Jen and Dave's Reno

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2011-09-17T20:28:00.001-04:00

It turns out that having a baby cuts into blogging time! Although we haven’t managed to update the blog in the past six months, we have managed to work on a few projects around the house.

When we last left off, our subfloor was complete and we were anxiously awaiting the installation of our carpet and built-ins. After the subfloor was laid, Dave painted the walls and finished the trim work. Lowes installed our new carpet and our basement was finally ready for use!

We found a couch from Ikea that would fit down our tiny stairwell (a common problem in many of the old houses in Toronto!) We also installed the custom built-in cabinets we had ordered from the same person who designed our kitchen. At this point, our basement was pretty much complete, aside from a few minor things that we decided to leave until the fall while we focussed on building a deck in the backyard.

All throughout our renovation, we always considered ourselves lucky that we never had any major setbacks. Well, it seems that our luck had finally run out…

Shortly after we finished the basement, here is how it looked:

Yep, that’s right. Our beautiful, newly finished basement was all torn apart.

One morning, Dave flushed the basement toilet and it didn’t sound right. He looked in the floor drain and noticed the water level was on the brink of flooding. Luckily he caught it in time and we immediately stopped using water and called a plumber. The plumber checked our drain pipes with a camera and discovered that an old clay pipe had shifted, causing a blockage.

This is when we were really kicking ourselves. Two years ago when we started our renovation, we replaced all the plumbing in our house, except for about 25 feet of old clay pipe under the basement floor. At the time, it was a decision we made to save some money. Obviously, we regret that decision now!

We could have fixed shifted pipe by just digging up a small section of the floor, however, we didn’t want to end up in this situation again down the road.

And so, the built-ins were removed, the carpet peeled back, the subfloor ripped out and the floor dug up. The pipes were replaced, giving our house 100% new plumbing.

Now, we’re in the “rebuilding” phase. The subfloor is back down and the carpet installers will be here next week to re-install the carpet. Hopefully we can show a picture of completed room soon!

Basement Floors

2011-03-04T14:18:00.001-05:00

Before the arrival of baby Logan, we got started on finishing the basement. The first step was to deal with the floors.

In the laundry/utility room, we decided to paint the concrete floor to clean it up. We used a concrete primer and paint to finish the floor. This will brighten up the room and make it easier to clean.

Here’s the transformation:

In the rest of the basement (the area that will become our family room) we plan to install carpet. To prepare for the carpet, we needed to install subfloor. Dave did some research and found a new product that has a half-inch profile which will save headroom.

The product is called Tyroc. The base of the subfloor panels are rubber, made from recycled tires. The surface is magnesium oxide which is resistant to moisture and decay.

Although it was hard to find in Toronto, it was worth searching for. It was relatively easy to install and, so far, we’re happy with it. Here are the before and after shots:

We’ve chosen our carpet from Lowes and will have it installed once the painting and trim is done. Progress is much slower now that we have a baby who we’d rather spend our time with. However, Dave is starting to find some time to work down there, so hopefully Logan’s play room will be ready soon!

Basement Interrupted

2011-02-21T14:57:00.001-05:00

Finishing our basement has been an ongoing project over the past couple of months. However, our work was interrupted on January 31 by the birth of our son, Logan!

We’ve been busy getting settled and enjoying our time with our new little man, but will be getting back to work soon. Hopefully we’ll have some basement progress to share with you in the coming days.

The Nursery

2011-01-21T20:56:00.001-05:00

As we mentioned back in November, we’ll be welcoming our baby boy in the next few weeks. To prepare for his arrival, we’ve been busy working on a few key projects.

Of course, the most important project (or at least the first priority) was finishing the nursery.

We decided to use the smallest of the three bedrooms for the nursery. It’s a pretty small space, but we’ve managed to make it work.

We painted the walls a pale aqua (Benjamin Moore’s Icing on the Cake). The curtains and crib bedding are Sweet Kyla. The crib and dresser are by DaVinci, ordered from CSN Baby. Our Dutailier glider was passed on to us by our generous neighbours who no longer needed it… what a treat!

Our goal with the nursery was to create a room with some fun colours, without using a really boyish theme. We’re really happy with how it looks so far and hopefully our little guy will like it too!

The only thing left to do is get some artwork for the walls. We think we’d like to incorporate his name into the art, so we’ll wait until he arrives to choose something.

Checking in on the To-Do List

2010-11-23T19:57:00.001-05:00

It’s been one year since we moved into our house, so we thought it might be a good time to check in on the status of our projects. After moving in and getting settled, we put together our to-do list – a list of the projects we hoped to tackle (or at least begin to tackle) in 2010.

Let’s see how we’ve done:

Green – Project is underway but there are a few obstacles.
Red – Project is not a priority and we decided to put it on hold.
~~Black~~ – Project is completed.

~~Finish installing trim on the main floor.~~
~~Finish caulking and painting all trim.~~
~~Stack the washer and dryer.~~
~~Hook up the phone connections~~.
~~Finish all the data wiring (internet, cable, etc.)~~
Apply for a permit for a front parking pad.
~~Paint interior doors.~~
~~Order glass for basement shower.~~
Install kitchen backsplash.
~~Deal with the garage.~~
~~Build a fence in the backyard.~~
Landscape the front garden.
Build a deck.
Refinish the front door.
~~Install closet systems in the bedrooms.~~
~~Purchase a dining room table and chairs.~~
~~Figure out storage/display solution for living room.~~
Hang artwork.
Purchase a dining room chandelier.
~~Finish cold storage room.~~

While we’ve managed to complete quite a few things, we’ve decided to leave some of the projects for next year. Of course, along the way, we also ended up adding a bunch of new projects to the list (which we also managed to complete!):

~~Tear down and rebuild the front porch.~~
~~Purchase and install the air conditioner.~~
~~Waterproof the front of the house.~~
~~Replace the eavestroughs.~~
~~Install a carpet runner on the stairs.~~

As mentioned in a previous post, with a baby on the way, we’ve shifted gears and are working our way through a new, shorter list of projects. After we finish those projects and get settled with our new family member, we plan to get back to work on the projects listed above!

Stair Runner

2010-11-10T13:47:00.001-05:00

No more slippery stairs! We finally got around to purchasing a carpet runner for our stairs.

A few months ago, we showed you our refinished stairs. While we loved the way they looked, we knew that adding a runner would help us avoid slipping and falling.

So, we went ahead an ordered some berber carpet from Lowes. It took a couple of weeks after we placed the order for the carpet to be cut and bound, but last week it was ready to be installed.

We’re really happy with how it turned out. It looks great and it definitely provides some extra grip on our stairs, making them safer.

Putting on an Addition

2010-11-06T10:03:00.001-04:00

After finishing most of our home renovations we thought it was time to put on an addition. No, not an addition to our house… to our family. We are expecting a baby boy in February!

Of course, with a baby on the way, our renovation priorities shifted and we’ve had to decide what projects need to be completed before he arrives.

Here is our current to-do list:

install a carpet runner on our stairs
paint and furnish the nursery
finish the main room in the basement, including:

With three months to go, we’ve got lots of work ahead of us. Hopefully we’ll be ready in time to bring home our little man!

The Completed Shed

2010-10-17T18:08:00.001-04:00

We finished building our new backyard shed. We primed the trim and installed the window and doors.

Earlier this summer, before our interlock was laid, we ran wiring underground to the back corner of the yard so that we could have power in the shed. Now it’s a perfect storage and work space!

Building the Backyard Shed

2010-09-26T13:24:00.001-04:00

When we tore down our garage, we knew we’d need to get some sort of shed to store tools and garden accessories. However, since building the fence was the first priority, we were stuck with an ugly storage container for the summer.

We found an 8x12’ pre-fab shed at Lowes that would work perfectly in the back corner of our yard. Unfortunately, it came in a million pieces (you can see the pile of shed pieces hiding under the blue tarp in the photo above!)

After seeing how much water pools in our backyard during heavy summer rains, we decided to pour a concrete pad as a base for the shed.

Last weekend, we finally got started building it. Dave built all the walls and then got some help from our neighbours to put it all together (thanks Jim and Jose!)

Finally, we put on the roof and added shingles.

Next, we’ll paint the trim and install the window and doors. Then, we’ll build the shelving inside the shed. Soon, we’ll be able to finally get rid of our storage container!

Porch Railing

2010-09-19T20:34:00.001-04:00

When we last showed you our new front porch, all that was left to do was get a new railing. After wandering through the neighbourhood and checking out the different styles of railings that people have, we decided to go with an aluminum railing.

While we had some issues with the quality of the installation, we were happy with the look of our new railing once things were corrected.

It’s definitely an improvement over the rusty old railing. Here are the before and after:

The Backyard Fence

2010-09-01T16:18:00.001-04:00

Our new backyard fence is complete! The fence runs down one side of the backyard, where the garage used to be.

As mentioned in a previous post, our official parking spot (which we will use as a patio) is located in our backyard. Eventually, our deck will connect to the driveway end of the fence. The patio is still a bit of a mess of supplies for future projects, including the shed that we plan to build in the back corner of the property.

We built the fence out of cedar which was a mutual decision with our neighbour. At each step of assembly, to protect the wood, we finished it using Behr Cedar Natural Tone weatherproofing wood finish. It was a very time consuming project, but we’re really happy with the result.

