Cam Allen

Here’s Why Garage Doors Get Blown Open

House with severe roof damage after a storm in a suburban neighbourhood

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?

Construction worker reviewing blueprints and talking on phone indoors

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

Freshly poured concrete slab foundation in garden area

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

Wooden and foam blocks foundation on construction site

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?

Modern home theatre room with large screen and cozy seating

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!!!

Wooden stairs leading to a dimly lit basement with concrete walls

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.