In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde wrote that "all art is quite
useless." That may have been true in the late 1800s when art was
predominantly hung on walls, but if Wilde were alive today, he might just eat
his own words.
Now, more than ever, art has expanded beyond canvases to functional, everyday
pieces limited only by imagination. Plastic, glass and iron grace homes of all
vintages, providing stylish practicality and narrowing the gap between art and
function.
PERENNIAL PLASTIC
Serralunga produces among the best examples of functional art today. Begun in
Italy
170 years ago, the company uses recyclable polyethylene to create stunning,
futuristic pieces. "Serralunga's Fanta Vase is on display at the Musee
d'art contemporain de
Montreal
," says Rosanna Procopio, owner of Ag-Man in
Montreal
, which handles sales in
Canada
for Serralunga. "Also, a new product will soon be seen at a museum in
Europe
and it will sell for more than $20,000."
That new piece is a lamp sculpture commissioned by architect Zaha Hadid, the
first woman to win the Pritzker award, a renowned architecture prize. Initially,
Serralunga will manufacture a limited number of these, with Ms. Hadid signing
each by hand. Some will be displayed in European museums and contemporary art
galleries. Eventually, a less expensive version will be made for worldwide
distribution, Ms. Procopio says.
"Serralunga is about clean-cut, minimal design for people with modern
tastes," says Matthew LeDonne, president of Oakville-based Innovativa,
which also distributes Serralunga. "There's a lot of black and white and
straight lines, which you see in the Romeo bench or the Time Out chaise longue.
But there are also unusual curves and shapes seen in the Darling sofa and the
Pisa
vase."
Prices vary for Serralunga goods: A 12-cm pot might be $50 and an
80-inch-wide vase $5,000, or $9,500 for a lacquered finish. Visit serralunga.com.
GLAMOROUS GLASS
When Vladimir Fridman came to
Toronto
10 years ago from
Russia
, he did not speak a word of English and had no business connections. What he
did have, though, was 16 years of experience as a glass designer in
Moscow
. He focused on what he knew and set up CBD Glass Studios, a Toronto-based
business that create one-of- a-kind glass sinks, furniture, railings and
accessories.
His attention to detail and his love of the old European style paid off.
Today, his company is among the biggest glass businesses in
North America
, with showrooms in
New York
,
Chicago
and
Toronto
. "We try to make all of our creations pieces of art reflecting style and
refinement," says Mr. Fridman. "Our designs are as functional as they
are beautiful."
One of CBD's most popular is the Waterfall sink, dramatic glass cut to look
as if the sink itself is flowing. There is a real feel of movement and texture,
but the name did not come as easily as the glass seems to flow.
"When I entered the American market, I wanted to bring something
Canadian," recalls Mr. Fridman. "So I called the sink Canadian Ice.
But the Americans asked why it was not called American Ice. Then I named it
Niagara
because
Niagara Falls
is on both sides of the border. But when I brought the sink to
Europe
, people there called it Viagara. Then it became Waterfall."
As CBD has grown, Mr. Fridman has increased the types of pieces he creates to
include countertops, floors, interior doors, indoor and outdoor sculptures and
even buildings of 1?- inch-thick glass.
"I sell to many high-end homeowners who like to get things done in the
historic European tradition. There are special skills I learned in
Russia
-- like how to carve and make glass look old. There are a lot of trade secrets,
like you see in wine making," he says. "Everything we make is handmade
here in
Toronto
under my control. Machines do some final touches."
Mr. Fridman says the strength behind his business is his design background.
He will do custom pieces based on specific interests of a client. "If I'm
in a good mood, I look at the water or the city and begin to create."
CBD's prices range from $350 to $6,000; the smallest Waterfall sink (13
inches) costs $2,995. The CBD showroom is at
1440 Whitehorse Rd.
, 416-398-6890. Visit contemporarybathdesign.com.
INNOVATIVE IRON
After years of running a construction business, Port Hope resident Greg Walsh
discovered iron. He began bending the material and creating shapes and patterns.
Soon he was hooked. In 1995, he began working full-time with iron and opened a
retail store -- Walsh Iron Works -- and a workshop.
