The order of operations most quotes skip
Insulation without air sealing is a sweater worn over a screen door. The honest sequence is: air seal first (top plates, penetrations, attic hatches), then insulate, then verify ventilation, because a tighter, warmer attic with unchanged venting is how you trade a heating bill for a mould problem. The Code's venting math (1/300 of insulated ceiling area, 1/150 for low-slope) and the exhaust-duct rules are the same physics behind the ice dams we documented in the winter-damage guide.
"Blown-in insulation is the easiest thing in the world to sell and the easiest to do wrong. Bury the pot lights without boxes, block the soffit vents, skip the hatch, and the R-value on the invoice has nothing to do with the R-value of the house. The prep is the job."
Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.
What we insulate
- Attics: air sealing, baffles to keep soffits breathing, blown cellulose or fibreglass to target depth
- Walls: dense-pack retrofits, and exterior rigid insulation during recladding (see the exterior page for why that pairing wins)
- Basements: foundation walls insulated correctly for moisture, rim joists sealed and insulated, as part of basement projects or standalone
- Century homes: balloon-framed cavities and plaster walls need their own approach, covered in the pre-war renovation discipline
One prerequisite worth naming: insulating a basement that still takes on water locks the moisture in. Where there is any history of dampness, the water assessment comes first.
The rebate money, plainly
Ontario's Home Renovation Savings programme (IESO/Save on Energy with Enbridge Gas) is live and pays real amounts: on the bundled path (home energy assessment plus two or more upgrades) up to $7,700 for insulation, $600 for the assessment itself, and $250 for air sealing; on the single-upgrade path, attic insulation up to $1,250 with no assessment required. What is closed, despite what rebate blogs claim: the federal Greener Homes Grant, and the Greener Homes Loan to new applicants. The full, verified programme map is in our Ontario rebates guide, and we align the scope and paperwork so the claim actually succeeds.
One honest caveat
There is no law forcing an existing home to meet new-construction R-values; those targets bind new builds and major renovations under SB-12. Upgrading is a choice, and with current rebates it is usually a good one, but anyone quoting you a "required" R-value for a simple retrofit is inventing an obligation. That distinction, and the rest of our no-invented-rules standard, is why the whole guides library exists.