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!

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 Two

The homes interior needed to be completely gutted. After speaking to some of the neighbours, we discovered that there were 10 illegal immigrants renting small sections of a room, so they wound up dividing bedrooms into 2 or 3 very small spaces to rent out more spaces. Along the way there were some surprises; here is what happened.

Knowing that it was a physically challenging job, and that don’t come close to having my husbands strength, we started with the upstairs. This way the thinks that took the most energy I could do right away.

The small room on the upstairs addition previously used as a second kitchen to accommodate more people. We removed the sink, walls, and ceiling. One pleasant surprise was the ceiling under the pressboard. It was actually usable! Updating the windows to create a beautiful solarium looking over the back yard, this can be an office or baby area. The exposed brink will add a unique feeling to a small but great space.

The bedroom attached to this area was sectioned off, creating a walkway to the makeshift kitchen. We took down the way, and we very happy to see that they had not destroyed the hardwood floors that we are refinishing. They did however reinforce that wall into the molding around the door, so all of that has to be replaced.

Once we were able to open the room up a bit, we starting by demolishing the wall connected to the bathroom. Any stress that I had, I put to good use, as this wall was all board and baton plaster so required some serious strength.

One thing to remember when working with board and baton plaster, WEAR A MASK, or you get the black lung! It’s messy and not pleasant to breathe in!

Meanwhile, in the other 2 bedrooms all the T Bar ceilings had to go. It is okay of an office but not a home. Both the master and the larger of the other two rooms had limited closet space, so the master bedroom is getting a new wall-to-wall closet that is both functional and accommodating. The existing closet in the master bedroom now opens into the second bedroom so there is one large usable closet for added storage.

Now on to the fun stuff! The upstairs bathroom, in all its pink glory was completely town out, including the floorboards. This is where we noticed the weak floors that we need to replace. No light duty here, the tiles in the bathroom weighed a ton and was dragged down stairs and out the back into the dumpster.

After day one, the upstairs was finished and we were on to the main floor. In the front entrance, we decided that the hardwood was too damaged to repair, so marble tiles will be laid. Easier to keep clean and an warm welcome home. After removing the hardwood, we found more hard wood! Still too much damage from the 100+ nails per square inch, but it was a nice surprise that will save some money by not having to redo the entire area.

Next, we took out the living room doorway. It closed off the entire space and the fireplace in the living room can now be seen as soon as you walk in. Again, board and Baton plaster.

The dining room was already in good shape. Little needs to be done here so we were off to the Kitchen.

No small task, we tore out the kitchen. Cupboards, counters, and floor all needed to go. There was previous water damage so we took out some walls to ensure that everything was sealed up properly. We have yet to decide how to handle the century hardwood floors we found in the kitchen, originally we had intended on tile, however, the beautiful floors we discovered are priceless, and we hate to cover them up.

A small area of the kitchen converted to add a second bathroom, not a bad idea, however they had no lights so they added (and poorly) glass planes to allow the light in. Both the tub and toilet had to go. Its still a mystery where the sink was suppose to be. After much deliberation, we decided to move the bathroom into the back addition and make it a half bath, leaving much more room in the kitchen.

Day 2 was a long day spent mainly on the living room and kitchen, but will be worth it in the end.

By the end of the week we were tired, and swore, however the feeling of accomplishment was there making it worthwhile, and why the stress scale was only a 7.2.

Come back next week as we start framing and the electrical. Good bye knob and tube wiring.

Recently we heard from a new homeowner who thought they knew exactly what they were buying after having the house fully inspected by a home inspector. To their surprise, when they called in a contractor to do some renovations, the contractor found numerous errors and mistakes made by the home inspector.

Sadly, the house is going to be much expensive to renovate than was initially budgeted for.

In this blog entry, we try to give you some things to think about during a home inspection.

1. Seasonality of Inspection - When you have a home inspected prior to purchase, consider the season that the home inspector is working in . For example, if it is winter and the roof is covered in snow, how can the inspector properly judge the quality of the roof ? If this is the case, try and get documentation from the homeowner on the condition of the roof, the warranty, and the last time the roof was worked on.