"I do all my work with a cold bent and jigs, which are pieces of metal
in half-moon shapes," Mr. Walsh says. "There's a lot of trial and
error, but the cold bent is much more controlled than heated iron where certain
parts bond better than others.
"It's a whole process. Although the end product may look simple, a lot
of thought goes into it."
As Mr. Walsh's expertise grew, he created furniture and accessories that
belie the senses: bed frames, window boxes, arbours, wine racks, coffee tables,
dining room tables and, more recently, lanterns and shower doors.
He didn't like clear shower doors so he placed iron on the glass. The result
is a practical door with intricate mosaic design that is a work of art. The same
can be said of his iron bed frames with their graceful arches that really stand
out against a white wall.
"My clients are looking for something artistic, something that is going
to stand out as a conversation piece," he says. "I think of my work
first as art, rather than as an object that must be functional."
Prices for Mr. Walsh's iron creations start at $1,800. Visit
walshmountain.com.
Toronto
Star
Houses of hope
The push is on
to find creative ways of opening the door to affordable home ownership
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to The Star
Tucked away on a small crescent in
Scarborough
is a tidy corner
of 36 Habitat for Humanity townhouses. Dressed in beige siding with a small
front porch, the very last unit is distinguished by a long wooden ramp leading
to the front door.
With a big smile, Leomina Valderrama opens the
door.
"Come in, come in – welcome to my
home," the petite, dark-haired woman says of her 900-square-foot,
two-bedroom house.
Although the house is small by today's standards,
Valderrama is as proud of it as owners of much larger homes might be of theirs.
Since she arrived from the Phillipines in 1989, it has been her dream to own a
home that would give her family hope for the future.
"This will be our children's home one day,''
she says, looking affectionately at her sons, 11-year-old Bryan and Brendell, 4,
who was born prematurely and cannot walk or talk.
Because this is a Habitat house, she and her
husband, Gilberto, a courier with ICS, had to provide 500 hours of labour toward
its construction. It was worth the effort, she says, because it meant they
didn't have to come up with a down payment, and their monthly mortgage costs are
lower than what they were paying to rent a cramped apartment.
It's also an opportunity to establish equity for
their old age and to raise their children in a better environment.
But with the majority of government funding
directed at rental subsidies, only a tiny fraction of families like the
Valderramas will ever have the chance to benefit from affordable home ownership.
Habitat can only afford to build up to 200 homes a year across
Canada
.
David Hughes, president and CEO of Habitat for
Humanity, Canada, says the "powerful thing about our model is that for less
than what people pay for rent, they are able to build equity and live in a
better quality home and community."
But there are very few government grants to
support ancillary programs, he says. "All levels of government understand
the merits of home ownership, but it's not on their radar.''
Mike Labbe, president of Options for Homes, a
non-profit builder that offers a mix of housing including low-income condos,
believes home ownership can significantly reduce poverty in
Toronto
. He says some of
his condos would be affordable for people earning incomes as low as $19,000 a
year.
"If
Regent
Park
allowed 50 per
cent of its tenants to be owners, these owners would be more willing to deal
with problems concretely because they (would) own their property," he says.
"The crime rate would then fall ... And if
you rent an apartment for life, and are not able to save for retirement, when
you're retired you may not be able to afford your apartment. But if you own and
save, you won't be evicted financially.''
Sean Gordon, director of partnerships at the City
of
Toronto
's affordable
housing office, admits that "renters don't gain equity, so this is
considered a short-term approach."
He explains that the focus is mainly on renters
because this is the highest need, with 66,000 people on the waiting list for
affordable rental accommodation.
"We redirect federal and provincial funds and
the majority goes to rental projects," says Noreen Dunphy, senior planner
for policy and research with the city's planning division.
"Some money is set aside for affordable home
ownership, but ownership is never a main part of the package. Within the next
few months, there will be some kind of program aimed at ownership, likely for
Regent
Park
. The Toronto
Community Housing Corp. wants 300 affordable housing units in
Regent
Park
when it is
redeveloped.''
Both Hughes and Labbe would like to see more
funding going to affordable home builders, but Dunphy disagrees, arguing that
it's hard to define affordable and that as home values increase, the
affordability decreases. This means low-income people in the future won't
benefit from today's "affordable" homes.
