Ensuring A Well-Planned Home Renovation:
by Karl Lohnes

Pre-thinking your renovation and answering a few questions before the sledgehammer arrives will help save time, money and most of all headaches. Here’s just a few of my pointers to help you if you are about to take on a renovation in your space. Kitchen: Questions to ask yourself: Is the current layout working well? Is there anything missing from the current kitchen that you want (like a wall oven, built-in dishwasher or an island)? Are there any considerations to renovating like a busy family life, condo board restrictions or structural concerns? What is the best budget and timeframe for you? Hidden costs: Re-routing pipes, old wiring that needs updating, floors that need strengthening, plumbing that needs upgrading. These are things that you only discover once the job had been started and walls/floors get opened up and exposed. Designer tip: Keeping a simple design in mind for your kitchen will give it longevity. Here’s two simple rules: Match the colour of the backsplash to the colour of cupboards you have chosen (creamy cabinets equals pale limestone or off-white backsplash tiles); match the tone/colouring of your countertop to the appliances (stainless steel appliances=medium to dark toned countertops).

Bedroom:

Questions to ask yourself:

• Is there enough closet/storage space?
• Is there a focal wall that will fit the bed and two ends tables comfortably?
• Do you want a television, stereo speakers or a computer wired in the bedroom?

Hidden costs: Outfitting existing closets to be more efficient, privacy treatments on windows, new lighting or audio/visual equipment.

Designer tip: Are you a Cave or Cloud person? If you like to wake up  in a dark room then you are a Cave person. Decorate your room with dark wood tones, richer wall and fabric colours and choose heavier draperies. If you are a Cloud person, then you need to wake up to some daylight streaming into the bedroom; decorate your room with lighter window treatments and lighter/brighter colours and tones.

---

Bryan Baeumler's Tips for Hiring a Contractor

Before you hire make sure to ask a potential contractor these crucial questions: 1. Are you insured? Should an uninsured individual damage your home during a renovation by a starting a fire for example, you will be left holding the bill for repair. Make sure they have liability insurance. 2. Can we get a police report? Especially if you have children in your home, you will want to know if anyone coming into your home has a criminal record. 3. Do you have a license? This shows professionalism and civic approval to pull permits and comply with zoning by-laws and inspections. 4. What are your references? Don’t just get references from previous clients, get trade and supplier references as well, they too know the contractor. 5. Do you have workers compensation? Again, anyone injured while working in your home could leave you footing their costs if they do not have workers compensation. 6. How long have your trades worked for you? Some contractors have their own in-house trades, others maintain alliances, either situation works as long as the tradesman are skilled and reliable.

---

Demystifying Photovoltaic - courtesy of:

Installing solar panels may change the way you feel about your energy bill. Homeowners who decide to take the plunge and invest in solar paneling actually look forward to their energy bill; feeling euphoric when their electric costs decrease to less than $50.00 a month. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology converts the sun’s energy into electrical energy. It’s renewable and a nonpolluting source of energy. There are two types of PV systems: grid-tied systems (which use the power company’s grid to store electrical energy and is most common) and stand-alone systems (which require batteries to store electrical energy—used in cabins and remote applications— and they’re more complicated and expensive). Click here to read on!

---

Mag Ruffman's Tool Tips

1. Never be flummoxed in a hardware store; know the names of parts you’re looking for – a great reference book is The Complete Illustrated Guide to Everything Sold in Hardware Stores (available at Chapters) 2. If you don’t like using power tools, you may simply be sensitive to high noise volume.  Buy an ear protection headset.  The dramatic reduction in sound volume makes it easier to concentrate and improves confidence. 3. Remember that renovating will test your ingenuity and self-esteem; giving in to despair is human, but joking about despair is god-like. 4. Stock a decent home-repair manual.  Forego the gender-specific books and go for a good basic volume – Ortho’s Home Repair Problem Solver or Black & Decker manuals are great. 5. Love your tools and love what you can do with them.  Make things instead of buying them.  Stay in motion.  DIY is the new frontier

SEASONAL TIPS

• All exterior wood surfaces around your home should be sealed at this time of year.  Even pressure-treated wood!  (PT lumber contains bug-resistant chemicals, but it isn’t weather resistant except in its first year.)
• Put a fresh coat of paint on exterior-door wooden thresholds.  Keeping the wood sealed will add years to your threshold and prevent it from getting pitted, split, dry-rotted and spongy.
• For instant crystal clear glass, wash your windows using the professional secret – a  squirt of Dawn dish detergent in a gallon of warm water applied with a lambswool scrubber.  Then squeegee off the moisture in seconds.
• Install a de-humidifier in your basement to get rid of summer condensation that produces mould and mildew (the leading cause of childhood asthma).
• If you have a humidifier attached to your forced air furnace, it’s time to change the filter or soak it in vinegar.  Subtle clues that your filter needs changing: It’s petrified with mineral deposits and has no elastic properties of any kind. Replace it or soak it in a pail of vinegar.