By now, you can tell how much we at HRG love watching home renovation shows, be it on TV or online. So when a casting call notice for a couple of home-focused TV shows crossed my in-box today, it was hard to resist putting it up here. And so I didn’t. For all those interested in televising their renovation in all of its glory, for the amusement of family, friends and the general public, look no further than the posting below. Good luck!

Casting for Save Us From Our House on the W Network & The Reno Show on HGTV

For Save Us From Our House:

We’re looking for couples & families of all sorts living in the Greater Toronto Area who are struggling to get along with each other and their space. Families with conflicts arising from, or made worse by aspects of the physical space they share will be considered.

Selected recipients will receive family sessions with our Relationship Counselor, and a full renovation of a problem area in their home by our Contractor and Designer.

Please Note:
-Homeowners need to have a solid reno/design budget of at least $5000
-Your situation must have a strong story involving family relationships strains caused or intensified by the state of your living space
-Renovations are approximately 15 days, 10 days for the renovation and 5 for the design
- We are currently NOT doing Kitchens and bathrooms

For The Reno Show:

Do you cringe every time you walk into a certain space in your home? Do you feel as though you just don’t know what to do with it? Bedrooms, living rooms,
dens. HGTV is interested in transforming your space! AT NO COST
Let our contracting and design team help you. Applicants must be outgoing, exuberant and have a great sense of humour. Must live in the TORONTO area. RIGHT NOW WE ARE DOING MINOR RENOVATIONS ONLY!
Applicants must own their home. We are currently not doing kitchens, bathrooms, yards or any unfinished space like a basement, or any children’s rooms.

Tell us about you and your housemates, whether they be family, spouse, roommate, companion, and why you all want to be a part of the show.

How to Apply

For Save Us From Our House or The Reno Show

Please provide us with:
1)Your contact information (phone, cell and e-mail)
2)Your story, including the names and ages of all your family members, and a description of your home
3)A family photograph, and a few of your home (especially the problem areas)

DEADLINE: FRIDAY APRIL 4th 2008
Rate: For SAVE US FROM OUR HOUSE There is a minimum requirement of $5000.
Total renovations provided by design team are valued between $20,000 and $25,000 depending on project size. FOR THE RENO SHOW, THERE IS NO PAYMENT BUT YOU WILL RECEIVE A ROOM MAKEOVER FROM 2 WELL SOUGHT-AFTER DESIGNERS.
Those that we are interested in we will arrange to come to your home for a 30-minute interview. We will also view the room that you want to be renovated.

Please send applications to: Larissa Mair and Lisa Campbell
SAVE US FROM OUR HOUSE: saveusfromourhouse@gmail.com
THE RENO SHOW: designpeople07@gmail.com

If you are considering renovating your home, buying a home to renovate, or flipping a house, this will give you some incite as to what it really takes to do a total home renovation.

Week 3 and 4
After gutting the entire interior of the house, the wiring, and pluming, needs to be replaced. Seeming these are not things that I am willing to allow my husband to do, in fear that he might blow himself or the house up, we brought in the professionals!

After these two weeks, the stress scale hit a nine on the stress “o” meter. Some problems we came across were:

Issue 1 was finding a good plumber and electrician. No easy task! There are a number of excellent resources available such as http://www.homerenovationguide.com/, that can make the search easier, but we knew that with the amount of work that was apparent, both these teams would be in the house for at least a week each.

The Plumber!
The plumber was great in the end. After 5 days they had completed all that was needed (which was everything!!!). Every pipe in the house was replaced, as it had been 80 years since anything had been. Additionally, the hot water tank needed to be move to open up the space in the laundry room, the basin sinks relocated to accommodate the washer dryer, and a drain needed to be dug up in the basement and run out side, to eliminate further water damage, and the list ran on, and on, and on.

Issues Encountered
The main pipe that ran from the basement, up through the kitchen, and then up into the bathroom, was rotten! This was something that we thought (the plumbers and us), would have been okey as it was the original cast iron pipe. Of course with replacement, come added costs, and more time. However, replacing this also eliminated the smell of urine that was so predominate.

The second major problem we ran into was in the basement. As mentioned earlier a drain needed to be created out side that would act as a place for the water run of too go instead of into the basement. Once they began digging the way for the pipe, they realized that the pipe they were going to link to, was broken. So add another day, and more money.

Over all because we supplied the materials, and were able to work out flat rates with them, we were only $245.00 over the plumbing budget, but still had significant savings from what the first quote was.

Electrical
Well, knob and tube is just as confusing as it sounds. Who really knows how it work, and why it was legal? With the condition of the knob and tube, the house would have burned down long before the breaker went…words right from the electrician.

Again, we supplied the materials, which helped save money, was also time consuming because there were things that we could not find easily. That said here are some of the “fun” in counters we ran into: time, these guys are not timely! As patience is a virtue, one in which I try hard to possess, with out success, this was terrible for me! They make there own schedule, and seemed to have dragged things on for over two weeks, which could have been done in 5 days if they worked consecutive days.

