Construction of the City of Toronto’s new Net-Zero Energy Childcare centre in Mount Dennis is well under way. Right now the contractors are in the ground working on the foundations and basement slabs and it seems like a good time to share a selection of photos showing progress over the last month.
In this photo you can see the foundation being prepared with insulation, as well as the shoring to hold up the surrounding earth. The light-cream panels are the formwork they are erecting to pour the foundation walls. Weston Road is in the background.
Here you can see the formwork for the column’s concrete footing in the basement. Of special note here is the multi-layers of high-compressive strength insulation we are placing BELOW the column footing. In “traditional” construction the footings are not insulated, but because we are targeting Net Zero Energy, we need to minimize all thermal bridges! Sub-footing insulation is something we expect to see a lot more of in the coming years, as it becomes standard practice.Here you can see the four-layers of insulation we have under the basement slab. This works out to an insulative value of almost R-32! We prefer to avoid using EPS-type insulation due to the high Global Warming Potential of the Blowing Agent’s used in their production, but sometimes in sub-grade applications the material qualities of EPS really make it the preferred material. We’d love to move towards alternate insulations for sub-grade, but this will require a lot more testing from manufacturers and suppliers. You can learn more about insulations Global Warming Potential in a blog post we did a while back. Here is a close-up view showing the sub-slab insulation for the basement. Here is a close-up of the foundation walls insulation. You can see how the joints are staggered. Right now the insulation is just dry-fit into place, but will be removed and a waterproof barrier will be added to the outside of the foundation wall. Here you can see the shoring, insulation for below the basement slab, as well as the waterproofing layer for elevator pit.An overall shot of the excavation from a few weeks ago, showing the neighbourhood in the background.
