The owner’s tour | A family affair

Owners open the doors to their exceptional home, offered on the resale market

Danielle Bonneau
Press

LEED Platinum certified homes are not widely used in Quebec. For Félix Jasmin, there was no question of building anything other than a high-performance ecological home when he purchased land in Saint-Hippolyte, in the Lower Laurentians, in 2017.

This land, which he bought as soon as it was put up for sale, had several undeniable advantages. On the edge of Lake Connelly, it allowed the construction of a house perfectly oriented to the south, heated by the sun. The property, in particular, was located across the street from his father’s house. Her project quickly became that of her entire family.

Eco-construction and self-construction

It must be said that his father, Michel Jasmin, has been working in the field of building ecological houses for twenty years and he passed on his passion to his children. Like two of his sons, he works for the Belvedair company, dedicated to eco-construction and many times awarded.

“In this case, it is a question of self-construction”, specifies Félix Jasmin, who also knows himself in real estate, since he is a broker. “I called on various subcontractors. But all of my family got their hands dirty at one point or another, even my three sons, who were 15, 12, and 10 at the time of construction. We had a lot of fun. We did the insulation ourselves. We were aiming for LEED Gold certification, but we eventually achieved Platinum certification, the highest level that can be achieved. ”

He loved the whole construction process, despite the unexpected. In order to respect the rights acquired to build in the riparian strip, he had, for example, to preserve the foundation of the chalet already on the site.

“It was our first constraint in exercising the style of the house, but it went really well,” says the owner. It was very exciting to design it according to our needs, with my father’s wife, Gisèle Ouimet, who is a designer and has experience in this field. I wanted it to be a truly unifying place. ”

Lake view

The house has three levels. The garden level, which has a heated concrete slab, is a multifunctional space thanks to a foosball table, a TV screen, a large sofa and a bar. Access to the lake is then direct. The main entrance, kitchen, dining room and living room are located on the ground floor. The second floor also has three spacious bedrooms and two bathrooms. “Everyone is great with us,” says Jasmin. It was necessary to be able to put at least a queen bed in each room. I even found a queen bunk bed! ”

The ground floor is very open. “We have an incredible view of the lake,” he explains. The only wall there is that of the entrance, because to obtain LEED certification, it is absolutely necessary to have a vestibule, so as not to lose heat. So we have a really nice entrance, where we can be eight at the same time. We have room to close the door and take off our coats. ”

The integration of various sustainable materials has made it possible to obtain LEED Platinum certification, he explains. He mentions the high-quality triple-glazed windows, architectural steel exterior cladding and “a lot, a lot” of insulation.

Félix Jasmin is particularly proud of the results obtained following the home’s energy assessment. The infiltrometry rate, which measures the airtightness of a home, is thus 0.66, while less than 1.5 must be obtained for Novoclimat 2.0 certification. The EnerGuide rating is also 86/100 (it must be at least 80/100 in the LEED system).

He had to make a concession.

“In return, it must cost around $ 300 to heat per year,” he adds. It is a compromise that had to be made. ”

He had planned to enjoy this country house suitable for the practice of many sports for several years. Except that if he had first chosen the land, it was because of the proximity of his father and his wife. However, a new dream germinated last summer, during a vacation in the Gaspé where the whole family gathered. Michel Jasmin and Gisèle Ouimet have decided to embark on the construction of ecological rental chalets and have everyone’s support.

“We had a lot of fun making this house as a family,” says Félix Jasmin. It is still as a family that we embark on the Gaspé adventure. ”