Interlock and Asphalt

2010-07-19T19:36:00.001-04:00

As part of this summer’s exterior work, we decided to get our driveway repaved at the same time we were getting our interlock laid in the backyard.

When we made the decision to get rid of our garage in the backyard, we decided to turn that area into a patio. By laying interlock, the area will still meet the City’s zoning requirements for a parking space behind the house, but we’ll use the space as a patio. Eventually, we plan to build a deck that will step down onto the patio.

Once the fence posts were installed, the contractors came and laid the interlock. And then we finally got the new asphalt on the rest of the driveway. Things are starting to look really good out there!

Fencing

2010-07-01T14:53:00.001-04:00

While the workers were busy building our new porch in the front, we turned our attention to the backyard. Once we tore the garage down, Dave and his friends installed the 6x6 cedar posts for our new fence.

The fence will run along the east side of our yard. Since our “official” parking space will also be in our backyard, we decided that we will install a gate to fully enclose the backyard space. Dave decided to dress it up a bit with a decorative piece across the top of the gate. Finally, he stained the posts with a natural cedar-coloured stain.

Once the fence posts were completed, the paving company was ready to come and start prepping the backyard and driveway area for interlock and new asphalt.

Thanks to Chris, Rob, Stu, Shawn and Guy for all your help!

The New Porch

2010-06-24T21:17:00.001-04:00

We have a front porch again! Once the porch was rebuilt with cinder blocks, it was finally time start making it look nice.

Inside the cold storage room, the walls were parged to leave a smooth surface. Now it looks much cleaner and there isn’t anywhere for ants to live! We also decided to get a window installed in the cold storage room, which will bring in some light and help us control the humidity during the summer.

Outside, we selected a faux stone to face the porch with. We chose a greyish colour stone.

Once the stone was applied to the porch, the guys built the formwork for the concrete slab and stairs. We decided to go with a bullnose on the stairs to dress it up a bit.

Now all that’s left to do to finish the new porch is to choose and install a railing!

Porch Progress

2010-06-11T19:21:00.001-04:00

Once the waterproofing was done and the trench was backfilled, the guys got to work replacing our old front porch. You can see from the picture below how badly the brick was crumbling behind the stairs.

They tore down the old porch, leaving us with a nice big hole leading directing into our basement.

Finally, they rebuilt the porch with new cinder blocks, including a space for the new window.

The next step is parging the inside of the cold storage room and facing the new porch with faux stone.

Not in the Plans

2010-06-06T21:51:00.001-04:00

We’ve learned that it’s almost impossible to get through any major renovation without running into some unplanned, unexpected problems. You may recall that our problems came in the form of ants in our cold storage room.

Our cold storage room is located in our basement, directly under the front porch. We didn’t plan to do any work to it, since we intended to use it for storage.

When we discovered an infestation of carpenter ants last summer, we decided to tear down the walls and ceiling to see how bad it was. It was bad.

While tearing everything down to get rid of the ants that were living there, we could see that there was a moisture problem. After getting the house sprayed for insects, we decided to leave the cold storage room unfinished for the winter and spring so that we could see if/how water was getting in. When spring came, there were definitely signs of moisture and mould forming in that room.

The exterior of the cold storage room (the front porch) showed signs of major deterioration when we bought the house. We did some tuck pointing last summer to try and correct the problem, but moisture was still getting in.

Another issue was that the porch stairs were built without a footing, so over the years they had shifted and were falling away from the house.

The only real solution to all of these problems was to deal with our crumbling front porch.

We called some experts to get some ideas and quotes. Ultimately, we settled on the following plan:

dig up along the whole front of the house, including around the front porch, to waterproof below ground level from the outside.
tear down the porch to ground level and rebuild it completely.
add a window to the side of the porch, to allow for some ventilation in the cold storage room during humid summers.
build new concrete stairs with proper footing.
face the porch and stairs with faux stone.
parge the inside of the cold storage room.

It is a big project and not something that we had budgeted for. But, in the end, we would rather have it done properly the first time.

New parging of exterior foundation walls:

Sealant applied to foundation walls:

Waterproofing membrane wrapping front of house:

Old clay weeping tile removed:

Now that the weeping tile has been replaced and the waterproofing is done, work is underway to rebuild the porch. Hopefully we’ll finally have a functioning cold storage room this summer!

Living and Dining Room: Before and After

2010-06-02T19:05:00.001-04:00

The one thing that kept our main floor from feeling complete for the last few months was the lack of a dining room table. Once we found our table, the space was pretty much done.

The main design changes to the living and dining rooms include:

removing the archway
installing pot lights
adding the sliding door walkout to the backyard
installing new hardwood floor throughout the main floor
adding shutters to the living room windows.

Before:

Looking towards the front hall from the living room:

Looking at the living room from the dining room:

Looking into the dining room from the living room:
After:

We spent a lot of time looking for a dining room table that would be narrow enough to fit our space, but extendable so that we could seat a larger number of people. The table search was harder than we expected. After a couple of months of searching, a neighbour suggested we try Decorium, where we found a table that we were able to customize to fit our space and our style.

In the living room, we chose to get our old couch reupholstered and we were able to use most of our other living room furniture. We painted the entire main floor, including the living room and dining room, Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White. We’re still looking for some art for above the couch, which we hope will bring some colour into the space.

One of the biggest changes to the dining room was the fact that we removed the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, opening up the space. We’ll share the final kitchen photos in a separate post.

Master Bedroom: Before and After

2010-05-28T18:56:00.001-04:00

The bedrooms didn’t require many changes. In the master bedroom, we increased the size of the closet by taking some space from the second bedroom closet. We installed shutters in the windows, purchased a new light fixture and painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s Athabaska.

Before:

After:

Upstairs Bathroom: Before and After

2010-05-25T18:06:00.001-04:00

The upstairs bathroom (which was the only bathroom) was in pretty good shape for being fully original. While we chose to redo the bathroom, we ended up going with a similar look and colour scheme.

Before:

After:

We tiled the walls in the shower area with white ceramic subway tiles with a 3” insert of grey glass mosaic tiles. On the floor, we used 2” hexagon white carrara marble.

We kept the original cast iron tub and had it refinished. We replaced the toilet with a Toto Aquia dual flush toilet, painted the walls with Benjamin Moore’s Sweet Innocence, and added a new vanity and mirror.

Stairs: Before and After

2010-05-15T17:58:00.001-04:00

To update the look of the stairs, we decided to re-stain the stair treads and banister in the same colour we stained the upstairs hardwood floors. We chose to paint to the risers and spindles white.

Before:

After:

The original walls in the hallway and stairwell were stucco. We replaced them with new drywall, which really helped make the space look more modern. We hung some coat hooks at the bottom of the stairs and added a small bench where we can store some shoes.

The Exterior: Before and After

2010-05-11T18:21:00.001-04:00

First up for the final reveal is the front of the house.

While we loved the style of the house and the colour of the brick, we did not love the green paint around the front door. We dealt with it for a few months while we focused on more important things, but it was definitely a happy day when the green was gone!

Other work on the front of the house included changing the house numbers, adding a mailbox, replacing the porch light with a pot light and installing a new storm door.

Before:

After:

Revealing the Rooms

2010-05-11T18:12:00.001-04:00

Although it’s been a year since we started renovating our house – and five months since we moved in – we’ve only recently started to feel like some rooms are complete.

We’ve learned that, once the major work is done, it’s easy to move on with your life without completing the smaller projects. It’s some of these little projects that have kept us from revealing our completed rooms to everyone.

As any homeowner knows, a house is never 100% complete. But now, as we shift our focus to dealing with the backyard, it’s time to consider most of our house complete.

And, with that, we’ll begin to share the before and after shots with you.

Stumped

2010-05-08T10:30:00.001-04:00

Before we got started on the backyard, there were some old, prickly bushes growing through the fence behind the garage. Since we will be building a new fence along this side of the yard, we needed to clear the area. We cut down the bushes and removed the old fence before demolishing the garage. This left us with a bunch of stumps to deal with.

The stump removal job called for a serious piece of machinery!

With a rented stump grinder and a couple of hours of work, the stumps were shredded and the back of the yard was nice and flat…

No More Eyesore!

2010-04-24T19:38:00.001-04:00

This week, we tackled the garage demolition. Like last year when we gutted the inside of our house, Dave gathered a group of friends to help.

We lucked out with a nice, sunny day. A little bit of muscle, two dumpsters and several beers later, the garage was gone!

For now, we’re left with the concrete pads that were beneath the garage. It certainly opens up the space and allows us to get a good feel for how we want to layout our yard. Thanks to Jim, Rob, Dave, Chris, Guy, Becca and Ron for all your help!

Here’s the transformation:

Next up: breaking up the concrete and installing the fence posts.

The Great Outdoors

2010-04-20T21:00:00.001-04:00

When we got started on our home renovation this time last year, we knew that most of the yard work would have to wait. Since we weren’t living here, a nice backyard just wasn’t a priority.

You may remember that our backyard is narrow and deep. Last summer we put in some cedars along the back fence line and removed the old wire fence along one side of the yard. Other than that, we pretty much left things as is back there.

Now that we’re heading into our first summer in the house, we’re ready to start focusing on the backyard. Deciding what to do, however, was a bit of challenge.

The garage (which is a double garage that we share with our neighbour) is in pretty rough shape. Since the garage is at the end of a very narrow mutual driveway, we don’t use it for parking. After discussions with our neighbour, we decided that we’d rather tear down the garage and replace the storage space with garden sheds at the back of our properties.

