Category Archives: Home Inspection Information

Toronto Homes Have Lower Radon Risk: Health Canada

Posted on December 3, 2010 | 1 Comment

If you’re about to put your home on the market, having  proof a radon inspection might be a wise investment.

Radon is a toxic gas that is kind of like asbestos and mold’s ugly cousin. Homeowners hear about it once in a while, but it’s not usually in the media spotlight. It can be just as dangerous, although Ontario homeowners face a lower risk than homeowners in other provinces.

A new survey conducted by Health Canada has found elevated radon levels (levels above the safe level set by the federal government) in only 4.9 per cent of Ontario homes, compared with extremely high numbers in other provinces, such as 23.5 per cent in Manitoba.

While Ontario and Nova Scotia traditionally have more elevated levels of radon because of their soil make-up, Ontario and Nova Scotia homes had surprisingly fewer homes with high radon levels when compared to provinces like New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Radon is a radioactive gas that is released as naturally-occuring uranium decays in the soil. While it is outside all around us, it becomes dangerous when it builds up in confined spaces – like a home. A media release from Health Canada calling for homeowners to test their homes for radon comes before the survey is even completed.

“The first year results of this survey reinforce how important it is for Canadians to test their homes,” said the press release.

Long-term exposure to radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in Canadians after smoking. Homeowners can undergo a radon inspection, or purchase do-it-yourself kits from big box home improvement stores. These testing kits are usually left out for a few months in the lower levels of a home, after which the results can be read or sent off to a lab for further analysis. Radon problems are also often easy to fix and usually involve properly sealing foundation cracks or water wells so that radon can’t continue to creep up into the home.

If you’re buying a home, a radon inspection should be a part of your itinerary. Homeowners who are planning on selling their home can also show potential buyers proof of a radon inspection, which is a good idea to have on hand as radon gains more awareness.

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What To Do When A Home Is Damaged Between Signing And Closing

Posted on August 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

By Heather Rose

You’ve toured the house one last time before closing, arranged your finances, made moving arrangements and are all ready to close the deal and begin a new chapter of your life in a new home. Normally, home buyers wait a couple of months between signing the contract on a new home and when they are expected to take possession of the home, meaning physically move into the home.

While that time period shouldn’t be thought of as two months for something to go wrong, what is a home buyer to do if they find that, between the signing of the contract and closing, their new home has become damaged? A hole in the wall, scraped-up floors or a stained carpet – it could be anything – that definitely wasn’t there when you signed the contract.

In cases like this, the seller is at fault because the buyer signed the contract agreeing to purchase the house “as is”, but “as is” at the time of signing – not for the foreseeable future.

One problem with this situation is that it can be hard to prove the damage wasn’t there initially. A thorough inspection of the home if one way to avoid this issue, and this inspection can include photographs and the moving around of larger furniture that could be concealing any damage. Once that checks out, you’ll at least have some ammunition to help prove your case. This type of inspection and permission to do so can be added to the contract.

Quite often, in situations such as this, the only recourse for the buyer is through legal channels such as your lawyer or small claims court.

Other more significant issues can arise between signing and closing, like a fire that causes substantial damage. If the home is uninhabitable or trashed, the buyer can cancel and walk away or use the seller’s insurance money. If the damage is just costly, the buyer can claim for the cost of repairs.  Each situation is different and it is important to involve your legal counsel in these types of situations.

Heather Rose is a Toronto based Journalist, who is a regular contributor to the Muddy York Real Estate Blog.  Heather website is located at heatherroseportfolio.squarespace.com.

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Worst First-Time Buyer Mistakes

Posted on August 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

In the rush to become homeowners, some first-time buyers are skipping the pleasantries and plunging in head-first. Avoid these mistakes to save headaches later.

