Understand the way your home uses and loses heat and identify ways to save more energy throughout the year.
Drafts, uneven temperatures, and high bills are signs of an inefficient home. In many cases, heating systems work overtime to compensate without making a home comfortable and still allowing heat and money to escape. Homes can be kept warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer by adding insulation, sealing air leaks, improving windows and doors, and upgrading mechanical systems. These upgrades can lower utility bills, while making homes more comfortable.
When addressing home heat loss, you first need to consider the building's envelope and where it might be letting heat escape. Think of it as the shell of your house, separating the indoors from the outdoors. The building envelope consists of doors, windows, walls, roof, and basement or crawlspace. To maintain a comfortable and efficient living space, it must effectively control the flow of heat, air, and moisture in and out of your home.
Heat moves from warm to cold areas through materials (conduction), liquids and gases (convection), or in a straight line heating anything solid in its path that absorbs energy (radiation). When minimizing heat flow, focus on insulation in the home's roof, walls, floor, and basement and avoid gaps in the insulation or building envelope (thermal bridging).
Canada Insulation Map: Heating degree-day zones (HDD) and recommended minimum insulation values. Zones by HDD: A) up to 3500HDD, B) 3500-5000 HDD, C) 5001-6500 HDD, D) more than 6500 HDD. Source: Natural Resources Canada - Keeping the Heat In
| House Component | Metric (RSI) or Imperial (R) | Nominal Insulating Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone A | Zone B | Zone C | Zone D | ||
| Walls | RSI | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 7.1 |
| R | 22.0 | 24.0 | 27.0 | 40.0 | |
| Basement | RSI | 3.3 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| R | 19.0 | 19.0 | 24.0 | 25.0 | |
| Roof or Ceiling | RSI | 7.1 | 8.8 | 10.6 | 10.6 |
| R | 40.0 | 50.0 | 60.0 | 60.0 | |
| Floor | RSI | 4.8 | 5.5 | 7.1 | 8.8 |
| R | 27.0 | 31.0 | 40.0 | 50.0 | |
US Insulation Map: Recommended insulation levels for retrofitting existing wood-framed buildings. Zone 1 is in Florida, with zone numbers increasing with latitude up until Zone 7, in the Minnesota and North Dakota region. All of Alaska is in Zone 7 except for Bethel, Dillingham, Fairbanks, N. Star, Nome, North Slope, Northwest Arctic, Southeast Fairbanks, Wade Hampton, Yukon-Koyukuk. Zone 1 includes Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Source: Energy Star - Recommended Home Insulation R-Values.
| House Component | Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3 | Zone 4 | Zone 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attic (Uninsulated) | R30 to R49 | R30 to R60 | R30 to R60 | R38 to R60 | R49 to R60 |
| Attic (3-4 inches of insulation) | R25 to R30 | R25 to R38 | R25 to R38 | R38 | R38 to R49 |
| Floor | R13 | R13 to R19 | R19 to R25 | R25 to R30 | R25 to R30 |
| Wall Insulation |
Whenever exterior siding is removed on an uninsulated wood-frame wall:
Whenever exterior siding is removed on an insulated wood-frame wall:
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Did you know? Insulation is labelled with an RSI or R-value. Both rate the material's ability to resist heat flow. The higher the value, the slower the rate of heat transfer through the insulation.
Air leaks through gaps in the building envelope when there is a difference in air pressure between the inside and outside of the home. When minimizing air flow, focus on leaky windows and doors, poor sealing around plumbing and electrical penetrations, and consider adding wind barriers under the exterior wall finish.
Source: Natural Resources Canada https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/make-your-home-more-energy-efficient/keeping-the-heat/section-4-comprehensive-air-leakage-control-your-home/15635
Key locations to check for leaks
Did you know? Air leaks can be a significant source of heat loss. In a typical house, all of the holes and gaps can add up to an opening equivalent to a medium-sized window left open 24 hours a day.
Moisture originating from the outside (precipitation or flooding) or inside (water vapour from occupants) can damage your home and impact its durability. When minimizing moisture flow, focus on drainage around the home, the vapour barrier on the warm side of the insulation, and limit moisture created indoors.
| Activity | Moisture Produced (L) |
|---|---|
| Cooking - three meals daily for one week | 6.3 |
| Bathing - 0.2L per shower of 0.05L per bath | 2.4 |
| Clothes washing (per week) | 1.8 |
| Floor mopping per 9.3 square meters (100 square feet) | 1.3 |
| Normal respiration and skin evaporation from occupants | 38.0 |
| Total moisture production per week | 49.8 |
Source: Natural Resources Canada - Keeping the Heat In
Did you know? Humidity levels should be between 20% and 40%. 20% and above can prevent dry, sore throats, and make the air feel warmer and more comfortable. Levels above 40% can cause frosting and fogging of windows, staining of walls and ceilings, peeling paint, mould growth, and odours.