We did some research and discovered that the municipal bylaw requires that we each maintain one parking space behind our house. Currently, the garage meets that requirement. So, to allow us to remove the garage but still meet the requirements, here’s the backyard plan we came up with:

Remove the existing wire fence, bushes and stumps behind the garage.
Tear down the garage.
Create two parking spaces with interlock in the place of the existing garage (which we will actually use as patios).
Put up a fence between the parking spaces and all along that side of the yard for privacy.
Replace the asphalt on the mutual driveway.
Build a garden shed in the back corner of the yard.
Build a deck that will step down onto the interlock patio area, increasing our outdoor living space.

It’s a bit of an ambitious plan that will not get fully completed this summer, but will definitely make our backyard a lot more attractive and functional.

We started the work last week, ripping down the old fence and ordering a storage container to hold our lawnmower, etc. while the garage gets demolished.

This week, the garage comes down!

Kind of a Big Deal

2010-03-27T21:51:00.002-04:00

One of big reasons why we were so ready to move from a condo to a house was the fact that we had never owned a BBQ! Our condo building didn’t allow BBQs on the balconies, nor did they have a communal BBQ area.

Exactly one year ago this weekend, we found and purchased our first home…a house with a backyard that would be perfect for BBQing! Marty (Jen’s Dad) said that, when we were ready, he would buy us one as our housewarming gift.

Once spring arrived and most of the interior renovation was complete, we were ready. With or without a deck, it was time for the BBQ.

We hooked it up to our natural gas line, seasoned the grills and prepared our first meal. What a great way to celebrate Earth Hour!

We’re looking forward to getting a lot of use out of our new BBQ this summer. Thanks Marty!

Shower Glass

2010-03-18T20:23:00.001-04:00

We were finally able to check another thing off our to-do list today, with the installation of the shower glass in our basement bathroom.

As you may remember, we tiled the basement shower with travertine tiles and installed a matching beige marble threshold. We decided to go with full glass walls and door, to keep the bathroom looking open and bright. We selected a simple chrome handle and hinges to match the chrome faucets.

Next, we’ll finish up the baseboards and trim. Then we’ll be ready for the final reveal. The best part will be having a fully functioning second bathroom in the house!

Clean Start

2010-03-07T22:41:00.001-05:00

After dealing with the fiasco that was our first dishwasher, we’ve finally had a chance to test out our replacement dishwasher.

The new dishwasher we chose is the Bosch Integra. Some of the key features include:

stainless steel exterior and interior
tall tub
delay start
concealed control panel.

The most important thing about this dishwasher is that the steam vents properly during the dry cycle, so we no longer have to deal with the condensation issues that we had with the Frigidaire.

A big treat with the Bosch is how quiet it is. We’ve always used the “delay start” feature on dishwashers because we couldn’t hear the TV over the sound of the dishwasher. No need anymore! The Bosch is extremely quiet. We can hardly tell that it’s running.

The Bosch is also very sleek looking, with no controls showing on the front. And, there’s a cool little LED light that shines onto the floor to let you know that the dishwasher is running.

Finally, the dishes come out clean and dry, so no issues there.

All in all, we’re really happy with the Bosch. If we had known about the Frigidaire problem months ago, we would have saved ourselves some trouble and spent the extra money to get this better dishwasher right from the start. We would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good, stainless steel dishwasher.

Dishwasher Debacle

2010-02-28T19:49:00.001-05:00

In order finalize our kitchen design back in the spring, we needed to order all our new appliances. As you may remember, we settled on Frigidaire for our fridge, range and dishwasher.

The stainless steel appliances looked nice and sleek. And, they seemed to be the best for not showing fingerprints.

Sadly, we learned pretty quickly that we had made a mistake by selecting the Frigidaire dishwasher. Had we done a bit more research in advance, we would have discovered the major design flaw that makes this dishwasher so bad.

Most dishwashers have small vents at the top or bottom that allow the steam to escape when the dishwasher is in the dry cycle. The Frigidaire dishwasher does not. This means that the steam is forced out the sides of the dishwasher door, causing condensation to build up on the kitchen cabinets beside the dishwasher. The condensation drips down the cabinet doors to the floor.

After less than a month of use, the condensation already started to damage our brand new kitchen by causing the paint to peel on the cupboards!

Once we discovered the problem, we did some searching on the internet and found that we weren’t the only people to have these issues. There were even entire blogs dedicated to it!

We knew we couldn’t keep using a dishwasher that was going to damage our cupboards and floors, so we began the long and tedious process of getting it replaced.

We started by calling Frigidaire, but had no luck even getting them to answer the phone.

Next, we moved on to the Brick – where we purchased all our appliances – and called the salesperson who we originally dealt with. He told us we needed to call the Brick’s warranty department, who would send someone out to service the dishwasher.

After the first service visit, we were told that the dishwasher was installed incorrectly. We repositioned it, tried again, and continued to have the same problem.

We called the Brick again for another service visit (even though we knew the dishwasher wasn’t actually broken or installed incorrectly – just poorly designed!) and this time the service technician could clearly see that the condensation was causing steam damage to the surrounding cabinets.

After numerous phone calls and weeks of waiting, the Brick finally agreed to provide us with a store credit so that we could replace the dishwasher with a new one of our choice.

In the meantime, we made sure we protected our cabinets and floor while we continued to use the dishwasher. Our set-up looked ridiculous, but was the best we could do!

This time, we made sure to do lots of research before settling on a new Bosch dishwasher:

While more expensive than the Frigidaire, the Bosch gets excellent reviews and still has the clean, sleek look we want. The Bosch arrived today, but we haven’t had a chance to install it yet because we were busy watching Canada win the gold medal hockey game! We’ll post a review of our new dishwasher once we’ve had a chance to use it.

Trim and Touch Ups

2010-02-15T18:29:00.001-05:00

It’s been pretty quiet over here because we’ve spent the last few weeks doing some less-than-exciting work around the house. Without any major deadlines, everything seems to take a whole lot longer.

After moving in, a big pile of baseboards sat in our living/dining room while we were busy with other priorities. But, with the kitchen finished and most of our stuff unpacked, we knew it was time to get moving on the rest of the trim work.

Using the saw outside is a little less fun this time of year, but Dave braved the wind chill to get it done.

Once all the trim was installed, caulked and painted, we turned our attention to patching up the nicks and gouges in the walls. As careful as we were, bumping the walls was inevitable!

This seemingly minor trim work takes a huge amount of time. And while it isn’t the type of work that people tend to notice – unlike a new kitchen, bathroom tiles or hardwood floors – it does make our house look complete.

So, that’s what we’ve been up to over here.

The Granite Test

2010-01-26T21:21:00.001-05:00

You may have noticed that things have been pretty quiet around here. While we still have a nice long list of projects to tackle around the house, we’ve been struggling to motivate ourselves to get back to work after the holidays. So, instead of painting/caulking/unpacking, we spent some time in the kitchen.

To make sure we knew how to care for our kitchen countertops properly, we did a lot of reading. We kept seeing information about the importance of sealing granite to ensure that it doesn’t get stained. When our granite countertops were first installed, the installers applied a coat of sealer.

Of course, even though we knew our granite was protected, we couldn’t help but worry about spilling things on it. Who wants to wreck their brand new countertops?

Will the sealer really protect the granite? Do we really need sealer at all? What sort of things stain granite?

To ease our minds, we decided to do some tests on our sample piece of Giallo Ornamentale granite. We divided the piece in half and applied sealer to one side.

Once the sealer was dry (we let it dry overnight) we used Dave’s favourite Christmas present to label the sides.

Our (highly scientific) method for testing our granite was as follows:

Select a substance and pour a bit on each side of the piece of granite. Take a picture.
Wait 30 minutes. (We figured that we were pretty unlikely to leave a spill on our counters for longer than that.)
Remove the substance with paper towel and take another picture.

Test #1 – Water
We decided to start with water because we had noticed some dark splotches on our counters when we spilled water. We knew that the marks disappeared once the water evaporated, but we thought we try and see if there was any difference between sealed and unsealed granite.

Water Test Results: When the water was first poured on the unsealed side, it looked a bit darker. But, in the end, there was no difference.

Test #2 – Olive Oil
After the water, we were ready to move on to the more fun stuff. We decided to try something greasy, so we brought out the olive oil.

Olive Oil Test Results: There was not much difference between the sealed and unsealed sides. If anything, the stain may have been a bit darker after 30 minutes on the sealed side, but that could have just been the colour variation in the granite.

Test #3 – Coffee
Next, we thought that maybe something dark and hot would do some sort of damage to the granite. Bring on the coffee.

Coffee Test Results: Still no difference. The coffee left wet marks on both the sealed and unsealed sides, which eventually evaporated and left no visible stain behind.

Test #4: Orange Juice
With coffee and oil appearing not to have any affect on our counters, it was time to try something really dangerous! We’ve read that acidic substances can damage natural stone, so let’s see what orange juice does to our sample.

Orange Juice Test Results: Just like the coffee and the water, the orange juice left dark patches until it evaporated. But, after it dried, we noticed that the texture of the granite was a bit different. The spots where the orange juice had been were rougher. This roughness was more noticeable on the unsealed side. We were worried that the acid in the juice had damaged the surface of the granite, however, after wiping it with a damp cloth, we were able to get both sides nice and smooth again.