"We're thinking about people 35 years from
now," she says. "We don't want people to make a windfall profit at the
public's expense and take out the affordable housing.
``It's also important to note that 90 per cent of
all new housing built is ownership. Only 5 per cent is rental, which is really
out of whack.''
Michael Shapcott, senior fellow in research at the
Wellesley Institute, an organization aimed at improving the wellness and health
of Torontonians, sides with Dunphy. "We need to concentrate limited
resources on those lowest-income people," not developers, he says.
Shapcott also believes that the credit rating and
income required to purchase a home makes it extremely difficult for people at
the lower end of the pay scale. A good solution, he says, is the establishment
of equity housing co-operatives where everyone owns a piece of the building, and
equity can be accumulated. This form of ownership is popular in the
U.S.
Finance incentives are another way to create
affordability for both low- and highrise homes, as found at Daniels' Wave
Lakeshore West condominium. Here, qualified buyers put down 5 per cent of the
new home price. Daniels matches this by lending 5 per cent, payment-free for
five years. This is then payable at 5 per cent interest. Finally, through an
initiative from Daniels and the federal and provincial governments, a second 5
per cent loan is given, payment-free for 20 years. At this time it becomes a
grant with no interest payable. The result is a $119,900 mortgage that carries
for $883 a month.
This combined effort on the part of the developer
and governments is a good example of what can be accomplished. But much more is
needed. Mark Salerno, district manager for the Greater Toronto Area at the
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., says "I don't think there is any
shortage of potential families who can benefit.''
Valderrama, who says she is grateful for her home
"every day when I come down my stairs," is living proof of the power
of ownership.
"We are enjoying our new community and
everyone takes good care of their homes. Because we all own our houses, we must
work to pay the mortgage.''
Toronto
Star
GREEN LIVING
The Sky’s the limit for future housing
Builders
poised to move in new direction — upward
Shelly Sanders Greer
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Over the past 100 years, home building has evolved
and matured, yet the basic exterior appearance has not changed much.
But as we face land and labour shortages, high
construction costs, innovative new technologies and a growing demand for
sustainable materials, we are poised to witness some monumental changes in
housing.
One program that may prove to have a major impact
on housing is the provincial government's Places to Grow Act of 2005, which
requires at least 40 per cent of residential land development to occur within
built-up land areas.
Thanks to this act, "housing stock in 2051
will probably be dominated by highrises," speculates Hugh Heron, president
of The Heron Group of Companies.
And this is what's coming to pass in north
Oakville
, where a major
mixed-use corridor is being designed to accommodate the anticipated growth
within the town's boundaries.
At the corner of
Trafalgar Rd.
and
Dundas St. E.
, there will be
"a fairly dense development in the next 20 to 50 years with 20- to
30-storey-high buildings and a major transit corridor," says Peter Cheatley,
director of planning services for the Town of
Oakville
. The scene will
be similar to developments now found at Yonge and Sheppard or Yonge and Finch in
Toronto
, he says.
Mazyar Mortazavi, principal of TAS DesignBuild,
echoes Cheatley and Heron: "We will create vertical neighbourhoods in the
future."
As an example, Mortazavi points to the
University
of
Toronto
pharmacy
building (which was not built by TAS DesignBuild). Completed in 2006, this
16-storey structure is an excellent reflection of vertical design, he says, with
three below-grade floors and 13 above grade.
Mortazavi says that with land at a premium, this
type of construction is what we'll start to see from now on.
"Our God-given right might not be a backyard,
it may be a deck," says Patrick O'Hanlon, president of Kylemore
Communities, which builds high-end communities in the GTA.
"In
New York City
, lavish laundry
rooms don't exist. In the
U.K.
, the laundry
room is in the kitchen and appliances are way smaller than ours. And kitchens in
New York City
are very small
because you can walk to so many restaurants."
To get an idea of what future communities should
look like, O'Hanlon says we need to steal a page from the past.
"We need to look at cities like
Rome
,
Venice
and
Dublin
, where they are
hundreds of years ahead of us in dealing with larger numbers of people in one
area. In
Europe
you can see all types of
housing over retail lofts, in addition to four-plexes, walk-ups and
apartments."