Not looking ahead

All you have to do is spend a day sitting around on your parents’ porch to hear all about how their neighbourhood has gone downhill. You might move out to the country and have a local farmers’ beautiful horses running wild just beyond a wire fence, who cheerfully come up to the fence to eat the carrots you offer them. In five years, that field could be a house with an owner who has a special affinity for garden “art”, outdoor knick-knacks, car parts and garden gnomes. Look towards the future of your neighbourhood, proposed developments, zoning laws, plans for any vast open spaces and any potential changes to your street.

Compromising a bit too much

Compromising is good, but not on the things that are most important. You’ll might always have to compromise when it comes to a resale home (the home with the in-ground pool or the home with the sunroom?). However, don’t purchase that perfect single bedroom home while you intend to have children in the future.

Not hiring a real estate agent

A real estate agent will set you up for success, but you can’t win if you don’t play. Realtors have the knowledge to get your current home sold while they help you find the home of your dreams. Some buyers decide to work with the seller’s agent only, but these agents are ethically bound to work for both the seller’s and buyer’s best interest, which might not bode as well for a buyer.

Not getting a home inspection

Even with all the press the consequences of not inspecting are getting, people are still failing to go through with a home inspection. While it’s tempting to close and become a homeowner for the first-time, your dream first home shouldn’t be a nightmare. It’s worth it, even just for peace of mind.

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When getting ready to sell, where do you start?

Posted on July 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

If you’re thinking of selling your home in the near future, now is the time to perform some upkeep on the house before the real staging begins.

Check your Curb Appeal
Well in advance is when you can start on checking your curb appeal. This gives you enough time to make any repairs to the exterior of the home, fix bald spots on the lawn, repave the driveway and ensure your garden is attractive and welcoming. Curb appeal makes that important first impression, so it should be first on the list.

Walls and Roof
How do the walls and roof look from the outside? A pair of binoculars might help you spot damage that might be otherwise difficult to see. If these aren’t spotted and fixed, a buyer’s home inspection might catch them.

Basement and Garage
The basement and garage will also be on a home inspector’s list. The garage may just need a deep clean and de-clutter, but it will save you from having to do it later when you’re busy prepping your home for open houses. The basement is the most important of these two because of the structural foundation it provides a home. Any cracks or leaks should be repaired immediately.   Home inspections for sellers are always an option to consider. If it’s in your budget, an inspection can help you spot and fix problems before a buyer’s home inspection catches them, making the whole process go that much more smoothly – and quickly.

The Canadian Homeowner’s Inspection Checklist is available from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for $19.95 on their website, and offers information and solutions on what to check for periodically in and around your home. This guidance can prove especially useful if you intend to sell in the near future.

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Thoughts on Home Inspections

Posted on July 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

By Heather Rose

A thorough home inspection might require a little boldness on the buyer’s part, touring someone else’s home can be an interesting experience. Most prospective buyers may not feel comfortable moving items or putting certain appliances through a test-run, but it can save you a few headaches later on.

Home inspections are generally not invasive, meaning the inspector may not move items around or look under, behind or around furniture. While he’s looking for hidden defects, meaning latent defects that you can’t see, you can be looking for visible defects that may be hidden.

The latent defects, like faulty wiring, mold and leaky pipes are defects that the seller must disclose to you under Canadian law, unless they can prove they had no idea about them in the first place. Patent defects are the trickier ones. These are defects you can see, and include stains or something that is broken. No one has to mention these to you.

However, there are cases when buyers have gone through with transactions after doing everything the right away by getting a home inspection, only to find very obvious signs that the sellers had hidden visible defects by moving objects around to conceal them. By purchasing the house, you may basically accept the home in this condition without even knowing it.

So protecting yourself is left up to you, and it might require some boldness. But it’s much better to feel awkwardly nosy than to pay out the nose later.

Don’t hesitate to try all of the light switches, open windows, turn on the showers, flush toilets and run appliances if possible.

Talk to your future neighbours about any basement floods or septic tank issues they may recall to gain an idea of what you’re getting into. When a neighbour’s septic tank backs up, everyone seems to know about it.

