Monthly Archives: July 2010

Duct cleaning

July 26, 2010
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Duct cleaning

Just a reminder to everyone, since I’m having this done: have your heating ducts cleaned.  This is slow season for all the operators and prices tend to be lower. We do not usually use our furnaces in the summer, (unless you have spent some time in the prairies this summer) so it is a...

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Painting to increase home value

July 26, 2010
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Painting to increase home value

How do you increase the value of your home?  Renovations seem always to be the answer.  If you are careful they will bare fruit. Typically, lipstick and rouge are common short term answers if you need to sell your home quickly.  By this I mean paint.  Clean neutral tones please.  Everyone loves the current...

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HRTC

July 26, 2010
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With the recession hitting home, the current federal government tried to kick start the economy by advancing a tax incentive for home renovation.  I can only assume it was meant to help generate work for the trades.  The Home Renovation Tax Credit did some of that.  Fairly good idea you would think, but here...

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“Green” tips for the reluctant

July 26, 2010
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“Green” tips for the reluctant

“Green” is now such a loaded word it immediately makes you think of… well… politics, consumption (like sometimes spending more to save more) and opinions less than our impact on the earth. “Thinking Green”, “Going Green” and “Green Movement” all should mean the same thing: doing things more efficiently, with less materials and less...

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The many aspects of Landscaping

July 17, 2010
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The many aspects of Landscaping

The art of Landscaping is  a complex endeavor involving more than mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges, or installing a privacy fence and stone walkway. Intricatelandscaping work can prove a costly and impressionable feat, which ultimately matures the appearance of a home. Prior to landscaping, a home appears bare or unfinished. In cold...

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Glue-down Flooring

July 17, 2010
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If you buy an older house it may need a lot of work, including installing new floors.  If you intend to fix it up and sell it, a quick and easy way might be to use engineered hardwood.  The glue down process might be for you. Modern, engineered wood is clean, hypo-allergenic and well,...

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HST – Will it cause market shrinkage ?

July 13, 2010
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HST – Will it cause market shrinkage ?

By Erik Kulakowsky, CA ( Kül & Associate … www.kultax.com ) At this point, the only way we’re getting rid of this tax is if the NDP get elected (NDP leader Andrea Horwath vowed to abolish HST should she win the next election), but since that’s never going to happen, might as well learn...

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Roofing History

July 11, 2010
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Roofing History

Advancements in roofing have been made over the years in regards to durability, sustainability, and aesthetics. From the earliest fire-hazardous and short-lived straw roofs to a modern green roof. Though roofs have always served to protect inhabitants from the outdoors, basic improvements such as slanting a roof and adding eavestroughs for proper water drainage,...

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Ontarians fighting to make home renos exempt from HST

July 8, 2010
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Ontarians fighting to make home renos exempt from HST

In Ontario, home owners don’t have to pay the 8% Ontario provincial sales tax on home renovations, they’re basically exempt thanks to current tax laws. However, with the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) this year, home renovation contractors in Ontario will have to start charging the full 13% tax on any work...

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Overuse of air-conditioning cause of massive power outage

July 6, 2010
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When temperatures hit 34 deg. Celsius or 98 deg. Fahrenheit in Ontario this week, even the energy conscious succumbed to turning on their air-conditioning, when fans and keeping the blinds shut just wasn’t enough to keep cool. The result – an over-usage of power causing a large spanning blackout in the Toronto area: Tens...

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Knob and Tube

July 6, 2010
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I am currently involved in a circa 1950’s house renovation. We are completely gutting it: dry wall, floors, ceilings and some form of insulation (mainly hay and newspaper it looks like).  What really struck me was the knob and tube electrical system. Knob and tube electrical is a system of rubber and cloth covered...

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