MIKE HOLMES
Sun

You understand the importance of the drains in your home: They carry waste and water away from your toilets, sinks and appliances into the sewer system.

Drains work basically by gravity, so waste and water flow down and out of your house. But for your drains to work properly, each fixture — that’s every sink, washing machine, dishwasher, toilet — has to be vented. Without vents, the fixtures can’t breathe and won’t drain efficiently.

If your sink drains slowly, it might not be plugged. The problem could be improper venting, or your vent stack could be blocked with leaves or covered with snow.

Think of a pop bottle: If you have a full bottle and you remove the cap and then turn it upside down, what happens? Not much— the contents doesn’t drain easily. That’s because there’s no vent, no air behind the liquid. But if you put a hole in the bottom of the bottle the water will pour out easily because air is able to flow into the bottle as the liquid spills out. It’s vented.

The plumbing in your home is vented — you can see the vent stack sticking up about 12 inches on your roof (you might have more than one). This stack vents sewer gases up into the air and provides some pressure to “equalize” the system.

Each fixture is connected to a stack that vents outside, and each fixture also has a P-trap that holds water and won’t allow gases to escape back into your home from the main stack. If your home’s plumbing wasn’t vented at all, every time you drained a sink or flushed a toilet, water that was in the traps of the other fixtures in your home would be sucked away, too, leaving the trap dry. That would allow sewer gases to seep into your home, which are both smelly and potentially very dangerous.

The gases you might smell from a sewer are a combination of methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen and many others that in combination can be toxic, corrosive, volatile or even combustible. (And they stink.) You do not want them in your home.

Your home’s plumbing has been designed to make sure the vent stack allows gases to escape safely, without re-entering your home through windows or air intakes, or anywhere near vents from stoves or furnaces.

If you are doing a renovation that involves relocating plumbing, or adding some new fixtures, your contractor will need to make sure that it is all properly and legally vented. This can add significantly to the cost of the renovation, if you’ve got to run a vent all the way up to the roof from your new basement bathroom, for instance.

You’ll need to do framing, drywall repairs and fix your roof at a minimum. In these situations, when it’s not easy to properly vent to the outside, a contractor (or plumber) might suggest you use a cheater vent, or air admittance valve (AAV). A cheater vent comes off the fixture — for example, a sink in a new powder room — and is buried in the wall. ( You can usually hear them sucking in air and gurgling behind the wall when the fixture drains.)

They’re called cheater vents because you and your contractor get to cheat a bit on the expense and labour of the plumbing job.

AAVs are not always allowable by code, and if they are used they have to be installed properly: They need to vent into an open wall cavity, not one full of insulation. The vent needs to come above the height of the fixture they are serving, and they must remain accessible. You can’t drywall over them.

AAVs are designed to not allow sewer gas out into your wall cavity. It’s a mechanical vent that allows necessary air into the system to help drains operate efficiently. Unless the gaskets in them are old and warped, you’re unlikely to smell any gas from them.

Personally, I always prefer venting to the outside and would use a cheater only as a last resort — like when a homeowner insists on having a sink in a kitchen island — and you can’t vent it any other way.

RULES: Break them and your risk having to do work over again

MIKE HOLMES
Province

Most homeowners never think about a property survey. They might have one somewhere that came with the house when they bought it. But odds are they don’t know where it is, or whether it’s even accurate.

But you need to fix that if you haven’t had a survey done before any construction — even if you’re just building a fence or shed — you risk having to take it down and do it again. You risk creating a bad relationship with your neighbours, and maybe even a lawsuit if things go too far.

You might not need a permit for a fence or a small garden shed, and you might not have to have it inspected, but it has to be built within the proper legal setbacks allowed by your municipality.

You need a survey that accurately shows all property lines, easements and setbacks, so you know where you are allowed to build legally. The original property survey of your house when it was built may be out of date. There may have been improvements made — maybe a pool or gazebo, a deck, or even an addition. A current survey will note everything on your lot.

If you are building a privacy fence, should you plan on it being right on the property line? Not really — your fence should be on your property entirely, even if it’s just by a few inches. Think about it — how is the fence held up? Are you using concrete footings — do they go over onto the next door neighbour’s property? That’s not legal — you can’t encroach. And don’t assume that an existing fence is in the right place if you go to replace it. A survey may show that it was built a lot farther inside the property line than it should be. And property lines aren’t always straight.

