HeatTrak stair mats melt snow on stairs or walkways that could present a slipping hazard.
Time to trim costs, get ready for winter
November 21, 2009
Special to the Star
The weather gods have been on our side so far this fall, but frosty mornings are a sure sign that it's time to get serious about seasonal preparation around the home.
For many families, that will mean looking at ways to trim energy costs this winter, says Moss Brookfield, a Home Depot manager in Richmond Hill.
"This is the time to do whatever you can to plug air leaks, and make sure you have enough insulation," he says.
There are several types of insulation available, including the conventional Owens Corning PINK, and the eco-friendly mineral wool product called Roxul (a personal favourite).
There's also loose-fill insulation – made from a variety of materials – that are poured or blown in.
Natural Resources Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency, suggests that installation of loose-fill insulation usually requires an experienced technician, but a sales associate at my local Home Depot told me it's a breeze to install.
At press time, Home Depot had a special deal on at some stores: Customers who purchase 20 bags of Weathershield blow-in insulation get free use of the blower machine for 24 hours. For more info, go to www.homedepot.ca.
Should insulation be on your shopping list, keep in mind that Rona has a promotional program that gives homeowners who purchase materials that qualify for the Home Renovation Tax Credit up to $1,000 in gift cards. For more info, go to www.rona.ca.
If it's the attic you're planning to insulate, be sure to bone up on the role proper venting plays by going to the Canada Mortgage and Housing website and clicking on the "Renovation" box on the Consumer page.
For more on readying the house for winter, go to my blog at www.thestar.blogs.com/onthehouse
No matter how well insulated your home is, energy costs will still be a concern. More Canadians are looking at non-traditional sources to heat their homes.
These include heat pumps, electrical devices that extract heat from either the ground (geothermal systems) or the air (air-sourced systems) and transfer it via a compressor to the air in the home.
These systems got a lot of attention a few years ago, but became less attractive to homeowners as the price of natural gas dipped, says Wayne Langford, owner of Design Air, a North Toronto HVAC company that's been in business since 1969.
Langford thinks the pendulum will swing back as smart metering and time-of-use billing rolls out across Ontario.
Smart metering refers to meters that record the time of day electricity is used, while time-of-use billing means that different prices can apply at different times of the day. For more information, go to www.smartmetersontario.ca and the Yourhome Editor's blog.
Interestingly, Langford says that Canadians used to turn their furnaces on when the outside temperature dipped to 18C. These days, they can wait until it drops to 12C, because of the radiant heat created by all of the electric devices now used.
Mitsubishi Canada, which says that between 44 and 55 per cent of all energy used in the home goes to heating and cooling, has come out with the Zuba-Central heat pump, an Energy Star-rated central unit that is designed to heat with outdoor temperatures as low as -30C. Cost of installation starts at about $12,000. For a list of dealers and more information, go to www.zuba-central.ca.
Many folk might find heating porch and walkway mats to melt snow a waste of energy; but for homes in which older or infirm members live and who are in danger of falling and slipping, HeatTrak's stair mats could be the perfect solution.
They'd also work well on a wheelchair ramp. These 25- by 33-centimetre mats are made of ribbed weatherproof carpet and have a 72-watt electrical element that causes snow to melt at the rate of about five centimetres per hour, up to -17C.
Each mat comes with a set of connector cables, and up to 10 mats can be connected to one power plug, which requires a 120-volt outlet. HeatTrak products are available online at www.heatrak.com, or through the Canadian distributor, Power Supply Company in Scarborough. Go to www.powerplantsupplyco.com for information. Note that the company does not sell online.
You can usually count on Garant, a Canadian manufacturer of outdoor tools, to come up with a new shovel each winter, and this year is no exception.
Look for the new G4 shovel, which is widely available for about $37. It uses good old-fashioned physical energy to push and shovel snow, and scrape and clean sidewalks. Unfortunately, it won't do any of those tasks while you sit indoors with a toddy. That's what teenagers are for.
Email Vicky at vswriter@sympatico.ca.
Vicky Sanderson's Hot Home Products appears Saturdays in New in Homes & Condos.