Test #5 – Red Wine
So far, our granite seemed to be holding up pretty well to our spills. For our final test, we brought out the red wine. We’ve already experienced a couple of instances where we were afraid to set an open bottle of wine on the counter because we worried that the wine would drip down the bottle and stain the counter. Time to see if we really need to be worried!

Red Wine Test Results: Not as bad as we expected, but the red wine did leave a faint pink tinge on both the sealed and unsealed sides. Given that our granite has some reddish-brown flecks in it, a small drip would probably go unnoticed if wiped up after 30 minutes.

Since the granite held up so well through all our tests, we thought we’d try the red wine one more time. This time, we left it overnight.

After approximately 12 hours we saw some real staining. After rinsing off the sticky residue left behind by the wine, we were still left with some pretty dark stains on both sides of the granite.

Granite Test Conclusions
So, what we’ve learned from our little test is that we seem to have chosen a pretty good type of granite for kitchen use. The colour variation hides any darkening that comes from little spills. Obviously we don’t plan to leave any spills on the countertops that could potentially damage them, but spills happen. If we wipe them up fairly quickly, we shouldn’t have any problems.

Whether it makes a difference to use sealer was pretty inconclusive, but we figure it can’t hurt to keep our granite protected.

Have any of you found that something stained or damaged your granite countertops? Or is there something that you’d like us to test? Let us know!

The Final Inspection

2010-01-11T16:53:00.001-05:00

In May 2009, with lots of excitement, we hung our fresh building permits in the windows of our new house. We had all our plans and were ready to get started on our renovation adventure.

Today, almost 7 1/2 months later, we passed our final building inspection!

It is with just as much excitement (but with a little less energy!) that we removed the permits from our front window. No longer does our house look like a construction site!

While we still have lots of projects to tackle this year, it certainly feels good to know that we’ve achieved another major milestone in our renovation.

Media Hub

2010-01-06T19:39:00.001-05:00

Before the drywall was installed back in September, we decided to wire every room for phone, cable and internet. Since all the walls were open, it was a fairly easy thing to do. What we were left with, however, was a big mess of wires in our utility room.

To try and organize things, we decided to create a media hub below our electrical panel. We purchased a small structured media box that we could feed (and hide) the phone and cable wires into.

With the new label maker that Dave got for Christmas, we labeled the ends of all the wires before connecting them.

We built a little shelf above the box to hold the modem and mounted a power bar on the wall. Now we have a nice, neat area where all our phone, cable and internet wires are connected.

Looking Forward

2010-01-03T21:16:00.001-05:00

2010 shouldn’t be quite as stressful as 2009, but that doesn’t mean that all our work is done. We still have a long list of projects that we plan to work our way through this year:

Finish installing trim on the main floor.
Finish caulking and painting all trim.
~~Stack the washer and dryer.~~
~~Hook up the phone connections~~.
~~Finish all the data wiring (internet, cable, etc.)~~
Apply for a permit for a front parking pad.
Paint interior doors.
Order glass for basement shower.
Install kitchen backsplash.
Deal with the garage.
Build a fence in the backyard.
Landscape the front garden.
Build a deck.
Refinish the front door.
Install closet systems in the bedrooms.
Purchase a dining room table and chairs.
Figure out storage/display solution for living room.
Hang artwork.
Purchase a dining room chandelier.
Finish cold storage room.

As you can see, there is still a lot of work to complete. We may not get to everything, but we’ll do our best.

Not wanting to waste any time, we got straight to work on New Year’s Day, stacking our new washer and dryer. They’re pretty large and a bit overwhelming in the space, but at least we gain some more floor space in our utility room by stacking them.

So far 2010 is off to a pretty good start. We’ll post a little later this week about the other project we’ve tackled since the start of the new year – dealing with the phone, cable and internet wires.

Looking Back

2009-12-31T21:40:00.001-05:00

2009 was certainly a big year for us. On the eve of 2010, we thought we’d look back at some of the highlights, lowlights and most memorable moments from our renovation:

Highlights

Purchasing our first home (obviously!) Remember how happy and well-rested we were when we first got the keys?

Completing our new kitchen, which (once finally finished) turned out even better than we had hoped.
Getting so much help from all our friends and family. This definitely helped keep us sane and allowed us to get things done so much faster.
Making the front of the house a little more appealing.
Finishing the demolition in one day!

Lowlights

Discovering carpenter ants in the cold storage room. Ew!
When the only functioning bathroom had no walls.
Moving in without a finished kitchen. That last month of eating fast food was the hardest one of all!
When the City of Toronto workers were on strike. Waiting for the building inspector to go back to work caused some delays.

And, as with any renovation, there were the projects that didn’t go quite as planned and the embarrassing pictures that didn’t get shared the first time around:

Like working in the attic…

And installing the vapour barrier when we were tired, grumpy and frustrated. We called this the “corner of shame.” It was NOT one of our finer moments…

But all in all, it’s been a pretty great year. Even with the ups and downs of spending most of 2009 in the midst of a major renovation, we consider ourselves extremely lucky.

So, as we sip our Veuve and celebrate another year, we look forward to a new year with our beautiful home, wonderful family and great friends. Happy New Year everyone!

A Kitchen for Christmas

2009-12-24T11:34:00.001-05:00

Our kitchen received an early Christmas present: our granite countertops were installed this past weekend!

We visited a number of stone places around the city and ended up going with Pro Stone, which we found on Home Stars. Pro Stone handled both the fabrication and installation of the granite. The granite we selected is called Giallo Ornamentale.

The installation took a couple of hours. Once the counters were in, we had to wait 24 hours before we could install the kitchen faucet. Then we hooked up the stove and dishwasher.

Finally, we put together our new Ingolf stools from IKEA.

The colour of the granite looks great with our white cabinets and the wall colour (Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White). All in all, we’re thrilled with the look of our new kitchen.

Over the holidays, we’ll spend some time finding a permanent home for our small appliances.

We feel really lucky that, even with the Christmas rush, were able to get our counters installed before the holidays. Having full use of our kitchen (and not having to see the pizza delivery guy every night!) will really help make our house feel like home.

Final Energy Audit

2009-12-19T14:23:00.001-05:00

After all of the changes we made to the house, we were ready for our post-retrofit energy audit. We were definitely looking forward to finding out what rebates we would qualify for!

Here’s an overview of some of the energy upgrades we told you about earlier:

Replaced our oil boiler and rads with a new 95% efficient forced air gas furnace.
Added spray foam insulation to the exterior walls, which had no insulation before.
Replaced a number of the old windows.
Put in two new toilets – both from the City of Toronto’s approved list for the Residential Toilet Replacement Program. Dave’s choice was the American Standard Champion 4 (eligible for a $60 rebate) and Jen’s choice was the Toto Aquia Dual Flush (eligible for a $75 rebate).

Some other things that we haven’t had a chance to blog about yet are our new hot water heater and heat recovery ventilator.

Hot Water Heater
When we got the house, there was an electric hot water tank. We decided to switch to a tankless water heater. The small size takes up a lot less space in our basement. We’ve been really happy with it.

Heat Recovery Ventilator
We also decided to install a heat recovery ventilator (HRV). An HRV takes stale air from indoors and exchanges it with fresh air from outside. It transfers the heat from the stale air to the fresh air, reducing the amount of energy needed for the furnace to heat the air. With all the air pipes, it’s a pretty bulky looking system. We call it ‘the octopus.’

All of our HVAC and gas work was done by Domilco Ltd.

At the end of our post-retrofit audit, we got the good news… we are eligible for the maximum rebate amounts from the federal and provincial governments! We also learned that the City of Toronto has a new program and we’ll be eligible for a rebate for our insulation.

It feels good to know that we were able to make our old house a little more energy efficient.

Basement Bathroom Progress

2009-12-16T20:54:00.001-05:00

Once the tiling was finished in the basement bathroom, we shifted our focus to getting the rest of the house ready for us to move in.

This week, we were able to spend some time working in the basement again. We managed to complete the plumbing for the shower and install the vanity.

Originally, we thought we wanted a granite countertop for the vanity. But, after spotting a glass counter and sink at Rona, we changed our minds.

It turns out that the colour of the glass looks great with the walls, which we painted with Benjamin Moore’s Shaker Beige. So far, we’re really happy with everything we selected for the bathroom.

Now, all that’s left is to install the baseboards and order the glass for the shower walls and door.

Deck the Porch

2009-12-10T19:41:00.001-05:00

Since we’re still living among boxes, we won’t be putting up a Christmas tree this year. But, to make sure we don’t forget about the holidays entirely, our family helped us decorate our front porch.

We managed to find our wreath after the move, and with a new bow (thanks mom!), it’s looking great. The two urns help to brighten things up.

So, while our house won’t be lit up like the Griswold’s this year, at least we have a little bit of Christmas spirit!

New Light Fixtures

2009-12-08T20:45:00.001-05:00

Our final electrical work is finished! The last of the work included the installation of our new pendant lights (from Royal Lighting) over the kitchen peninsula.

We also installed under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen and puck lights inside the glass cabinet.

In terms of other light fixtures, we decided to start with the rooms we will be using the most. We bought new fixtures for the master bedroom, upstairs bathroom and front hall. We’ll update the rest of the rooms down the road.