For a long time now, average lot sizes in housing developments have been getting smaller, and the houses are getting much larger. A larger percentage of the lot is built, and there’s less open space. That means there’s a lot less room for mistakes when it comes to fences and structures in backyards. You need to be very aware of the setbacks and easements on your lot.

Every property has a building setback — that’s the area measured in from all sides of your lot that you are not allowed to build on.

If you build something too close to the property line, you are in violation of the bylaw and can be made to remove it, and possibly fined. Also, you are only allowed to ‘cover’ a certain percentage of your lot with “buildings” —and that includes permanent structure such as decks, sheds, pergolas, etc. If you go over that percentage — without being granted permission — you can be made to take the structure down.

And homeowners who are doing additions or building new can apply for a variance that allows them to change the setback or the lot coverage in their specific situation. That’s granted by the local government, if it’s approved.

A survey shows not only property lines and setbacks, it shows easements for power lines, sewer lines, gas lines, storm water catch basins, telephone and cable TV lines.

An easement is the right to use a part of your property, by a third party, for a specific purpose. It’s on your deed. For example, you might have a utility easement on your deed that allows hydro workers to access a transformer in the back corner of your lot. Or maintenance workers for gas or power lines buried across your property.

You can’t build on an easement. Nothing — not even a fence or part of a fence. If you do, you’ll have to take it down and compensate for any damages you might have caused. You usually can’t even plant a garden, in case that interferes with future access, or at least you need to be prepared to have it torn up if work needs to be done.

Make sure you have a recent accurate survey, and understand the setbacks that apply in your area before you build anything. The last thing you want is to have to take it down and do the job again, or risk fines or lawsuits. Do it right the first time.

For more information on home renovations go to makeitright.ca

WATCH THE SLOPE: Make sure water flows away from foundation

MIKE HOLMES
Province

The simplest thing you can do to keep water out of your basement is to control it at the surface. Surface water, like rain or melting snow, or water from irrigation, is pretty easy to control, compared to water below grade. There’s not much you can do about underground streams, or the water table in your area and the resulting hydrostatic pressure on your foundation. But there’s a lot you can do on the surface.

Most of the problems homeowners have with wet basements can be prevented if people corrected the grade around their home. Make sure that surface water doesn’t become groundwater and add to the pressure that’s already down there.

The first step is to make sure that surface water drains away from your house. Ideally, you want the soil level right next to your foundation to slope away. Since water flows downhill, surface water, like rain and snowmelt, will flow away from your basement walls. If the soil around your home has either a flat or a negative grade, surface water will naturally flow toward your home or pool around the foundation. This leads to trouble.

I’m going to hope your home is built right, and that the top of the foundation is at least six inches above the soil. That’s minimum. But, the higher the better. Also, the soil level needs to fall away — on all sides — in a slope away from your house. Bad grading can result in water pooling next to the foundation which can lead to wet basements.

When a house is built, there’s always an excavation for the basement and foundation. That is eventually backfilled of course, but the soil right around the basement’s exterior walls is never as firmly compacted as undisturbed soil. It’s more porous and will always contain more air — which will allow water from rain or melted snow or irrigation from plantings — to collect and seep down to your foundation level.

That’s one reason I don’t like plants around a house’s foundation. It’s not because I don’t like plants, but the irrigation into disturbed soil brings and retains too much moisture near basement walls.

When that backfill soil does eventually settle, after many years, there’s a depression right around your home that will fill up like a bathtub with surface water. And, most homeowners by then will have landscaped the area and won’t even notice that the soil several feet out from their house is lower than further out into the yard.

If you don’t re-grade that soil, the water will continue to pool and gather in the lower spots and eventually make its way down to your footings.

An easy fix is to make sure the downspout from your eavestroughs comes down, and expels water as far away from house as possible — at least two meters (six or eight feet). If you don’t make sure the downspouts expel water far enough away from your foundation — beyond the area of backfilled, uncompacted soil — you are pouring water down to your footings.

In older houses, the downspouts were often connected to the main stack and the sanitary line. Now they are tied into a storm line in the street. In older homes it’s a good idea to disconnect the downspouts and have them empty above the surface.

After a number of years, it’s likely the weeping tile has shifted or broken, or is full of tree roots, and every time rain comes down those downspouts it has nowhere to go but up against your foundation, putting lateral hydrostatic pressure against those walls which could one day crack the foundation. Or it could cause a sewage backup into your home, which you definitely do not want.