Mortazavi agrees, saying that in the "Far
East there are more complex building types.
Toronto
's response has
been the hotel/condo," such as the Ritz Carlton and Shangri-La projects.
The city is already experiencing increased multiplicity and this will continue
over the next 50 years, he believes.
Since land and labour costs are rising rapidly,
the way homes are constructed will also change. Heron expects to see more
prefabricated or factory-made homes in 2050 and beyond, as we don't have a lot
of skilled labour now and the situation will likely get worse.
As far as cost is concerned, Heron has no idea
what the price for prefab will be and says the choice will not be based on
economics but on labour.
"We have labour shortages now that will be
intensified down the road," he says. "So we're going to see home
building gravitating toward fast, flexible, modular construction, which will
create another problem – the high cost of transportation from the factories to
the sites."
With high-priced land and a larger population,
O'Hanlon says the next generation will have to embrace the change to smaller
quarters because of affordability, which is why we're already seeing buildings
like stacked townhomes and condos geared toward families.
"Land has gone up in price 100 per cent since
1997 when townhouse lots were around $65,000. Now in some areas these lots are
$120,000 to $130,000 and this, in itself, will force people to buy smaller
homes," says O'Hanlon.
"It all becomes a matter of affordability ...
And as light rapid transit improves, people won't need garages. Right now, 20
per cent of a home's space is for the garage and the driveway runs 20 feet from
the street. In the future we will be able to shrink the floor plate...we've
become greedy with family rooms, recreation rooms and living rooms; bedrooms all
with ensuites."
In
Europe
, architects have already
anticipated the need for smaller, energy-efficient housing by designing and
building the Micro Compact Home in 2006, which won Best Innovative Technology in
the National Homebuilder Design Awards for the same year. The cost is 32,000
euros (about $49,000 Canadian) for a 2.6-metre cube, which can adapt to a
variety of sites and circumstances.
Two people can live in this timber-frame structure
with aluminum cladding. Inside are two compact beds, storage, a sliding table
that seats five, a flat-screen TV in the living/dining/kitchen area, and a
washroom.
It was designed by Horden Cherry Lee Architects in
London
,
England
and the
architectural firm of Haack, Hoepfner in
Munich
. The home is now
in use and available for purchase throughout
Europe
. The Micro
Compact Home was designed for short-stay living; buyers tend to be students,
business people and those looking for a weekend home.
And several units can be mounted on an aluminum
frame system in a vertical formation to form a
Tree
Village
. This variation
was a student housing proposal at the
Technical
University
in
Munich
, in 2006. The
12-metre footprint would fit into a mature landscape with tall trees.
The intriguing structure, which seems almost a
part of the trees, is a cluster of small steel vertical columns or reeds that
echo the surrounding natural vertical architecture. An open- core space contains
the central light shaft and stairway, which would be surrounded by 30
micro-compact homes.
The cost would be 34,000 euros (about $52,000
Canadian) for each home – plus the cost of the vertical structure, delivery,
installation and connection to services. It can be erected on any terrain
without a foundation.
Luckily, as technology has advanced, products have
become smaller, which will be a necessity in tomorrow's homes. While we can't
predict what's in store, we can get an idea of the potential from
Korea
, where 100 homes
with advanced technology have been built in
Seoul
, and another
30,000 are planned each year from 2008.
In a BBC News report from last November, some of
the features found in one of these flats included a control panel to track
energy consumption, pay bills, and hold video messages; a TV that tells you when
the washing machine has finished; a fridge that provides recipes using the
ingredients inside; and a wardrobe mirror that keeps track of your schedule,
selects clothes, and keeps you up to date with weather and traffic.
Heron envisions today's spaghetti wiring replaced
by a single line to a computer in the basement controlling all the home's
functions; window technology for protection from the negative side effects of
natural light entering homes; and plasma-panel walls "so we could have
dinner with a background of the
Alps
."
A look into future home construction would not be
complete without looking at sustainable features, and by all accounts,
"green" will be a dominant colour.