Master Bedroom
Pendant with drum shade from Royal Lighting

Upstairs Bathroom
Wall sconce from Royal Lighting

Front Hall
Crystal pendant from Home Depot

We also passed our final electrical inspection by the Electrical Safety Authority. Thanks to Dennis, Simon and the rest of the crew from DSK Electric!

Kitchen: Sneak Peak

2009-12-02T19:22:00.001-05:00

A couple of days before we moved in, we got a pleasant surprise from our kitchen designer. Our kitchen cabinets had arrived in Toronto and were ready to be installed.

We were pretty excited to see how they would turn out and if our risk would pay off.

We don’t have the countertops yet (we’ve selected our granite and it’s supposed to be installed before Christmas) but here’s a sneak peak at the cabinets:

We are really happy with the cabinets. The quality is better than we expected and the workmanship (especially the crown moulding) is great. So far it seems that our risk paid off!

We’ll share some more photos once all the appliances and the countertops are installed.

New Hardwood Floors

2009-11-29T20:20:00.001-05:00

While we were able to save the original hardwood floors on the second storey, we decided to install new hardwood on the main floor. With the amount of demolition we did, we knew that the floors would be too difficult to save.

Originally, we thought we wanted oak flooring. But, after looking around and doing some research, we decided to try something a bit different.

We chose Sucupira (Brazilian Walnut). It’s a medium brown exotic wood that is supposed to be quite durable and stands up well to lots of traffic. Since it’s on our main floor – including the foyer and kitchen – durability is important to us.

The hardwood floor installation was one of the final projects we completed before we moved in.

We’re really happy with how the floors turned out. The Sucupira is a really warm colour and it’s a great match for the colour of stain we used on the stairs and upstairs floors.

We’re In!

2009-11-24T16:27:00.001-05:00

We’ve been absentee bloggers this past week as we’ve scrambled to get ready for the move. After almost seven months of work, yesterday was the big day.

We need to do some organizing before we share all our updates, but here are a few of things we managed to get done (or mostly done) before we moved in:

We selected and installed all the remaining light fixtures.
We installed our upstairs bathroom vanity and mirror.
We laid hardwood floor throughout the main floor.
Our kitchen cabinets arrived and were installed!

We’ll post some photos as soon as we’re settled. In the meantime, here’s a shot of our moving crew relaxing after setting the record for the fastest move ever. Thanks guys!

Crunch Time

2009-11-15T08:39:00.001-05:00

With just over a week until we move into the house, we’re busy trying to finish as much as we can. We had some help this week from a bunch of people, including Handyman Superstar Challenge winner Jason Best! Jason and Chris came by to help with doors and trim:

Here are a few of the things we’ve been working on this week:

We’ve installed all the baseboards, door trim and window trim on the second floor.

We’ve hung most of the doors.

We’ve finished painting the stair risers and railing spindles white.

We ordered California shutters for the master bedroom and living room windows.

We’ve moved everything off of the main floor and into the basement so that we can lay the hardwood floor this week.

There is still lots to do, so we’ll be busy scrambling to finish up this week. We did get some good news about our kitchen though. It arrived in Prince Rupert, B.C. and is about to enjoy a train ride across the country. We expect it to arrive the same week we move in, so hopefully we won’t have to live without a kitchen for very long!

Getting Rid of the Green – Step Three

2009-11-12T22:14:00.001-05:00

We lucked out with some good weather this past weekend! With temperatures above 10°C and lots of sun, we decided to take the opportunity to prime and paint the area around our front door before the winter.

Our neighbours lent us a sample of the paint they used on the exterior of their house, so we took to it to Benjamin Moore to be colour matched. We ended up with Seaspray, which was a pretty close match.

After one coat of primer, two coats of paint and some caulking, we were all done. It looks so much better.

Here’s the before:

And here’s how it looks now:

Goodbye green!

Getting Rid of the Green – Step Two

2009-11-07T22:10:00.001-05:00

As mentioned in a previous post, we’ve been working on removing the ugly green colour from the front of our house. After replacing the shingles and flashing, we got out the heat gun and started tackling the thick layers of paint around the front door.

We’ve had some complaints from our friends and family, who will now have to learn our address to be able to find our house. But, all the neighbours seem to be pretty happy with the transformation. Next step: paint it to match our next door neighbours.

Old Hardwood Floors

2009-11-05T20:27:00.001-05:00

The original hardwood floors were in pretty good shape on the second storey. We decided to get them refinished so we protected the floors with paper before we started the demolition.

Once the drywall was finished, we hired Tip Top Flooring to refinish the floors, stairs and railing. (Thanks to Maggie and Rob at Okay, Now What? for the referral!)

We knew that we wanted to go darker than what was originally there, but selecting the stain colour was a lot harder than we had anticipated. After hours of staring at samples and changing our minds a couple of times, we settled on Early American.

Given that the floors, stairs and railing are three different types of wood, we weren’t sure how they would turn out. Fortunately, the colour was a good choice and we’re really happy with the results.

Basement Bathroom Tiling

2009-11-02T19:07:00.001-05:00

Our new basement bathroom is really coming along. Since the main bathroom upstairs is pretty tiny, we decided to include a nice large shower in our basement bathroom.

Like upstairs, we used Schluter Kerdi waterproofing on the shower walls. We used Schluter Ditra on the floor.

The tiling was finished last week and it looks great. We’re really happy with our choice of travertine tiles.

Next , we’ll install glass walls and a glass door on the front of the shower.

Upstairs Bathroom Tiling

2009-10-29T19:18:00.001-04:00

Tiling is complete in the upstairs bathroom and we’re really happy with the results.

We chose to use the Schluter Kerdi waterproofing system on the shower walls.

Once the waterproof membrane was in place, it was time to start tiling. We were really excited to see how our tile selections would turn out. The tile installer we hired worked very quickly and did a great job. Here’s how it looks now:

The next step is to give it a good clean and then we’ll seal the marble floor.

Warming Up

2009-10-26T22:20:00.001-04:00

We have heat! Our new high-efficiency gas furnace was connected today. Since it’s starting to get pretty chilly outside, we are happy to finally have some warmth.

As you may remember, we removed the old boiler and oil tank. We decided to change over to a forced air system, so we removed all the rads.

The new furnace is from KeepRite. It has a 95% efficiency rating, which will qualify us for the highest grant amount through the government energy programs.

The Countdown is On

2009-10-24T16:02:00.001-04:00

It’s official. In one month, we’ll be moving into the house. Of course, it’s not going to be an easy month. As we’re learning, the closer we get to the end of the renovation (or at least the end of the major work) the tougher it gets.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve experienced a few setbacks and frustrating situations. For example:

our kitchen cabinets are going to be two weeks late
the fridge that we ordered back in June has been discontinued (and our custom kitchen was designed to fit that specific fridge)
the weather has been crappy, so we haven’t been able to paint the front of our house
the newly refinished tub (which we protected very carefully before tiling the bathroom) got some chips in it.

On the positive side, the bathroom tiling is going really well, we’ve selected a paint colour for our main floor and our couch is getting picked up to be reupholstered next week.

We chose Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White for the living room, dining room, kitchen and hall:

And we bought this fabric from Designer Fabrics for our living room couch:

The problems we’ve experienced may not have seemed so frustrating earlier in the renovation, but after more than five months, we’re starting to get pretty tired. So, despite the challenges, we’ll continue to push forward and hope for the best. And, in a month we’ll finally be living in our new house!

Basement Bathroom Plans

2009-10-21T20:54:00.001-04:00

With tiling almost finished upstairs, we’ve made our final selections for the basement bathroom finishes.

The house only had one bathroom when we bought it, so we decided to add a second bathroom in the basement. The basement bathroom will have a toilet, sink and shower.

In terms of finishes, we selected travertine tiles for the floor and shower walls. We’ll use 2” square tiles on the floor (both in and out of the shower) and 4” squares on the shower walls.

We haven’t chosen the vanity yet, but we plan to get a 36” dark wood vanity with a beige granite top. The toilet, as you may remember, was Dave’s selection: The Champion.

All Powered Up!

2009-10-18T22:27:00.001-04:00

After more than five months, we finally have power.

When we bought our house, the majority of the wiring was knob and tube. Removing the old wiring was one of our first priorities.

We hired electricians to completely rewire the house. During the rough-in phase, we were left with only two electrical outlets (and no lights!) We got by with extension cords, floodlights and flashlights. But, this got more and more difficult to handle as the days started to get shorter.

So, as you can imagine, it was pretty exciting when we reached the point where we were ready for the electrical work to be completed.

Now we have electrical outlets and lights in every room, including:

pot lights in the living room, dining room, main floor hallway, kitchen and basement
an exterior pot light above the front door
a sensor light in near the rear of the house
bare bulbs everywhere else (until we get a chance to select the rest of our light fixtures).

We used DSK Electric Inc. dskelectric@rogers.com. They did a great job and we are really happy with the work.

Shiny Old Tub

2009-10-17T20:32:00.001-04:00

When we started to demolish our bathroom back in the spring, we made the decision to save the original cast iron bathtub. It was in pretty rough shape, but we really liked the size and style of it.

A friend recommended a company called Toronto Tub & Tile Refinishing. They came on Friday refinish the tub, which took about three hours. We’re really happy with the result.

Before:

After:

Upstairs Bathroom Plans

2009-10-14T21:01:00.002-04:00

We’ve chosen all our finishes for the upstairs bathroom and work will be starting this week. In the shower, we replaced the octagon window and built a shelf into the wall. We decided to keep the original cast iron tub, so we’re having it refinished.