You may find you need to direct water away beyond the end of the downspout, or from a low-lying area next to your house. The best fix is to put in a French drain, which is basically a shallow trench filled with gravel that will carry excess groundwater away from your house.

It’s not supposed to happen, but over time homeowners do landscaping projects, and renovations, and little by little they can significantly alter natural surface drainage patterns until they create big problems for people next door. Be aware of how your plans might affect surface water drainage.

For more information on home renovations go to makeitright.ca

‘You have no comeback if they wreck your house’

Garry Marr
Sun

I don’t get why people pay cash for renovations.

I understand cash means no paperwork, therefore no GST and likely no income to be reported by the contractor, which translates into a lower cost for the consumer.

But is it worth it? And I’m not talking ethically. let’s look at it from a financial point of view.

“It is legal to pay cash,” notes Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning for CIBC Private Wealth Management. “It is the other side’s obligation to report it. At the end of the day, it’s up to them to charge tax.” The real test of a legitimate transaction is whether your contractor will give you a receipt for the work. If there’s no receipt, the work is likely not being reported as income.

The first problem with no receipt is no renovation tax credit. The average household spent about $12,600 on renovations in 2008. Based on that figure, most of us would be eligible for the credit.

The home renovation tax credit was announced in the February, 2009 budget and provides tax relief of up to $1,350 on the first $10,000 you spend on a project.

This is where I think the government has done a nice job cutting into the underground economy. If I’m saving $1,350 on my $12,600 renovation by doing it “on the books,” I’m going to need to get a steep discount from my contractor to do something with no paperwork.

“Many people speculate part of the reason for the renovation tax credit was not just to stimulate the economy, but to capture some of this revenue that may not be fully reported,” Mr. Golombek says.

While there are certainly deals to be had, John Kenward, chief operating officer of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, says there are risks that come with a “cash deal.” “We have a huge underground economy across the country and what characterizes that economy is cash and the fact nothing is in writing anywhere,” Mr. Kenward says.

Just try to sue somebody for unfinished or shoddy work when you have no contract.

And not just small jobs are done for cash, he says.

“To me, people are ignorant of the risks they are creating for themselves,” Mr.

Kenward says. “you are dealing with people who have no insurance, no workers’ compensation. you have no comeback if they wreck your house. If they get injured, you’re the one who is going to get nailed. you could lose your house.” This should be reason enough to stay away from a cash deal, but the temptation to save money can be too much. And the renovation tax credit ends Feb. 1, 2010.

Worse yet, in Canada‘s largest province, there will be a great incentive to avoid contracts come July 1, 2010.

Ontario will introduce a harmonized sales tax and the tax on a project will jump from 5% to 13%.

That will certainly drive people to cash very quickly.

“The HST fuelled the underground economy in the Atlantic provinces. Unless something is done to mitigate the effect of the HST in Ontario, it will absolutely fuel the underground economy,” Mr. Kenward says.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

GOVERNMENT GRANTS: Now you can get higher rebates for making home more energy-efficient

MIKE HOLMES
Province

If you could do a renovation on your home that cost you a fraction of what it’s worth, and that continued to save you money as long as you owned your home, wouldn’t you do it? That’s what you can get with the eco-ENERGY Retrofit program.

This program is offered through the federal government, which has increased the amount of grant money for energy efficient renovation retrofits. There’s an extra $300 million being invested over the next two years. Most provinces are stepping up as well to match the available money, dollar for dollar. For example, you can get up to 5K in federal and up to 5K in provincial rebates on work you’ve had done to improve the energy efficiency of your home.

The point of the eco-ENERGY retrofit grant is to get homeowners to do renovations that effectively reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution. So you save money and reduce your carbon footprint.

The money is non-taxable and is available for upgrades on heating systems, ventilation, air conditioning, windows doors and even toilet upgrades. You can: replace old inefficient furnace/AC or water heaters; improve insulation so your house isn’t leaking heat; replace drafty windows and doors.

To take advantage of it, you need to first have an energy audit or evaluation of your home, by a certified auditor. The energy audit will show you where your home is losing energy through air leakage, drafts and areas of heat loss and where you can improve its performance. (If you don’t have an energy audit BEFORE you do the upgrade, you will not qualify for the rebate.)

