspector come back to re-evaluate your home. You will need to show him copies of the bills with the specifications (for example, the EIFS contractor would specify "2.5" insulation added" on his invoice), and pictures of the product being installed may help -- make sure to find out exactly what the auditor is looking for during the first visit. Remember also, that you only have 18 months from the first inspection to get him back, otherwise you forfeit any claim you have to rebates. You may only do this once (ever!) so make sure you do all your retrofits at one time for the rebates, or be prepared to pay for future retrofits out of your pocket.
Upon verification that a minimum of 2.5" of insulation has been applied to all wall surfaces on the exterior of your home, the auditor will check to see if you qualify for any additional rebates for retrofits which may have been undertaken, then electronically submit the result to "Natural Resource Canada" and the "Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure". From the time your auditor performs the final evaluation, you can expect to wait anywhere from 5-9 weeks for the audit to be processed another 1-2 weeks for the cheque to arrive.
Don't forget that on top of the rebate, renovating your home with Synthetic Stucco increases the value of your home (you recoup up to 88% of the renovation cost via increased home value) and can reduce your heating bill anywhere from 20%-30%, saving you over $500 per year.
Jim Schwarznoff is a Construction Project Management student with an emphasis on the building envelope and exterior design. For more information on EIFS (Synthetic Stucco) and to get quotes from Stucco Contractors visit http://www.TorontoStuccoContractor.com/. For more details on the Ontario Home Energy program, visit: http://torontostuccocontractor.com/blog/2009/01/the-ontario-home-energy-audit-provides-3000-towards-an-eifs-retrofit/
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