CA21 - Home Renovations

Three lessons my home reno taught me about carbon

THE TOPIC - MY HOME RENOVATION

If you follow me on LinkedIn there is a good chance you’ve noticed that lately I have been MIA for a few weeks, and for good reason! My wife and I recently bought our first house, which has been crazy exciting and a lot of fun … but also so so so much work. Here is a picture of us on possession day, boy were we excited!

Our townhouse was built in 1978 and although minor renovations have been done, you can imagine what the interiors looked like. Patterned floors, dark wood, colored walls, and a very old kitchen. Like any well-meaning architect, we made the obvious choice … RENOVATION!

Thanks to my background in residential construction I decided to do the entire project on my own from start to finish. Design, Tender, Construction. (Well I don’t know if you could say a 100SF kitchen reno went to tender … but I did get multiple quotes!

You’re probably wondering - “is this week's issue just a personal update? Or is there a lesson in here?” Don’t you worry - I’ve got you covered.

MY LESSONS

Through the design and construction process, I learned some valuable lessons about carbon that I thought I would pass on with more to come in future issues.

My renovation taught me three primary reasons:

1. The carbon economy barely exists

2. The allure of new things is a killer

3. Simplicity is the key

Let’s dig a little deeper:

1 - The carbon economy barely exists

When I started the project I had the obvious intent to look for low-carbon alternatives for materials and do my best to lower the impact of my design. One of the big problems was the lack of information and products available as alternatives to typical materials. For example, flooring was an obvious problem. Our first trip to a flooring store was a clear picture of the issue. Rows and rows and rows of plastic laminate and vinyl flooring with little to no options available for sustainable choices. Not wanting to go the plastic route, I inquired about alternatives … “here is our sustainable section which consists of 5 colors of cork”.

Two issues came out of this experience - the lack of alternative materials available at conventional stores, and the lack of knowledge from staff selling those products. As we continue to pursue low-carbon design, it’s important that everyone has carbon literacy and advocacy. It’s up to us to be asking the right questions and voicing our interest in materials and products that are biobased and low-impact.

2 - The allure of new things is a killer

The typical renovation path was no different for us. All the simple projects ballooned with the simple phrase “We might as well update it while we are renovating, right?”. It seems like the easy and smart thing to do, but it just feeds into our desire for new and shiny things.

An example from my home - doors. As I mentioned earlier, our house was built in 1978. What does that mean in Canada? Our door frames are steel with a built-in 40mm casing. If you didn’t look carefully you might not notice, but during renovations, we had a thought! Let’s upgrade all the doors and frames to wood!

The issue? There is NO NEED to update them. They work perfectly well, they are more durable than wood, and they look great! The constant pressure to update to new things is something we need to stop doing. It’s natural, but we can push against it.

3 - Simplicity is the key

Renovating an old home shows you just how complicated we’ve made things, and in-turn the carbon footprint of each building. Yes, our walls are minimal 2x4 construction and probably contain minimal insulation … BUT it is also designed to have cross ventilation in every room, spaces are not oversized, materials are simple, and the structural design is clear and consistent. It’s a lesson in the importance and value of simplicity. Here are some other beautifully simple things I’ve noticed in our home:

• All the water-related spaces are on stacked and closest to the water entry.

• Each room has a fan, no air conditioning

• Spaces are small, but fit furniture well

• There is no garage or superfluous storage space

THE RENO

For those of you who stuck around you get to see a small piece of our mini-project. From 1970’s vinyl and particle-board cabinetry … to linoleum floors and sparkling ikea cabinets.

BEFORE

AFTER

1 RESOURCE TO ACT ON

Have you heard of 2050 Materials? It’s a fantastic resource to use when looking for low-carbon materials for your project. It can be used to find new materials you haven’t used before, or compare existing materials that you may want to know more about. You do need to have an account to access, but it’s totally free and very user-friendly.