MyHEAT is empowering urban energy efficiency™ by helping people see and compare where heat is escaping from their homes and cities. Our unique machine learning process creates powerful visuals and scores that reveal invisible energy loss.
We collect data at night using a thermal sensor attached to a plane. Nighttime collection ensures that the sun is not impacting the roof's temperature reading. Flyovers also take place in the spring or fall when the weather is cool, dry, and there is minimal wind.
Once thermal data is collected, MyHEAT applies a unique machine learning process to pick out and compare each roof's heat loss signature. All roofs can be compared as if they were collected at a single moment in time, allowing us to look at heat loss over different years and between houses, communities, and cities.
Our platform helps users learn about their home's heat loss. Each home's profile includes a unique Energy Loss Map and Comparison Score and then connects the user to local rebates and resources to help them save energy.
Images showing the thermal characteristics of a home. Red shows areas where more heat loss may be occurring.
A rating of how much heat a building is losing compared to similar homes on a scale of 1 to 10. The higher the rating, the more energy is being wasted.
Hear what homeowners had to say after viewing their homes on the MyHEAT platform!
The HEAT Map on the right shows heat loss for the house on the left ‒ a typical two storey home with an attached garage built in 1976.
The owner of this home was very familiar with their energy use and efficiency. When they saw this image, some of the heat loss areas immediately made sense. For instance, they had:
However, they were curious about other areas of heat loss - specifically the red area above their attached garage, shown on the north side of the home. To investigate further, they contacted a local energy advisor to evaluate the home.
Poorly fit insulation in the first storey ceiling and heavy thermal bridging in the living room and dining room, as suspected by the homeowner.
No insulation and improper air sealing around plumbing and electrical penetrations along the north wall between the house and garage, allowing heat loss into the uninsulated garage.
An unsealed B-vent on the west wall, allowing warm air to leak up the chase wall which was unsealed at the attic level.
Poor sealing of a newly installed gas fireplace insert to the existing chimney.
Interested in seeing more homeowner case studies? Learn more on our Case Studies page.
If available in your area, take a look at your home profile to discover potential heat loss areas and see how your home compares to similar homes in your city. Once finished, contact your local utility or government agency to learn about rebates that may be available to help you save energy.
Contact a local energy advisor to get professional insight into your home's energy performance. They will complete a detailed audit of your home to help you identify problem areas and recommend the next steps for action.
If your home is more than 15 years old, it is likely under-insulated compared to current standards. Look for opportunities to add insulation to your attic, walls, and basement. Increasing your home's insulation is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to reduce energy waste.
Stop heating an empty or sleeping house. By installing a programmable or smart thermostat, you can automatically adjust the temperature and save up to 15% on your heating needs. Additionally, avoid heating unused rooms by closing vents and doors.
Even if your attic is already insulated, the pull-down hatch is often left without protection. A surprising amount of heat can escape through those leaky doors. Make sure this area is insulated and gaps are sealed.
Place your hand in front of an outlet on a cold day. If it is cold, carefully remove the cover after turning off the power to insulate your outlets. Use caulking to fill gaps around the outside of the box and insert a foam gasket specially made for insulating outlets.
The places where pipes enter and leave your living space need to be sealed with foam or caulk - builders sometimes neglect this step. Check in your basement ceiling and inside cabinets, as well as exterior walls.
Windows can be the weakest points in your home's envelope. Remove old cracked caulking and replace it with fresh caulk. Combined with lined drapes or blinds, this will address one of your home's greatest points of heat loss. Also consider replacing old windows with newer, energy-efficient ones.
Can you see daylight under exterior doors? Some thresholds are adjustable with screws: turn them counterclockwise to close the gap. You could also buy or make a “draft snake” to place across the draft at the bottom of a closed door. Also, check the weatherstripping around your doors and replace if it looks worn.
Most of us know to close the damper on our fireplace whenever it is not in use to reduce heat loss through the chimney - but a lot of warm air still escapes. Some dampers fit poorly and provide little protection from draft; a snug-fitting damper may save 8% of fuel costs.