The energy auditor uses the blower door test to measure the rate of air leakage in your home. An energy-efficient home will have very little air leakage.

Auditors are able to locate draughts and they’ll note the locations of leaks and give that information to the homeowner in the energy audit. Now the homeowner knows what they need to fix, and where the leaks are so they can do the repairs and upgrades.

After your initial audit, you’ll get an evaluation report, and a rating. Then, you can think about what kind of energy upgrades you want to do, and what you can afford.

Then, after you’ve had the work done, you have to make sure you get another evaluation to verify you’ve made the necessary improvements. This will prove you have a higher rating and the improvements you made have increased the energy efficiency of your home.

After your first audit, you have 18 months of complete some or all of the work, then book your post-retrofit audit. Then, you can apply to your provincial and federal — and in some cases, municipal — governments for the rebate.

You must make sure the work and the post-retrofit evaluation is done before the program ends (March 31, 2011). And, of course, keep all proof of work done (work orders, receipts). You need documentation. The work will need to be verified during the final energy audit.

You can do simple jobs to take advantage of the rebate, it doesn’t need to be very complicated. Replace a toilet or your furnace. Obviously, upgrading your insulation is a bigger job as it involves tearing out drywall and plaster and replacing it. Some fixes are cheap, like caulking your windows. Some will cost a lot more, like buying new EnergyStar appliances or replacing your windows with EnergyStar rated ones. But everything you do to improve the energy efficiency of your home will help.

For more information on home renovations, go to makeitright.ca

Tax credits and low interest offer the best breaks

Wendy Mclellan
Province

The recession may have made it a little easier to hire a handyman, but don’t expect your home-improvement project to cost much less.

“Renovations are really popular in this region — people want to stay where they are,” said Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association.

“Some people may expect that the prices should be lower because of the bad economy, but the cost of products and services hasn’t really diminished significantly.”

Simpson said low interest rates and the federal government’s new home-renovation tax credit are providing extra incentives for people who are considering renos, and that’s keeping contractors busy.

“Contractors are still very busy and many of them are still booking jobs into next year,” he said.

“Renovators are not slowing down — we’re a year into this economic downturn and we still haven’t seen much change.”

One thing that has eased in the past year is the shortage of skilled tradespeople.

With so many job losses in the construction industry and the slowing of new-home building, renovators are able to find tradespeople more readily, which means jobs are getting finished faster, he said.

But some of those out-of-work construction workers may be setting up their own home-renovation business without the right kind of experience to get the job done, Simpson said.

“The caution here for homeowners is, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You may get a lowball quote, but you get what you pay for.”

Before getting excited about the prospect of a quick turnaround on their project, homeowners should check references and do some research into what your home reno requires, he said.

Graeme Huguet, owner of My House Design/Build Team Ltd., said there are some good deals for home-improvement projects.

For example, kitchen-cabinet manufacturers who have seen their orders slow with the cancellation of condo projects may add extra features and deliver the products earlier.

Similar deals are also out there for products such as plumbing fixtures and hardwood flooring.

As well, various incentives for energy-efficient upgrades are available for people who want a greener home, he said.

But the biggest saving for homeowners is time, Huguet said. With more tradespeople available, contractors can schedule the work more efficiently.

“When you can get the renovation done faster, it’s less costly. You have less time out of your kitchen, or out of your house.”

Surrey resident Lorne Armstrong thought renovators might be slower this year, but he quickly found they’re as busy as they have been for years.

“We thought it might be a good time because of the economy, but that wasn’t the case,” said Armstrong, whose home is getting a facelift with Huguet’s company.

“We didn’t make the decision to renovate expecting a lower price. We’ll get the tax credit, which is great, but we had the money to do the work and we were prepared to wait for a break in the contractor’s schedule.”

John Friswell, owner of North Vancouver‘s CCI Renovations, said some prices have come down for home-renovation work, but homeowners won’t notice much difference.

With more skilled tradespeople available, he said, the cost of some work, such as drywalling and painting, is down 10 to 15 per cent. But on a kitchen or bathroom renovation, the price difference would hardly be noticeable.

“There has been an expectation of lower prices by homeowners, but it hasn’t happened,” Friswell said. “The reno business has been really good through this whole mess.”

At BC Brick Supplies, Rick Miller said he is selling products for more small landscaping projects.

