Before the Freeze

While this subject is a bit around the edge of renovation guidance, it is nonetheless one I get this time of year and one every homeowner in the “Great White North”

Size Up the Siding

Is It Worth Replacing Siding and Adding Insulation to an Old Home? One renovation that can hit the bank account . . .

Why Do We Need So Many Permits?

Along with writing this weekly column I give numerous public speaking/video presentations on Housing and the Climate Crisis to service clubs, municipal organizations and trade groups.

Here’s Why Garage Doors Get Blown Open

A reader from Manitoba wrote recently “We had our garage door come off its track in a high wind and really made a mess of the inside of our garage. What can we do?” This reader was actually lucky the wind damage stopped inside of the garage. 

On a Tight Budget?

Recently, I got a unique question from Paul, a home inspector in Vancouver, and while it may be a bit off-the-beaten path for this column, it’s one that I have been asked repeatedly over the years.

Foundations & Flood Safety

For the past two weeks I have been answering a three-part question from Tammy, a reader in Western Canada. We have covered renovating and restoring

Block Basements: My Pick for a Foundation

There is no perfect foundation, older homes and stone foundations had their good and bad points and they were the only real choice for hundreds of years.

Planning a Basement Renovation?

9 Steps to Consider When Renovating Your Basement. If there is one sentence I heard during my contractor days it was “Damn, I wished I had planned for that!” and

 Block Basements: Grade & Sump Pump

In part five we got the block foundation walls cleaned, covered in a waterproof coating and reset the drainage tiles, then

Basements!!!

I have often been asked, why do we even have basements? The largest single reason: frost. If our homes are not based upon a solid frost-resistant foundation they will shift, crack, settle and move in wondrous ways, demanding repairs at often great expense. The other benefit from earlier times, the cold cellar was necessary for preserves and other food storage to get through the winter.