The Healthier Resiliency Discovery Home by Empire Homes & ERTH360

The Healthier Resiliency Discovery Home

Project Description

The Resiliency Healthier Discovery Home is a groundbreaking and collaborative initiative between Empire Homes and ERTH360 along with the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA), and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR). The overriding objective was to design build a climate resistant typical production home that was attainable and buildable with existing trades. Also contributing expertise were the Canadian Wood Council and the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), founded at Western University. In addition, the home was certified under the CHBA Net Zero label,  as well as included ERTH360 Wellness package for improved IAQ.

Model Selection

The Iris model was selected thanks to its relatively long, uninterrupted roof design, which allows for a significant number of solar panels to be installed along the side elevation. This strategic placement avoids the need to mount panels on the front façade, preserving the home's curb appeal and ensuring the solar array does not detract from architectural aesthetics.

ERTH360 Wellness

Every generation of homes has evolved. Homes became more energy efficient, more comfortable and more connected. We believe the next evolution is health.

Empire introduced ERTH360 because a home should not simply protect people from the weather. It should actively support the health and well-being of the people living inside it.

What’s included:

1. 3-Stage Bypass HEPA purifier with MERV 11 prefilter, active carbon filter, HEPA filer
2. 5” MERV 13 whole home filter
3. Upsized ERV with MERV 13 filter
4. Third-party air distribution verification
5. Engineered Mechanical system to address higher static pressure from filtration systems
6. Designed to meet ASHRAE 241-2023 

Material Innovation Strategy

1. LP SmartSide replacement for traditional vinyl siding, based on demonstrated performance in Calgary's 2024 severe hailstorm event

2. IKO Nordic Class 4 roof shingles

4. Synthetic membrane for sheathing protection

5. Roof extended Ice & Water Shield to prevent ice damming

6. Roof Drip Edge to prevent moisture sheathing damage

7. Metal roof vents upgraded from vinyl for enhanced hail protection

8. Wood sheathing sub-cladding for building envelope to form part of continuous load path and improve racking resistance

9. Simpson Strong Ties screws, bolts, plates and brackets for vertical load building envelope resistance

10. Jeld-Wen triple pane laminated windows

11. Naturaseal 60 ml foundation waterproofing system

12. Delta Footing Barrier water-resistive capillary break at footing to prevent moisture in basement

13. Hybrid electric and gas HVAC for energy efficiency and grid resilience

14. Circadian lighting system to provide rich blue light in morning and ultra low to zero blue light in the evening to improve sleeping along with red and near-infrared spectrum

Climate Resilience Leadership

This home will be used in collaboration with the industry partners mentioned above as a learning project for Climate Resiliency with respect to the following critical elements:

• Meet or exceed EF1 wind speed resistance (138-177 km/h / 86-110 mph) for roof, siding, and garage door components
• Limit hail damage to home envelope, targeting resistance to hailstones up to 45 mm (1.77 inches) in diameter
• Resiliency to flash flooding

High Winds

• Engineered Simpson Strong-Tie rods, plates, fasteners, clips
• High wind resistant garage door (find specs)
• Dormers specially fastened
• Exterior OSB sheathing

Flash Flooding

• Naturalseal 60 ml coating - SPRAYSEAL NS-F300-RG
• Dimple board with fabric
• Weeper lookouts to monitor any flow issues
• Testing two different drainage systems (filter cloth only around weeping tiles vs additional filter cloth wrapped around gravel)

Hail

• IKON Class 4 hail resilient asphalt architectural shingle
• LP Smart Side boarding
• Laminated triple pane windows
• Metal roof vents

Net Zero

In addition, this is Empire Homes first CHBA Net Zero home. To meet the Net Zero requirements the following additions were made:

• 33 X 410W/54 cell Longi all black-bifacial nTopCon high performance solar modules
• 10 kW SolarEdge Hub w/RGM + Cons inverter
• SolarEdge Battery Bank 10 kWh capacity
• SolarEdge Optimizer S440 – MC4
• SolarEdge Home Hub Energy Storage System
• SolarEdge 40A, Level II EV Charger
• Net Metering utility connection
• Minimum ACH of 1.5 (we accomplished 0.66 ACH at 50 Pascals)
• Triple pane windows
• Substantially increased insulation roof (R60), walls (R29.5), subslab (R10)

Decarbonization

• Green concrete using slag to reduce cement percentage
• Cellulose insulation in attic instead of fiberglass
• Insulthane Elestochem HF0-blow closed-cell spray foam with Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1
• Replacement of all brick exterior with LP Smartside
• Replacement of gas fireplace with electric
• Hybrid electric fireplace with gas for extreme cold weather days