Ask the sellers about leaks, water issues, large repairs and the indoor air quality testing history of the home. Don’t forget to ask for proof of repairs if any.

Fully inspect the floors, walls and carpets yourself. This may require moving furniture around or peeling back area rugs.

Now, I’m not advocating such behaviour during something like an open house. But if you’re committed enough to be undergoing a home inspection, it’s wise to protect yourself.

Heather Rose is a Toronto based Journalist, who is a regular contributor to the Muddy York Real Estate Blog.  Heather website is located at heatherroseportfolio.squarespace.com.

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Home Inspection – include or exclude?

Posted on July 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

No matter how hot the market is, how much prices are fluctuating or whether or not it’s your dream home on the line, you should seriously consider the implications of purchasing a house without a proper home inspection.

A sellers’ property information statement may be offered at some point during the sale, generally provided by the sellers and could disclose some issues with the home. But this may not entirely be a good thing as one Ontario couple found out.

The Toronto Star reported recently on a couple who bought a home and signed a sellers’ property information statement that had disclosed the sellers had extensively renovated the house without taking out any permits.

The real estate market was super heated, and the pressure was on. The couple submitted an unconditional offer and removed their home inspection clause – against their agent’s advice – only getting a professional home inspector involved once all was said and done. In this case, the sellers’ property information statement which protected the sellers much more than the buyers because it cost this couple more than $85,000 to bring the home up to code before they sued the sellers.

According to the Star, the trial lasted 10 days this past winter and may have cost upwards of $100,000 when considering legal fees and court costs.

The general rule when buying a house with defects is that the seller should mention anything hidden – mold, prone to leakiness or anything else not obvious to the naked eye, but doesn’t have to mention anything visible and obvious.

However, the judge in this cased used a ruling from an Ontario court case over 30 years old in which to base his decision: these hidden defects only need to be mentioned if the defects pose a health risk or safety hazard, making the house dangerous to live in. Otherwise, the house is considered bought as is. The buyers’ case was thrown out, because they had signed the sellers’ property information statement and not done a home inspection on their own before buying.

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Maximize your Air Conditioner

Posted on June 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

By Heather Rose

If you haven’t already melted into a puddle, you may have noticed that the City of Toronto has received its first (of many) heat advisory warnings for the season. A day later, the media reported significant power failures in the west end of the city, placing the blame squarely on people using more energy via their air conditioners.

Toronto homeowners desperately want to go green, but the temptation of an air conditioned home can be too great, especially in weather like this. There are a few ways you can maximize you air conditioner’s potential without straining your energy bills.

First, install a programmable thermostat. By using the pre-programmable settings, you can make it so that the air conditioner keeps your home cool when it’s most needed – on weekends, when you’re home, or in evenings when you’re cooking and at night when you’re sleeping. When you’re at work, the thermostat keeps the air conditioner – and home energy use – lower.

Optimize your ceiling fan by setting it for summer. All that’s required is a simple change in the spinning direction to make the cool air blow downward, better circulating it through the room and keeping you cool for as much energy as a 100-watt lightbulb. This only works when you’re in the room, making you feel cooler via a wind-chill effect.

Ensure your home is effectively sealed by making sure that your windows and doors aren’t letting in air, and close off any rooms that aren’t often in use, such as guest bedrooms, powder rooms or studies. This will prevent the cooled air from being wasted and you having to turn the air conditioning higher to compensate. Shading window air conditioning units or the compressor box for central air systems can also help use up to 10 per cent less energy than those operating in full sun, according to the Weather Network.

Heather Rose is a Toronto based Journalist, who is a regular contributor to the Muddy York Real Estate Blog.  Heather website is located at heatherroseportfolio.squarespace.com.

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Do Toronto homeowners have to worry about their exterior stucco or EIFS?

Posted on June 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

Many homeowners may be a bit concerned if their home is clad with EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finishing Systems), also called synthetic stucco and sometimes exterior stucco.

