Building your dream home is an exciting and rewarding time in your life. It’s an ideal time to not only plan your home, but to think about the life you will be living while in it to make sure it best suits your current and future needs.
When considering renovating your home, you’ll want to check in on the latest trends and decide on whether they can be incorporated into your project. Although some trends come and go, others stay and help to increase the value of your investment.
The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” isn’t just about your health; it also applies to the health of your home. When renovating or custom building your dream home, there are a variety of different factors that may distract you from investing your money into the most important areas of your home. Ensuring that you’ve invested in those areas that will protect and provide you continued comfort for years to come is crucial. Insulation is one of these areas.
There is a property that I frequently pass that was demolished back in November. It is now the end of winter and the area that was once a house, has been an open pit for four months—exposed to the harsh winter we’ve had. Most people wouldn’t see a problem with this, but there is a big problem that could cost the homeowner a lot of money down the road.
Last week, hundreds of Toronto residents were left without water because the water lines had frozen. So how’d this happen? You may not think about it, but pipes in your home need protection from the cold winter weather too. As water freezes it expands, putting tremendous pressure on whatever is containing it (including plastic or metal pipes). By taking preventative measures before the cold weather hits, you can prevent water lines from freezing and the costly damage that comes with them.
The majority of basement waterproofing today is being done by system companies that claim to offer different methods but always steer you to their preferred method (usually an interior water control system). This one-size-fits-all approach benefits the waterproofing company more often than you, the customer. It’s better practice to use a problem solving approach rather than a system approach.