Articles on Custom Home Building & Residential Home Renovation

How Many People Does It Take to Build a Custom Home

Find out which trades, suppliers and professionals are involved in building a new house

It is not a trade secret that a lot of people are involved in the construction of a custom home. Once the plans for the new home are in place and all required permits are received, the construction phase requires a detailed project plan that involves many skilled trades who need to work with each other under the direction of a project manager.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Custom Home in Toronto

Learn the average price per square foot of a custom home

The cost of a new custom home will vary depending on the area you build in and the features you use. However, using the analogy of the new car, you know that a compact car, mid size car, luxury car, muscle car and the high end foreign sports car all have different costs. Housing is no different.

How to Reduce Condensation in Your Home

Factors that Cause Condensation and Tips to Keeping it in Check

Condensation as described by Wikipedia: is the change of the physical state of aggregation of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase and the reverse of evaporation. When the surface temperature of the window is below the dew point temperature of the air in your home, condensation, frost or ice appears.

Maintaining proper humidity will keep condensation at a minimum. While manufacturers of wood flooring and furniture makers recommend a humidity of close to 40%, working around those guidelines also makes for a comfortable environment for the home's inhabitants. Humidity less than this will cause dry and cracked skin, cause gaps due to shrinkage in your wood floors and furniture and promotes health problems.

How to Keep your Home Mold Free

11 Maintenance Tips on Keeping Your Home Free from Mold

One of the most destructive items present in a home of any age is mold. Mold not only deteriorates the building materials within your home, but is harmful to the health of the home's occupants. Complicating the issue is the fact that most mold is not easily detectable. As a GTA home renovator, we encounter mold on a regular basis while breaking into walls, floors & ceilings to do upgrades or additions.

How to Prevent Squeaky Floors

Learn the Causes of Squeaky Floors and How to Fix Them

A squeaky floor is certainly a source of irritation. Although preventable, many builders a couple of decades back did not take the time or invest the money to ensure homes would be reasonably free of the dreaded squeaks. Most builders today however, recognize that call backs are expensive and have taken more care to reduce squeaky floors. Generally, this means they are using an adhesive to secure the floor sheathing to the top of the floor joist, giving the joist a brief period to dry out and go through the shrinking process before they screw the floor sheathing to the joists.

The best offence for a squeaky floor is attention to detail when the house is being built. These items include proper nailing of all members, the use of construction adhesives in joist hangers and between the joists and sub-flooring, leaving a small gap between cross bridging and installing proper fitting solid blocking.

Pre-Vacation Checklist

9 Things You Should Consider Prior to Going on Vacation

Securing your home prior to going on vacation will not only give you piece of mind while you are travelling but could potentially avert an incident possibly resulting in an unwanted insurance claim. Here is a list of some of the things you should consider prior to heading out of town. You may want to add to this list, things that you feel are necessary for your home.

Harlequin Homes Home Maintenance Checklist

Just like your car, your home must be maintained to keep all systems working properly. Here is an annual checklist broken down by month of home maintenance tasks. A few minutes a month can prevent major problems down the road.