The beautiful two-bedroom home in Wilmot, ON, is a tribute to its surroundings. How it came to be reads like a case study on sustainable construction. The people who live there have a long-standing commitment to living in harmony with nature. They wanted a home that was energy efficient and reduced their dependence on non-renewable resources. They also wanted their small footprint on this lovely piece of land to be about giving back.
Sustainable living, giving, and growing
These country dwellers (who asked not to be named) are also organic gardeners who value harmony with the eco-system. They want to leave the soil and water table better than they found it. And growing their own produce reduces their reliance on the carbon-intensive grocery industry.
Their home has been designed to be in harmony with its natural surroundings. Its airy living spaces feature large, wood-framed windows facing the organic gardens. And its minimalist colour scheme and furnishings provide a lovely backdrop for the beautiful indoor plants throughout the home.
This forward-looking couple has prioritized caring for the preceding generation as well as for the generations to come. Though their home is modest in size, it has been built to accommodate their aging parents as needed. And they hope to someday ‘age in place’ in their own home. With these priorities in mind, it has been designed with a single floor, on the ground level. There is no basement, and it has strategically placed safety rails. These features make it easy to navigate for those with mobility issues. Its polished, heated concrete floors do not have the transitions or the textured surfaces that could present tripping hazards.
A sustainable partnership: finding the team at Just Working Construction
The decision to embark on the journey of building their own home was a momentous one for this couple. From the beginning, their ethical commitment to sustainability shaped their thinking and planning. They determined that their home would be designed and built to optimize its energy efficiency. During this time, they discovered Just Working Construction. They learned that the team at JWC shared their deep commitment to prioritizing the well-being of others and to sustainable home construction.
The JWC team worked closely with the homeowners throughout the construction process. The project manager, Adam Vandersleen, took time to understand the couple’s goals, preferences, and lifestyle. Ultimately, their commitment to family and to the environment was reflected in every aspect of their new home.
Energy Efficiency: an important part of sustainable living
The Wilmot passive house was designed for maximum energy efficiency as well as for the comfort and preferences of its occupants. Creating an effectively insulated, airtight, and mechanically ventilated ‘building envelope’ was necessary for energy efficiency, health, and sustainability. It was also key to achieving passive house performance standards for airflow and heat load. The building envelope refers to a home’s windows, doors, roof, exterior walls, and ventilation system.
High-performance windows: Letting the beauty in – keeping the cold out
Large windows in every room allow natural light to flood the home. They can be opened wide during the lovely temperate days we look forward to here in Canada. But when the harsh weather arrives, they provide excellent protection. The windows are triple-paned and filled with inert gases for maximum insulation value. The window casings are non-conductive vinyl, designed for optimal insulation, and are extremely airtight and waterproof.
Just Working Construction used ‘through-wal’l window and door ‘bucks’ to frame the windows. The wooden window frames (or bucks) extended through from the interior to the exterior of the double-studded walls. This feature enabled an airtight and moisture-proof seal between the window frame and the rest of the wall structure.
Orienting the windows to provide maximum energy efficiency
The panoramic windows that dominate the living and dining rooms are southwest-facing. During the winter, this orientation opens the home to optimal light and heat from the sun. But during the summer, the windows are shaded from the sun’s glare by the large, covered porch. Interestingly, the porch’s overhang feature does not block the sun during the winter when it sits lower in the sky. In this way, the orientation and design of the home help it stay cool in summer and warm in winter. This was an important part of the strategy for achieving passive house performance standards in our Canadian climate.
Bottom to top: creating a sustainable building envelope
The concrete, ground-floor floor slab was insulated underneath with rigid foam insulation. Care was taken to ensure that the seams were joined and airtight. This insulation layer was protected from ground moisture by the polypropylene vapour barrier underneath.
High-performance Rockwool insulation was installed around the exterior walls and beyond the attic ceiling height. Thermal bridges were eliminated by carefully insulating around studs, joists, and the joints between walls, floors, and roofs.
The under-slab vapour barrier was carefully joined to the SIGA Majrex® vapour-control barrier on the interior walls. In this way, the continuous airtight seal was maintained on the interior of the structure. The exterior SIGA Majvest® weather-resistant barrier (WRB) membrane was sealed directly to the foundation on the exterior. This provides an extremely high-performance primary weather protection barrier. This SIGA Majvest® WRB layer is diffusion-open, allowing vapour from within the walls to escape to the outdoors.
Airtight but without the mold problem
The interior-facing walls were carefully wrapped with a SIGA Majrex® vapour-control barrier membrane to create an airtight interior. These vapour control barriers do not allow conditioned or heated air to escape from the interior through the walls. Creating an effective airtight barrier throughout the interior is an important strategy for achieving energy-efficient standards and sustainability. The detailed sealing around the through-wall penetration points of pipes and other utilities further eliminated air leaks.
This careful crafting of an airtight sheath on the interior walls and ceiling resulted in excellent airflow performance results. These results exceed R2000 energy-efficiency standards and the much higher passive house standards.
Having an airtight seal around the interior spaces of the home creates a problem. This airtight seal can trap moisture within the building envelope which can then become a breeding ground for mold. Mold growth can create health issues and cause structural damage to the home. The problem of moisture accumulation within the building envelope was addressed by JWC’s vapour barrier technology. They used SIGA Majrex® smart vapour membrane which is vapour-permeable on one side. This allowed unwanted moisture within the building envelope to pass through to the home’s interior. This moisture could then be expelled from the home’s interior through the mechanical ventilation system to the outdoors.
Fresh air and energy efficiency
Being airtight, the Wilmot passive house needed a ventilation system that provided a healthy exchange of air from outside. The energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system they installed was designed to bring ample fresh air into the home.
The ERV is an important part of the passive home energy-efficiency strategy. It reclaims the heat energy that would otherwise be exhausted during the winter months. Unlike a heat recovery ventilator (HRV), it also removes excess humidity from the home.
Just Working Construction designed the system to exhaust the air from the bathrooms and kitchen through the ERV duct system. This prevents the heat loss that occurs when air is exhausted from these areas directly to the outdoors.
A successful project for a sustainable future
Although these homeowners have chosen to remain anonymous, they are not shy about their praise for Just Working Construction. They were impressed by the team’s thoughtful planning, intelligent execution, and attention to detail. The project was overseen by project manager, Adam Vandersleen, who usually worked with a crew of just one or two other workers. The home’s construction began in May 2023 and was completed in February 2024.
Throughout the project, the Just Working team helped to educate the couple about the different aspects of the building process. When they had questions or concerns, they were addressed promptly and transparently. The team kept them informed and involved at every stage of construction. The expertise of the Just Working team and their close cooperation with the homeowners kept the project firmly on track. It enabled them to achieve their dream of a sustainable home in harmony with nature.