Says Mortazavi: "In development we are driven
by socioeconomic, political and socio-cultural demands. That's why every big
developer is now green. Policy will drive this. Things that are sustainable will
be mandated in the future. In
Europe
they're far more
driven by energy costs because they are more limited in resources."
In the
U.K.
, for instance,
the Energy Efficiency Commitment imposes a statutory obligation upon electricity
and gas suppliers to meet a target for the promotion of improvements in energy
efficiency through cavity wall and loft insulation and energy-efficient light
bulbs and appliances.
There is also a new Code for Sustainable Homes,
which requires all government-funded housing to reach at least a Level 3, which
is significantly more energy-efficient than past building regulations
Pierre Boucher, president of the Cement
Association of Canada, believes insulated concrete forms will play a large role
in future construction, because of the forms' green qualities. This product is
sustainable, energy- efficient, dust- and pollen-free, and sound-resistant.
"Cement lasts longer than wood construction
and it's better for the environment," Boucher says.
O'Hanlon sees communities becoming more
self-sustaining starting now, with neighbourhoods such as the ones he's building
having shared facilities to conserve land. "There will be a pool for the
neighbourhood rather than pool-sized lots," he says.
"The bottom line is we have to make sure we
keep our minds open to conserving energy," adds Heron. "The awareness
of energy conservation will affect resale values."
Shelly Sanders Greer has a strong
interest in healthy, green homes. Contact her at shellywrites@cogeco.ca.
Toronto
Star
Housing boom threatens
jobs, Miller says
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to The STar
The roaring success of Toronto's housing boom
could threaten the city's potential for providing jobs, Mayor David Miller told
the Greater Toronto Home Building Association last week.
"Employment districts are crucial for the
city but we're losing them because of the profitability of the residential
industry," said Miller.
Miller said that since city council approved
Toronto
's new official
plan five years ago, there have been 7,610 residential units planned for
employment lands.
"If all these residential proposals proceed,
we would remove 137 hectares of employment land for economic growth."
Speaking about the need to create jobs, Miller
said the city would be "in danger of becoming residential with people going
to work outside
Toronto
," if the
city loses land used for employment.
One way to increase the supply of this land would
be to redevelop brownfield sites, Miller suggested.
Miller also said the city fully intends to put a
greater emphasis on green standards and rail transit.
"We have created new voluntary green
standards," Miller said. "People want to see green. As the city
becomes more dense the importance of green space and great architecture is going
to grow."
Miller also said one of the biggest challenges to
growth is that Torontonians have "developed a political climate of saying,
`no,' of stopping things. It's time we organized to say `yes.'"
He cited the example of the Riocan building
proposed for St. Clair Ave. Designed to be seven storeys, it was turned down by
council. Then after hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by the city on
legal fees, it was approved as a six-storey building.
Toronto
Star
Wood, stucco give
bungalow facelift
Couple worked
with architect to create exterior that reflected their personal style
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to the Star
After 28 years and two interior renovations, Lynda
and Ron Roth decided it was time to address the exterior of their sprawling
brick bungalow in
North York
.
A big motivation
was the water, which poured over their front door, creating ice build-ups in the
winter.
Not only would a new façade fix this problem, but
their home would better reflect their personal style, offer improved aesthetics
and value.
A simple stucco treatment was their first thought,
but when they approached a stucco company, they found that a design would be
essential.
After spreading the word to family and friends
about their need for an architect, they met Richard Librach, a
Toronto
architect who is
seeing a growing interest from empty nesters looking to improve their curb
appeal. They were impressed by his work.
But when Ron told Librach that they were looking
for "conventional stucco," Librach, who by this time had gained a
sense of the Roth's style, told them "it wasn't what they wanted. It would
be too cold and they would be unhappy."
Instead, Librach brought out materials such as
stone, cedar and stucco for the Roths to look at.
"We looked at other projects to see
possibilities to create warmth without reaching to the traditional, which made
no sense with the Roth's housing type."
After seeing Librach's work, particularly his mix
of materials and the sense of space he creates, the Roths had a sense of what
they were looking for.
"We knew we weren't looking for a modern look
that would lose its appeal; we wanted something that would be timeless,"
recalls Lynda.