2. Knob and Tube Wiring - It is very difficult for a home inspector to determine the extent of knob-and-tube wiring in a house. Often, you will get an estimate percentage from the inspector. Since the inspector can’t rip out the walls and actually see the knob and tube, their determination is made based on the plugs and switches.

3. Hiding the house’s faults - As a home inspector’s visit to your house is brief, often they can miss things that have been hidden from the inspection. A common example of this is when homeowners paint their foundation walls to hide mold and leaking.

4. Home inspection liability limitations - Remember that the inspector is not liable for missed items during an inspection. They are only liable for the amount of the actual cost of the inspection, so before you agree to the results of their inspection, make sure there isn’t anything you think they’ve missed .

5. Insulation in the Attic - This is one area often missed in an inspection. Due to the difficulty of getting into the attic, the volume, type and quality of the attic insulation is often not included on an inspection.

So what is the end result? Home inspection services are very useful and can give the homeowner peace of mind when making a decision on buying a home. However, given the nature of the job, it is important to choose a home inspector with experience, not just the cheapest one. There are some really great home inspection companies out there to choose from. Please try to keep in mind some of these lessons during an inspection.

For more information on home improvement visit The Home Renovation Guide - http://www.homerenovationguide.com - The complete guide to home renovation.

Soma sits in an old Riverside building on one of the east end’s busiest — and formerly one of its seediest — corners, in a neighbourhood with virtually no nightlife (besides the hard-to-miss Jilly’s strip club, of course).

The choice of location may seem like a gamble to some, but a recent boom in activity on the Queen East strip, and a desperate need for an upscale neighbourhood lounge, has enabled Soma to pack the house almost every night since its opening.

In fact, the building had not been upgraded since 1902 and had to be completely gutted to create Soma. Previously a martial arts studio, it had no plumbing and even had an asphalt floor, making it a bit of an indoor driveway. However, despite many people’s disbelief and a year of transformation, the owners of Soma built a restaurant and lounge from scratch and have unveiled one of the Toronto’s most stunning new lounges, designed with the building’s history in mind.

An original secret passageway at the side of the room was restored and is now used for service staff, so you never see a parade of dirty dishes or encounter what would have been congestion by the washrooms and kitchen doors. The exposed brick behind the concrete bar is the building’s original, and any bricks removed during construction were saved to use on the exterior of the building.

But as old as its history may be, the new definitely comes out with the rest of the place. A sleek, modern lounge area sits in the front, with comfy black leather couches and ottomans, and tables line the back for either drinkers or diners. Most of Soma’s decor is black, grey and white except for the occasional screaming yellow wall.

WHERE: 703 Queen St. E. Toronto, ON

WHO YOU WILL MEET: East-enders desperate for an upscale place to go without having to cross that bridge into downtown. A big part of their clientele comes from the film industry from nearby lofts and studios.

TIP: Check out Soma’s stunning light fixtures. They were purchased from Italy and installed by a local Leslieviller, and kind of look like exploding silver flowers. Very cool.

While it is common to find knob and tube wiring (an old type of wiring no longer being installed) in a home, home insurance companies will not insure your home because of it. They ask that it is removed, which can range from $6,000 - $12,000 depending on your home, and permits must be taken out for this. There are some companies that still insure homes with the electrical system containing some knob and tube, but they are not easy to find.

Knob and tube wiring was used in residential construction up until 1945. The name originates from porcelain knobs, which held the wire, and the ceramic tubes that were passed through wood framing. The biggest problem with them is that the coating around the wires breaks down over time and can create a hazard or even fire.

Another wiring problem is aluminum, which was used in the 1960s. It was discovered to be a fire hazard due to the chemical composition and overheating between connections.

While it’s fairly easy to spot knob and tube in unfinished areas of your home, I have found several situations where old wiring exists between hard-to-get-at areas, such as switches to ceiling lights.

A qualified home inspector or electrician should be consulted prior to starting any new additions or remodeling to your home. Also, some provinces and states have passed legislation where only certified electricians can do work on your electrical system, ranging from your panel to a simple light switch. Please make sure that the contractor is using a qualified electrician.
For more information, please visit the Electrical Safety Authority at www.esainspection.net.

cpaulsen@homerenovationguide.com