EIFS is extremely common on newer homes and condominium buildings, and is a favourite for green builders because it offers extra insulating properties while being aesthetically pleasing at the same time. EIFS is a system rather than a single product, and is composed of three layers: an insulating expanded polystyrene foam, a flexible high-resin base coat in which a fiberglass meshing is embedded, and a final textured finishing top coat. If you’re unsure which one your home has, knock on it. Stucco will feel hard and sound solid, while EIFS will sound hollow when knocked on and feel slightly softer or have some “give” to it when pushed upon.

There have been quite a few EIFS horror stories in the news lately about entire condominium developments as well as new homes that were severely damaged because of moisture intrusion, which resulted in mold problems. The use of EIFS is becoming more common, and the potential problems are worrying some homeowners because any moisture intrusion problems are impossible to see until it’s too late.

Like any wall-cladding material, EIFS is designed to shed water effectively. There is also drainage EIFS available, which has a separate back compartment to allow any water to drain through the bottom instead of penetrating the wall, however building codes in the GTA are lax about requiring it. In some areas, it’s mandatory and in others, it’s not, and building codes are slow to catch up. However, drainage EIFS might not help much if the system is installed improperly, which is the cause of 99 per cent of all EIFS leaks.

EIFS may leak if:
•    It’s installed below or at grade. If the EIFS is touching the ground or is partially underground, it’s been installed improperly and has likely already voided the manufacturer’s warranty. When EIFS touches the ground, moisture and bugs can get into the home very easily through the foam core. Most EIFS homes should have a stone or brick base, with EIFS at least eight inches away from the ground. No matter how much the homeowner begs and pleads to have the EIFS touching the ground, installers are not supposed to do it.

•    It’s a mishmash of different manufacturer’s components. EIFS is designed as a system and while all sorts of manufacturers produce all three layers that are purchased separately and put together on-site, it voids the warranty to mix one component from one manufacturer with that of another.

•    It’s not sealed properly. EIFS does not allow water in generally, and water can only penetrate it at the joints. These can be joints between the pieces of foam board, at windows and doors, near vents, or at corners.

All of these voided warranties can also leave little recourse for the homeowner – it’s not the manufacturer’s problem, and the homeowner must go after the installer.

EIFS is a great product, it insulates your home and looks phenomenal. But it’s important that homeowners do their research on companies installing it beforehand, or have it inspected if it comes already installed on a home that is being purchased.

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Low-flow toilet proposal might squash even more Ontario home renovation rebates

Posted on April 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

Toronto is just one of the handful of Ontario municipalities offering a rebate for homeowners who’ll install a water-conserving toilet this year, but a new proposal from the Premier’s office is planning on making them mandatory. If this proposal is accepted, it’s a measure that would likely cancel the rebates. Other provincial municipalities, such as Innisville, have determined that rebate and incentive water conservation programs would be far too costly, and in Innisville alone it’s estimated that it would cost them at least $1.6 million to implement one. Meanwhile, Barrie’s toilet replacement rebate program is barely staying afloat and city councillors recently approved a $50,000 boost because of unexpected costs.

Currently, the Toronto rebate program promises up to $75 if you replace a water-wasting toilet with a water conserving one, but the legislation put forth would make it mandatory for all retailers across the province to sell only low-water toilets (six-litres as opposed to 13-litres) by January of next year. Toilets generally use up 30 per cent of a home’s water and annually, a low-flush toilet cuts this water consumption by half.

Coincidentally, on the same day the new measures were proposed the country’s largest retailer of hardware and home renovation products, RONA, announced that it would no longer sell any toilets with volumes that are more than six-litres.

This proposal comes soon after the federal government cancelled the Canadian ecoENERGY retrofit rebate program, which offered homeowners up to $5,000 in grants and rebates when they made energy-saving renovations before March 31, 2011. For now the provincial programs are still in effect, including the Ontario Home Energy Savings Program, which similar to the federal program offers homeowners up to $5,000 in grants and rebates for energy-efficient renovations.

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