We both really like glass mosaic tiles, so we wanted to incorporate them into this bathroom. Here is the glass tile we chose:

Our plan is to tile the three walls surrounding the tub with 3x6” white subway tiles, with an accent strip of the glass mosaic tiles midway up the wall. The remaining walls will be painted gray. For the floors, we selected 2” hexagons in white carrara marble. Here is a rough idea of what we’re planning for the tiles:

The bathroom is pretty tiny and there wasn’t any way to change the layout to give us more space. To maximize our space, we searched for a small vanity that would give us a bit of counter space and storage, without sticking out too far into the middle of the bathroom. We finally found one we love from TUBS. It will allow us to avoid walking into a sharp corner when we enter the bathroom.

Stairs and Stuff

2009-10-10T20:22:00.001-04:00

Today, we continued sanding and priming. With the help of Marilyn and Cody, we got tackled the staircase. The plan for the stairs is:

paint the spindles and stair risers white
stain the banister, post and stair treads dark brown.

Since we’re hiring a flooring company to refinish the hardwood floors on the second storey, we will get them to do the staining on the stairs. We’re doing the painting ourselves.

We also did some work on the built-in linen closet in the upstairs hallway. We removed the hardware, sanded the drawers and door, and primed everything. We plan to paint it white and add some updated drawer pulls.

Here’s the closet before:

And here’s what we’ve done so far:

Prime Time

2009-10-09T21:01:00.001-04:00

After taking a bit longer than expected, the drywall is finally finished and we were able to start priming the walls. Thanks to Jim, Rob, Chris and Shawn for all your help. It’s finally starting to look like a real house!

The walls and ceilings are done. Tomorrow we’ll move onto the stairs and trim.

We Have Walls!

2009-09-30T20:04:00.001-04:00

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks as we’ve welcomed our new walls. The drywall was delivered and we got a bit of break while the contractors got to work.

After months of spending time in the house without any walls, it was hard to imagine what it would look like once the drywall was up. We were a little concerned that it would feel small and confined, but we are pleasantly surprised.

Here are some shots of the main floor and basement so far. The taper has a few more coats to do, but we’re hoping he’ll be finished next week.

While the work is being done, we’ve been busy selecting our tiles, hardwood and paint colours so that we’ll be ready for the next stage – the final finishes!

Kitchen Continues

2009-09-27T16:38:00.001-04:00

Production of our kitchen cabinets continues to move forward. We received some more photos this week and it looks like the doors and drawer fronts have been painted.

Over at the house, the drywall guys worked all week and finished hanging the drywall. The taper has started the taping and mudding, so things should be finished by the end of this week. It’s looking great so far!

The Final Push Before Drywall

2009-09-20T21:57:00.001-04:00

This past week has been filled with very long days (and nights!) as we’ve finished the final preparations for drywall. Thanks so much to everyone who came by to help – Rich, Pat, Steph, Marilyn and Marty. We couldn’t have got it all done without you!

Here’s a rundown of what we did:

We pulled communication wire (phone, internet and cable) throughout the house.

We had spray foam insulation installed on all the exposed exterior walls. This will allow us to claim the highest value of rebate through the government home energy programs. We used Frank’s Spray Foam Insulation.

We installed sound insulation between our house and the attached neighbours, as well as between the bedrooms.

The drywall is being delivered tomorrow and installation will start on Tuesday. It is expected to take about ten days for drywall and taping. Luckily, we’ve chosen to contract this work out, so we’ll be taking a break and getting ready for the next stage.

Fixing Creaky Floors

2009-09-17T21:16:00.001-04:00

As you may remember, we decided to keep the original hardwood floors on the second story. We covered them to keep them protected during the renovations and will get them sanded and re-stained before we move in.

The only downside to keeping the old floors is that there were a number of creaky spots. So, before installing the drywall on the main floor ceiling, we decided to do a bit of work to get rid of some of the squeaks.

One of Dave’s colleagues recommended using construction adhesive along each floor joist where it meets the subfloor (we used PL Premium adhesive). Since the ceilings were down, we were able to reach up and do this from below. It took some time, but was worth the effort.

Once it dried, it eliminated the majority of the creaky spots. It’s not a perfect fix, but it definitely helped a lot.

Getting Rid of the Green – Step One

2009-09-15T21:06:00.001-04:00

One thing we’ve been anxious to do since we bought the house is to get rid of the green paint around the front door. Unfortunately for those who need to look at it everyday, the interior renovations have had to take priority.

But, last week we had the roofers come by to add a new exhaust vent on the main roof. While they were there, we finally took the first step toward banishing the green and got them to replace the shingles and flashing over the front door. The old green shingles and bright green flashing were removed and replaced with black.

We don’t have a great “before” picture of the green shingles, but you can see the edge of the old flashing below:

And, here’s the new and improved black roof:

As soon as we get some time, we’ll repaint the rest of the area around the front door and the green will be gone for good!

What’s That Smell?

2009-09-14T21:31:00.001-04:00

We spent the weekend cleaning out the house and the garage to prepare for spray foam and drywall. Months of renovation scraps have piled up in the garage, so it was time to get rid of it all.

Tonight we borrowed a friend’s truck (thanks Phil!) so that we could take a couple of loads to the dump. This was Jen’s first (and last) trip to the dump.

There aren’t really words to describe the experience, so we’ll leave you with some images…

More Kitchen Progress

2009-09-12T20:18:00.001-04:00

We received some more progress pictures from the production of our kitchen cabinets. The drawers have been built and the cupboard doors are underway.

In the pictures below, you can see that the doors are constructed in five pieces – a center panel and four edge pieces.

Eventually, these piles of wood will look something like this (we hope!):

It’s good to see that things are coming along. In a little over a month, we should be seeing them in person!

We Passed!

2009-09-10T21:08:00.001-04:00

In the past week, we had all our required inspections. The City of Toronto came to do the structural, mechanical and plumbing rough-in inspection. The ESA came to inspect the electrical work. We passed them all! It feels pretty good to have reached this milestone.

Once we passed the inspections, we got busy building the bulkheads in the basement and strapping the stairwell so that we can finally start closing things in.

By the end of next week, we’ll have spray foam insulation applied and should be ready to start the drywall.

Kitchen Cabinet Production

2009-09-02T21:04:00.000-04:00

Today we received some photos from the factory where our kitchen cabinets are being made. It’s exciting to see them taking shape!

The Four Month Mark

2009-08-30T11:41:00.001-04:00

Yesterday marked four months since we took possession of our house. In some ways it feels like yesterday and in other ways it feels like we’ve been working on it for years! We were so excited on closing day. Not sure we realized how exhausting the whole renovation process would be!

Although there are times that it feels like things are moving really slowly, we’ve definitely had some major accomplishments in the past couple of weeks. The furnace and ductwork were installed…

…and the electricians have been busy rewiring our house and installing the new electrical panel. We’ve wired for an alarm system and Dave has started running wires for cable, phone and internet.

What’s next? We have some small things to finish up before the building inspections. Then on to the insulation and drywall stage.

Plumbing with PEX

2009-08-26T21:23:00.000-04:00

We've made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks on the plumbing, electrical and HVAC installation. The plumbing rough-in is just about finished.

We decided to to replace the existing plumbing and install new PEX piping. PEX is becoming more and more common because it has a number of advantages over copper.

Below is a picture of our hot and cold PEX manifold water distribution system. This system will help keep water pressure consistent, even when we're using multiple fixtures.

Bathroom Faucets

2009-08-23T14:47:00.000-04:00

We took a little break from working on the house this weekend to attend a couple of weddings. Congratulations Liane & Jesse and Sharon & Dave!

However, since the plumber is coming this week to install the shower valves, we had to choose our faucets. We decided to go with chrome for the upstairs bathroom, since we think it will look best with our planned white and gray colour scheme. For the downstairs bathroom, we've selected brushed nickel.

Upstairs Bathroom: Delta

We chose a single lever Delta sink faucet that will fit well in the small vanity that we need for our tiny bathroom. We went with a matching tub and shower faucet.

Downstairs Bathroom: Kohler

We really like the look of Kohler's Archer Suite. We bought the bath and shower faucet, but will wait until we've chosen a vanity before we decide whether we can get the 4" or 8" centre sink faucet.

The Kitchen Verdict

2009-08-20T21:00:00.001-04:00

Now, some of you may think we're a bit crazy, but this is the story of how we chose our kitchen (or how our kitchen chose us!)

One day, shortly after we took possession of the house, we arrived at the house to find a CD on our doorstep. On it was a name and phone number. We took it home to check it out on our computer and discovered that it was filled with pictures of kitchens. Since we were just in the early days of our renovation, we didn't really pay much attention to it.

A couple of weeks later, a guy named Robin stopped by the house and introduced himself to Dave. He is a kitchen designer and was the person who had dropped off the CD.

Then we hit July and it was time to look more seriously at kitchens. After looking at a number of kitchen options, including Ikea, Lowes and custom, we decided to call Robin to get a quote.

Robin produced very detailed drawings and measurements. He came up with great ideas and suggestions and delivered a very reasonable quote for a fully custom kitchen. The difference between his quote and other fully custom kitchens was significant and seemed to be too good to be true.

