Early this morning, I got a call from the contractor who is insulating the basement at my mom's house (which I actually own, so I have to pay for all the work that is done on it). “I didn't realize you wanted me to do that section that already has insulation” he said. “It's up to code, you know.”
“As I explained when you gave me the quote,” I said testily, “the code doesn't matter, I need to get it up to R-32 to qualify for the government rebate. I thought since the quote is to insulate the basement to R-32, it meant that you would insulate the entire basement to that level.”
“Well, the insulation there meets code, so I don't know why you want more of it in that spot. But if you do, I'll have to measure and give you an estimate.”
I hung up and tried not to start bawling. The past half year has been full of over-the-top expenses, some planned – like re-siding my mom's house, which cost close to $6000 – and some not, like the $420 it cost to cut down the tree that got done in in last week's storm.
Shortly after I got to work I got a phone call. It was the insulation guy.
“I called the company that did the energy audit for you, and they said that the numbers must have been reversed in the report. You only have to insulate to R-23 to qualify for the rebate.”
I hung up and tried not to start bawling. No wonder so many companies I phoned had exclaimed: "R-32? Nobody needs that much insulation in the basement." The contractor I hired had said the same thing, but I insisted on R-32 since that is what the energy audit company told me I needed. So I was paying for extraneous insulation. I called the energy audit company.
After my angry preamble, the person on the other end, who manages the company, told me that the items in the energy audit report are recommendations only, and the government doesn't care whether I insulate to R-23 or R-32, I'll still qualify for the rebate.
“I paid $350 for expert advice” I retorted “and was told to insulate to R-32.” My co-worker in the office next door said I sounded “firm.” She's very polite. I'm sure I sounded like an absolute bitch. I scrawled an angry email to the company, telling them that I wanted to make a formal complaint.
A little while later, my boss came in to tell me that the results of September's research grant competition had been posted online, but she couldn't access them. The server was down for about an hour, but finally I got in. Just for some background, this was a proposal that had taken over six months to put together. Ten co-applicants were involved, and eight diagnostic centres in various regions of Canada. The person who had to work on the co-applicant CVs, each of which is 25-30 pages long, still hasn't returned to work. Drafts of the proposal were critiqued by a number of people, and revised numerous times. The first file I opened contained the Scientific Officer's comments. “The committee agreed that your proposal was not competitive in its current form, and was withdrawn from further discussion.” I tried not to start bawling, and went to the next office. “They didn't even bother reviewing the proposal” I said in bewilderment. It's not only all the time and effort that gets put into these things. My job depends on research funding.
When I went back to my office the phone was ringing. It was the woman who had done the energy audit. “I have a copy of your report here, and there's nothing in it about insulating the basement to R-32.” I didn't have a copy of the report at the office, and said I would call her when I got home. I began to question my sanity. Is it possible that I just arbitrarily decided on a value of R-32 for the basement insulation? It seemed unlikely, but I grew up thinking my mom was a nurse (she was a gym teacher) and Frank Sinatra was black.
Fearing that R-32 was yet one more sign of mental deterioration, I tried not to start bawling. I decided to stop at Loblaws on the way home to get pizza and pumpkin cheesecake.
Just before leaving, I logged back into the website with the results of the grant competition, and noticed that not every document had been uploaded the first time I looked. The proposal had been reviewed, and when I read through the comments they were actually quite positive. It should be relatively easy to respond to the reviewers' concerns. Then the insulation guy phoned. In his delightful Scottish brogue, he said that everything was OK there, that the basement would be insulated to a level where I would qualify for the rebate, and that there would be no extra charge. When I got home I looked at the energy audit report. It did mention R-31 (not 32, but close enough for me to conclude I was sane) under recommended energy-saving measures for the basement, but R-24 (not 23, which, although close, made me conclude that the energy audit company still had their facts wrong) under the section where it discussed how to qualify for the rebate. I called the person who did the energy audit, we talked about it, and ended the conversation on good terms.
Tomorrow I will send another email to the energy audit company, and withdraw my formal complaint.
Tonight I am going to eat lots of pizza and cheesecake, and wash my hair.