“Last year, it was hard to get people out to do a small paving-stone project, but it’s more competitive this year,” said Miller, who owns the landscape supply company with his two brothers.

Miller suspects the federal tax credit is encouraging people to continue with home-improvement projects.

“It’s a little easier to find people to do the work, but it’s not like they’re trying to buy a job.”

Kent Houston, owner of Houston Landscapes, said more companies are bidding on the larger commercial and condominium projects than in past years, which is making the business more competitive. Large projects are also reducing their landscaping budgets.

“A year ago, it would have been hard to find three companies to bid on a job and now there’s no problem finding 10,” Houston said.

“We haven’t see a real drop in price yet, but we may see it happen.”

© Copyright (c) The Province

A roof keeps the interior dry, but the choice of materials can add to the value of your home

Pedro Arrais
Sun

The federal government’s new budget offers homeowners a tax break of as much as $1,350, if they spend up to $10,000 on renovations.

One of the projects that qualify is installing a new roof.

Re-roofing a house can be a major investment for any homeowner, but the government’s Home Renovation Tax Credit of up to 15 per cent for every $10,000 spent on home repair can soften the blow. Installing a new roof on an average home costs about $8,000. The tax credit can mean a savings of $1,050 come tax time next year (15 per cent credit on the remaining balance after deducting the first $1,000 of the bill)

Roofing contractors hope the incentive will spur some penny-pinching homeowners to open their wallets.

“We recently did a job where the homeowner was in the attic with bedpans every time it rained,” said Gordon Carter, owner of Gord’s Infinity Roof Services. “Others have so many old layers of material on the roof that there is a danger of water leaks or even roof collapse if there is any significant accumulation of snow.”

He says leaks can lead to house fires. Moisture in ceiling electrical boxes can lead to short-circuits.

Most new roofs now have up to a 35-year warranty, but Carter recommends homeowners have their roofs inspected five years after installation and every two years after that. He says the $50 cost for the check is money well spent as it will catch problems before they cause damage.

While every roofing product on the market will keep the rain off, many new materials are available that mimic more costly choices. But not everybody thinks that is necessary.

“It’s about function,” said Jenny Ferns, who had the roof of her house recovered by Carter when she moved in. “The black shingles may complement our white house nicely, but at the end of the day its primary purpose is to keep me dry at a reasonable cost.”

She thinks it is more important to find a trustworthy roofing contractor who does quality work than choosing a fancy roof.

There are strengths and weaknesses in every product. Here is a snapshot of materials available on the market:

• Fibreglass shingles are the bread and butter of the industry. Locally, up to 85 per cent of new and re-roofs are covered with this light yet strong roofing material. They have replaced the once-popular asphalt shingles, which are made from a felt base that consists of wood and other cellulose fibres. Both types of shingles are covered with asphalt and coloured granules.

Life expectancy: 25 to 35 years

• Cedar shakes and shingles are a favourite for homeowners, but the cost — usually two to three times the cost of fibreglass shingles — is beyond the budget of most middle class homeowners. Shingles are sawed, shakes are generally split. Shingles are usually smaller than shakes. These are not the best choice for homes in fire-prone areas. Cedar roofing requires a seal coat every five years or so.

Life expectancy: 15 to 30 years

• Metal roofs are found more on high-end houses because of its cost compared with traditional cedar shakes. A metal roof will likely last the lifetime of a house. It is especially popular in the country for its fire resistance and snow-shedding ability. The downside is that a metal roof can be noisy when rain or hail is beating down. Installation can be more complex but there is less waste.

Life expectancy: 20 to 50 years

• Plastic, polymer and rubber tiles are injection-moulded with colours and patterns to mimic cedar and other materials, usually made from consumer recycled materials. Composite shakes are made from plastics such as old juice and milk containers. Rubber shakes come from recycled vehicle tires. They are the quietest roofing material, but rubber tiles have been known to give off a smell on hot days.

Life expectancy: 50 years plus

Roofing companies calculate the cost of re-roofing in squares. A square in roofing terms signifies 100 square-feet of roofing materials applied. A typical roof is 1,500 square-feet and takes 15 squares — 13 squares for area materials and two squares of starter and ridge caps.

Re-roofing this house with fibreglass shingles costs between $6,000 to $8,000. That includes tearing off two layers of old roofing and applying a new board base for the shingles.