We were a little skeptical at this point and asked a lot of questions. Robin was very upfront and explained that all the cabinets are custom built in China and shipped here, which is how he keeps his costs low. We realized that many of the other large manufacturers also produce their kitchens in China. Robin showed us pictures of the factory and he had lots of samples of the products. We checked his references and he had really good recommendations.

So, we decided to go for it.

Here's the breakdown:

The layout will be similar to what we designed through the Ikea planner, but the cabinet sizes are customized to fit our space.

The island will house the sink and dishwasher, as well as a pull out drawer with built-in bins for garbage and recycling.

The back and side of the island will have decorative paneling that will match the cabinet doors.

A wall cabinet above the island will have glass doors so we can display our glassware.

The doors will be painted MDF in an antique white colour.

The drawers will be solid wood with dovetailed joints.

The cupboards will have Blum hinges and the drawers will be soft-close.

Here's the door style we selected:

We realize that we may be taking a bit of risk by not selecting one of the large, well-known kitchen companies, but after a lot of contemplation, we decided that the potential reward outweighs the risks.

Our new kitchen should arrive and be ready for installation in late October!

Moving on from the Ants

2009-08-16T20:55:00.000-04:00

Cain Pest Control came by this weekend to spray our house to get rid of the ants. The guy sprayed throughout the inside, as well as around the perimeter of the outside. We thought we had done a pretty good job of getting them with our vacuuming technique the other night, but as soon as he started spraying the cold storage room, hundreds more ants came out of the cracks.

We had to be out of the house for three hours after the spraying, but when we returned this morning, there didn't seem to be any live ants left. Thank goodness! Cain offers a 1-year guarantee, so we can call them if we see any more.

Once the ants were dealt with, we were able to move on to the more important things - like cleaning up and getting ready for the electricians to start their work. The house was a bit of a disaster, so we bought some storage bins to help us organize things.

Our unwelcome houseguests also distracted us from the exciting new additions that arrived this week. Our new octagon window was installed in the bathroom and our washer and dryer were delivered!

The Winner

2009-08-14T22:58:00.004-04:00

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Dave's colleague Jason competed on this year's Handyman Superstar Challenge on HGTV. Last night was the finale and Jason was the winner. Congratulations Jason! It was fun to watch.

Ants In Our Pant(ry)

2009-08-13T22:33:00.000-04:00

Today we learned that you can't go through a major renovation without finding something unexpected behind the walls. And we're not talking about horseshoes this time.

In our basement, underneath the front porch, is a cold storage room. It was one room that we had decided not to demolish since it looked pretty clean and could be used as is. But, throughout the last couple of weeks, Dave started noticing a weird sound coming from that room. It sort of sounded like a dripping or ticking sound. We checked to see if there were any signs of water, but it seemed dry.

This afternoon Dave decided to take a crow bar to one of the walls to see what was behind it. He was greeted with ants. Since we already had a bin in the driveway, we decided that it would be best to pull down the walls and ceiling to see what we were dealing with.

So, we armed ourselves with our heavy duty vacuum and started pulling down the walls. It's hard to describe what we encountered. We're not talking about a couple of ants. We're not even talking about hundreds of ants. There were thousands of ants.

The wood behind the walls was totally chewed up and covered with ants. As the little critters tried to escape from the room, we vacuumed them up. Our pictures don't show the worst of it because we were too busy chasing the ants to take photos! After about three hours, they finally started to slow down. Here's what the inside of our vacuum looked like when we were done:

We sealed off the room with a sheet of plastic and will call a pest control company tomorrow to come take a look. Luckily, the problem seems to be isolated to this one room. We had gutted the rest of the basement already and didn't see any signs of ants.

Bye Bye Bathroom

2009-08-05T20:06:00.002-04:00

Today we said goodbye to the upstairs bathroom. It was quite the challenge because all the old wall tiles were set in thick mortar with wire mesh. After a couple of swings with the sledge hammer, Dave decided that renting a demolition hammer was the only way to get the job done. Sadly, our bathroom is just as small without the tiles as it was before!

Good thing we have our shiny new basement bathroom, equipped with the Champion!

Nothing to Hear Here!

2009-08-03T20:22:00.004-04:00

Today we installed our sound barrier solution in the master bedroom. Since we don't want to lose too much space from the already tiny room, we decided to add some 2" sheets of polystyrene insulation to the wall that separates us from our neighbours. This product is meant for insulating basements, but we figured it would help provide some sound insulation.

The existing wall was plaster directly on cinder block, allowing no room for electrical boxes. By using the rigid insulation, we can now add electrical boxes to this wall. The drywall can be placed directly on top of it, which means we'll only lose about 2 1/2" of space from our room.

We plan to put this in the second bedroom as well, since it also shares a long wall with the neighbours. It's hard to judge how well it will work because the house is empty and echo-y, but hopefully it will provide a bit of a sound barrier when it's all done.

Kitchen Design: Take Two

2009-08-03T10:38:00.001-04:00

After looking at Ikea kitchens last weekend, we decided to do some comparison shopping. When we were at Lowes last week to check out the toilets, we saw some of the sample kitchens and really liked some of the off-white cabinet doors. We hit up Lowe's this weekend to check out their kitchen options. A sunny Sunday on a long weekend seemed to be a better time to shop for kitchens and we didn't have to wait to speak with a kitchen planner!

We really liked the KraftMaid line. While it was more expensive than Ikea, there were more options for cabinet sizes, making it seem more like a custom kitchen. We loved the painted maple doors (in Canvas, a creamy white colour), but unfortunately they are a bit out of our price range. A good alternative is the thermofoil door (MDF with a laminate coating), which is less expensive, but still available in a nice cream colour. The KraftMaid cabinets also come with the soft close hinges and full -extension drawers, which are things we really want.

The biggest downside of the Lowes kitchens? The timelines. With the Ikea kitchens, they have everything in stock so they will be ready whenever we are. With Lowes, the kitchen installer won't come to measure the space until after the drywall is up. Then, it will take 4-6 weeks for the cabinets to arrive. After that, we'll still need to get a countertop installed. Given that we aren't sure when we'll be ready to drywall, it's really hard to estimate when the kitchen could be complete.

We're going to check out a few more options before we make our final choice.

The Champion

2009-08-01T09:29:00.007-04:00

Before we begin ripping out the old bathroom upstairs, we wanted to install a toilet in the new basement bathroom. Once the basement plumbing was ready, we went toilet shopping.

One would assume that choosing a toilet would be a fairly simple task. A toilet is a toilet, right? Well, as it turns out, men and women have very different preferences.

Lucky for us, we need two. So, we decided that Dave gets to pick the basement toilet and Jen gets to pick the upstairs toilet.

This week we installed Dave's choice - the Champion 4 by American Standard. According to a press release, it's "a tower of power" and the box says it can flush a bucket of golf balls. It is pretty obvious why this toilet appeals to men!

Stay tuned for Jen's choice...

Washer and Dryer

2009-07-28T21:49:00.007-04:00

Today we ordered our new washer and dryer from the Maytag Store . Our basement stairwell is super-narrow, so we need to get them delivered before the walls go back up. Once they're in, they likely aren't coming back out, so hopefully these will last us a very long time!

We decided to go for the high-efficiency front load washer and dryer combo. We will be able to claim a rebate through the City of Toronto's residential washer program.

Kitchen Design

2009-07-26T10:24:00.006-04:00

We went to Ikea this weekend to talk to a kitchen planner. (Some advice: DO NOT try to talk to a kitchen planner on a rainy Saturday afternoon. We waited for hours!) We had already spent a lot of time using their 3D planner program to lay out what we wanted, but we had a few questions.

Our basic plan for the kitchen is this:

Place fridge and stove/microwave along the outside wall, with the majority of the cabinet space.

Add an island (approximately 6' long and 3'wide) under the new beam, between the kitchen window and the dining room door.

Place the sink and dishwasher in the island.

Add a small cabinet with glass doors above the island, on the back wall.

Add a tall, built-in pantry to the space across from the fridge.

There are still a few things to figure out before we make the final decision about going the Ikea route. If you have any ideas/suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

Closet Space

2009-07-21T18:28:00.001-04:00

One would think that moving from a condo to a house would give us more storage space. However, that doesn't seem to be the case! The bedroom closets were especially small, causing Jen some serious stress. While it was clear that there would not be room for the walk-in closet we were used to, we had to do something to make some more storage space.

In the master bedroom, we were able to expand the closet a bit by taking some space from the closet in the second bedroom. By opening up the wall, we were able to make the door a bit wider as well. The only question remaining: where is Dave going to put his clothes???

Basement Bathroom Plumbing

2009-07-19T11:15:00.002-04:00

We plan to add a second bathroom in the basement. It will be located where the original laundry room was - right behind the stairs. Here are some shots of the plumbing work that's been done so far. The basement framing will start this week.

Handyman Superstar Challenge

2009-07-14T20:26:00.001-04:00

We've both always enjoyed watching the real estate, renovation and DIY shows on HGTV. So, we were especially excited to learn that one of Dave's firefighting colleagues, Jason Best, would be a contestant on Handyman Superstar Challenge. So far, Jason is doing great. Check it out if you get a chance!

A History Lesson

2009-07-12T13:08:00.011-04:00

Our demolition revealed yet another interesting thing hidden behind the walls. Where the bricks were parged behind the kitchen cabinets, someone drew the symbol of the hammer and sickle into the concrete.

