A Toronto Renovation Gets Modern Architecture and Passive House Certification
Last Updated: Apr 11, 2025Tracy Johnson and Kevin McKenny are an active, outdoorsy family. When she's not working as a director in healthcare information, and he's not working as a director of finance, they're biking, skiing, running, traveling, or otherwise exploring. When they decided to renovate an existing house in Toronto to retire in, they were equally adventurous.
Because they're both allergic to the toxicity inherent to many building materials, they needed to make conscious choices and make sure the home has good air quality. Moreover, says Johnson, "Power outages and ice storms over the past ten years, along with climate change, confirmed our desire to decrease our carbon footprint by building a sustainable house." In other words, the couple's goals, she adds, "were to renovate an existing house by recycling or repurposing as much of it as we could and build a healthy home—one without any high VOC-emitting products."
They researched net-zero and Passive House strategies, then realized they needed a consultant to guide them through their decision making. German Vaisman, an architect specializing in Passive House design, who was working at that time with Cool Earth Architecture Inc., not only designed their renovation but also took the couple to a Passive House conference, on a visit to a Passive House group in Minden, and three site visits to Passive Houses built between 2015 and 2017-18.
Table of Contents
- Zero Fossil Fuels
- Challenges and Rewards of the EnerPHit Renovation
Johnson and McKenny decided to purchase a two-story, 1,200-square foot home built in 1941 in the Danforth area of Toronto and transform it into a Passive House. "We were drawn to the concept of building a net-zero house, and a Passive House seemed to be the best vehicle to do that, along with the healthiest end product to live in," Johnson says.
"The opportunity to build something different, with newer building technologies and more innovative systems and technologies, caught our attention," Johnson adds. The renovation added an ERV (energy recovery ventilator), a heat pump versus a furnace for heating and cooling, and planned solar panels for electricity to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. The couple also realized, she says, that "The extra costs of building a Passive House did not seem out of reach."
Zero Fossil Fuels
Johnson, McKenny, and Vaisman decided to gut the existing structure's interior, retaining only its timber frame and brick veneer. They also increased the home's footprint by about 800 square feet, adding a modern extension for a living room and kitchen. The former kitchen is now the main entrance. They turned the old entry into the laundry room.
The roof, especially with the addition's extension, required additional insulation. The construction team also built a vented cavity on top of the existing roof to reduce thermal bridging. The construction team lowered the basement and cleaned out the asbestos. Because non-toxic materials were a priority, the house was insulated with dense-packed cellulose insulation. The cellulose was supplemented with Roxul/Rockwool (mineral wool insulation), Intello, Tescon Vana tape, and Aerobarrier air sealing.
The house now has an R-60 value in the walls and a higher R-value in the roof. Triple-pane windows and doors add to the home's sustainable strategies.
Despite the extension, the home qualified for EnerPHit certification. Airtightness tests were essential to obtaining the certification, says Austin Todd of CoEfficient Building Science, who the team hired to perform the tests. Lack of access to certain areas, like existing wall assemblies, and not wanting to disturb the exterior brick, Todd says, posed airtightness challenges. The Aerobarrier sealing did the trick "and got us to our goal," he adds.
The couple is proud of the fact that their renovated home uses zero fossil fuels. "We are on the grid and monitoring electricity costs for a heat pump, HRV, and heat pump hot water," Johnson says. "Back-up heat, should the electricity go out, is a Stûv fireplace." Solar panels are in the works.
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.