The slope of a roof also affects roofing costs. It’s more difficult and complicated to re-roof a house with a steep roof. An average slope is 5:12, which means there is a vertical rise of five inches for very 12 inches of horizontal run. A steep pitch — anything over 7:12 — is difficult to walk about on safely, which means a lot of safety equipment is required.

Roofline interest — a lot of peaks and valleys — also add to the complexity and cost of re-roofing.

Curb appeal extends to the roof — some call it “roof-scaping.” It is important to keep in mind the architecture and appearance of the street and neighbourhood.

“A roof is just like paint,” said Sandy Berry of Newport Realty, a real estate agent since 1996. “If it is in sad shape, it negatively affects the value of the house.”

A house that obviously needs a roof repair or replacement would usually appeal only to buyers who don’t mind taking on a renovation project. Sellers who are reluctant to repair their roofs risk low offers.

“Buyers seeing a roof in need of attention would usually assume that the rest of the house is also in need of repair,” says Berry.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

How to spruce up your home on a budget

James Careless
Sun

You want to renovate, but cash is scarce? No problem. You’ve got a number of “recessionary renos” to choose from to make your living space better on a budget.

For penny-pinching results, “nothing beats plaster and paint,” says Barry Berman, owner of Berman Renovations.

“Filling in the holes and then repainting a room brings it back to life. Even if you do the same colours again, walls that were dirty now look clean and fresh. For the money, you can’t get a better recessionary reno value.”

The next-best way to renovate on a budget is to change the details within a room, to make it look different than before.

“For instance, people can revamp their kitchens by putting up a backsplash using peel-and-stick tiles or small ceramic tiles,” says Anne Legault, Home Depot Quebec‘s merchandising manager. “They can also update their faucets, change the handles on their doors, and replace their lighting fixtures — perhaps adding dimmers to create a little ambience. There’s a lot you can do without spending much money.”

The same logic works in other areas of the home. In the bathroom, for instance, new paint and matching towels can revitalize an old space. If you have the money, change the faucets and mirrors, too.

When possible, upgrade a feature within a living space to impart more class.

“Home Depot has painted crown moulding that can dress up any room,” Legault said.

“We’ve got textured wallpaper that you can paint to enhance a den, or wallpaper with realistic-looking brick for adding an urban touch to a rec room.”

Besides these details, a lot can be achieved by simply tidying up your home, both inside and out. Keeping the lawn weeded, cut and watered will make your house look better, even though the only real cost is your time.

Inside, take time to “edit” your space, getting rid of items you no longer use or have kept stored for years.

Remember, some of this stuff can be sold to other people at garage sales. The cash you make can be used to further fix up your home.

“Whatever your plan, do things that are pleasing to the eye,” said Bruce Vineberg, president of Vicon Construction.

“In the basement, put in drywall and carpet rather than leaving concrete and painted floors; put in light fixtures instead of light bulbs. Little things can do a lot to make a space feel better.”

In general, recessionary renos preclude hiring someone to do the work for you. After all, you’re trying to save money by doing it yourself.

But don’t be unwisely thrifty; there are some jobs, such as plumbing, wiring and complicated carpentry, that are best done by professionals.

“It’s not cost-effective to do renovation work yourself if you are not up to the task,” Berman said. “Quality counts inside a home. You don’t want to live with ceilings covered in paint splotches, simply because you don’t have the experience to paint lines cleanly.

“The same is true for kitchen cabinetry, flooring, drywall borders, and anything else that catches people’s eyes.

Sometimes, the best recessionary-reno strategy is to save up until you can afford to have the renovation done right.”

The moral here is that tight times don’t have to mean an end to home renovation. Rather, a recession means approaching projects more carefully — sometimes by doing a whole lot of little projects you can afford, as opposed to one big one you can’t.

Whatever you do, don’t let the economy stop you from revitalizing a living space. For $50, a gallon of paint, a roller and a brush can do wonders in any room.

GIVING YOUR HOME-RENO BUDGET A BOOST

Good news: The federal Home Renovation Tax Credit will apply to renovations (and new construction) from Jan. 27, 2009, to Feb. 1, 2010. “You just keep your receipts, then use them to file for the tax credit next year,” said Home Depot’s Anne Legault. “The credit applies to work done inside and outside, including decks . . . and other items that improve your property.” The credit, which is worth 15 per cent of eligible expenses on your 2009 tax return, applies to total expenditures not less than $1,000, but no more than $10,000, with a top credit limit of $1,350. Find out more at www.cra-rc.gc.ca/gncy/bdgt/-2009/fqhmrnvtn-eng.html.