We know that the hammer and sickle appeared on the flag of the former Soviet Union and is known as a symbol of communism. According to Wikipedia "the two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat the peasantry; placing them together symbolizes the unity between industrial and agricultural workers."

Knowing that our house was built in 1941, we did a bit of research and learned about a World War II battle called Operation Barbarossa:

Germany adhered to their non-aggression pact with Russia for the first two years of WWII. Once the Nazis withdrew from the Battle of Britain, however, their attention turned to the East. At 04:00 hours, on June 22nd 1941, Adolf Hitler launched the greatest land-air attack in the history of war – Operation Barbarossa. The assault comprised of 3 million troops, 3,500 tanks, and 1,800 aircraft...

...This gruelling war of attrition ground on until July 1943, when Germany was finally beaten. Ambitious from the start, Operation Barbarossa’s failure marked a downturn for the Nazi’s fortunes. But Russia’s victory came at a massive price. Up to 28 million Russians perished during WWII - most of them during this brutal chapter.

What's the story behind this symbol in our house? Who knows? But, it's interesting to learn something new!

Progress!

2009-07-11T14:58:00.010-04:00

Things really started progressing this week. It's great to finally see new things added to our house instead of just old things being taken away!

The most recent progress includes:

removal of the old dining room window, replacing it with a sliding door

bricking up of the side kitchen window to create more space for upper cabinets

new basement windows, including a frosted window in the new bathroom

a new frosted window at the top of the stairs (in the second floor hallway)

bricking up of the old milkbox/mailbox

repointing/touching up of the crumbled brick on the front porch

Mailbox

Kitchen window

Sliding door

We used Online Windows for our windows and door. Red Robin Home Solutions did the brick work.

With the windows done, Dave was able to complete most of the framing on the main floor.

Gas Meter

2009-07-05T17:28:00.000-04:00

Enbridge came to install our new gas meter, which meant our poor front lawn had to be dug up again. But, they installed it nice and low. So, with some more landscaping, hopefully it won't be too much of an eyesore.

New Mailbox

2009-07-04T17:36:00.003-04:00

Today we took on a pretty simple task - installing a new mailbox. The mason is coming next week to cut out the opening for our new sliding door in the back and to brick up our side kitchen window. He'll also be bricking up the old mailbox.

Before:

After:

Beam Installed

2009-06-29T17:49:00.006-04:00

Once the concrete footing was dry, we were able to move forward with taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Jerry and Rich came by to help Dave with the work. First, they installed two temporary walls to hold up the floor joists while the wall was removed.

They installed a post in the basement (on top of the new footing), removed the old load bearing wall and put the new beam up in its place.

Here's what our "open concept" main floor looks like now!

Concrete Footing

2009-06-21T10:32:00.009-04:00

Our drawings called for a 36"x36"x18" footing for the post, which will allow us to take down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. We dug the hole and had it inspected last week. The hole needed to be filled with concrete before the post could be installed, so that was our big project this weekend.

We rented a cement mixer from Home Depot and set it up in our back yard. We built a shoot so that we could pour the concrete through the back window into the hole.

Our initial estimate was that we would need 27 bags of concrete to fill the hole. We were pretty close - it took 29! Thanks to Krissy and Kevin for coming by to help.

Boiler Removal

2009-06-18T18:09:00.006-04:00

The big old boiler and rad pipes are finally gone! Thanks to Stu and Phil for helping out. The boiler came apart into pieces which made it easier to remove, although one section weighed over 200 pounds!

Appliances

2009-06-14T15:29:00.001-04:00

We did our research and finally settled on which appliances we want for the kitchen. We decided to order them now so that they're ready for delivery when our kitchen is done. The Brick gave us a great deal. Here's what we picked:

Frigidaire side-by-side stainless steel refrigerator

Frigidaire built-in stainless steel dishwasher

Frigidaire slide-in dual fuel range

Panasonic stainless steel over-the-range microwave.

The Last of the Demolition

2009-06-13T14:55:00.004-04:00

The demolition work is finally winding down, with the last few areas finished this week.

After making our final decision about the second floor, we gutted the smallest of the three bedrooms. We removed the trim from the other two and opened up the closet wall between them. Now we can make the closet in the master bedroom a bit larger. It still won't be the walk-in closet that we're used to in the condo, but it's something...

To finish up the main floor, we pulled up the old hardwood and removed the front hall closet.

Our Good Luck Charms

2009-06-10T21:22:00.005-04:00

While removing some old wiring in the basement, Dave came across two horseshoes. They were stuck up in the ceiling, above the beam. We don't generally consider ourselves to be superstitious people, but something told us that we should probably leave them there! Here's what we've learned about horseshoes in houses:

The horseshoe is considered very lucky and used to be hung in many homes to protect and attract good fortune for the family residing inside. As with many superstitions, there are contradictions to be found with the beliefs associated with the horseshoe. For instance, many believe that to hang it with the ends pointing upwards is good luck as it acts as a storage container of sorts for any good luck that happens to be floating by, whereas to hang it with the ends pointing down, is bad luck as all the good luck will fall out. Others believe that no matter which way you hang the horseshoe, good luck will come. According to this superstition, the ends-pointing-down display simply means that the good luck is able to flow out and surround the home.

Water Service

2009-06-08T18:14:00.000-04:00

Something we knew we needed to do right away was upgrade our water service. Several years ago, the City of Toronto had replaced the city-owned portion of the pipes but the previous homeowner had opted against replacing the private side of the service line. We hired Anta Plumbing to do the upgrade for us. Our front lawn and part of our basement had to be dug up, but better now than once basement is finished!

We decided to get some drain work done at the same time. We should be able to get a rebate through the City of Toronto's drain grant program.

Cedars

2009-06-07T14:41:00.000-04:00

Marty and Marilyn came over to plant the cedars this weekend. We planted 19 of them along the back fence line. Although they will fill in a lot, they look great already. The back yard has really come a long way!

Our neighbours have been doing a lot of work on their backyard as well. They've ripped out their yard and are putting in new grass. This weekend, they pulled out the(very weedy!) garden that ran along the property line.

Oil Tank Gone!

2009-06-06T16:11:00.004-04:00

A friend of Dave's wanted our oil and oil tank for his place, so he came this week to help take it out. Here's the before and after:

The Results Are In!

2009-06-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who voted in our poll. The race was very close! We continued to flip flop on the decision throughout, but we think we've finally come up with a solution for the upstairs bedrooms.

We think that this plan will allow us achieve most of what we hoped for, while causing minimal damage to the exisitng floors. While the "leave as is" option won out in our poll, we've come up with a plan that is a bit of a combination. We'll call this "partial gut."

Here's what we're thinking:

Master Bedroom

Add "foamed in" insulation with minimal damage to exterior wall
Leave the adjoining bathroom wall as is
Add sound insulation to the party wall
Gut the wall that is shared with the second bedroom to gain more closet space

Second Bedroom

Add "foamed in" insulation with minimal damage to exterior wall
Add sound insulation to the party wall
Steal about 12" from the closet to add to master closet

Third Bedroom

Gut the entire room (this room has two exterior walls, so it makes the most sense to gut it completely)
Drywall the ceiling (this has been done in the two bedrooms already)
Insulate the two exterior walls with spray foam

After doing some research and talking to lots of people, we think that this plan will work best for us. It will be less work (and less messy) than completely gutting the bedrooms. We'll still be able to insulate the exterior walls, as well as get some sound insulation between our house and the neighbours.

Permits!

2009-05-31T21:17:00.007-04:00

We got our final plans from the designer (Brendon Eatley, Eatley Drafting & Design) last week. This meant that we could go ahead and get our building permits. Dave went to the City of Toronto permit office on Friday and waited for a couple of hours. They call this the "Fast Track" service!

Finally, he came away with our structural, drainage and plumbing permits. Now we're all ready to go!

On to the Backyard

2009-05-31T20:33:00.007-04:00

Our plans to plant cedars along the back fenceline meant that we needed to clear some room for them. On closer inspection of the existing back garden, we found a bunch of stumps left behind from some bushes that must have been cut down before we bought the house.

Marilyn and Marty came over this weekend to help clear everything out. Between the stumps and the weeds it was quite a big job so we really appreciated their help!

Once we got everything out, we dug a big trench to prepare for planting the cedars.

Here's what the back looks like now, with everything removed. The cedars will definitely help give us some privacy from the rear neighbours.

We also cleared all the weeds from the side of the yard, behind the garage. We know our neighbour plans to do some yard work this summer, so we'll wait and see what he wants to do before we do any more work on this side.

Yard Work!

2009-05-24T19:32:00.006-04:00

This was such a beautiful weekend, so we decided to do some work outdoors. With the help of Steph and Lindsay (thanks girls!) we pulled out some of the bushes in the front garden to clear the way for the gas meter.

It looks a little bare right now, but once the gas meter is installed, we will plant some flowers to give the front some colour.

While the girls were working in the front yard, Dave spent some time in the back, removing the fence. Our neighbours also spent the weekend clearing out they're backyard .

Lots of people have been asking about what we've decided to do to the rooms upstairs. We're making a final decision this week and will post about it soon.

8 Firefighters, 1 Day

2009-05-11T20:54:00.006-04:00

Today was a big day. A bunch of Dave's colleagues pitched in to help with the majority of the demolition. In just one day, they managed to completely gut the main floor and basement. Thanks to Stu, Phil, Rob, Colin, Ron, Mark and Shawn!

Here are some shots from today: