
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Back to Work

Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Water Supply Line Replaced
Friday, October 29, 2010
Inspiration for Wall of Sliding Doors
One idea I had was inspired by the Five Doors North restaurant located on Yonge Street not far from our house. I think an eclectic collection of doors painted in different colours would look great, but would it be possible to build this into the rest of the basement design? Would it be too clown/kid looking?
We could keep with the same door theme, but paint them a more muted colour (shades of gray?). Mirror doors are another thought, and they would probably make the basement seem bigger, but I worry about them getting broken by toys, or constantly being covered in kid hand prints. This is probably something that I will make myself, preferably using reclaimed materials, so the options are almost endless.
Source: Logan Square Kitchen
Source: Spazzi
Source: Gliding Door Company
Source: Momento Italia
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Lead Testing Results
- 1 ppb: Typical lead concentration for water leaving a Toronto water treatment plant
- 10 ppb: Maximum lead concentration for drinking water in Canada (consistent with WHO and USA)
- 15 ppb: EPA action level for lead concentration in drinking water
- 32 ppb: Our unfiltered tap water
- 50 ppb: Pre-1992 maximum lead concentration for drinking water in Canada
The good news: this means that our supply line will be replaced (and upgraded to 3/4" copper) by the City on a priority basis; the work will be completed in the next 6-8 weeks, as opposed to the previous schedule of "sometime in the next 9 years".
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Basement Layout Version 7

Monday, October 18, 2010
Bowling Alley Furniture
Source: inhabitat
Source: Retro Renovation
Source: Design Crave
Source: counterevolution
Friday, October 15, 2010
Blog Action Day - Water
She posted this great video that highlights the many faults of bottled water. Additional information can be found at Inside the Bottle. The City of Toronto has banned the sale of plastic water bottles on municipal premises starting in 2011 (similar bans have been passed/implemented for other cities and university campuses).
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Ice Dam Refresher

How do you prevent ice dams?
- Seal air leaks in your attic.
- Increase your attic insulation (this depends on your climate zone, but for us the target is R-50).
- Improve ventilation between the insulation and roof sheathing.
- Cover the roof sheathing (i.e. underneath shingles) with rubberized membrane underlayment.
It is important to note that the first two steps (air sealing and insulation) will also help with the energy efficiency of your home. The third step (ventilation) might help with ice damming if your air sealing and insulation is not sufficient. The fourth step (ice and water shield) will do nothing to prevent ice damming, but will help to prevent water leakage caused by the ice dam.
If none of these options are available to you at this time, you can attach electrical cables to melt the snow/ice on the bottom portion of the roof, or use salt (which would need to be regularly replenished) to melt ice dams.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
New Basement Layout?

- We removed the wall separating the bedroom and family room. We will probably put the "family room" at the back of the house, and we will get a comfy pull-out couch that guests can use when staying with us.
- We have changed the front of the house into a play area (i.e. play table, toys, toys, toys).
- We removed the laundry/furnace room, and are planning to hide those appliances with a series of sliding doors instead.
- In order to help with storage, we have added a linen closet in the bathroom, and some built-in wardrobes in the front of the house.
- The area underneath the stairs will be 1) left open, 2) used for storage, or 3) used for a playhouse.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Leaning Mirrors



Thursday, October 7, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
What To Do Underneath the Stairs?




Saturday, October 2, 2010
I Love Boathouses
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Decorating to Increase Visual Space
1) Flatten the Ceiling - We will remove as many bulkheads as possible, and move the remaining bulkheads to the walls where possible. We will use pot lights throughout the basement, and probably hang the bathroom vanity lights on the wall on both sides of the mirror. We obviously will not install crown moulding. I have read differing opinions for the ceiling paint (i.e. matte versus glossy), so will probably just stick with matte there.
2) Light Colours - We will probably use light/bright colours throughout the basement.
3) Vertical Stripes - We really are not stripe people or wallpaper people, but I have seen some rooms with stripes that look pretty good. This might work for us, but I'm not totally sold that it would help with visual height of the ceiling.
Source: The Lennox