Of course, there were problems! Trying to feed the new lines through the house was casing some harsh words muttered under the breath of the electrical team. Because of the board and baton walls that currently existed, it was not easy to get the lines up. Moreover, the existing electrical in the house was sparse, so there were a lot of new light fixtures, switches and outlets put in, to make the house up to code.

In the end, the electrician has to come back once more after the dry wall is finished to put the faceplates and futures up.

Well, these two weeks were not as exciting as next week, when we stop demolishing and start rebuilding! Yep, the walls are going up, and the exterior is being started.

Suggestions
Here are a few suggestions to make sure that your stress “o” meter doesn’t hit the 10!
Ask if you can supply the materials, this saved us a great deal of money by avoiding the mark up of at least 10%. Ask if you can pay flat rate instead of by the hour, that way they want the job done speedily as well. Get at least 2 quotes to hear out any suggestions that they may have, they can tell you how to save space, money and time if you listen, and you can see what they offer that is different if the prices really vary. Lastly, you are going to have to interact with the people you hire, so like them! Money is not always the deciding factor, your sanity is too…
See you next week!

The Home Renovation Guide has just completed testing on its first social network - The Photoshare Program - http://www.homerenovationguide.com/photoshare

The Home Renovation Guide’s PhotoShare service will allow you to share your home improvement photos with our homeowner community. Share your pictures, comment on other homeowners projects or just browse the albums to get fresh ideas.

Photoshare is a great program for educating homewoners and sharing ideas and getting some inspiration for your current remodeling project.

Whether you are designing a new home or upgrading your current home, Photoshare will really provide you with a great source for ideas.

Once you see all the photos , and get advice from other homeowners, you will be able to use our directory to select a contractor.

To see all the pictures of the Renovation visit: http://www.homerenovationguide.com/pages/Home-Renovation-may07.htm

The new subfloor is installed over old foundations. All of the electrical, plumbing and heating have been stripped out, and all of the old plaster and rotten materials have been removed.The foundations have been waterproofed, the new first floor walls have been erected, and new weeping tiles are being installed.

The new front stairway, complete with railings, has been installed. And, a brand new entry in porcelain tile and a new wood trim, paint and pot lighting have been completed.

The rear elevation exterior of the home has been stuccoed, and vinyl double-glazed thermopane windows have been installed throughout. Flower-box window niches were added for future planting boxes. The drainage was changed to flow away from the house — resulting in a beautifully dry basement.

In this picture, you see the tiny 30-year-old kitchen complete with arborite counter tops, and old strip oak flooring with no backsplash. The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the house. Obviously, this kitchen required a major upgrade.

As you can see, the entire kitchen has been remodeled. This new maple kitchen features granite countertops, undermount sinks , a tumbled marble backsplash, energy-saving stainless steel appliances and porcelain tile floors — allowing for easy maintenance and durability.
This newly remodeled kitchen also has a built-in spice rack and a pullout lazy Susan. The granite countertops overhang the peninsula cabinets to create a cozy eating area. The main kitchen sink is a double sink with a pull-out faucet.
In the front end of the kitchen is a family-sized eating area with a walk out to the deck for easy BBQ access. This kitchen is not only a dream to cook and eat in, but it’s also a perfect place to spend quality family time.

This is the newly renovated basement washroom. The floor is comprised of porcelain tile with wood paneling under the chair rails. To warm things up a bit, we added a leaded glass mirrored medicine cabinet.

Notice the surface mounted sink installed over a marble vanity top. See how the frameless glass tub and shower enclosure installed on the deck-mounted bathtub add elegance to this washroom? The porcelain floor tiles also make for a maintenance-free durable floor surface. The wall-mounted faucets are installed in a mirrored/marble wall facade over a maple contoured vanity.

The master washroom is complete with every elegant requirement. The limestone tile and floors compliment the limestone mosaics and ceiling moldings. The seamless glass shower is mounted on the whirlpool tub deck marble. The marble counter is complete with under-mount sinks over a maple vanity consisting of nickel faucets, handles and towel bars. The rainshower head with body spray jets make you never want to leave this shower! A heated floor, pot lighting, sconces and a skylight also help to make this washroom a total dream.The powder room on the first floor is perfectly set up for guests and visitors. The copper sink, faucets and sconces are attached to the marble slab podium that is fixed to the front wall. The floor and sink counter are also fashioned in marble slab. The other perimeter walls are painted with a faux finish to accent the marble.

About The Builder
The principals of Barabco Design/Build have been in the Custom Home and Renovation Market for over 38 years. We are a full service company that can take any project from design, through Zoning and Permits to decorating and fruition. We have project managed, custom built and/or renovated homes of all sizes and shapes from 900 square feet in the Beaches to 38,000 square feet on the Bridle Path, Rosedale, and Forest Hill Village.

We strive to deliver our projects in a timely fashion, with strict attention to detail and budgets. Our friendly and knowledgeable staff is trained to fit in well with families and are always missed when they move on to the next project.

For more information visit http://www.barabco.com/