Also: Retailers such as Rona are offering incentives to lower material costs for credit-eligible projects. Before buying your renovation supplies, be sure to ask your local retailer if they have such a program.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

MIKE HOLMES
Sun

Restoration contracting is a complicated business — a good contractor needs to have experience and knowledge in emergency response: demolition and tear out, cleaning, smoke and water mitigation, mould remediation. They also must understand structure, framing, insulation, drywall, trim, finishes — the list goes on.

They also need to know how to deal with insurance adjusters and companies — and manage homeowners’ expectations at a difficult time.

Most policies state that damage must be returned to the “ pre-loss condition.” That means standard insulation and drywall, paint, carpet — whatever was there before the flood. But what if you want your home rebuilt to a better standard, to a greener standard?

Will your policy cover the additional cost of installing new green features ( that weren’t there before) such as using upgraded materials, or upgrading conventional HVAC and mechanicals to more energy efficient models? Probably not — unless it’s specifically covered by your insurance policy. Green products are generally speaking more expensive, and less available, and so won’t be covered by a standard replacement cost policy.

So, who’s going to pay the difference — the restoration contractor? I don’t think so. They are already being squeezed by the insurance company — there’s no room in their margins to go “ better” on products. Should the contractor “ upsell” the homeowner, and have them pay more for better materials than are covered by the policy? Or should that be covered by your policy?

Your insurance company isn’t going to be motivated to spend more money on green or ecofriendly building materials if they cost more. Insurance companies want to keep their money — I get that. Unfortunately, that means a lot of homeowners end up just having the original materials replaced, even when they might be a poor choice. I’d rather not see batt insulation and standard drywall going into a basement. Why not use spray foam and mould resistant drywall instead?

I believe that you do it right the first time. If you have to tear out, that is the time to start fresh, and use the best materials and best techniques available — the most energy efficient, eco-friendly and mould resistant.

It would be great if homeowners had the chance to green their systems if there was an insured loss, rather than just restoring the building to its original pre-loss condition. Homeowners could upgrade damaged building systems — from the building envelope to HVAC to plumbing and lighting — to higher performance systems. That means using mould-resistant caulking and drywall and insulation and mould inhibitors sprayed on wood. They could also improve on carpets, paint and interior finishes — going no/ low VOC, for example.

Some insurance companies offer policies that allow you to upgrade in a claim to more environmental building materials like higher efficiency windows and insulation. Why wouldn’t you choose, for a modest increased premium, to insure that any future restoration is done to a green or improved standard? More insurance companies should sell this coverage to homeowners — coverage that allows them to rebuild to a greener standard that is more sustainable and has less impact on the environment.

Maybe in the future insurance companies will offer a reduced rate to insure your house if it’s green. Makes sense to me: A reward for energy efficiency and environmental building and committing to green building standards. If you think about it, when the systems are engineered to a better standard of performance the building is less of an insurance risk. If every house were made with mould-resistant material or non-combustible material there’d be less risk and loss.

Green products are not as expensive as many people seem to think. The real problem is that they aren’t as readily available and it may be harder — especially in more remote areas — to find them. They don’t have to cost more — it’s supply and demand. Right now, they are special-order items. As they become standard stock items, their cost will come down.

Remember it wasn’t that long ago that energy-efficient appliances were more expensive, and only available by special order. Now they are standard, stocked in stores and everyone buys them. Years ago, tile underlay was unknown in North America. Now that consumers have seen it used on television and understand why it’s a better product, they request it from their contractors. It used to be special order — now it’s on the shelf everywhere.

That’s how it is with green and mould-resistant products. They are available, but only as special order items. When the big box stores start to stock them, and train their staff to understand why they are better so they can educate the consumer, they’ll be standard.

If you demand that your painter uses low/ no VOC paints, he will. If you demand that your contractors use mould-resistant drywall or a mould inhibitor like BluWood on studs or spray foam insulation, they will. Of course they will — you are the boss.

In the end, consumer demand dictates everything: What you want your restoration contractor to put back into your home, what your insurance policy will cover, and what green products are available in stores. Speak up.