Several reasons prompted Étienne Vigneron to buy a century-old house in very poor condition, in Waterloo, in 2019. His limited budget weighed heavily in his decision, as did his desire to give it a second life, by leveraging his expertise in the construction of highly energy efficient houses.
“It was a personal challenge, but also a way of showing that with a little vision, you can transform a dump into a beautiful, ecological and efficient house, with an accessible budget,” explains the 36-year-old entrepreneur, who started in the construction field in 2008 as a carpenter and turned to green building in 2014, training in Toronto to construct buildings according to “passive house” (Passivhaus) principles.
He knew from the start that he would have to completely redo the century-old house, which had been moved in the 1980s and placed on a new foundation. Since he had founded his company ÉcoNovation around the same time, in 2020, it went without saying for him that the home would be renovated to the standards of a passive house.
“I tore everything out, salvaging what I could put back,” he explains. Everything has been redone with durable and high-performance materials. I put a steel roof and triple glass windows. I insulated the house from the outside using the Larsen Truss double frame wall technique. The big advantage is that we have continuous insulation and waterproofing. There is no thermal bridge and we are assured of super high energy efficiency. In addition, I just used materials with a low environmental footprint. The 12-inch-thick walls were insulated with rock wool. The house stays cool in the summer and it doesn’t even cost $400 a year in heating costs. »
He also took on the challenge of optimizing the space, without expanding it. The ground floor, first floor and basement have retained their surface area of 600 ft2 (55.7 m2). “It’s possible to have a compact house, which is still spacious and user-friendly,” he believes. I moved the staircase to the center so as not to have a corridor upstairs. Then I converted the basement so that it was ready to become an independent apartment. I thought about this during the COVID-19 crisis, thinking that maybe my mother could move there. I excavated the back of the house and built stone walls so that it could be accessed through an exterior door. »
He often turned to his relatives to accommodate him when the house was uninhabitable.
He wasn’t able to salvage much, other than the original floor structure on the ground floor. He removed the boards one by one and reinstalled them on the ceiling, when he created the structure of the floor of the first floor. A few boards serve as shelves at the bottom of the windows. As for the antique-looking parquet flooring on the ground floor, it is made of maple slats from a Montreal condo.
Being one of the experts in ecological housing at the Solution ERA training center, he believes that the renovation of such a home echoes the major challenges facing society, both environmental, economic and social (by countering the isolation of the elderly ).
As his personal life is taking a new direction, he has decided to sell the house this fall. Buyers share the same environmental values as him and appreciate the quality of his work, he is delighted.
“It’s a compact house that has a lot of character. They liked all the love I put into it, he explains. There are lots of nice touches. The staircase is spectacular, with light streaming through. »
He estimates he has given another 100 years to the century-old house, which has retained its soul. “It is the next generations who will benefit from it and who will benefit from a healthy and comfortable home, with very little maintenance costs,” he points out. Which gives him great pride.
Duration of work: 2020 to 2023
Major work: from March 2020 to August 2021
Finished basement in 2022
Developed the land in 2023
Original home price: $78,500
Total borrowing and money personally invested: $320,000
Value of time spent: Invaluable
Sale price: $480,000
Objective: leave a legacy for future generations
Challenge: don’t make the space bigger