Source: Domino Mag
4) High Wainscoting - I would like to use wainscoting in the basement bathroom, so we may do tall (i.e. higher than chair rail) wainscotting as part of a white bathroom.
Source: Hampton Design via Rambling Renovators
5) Ensuite Bathroom - We had planned to make the bathroom accessible through the bedroom for space reasons, but we are now thinking of using this "ensuite" concept to add space to the rooms as well. By coordinating colours (same colour for walls?) and cabinetry (matching built-in bedroom wardrobes to bathroom vanity?), we hope to make the two rooms blend into one. I hope to even have a double-door entry into the bathroom, but space constraints may not allow this.
6) Add Height to Windows - Our basement windows are quite large, and we actually increased the height of two windows while replacing them. We might try to enhance this further with window treatments.
7) Tall Furniture - The built-in wardrobes in the bedroom will be floor-to-ceiling with narrow doors. We will also lean towards thin, tall furniture when looking for a media unit for the family room, dresser for the bedroom, etc.
Any other ideas? Any thoughts on what is truly effective in making a ceiling look taller (#1 goal) and space feel bigger (#2 goal)?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
EnerGuide Rating
For perspective, here are the ratings provided online for various types of houses:
- New house built to building code standards: 65-72
- New house with some energy-efficiency improvements: 73-79
- Energy-efficient new house: 80-90
- House requiring little or no purchased energy: 91-100
We plan to make some more improvements to our home that should help with energy efficiency (i.e. vapour barrier and drywall in basement and sunroom, new front and side doors), so in the end our house should be somewhere in the mid-70s according to this scale (the target number for our style of house is 74).
Mudroom Inpiration
Source: http://thegatheringplacedesign.blogspot.com
This space has a nice clean look, but I think we need more storage than this (i.e. cubbies above the hooks). I think it would be great if we could make it so that shoes/boots can just slide underneath the bench. We have hardwood floors though, so winter boots might be an issue (but they would be an issue for cubbies too, right?).
Source: http://blog.connorbuilding.com
V-groove panelling appears to be popular in mudrooms (see Chris K's current project for another example). I think the door is my favourite part of this room though.
Source: http://www.benchmarkcustominteriors.com
I saved this photo over two years ago and still like the look, but the dividers between the "lockers" would reduce the size of the space a bit, and the wood for the cubbies could be a bit thicker.
Source: http://integritycustom.blogspot.com
Sidenote: I love this last guy's work (wish he posted to his blog more); the bay window seat from this blog also served as inspiration for the back portion of Mackenzie's window seat (there is additional storage underneath the bench behind the cubbies).
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Cost for New Drains and Basement Floor
- $54,000 - A general contractor provided this quote for breaking up the floor, underpinning, replacing the drains (including new bathroom), installing interior waterproofing, and pouring a new floor.
- $38,000 - A drain/concrete/underpinning specialist provided this quote for the same work described above. This contractor actually seemed much more knowledgeable and experienced with this type of work.
- $14,500 - A waterproofing company quoted this for breaking up the floor, installing interior waterproofing, and pouring a new floor (i.e. no drain wnrk).
- $8,800 - A general contractor quoted this for replacing the drains, installing interior waterproofing, and pouring a new floor (i.e. we break up floor).
- $6,800 - A concrete guy quoted this for breaking up the concrete floor, removing the necessary depth of dirt, and pouring a new concrete floor (i.e. no drain work or internal waterproofing).
- $5,600 - Six months later, the same concrete guy provided this quote to just lay gravel and pour a new concrete floor, so apparently breaking up the floor and removing the dirt was only worth $1,200.
- $3,800 - Quote provided by general contractor from the third bullet for just laying gravel and pouring a new concrete floor. This means that $5,000 of his $8,800 price above was for the drains and internal waterproofing.
- $2,600 - Price to get the plumber to do all drain work (i.e. replace old drains, rough-in the basement bathroom).
- $1,400 - Price to get concrete finisher to pour a new concrete floor (i.e. we do gravel work).
- Breaking up and removing concrete floor: $300 for dumpster, 10 hours of labour
- Removing dirt: $300 for dumpster, 20 hours of labour
- Drains: $2,600 for plumber, 0 hours of labour
- Waterproofing: $250 for materials, 10 hours of labour
- Gravel: $460 for 8 yards, 6 hours of labour
- Concrete floor: $525 for concrete, $1400 for finishers, 0 hours of labour
- Total: $5,835, 46 hours of labour
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Basement Phase 5: Framing and Insulation
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Basement Phase 4: Weeping Tile and Gravel