Librach created some sketches that responded to
the bungalow's low-lying, horizontal shape. One of the biggest challenges
(facing many of today's homeowners) was the large garage door.
Librach's solution was to use the existing lines
and create a horizontal canopy that extended out from the roof line from the far
left side of the home to the start of the garage. This, along with the use of
mahogany wood siding on the left and stucco on the right, helped to break the façade
into two sections.
The soffits are made out of clear cedar, which
works well with the mahogany colour. And to give the sense of movement, a
portion of wood framing, which resembles a fence, extends past the actual house.
Librach says this is meant to suggest there is not a beginning or an end.
Librach wasn't about to ignore the garage door. He
wanted to give it sculptural qualities to add interest.
Painted the same mahogany colour as the siding,
the new door features a section of vertical louvres that contrast with the
horizontal portion. It is then framed in brushed aluminum, which looks like
stainless steel, tying it to the windows and doors, which are also framed this
way. Lynda loves having all the windows accentuated with brushed aluminum.
Before, they were all framed with different materials so they did not match.
To bring the front door out visually, a vertical
column was added, which was finished on the top and bottom with brushed
aluminum, giving a hint of the contemporary decor inside.
This is a very small piece of the renovation, but
it adds interest and makes it unique, says Lynda.
When the project was finished at the end of the
summer, both the Roths and Librach were pleased, and attribute their success to
the collaborative effort. The Roths say that through Librach, they were able to
articulate their feelings into reality.
"We have no horror stories and we came in at
budget," says Lynda. "We were even able to work with some existing
things like the front door, which was painted to match the siding and the side
gate, which was spray painted to match the aluminum."
Librach says there is a demand from people for
this type of exterior renovation, because not everyone has the budget for a new
home, some people love their house and want to update it, and the elements take
their toll on the exterior.
CANADIAN
family
The brothers
John
By
Shelly Sanders Greer
A tall, thin child with dark hair answers the door. He looks down when I talk to
him, never meeting my eyes or responding. As soon as I step in the house, he
scampers off to his room. “Sorry, but I just had to finish something on the
computer,” his mom, Barb Johns, tells me as she emerges from the basement of
her Oakville, Ontario home. “Christopher is home sick today...I’ve had all
my kids home sick over the last month. It’s been crazy.”
Johns
bears the slightly rumpled and bleary-eyed signs of a mother whose kids have all
been home from school with a nasty cold or flu. Her hair, brown with streaks of
grey, is pulled back off her pale face. But her animated voice and cheerful
demeanor belie the fact that for Johns, the bouts of flu and ear infections that
turn most households upside down are the least of her concerns. You see, all
three of her boys – David, 14, Matthew, 13, and Christopher, 11 – have
Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), a lifelong developmental disorder that impairs
communication, behaviour and social interaction—sometimes severely.
Considered
part of the “autism spectrum”, the disorder requires both medication and
intensive therapy to teach those who have it the most basic tenets of acceptable
social behaviour—how to stand an arm’s length away from someone when you
talk to them, or that it’s not personal when someone beats you at a board
game. The boys have also been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). David and Christopher also have Tourette Syndrome (TS), which,
in its milder form, is characterized by movements or tics such as eye rolling,
throat clearing or head jerks, but in severe cases like Christopher’s, involve
dramatic back arches and kicks. It’s not uncommon for children who have AS to
also have one—or both—of these other disorders.
People
with AS may lack a full range of facial expressions or the ability to read them,
make eye contact less often and may not tolerate the sound of other people
eating. The social demands of school pose a constant struggle. “Because of
their social impairments, kids with AS are often ostracized by their peers for
seeming eccentric or weird,” says Nancy Plater, community services manager at
Kerry’s Place Autism Services, a non-profit organization that runs
socialization programs for kids with AS and autism. Yet despite the laundry list
of symptoms, AS can go undiagnosed for years—in fact, the condition was only
recognized as a diagnosis in 1994.
On
the upside, those with AS can have incredible memories, obsessive interests and
creativity that may lead to great achievements. Albert Einstein and Glenn Gould
are just two of the famous and highly intelligent people some believed to have
lived with AS.
David,
Matthew and Christopher are all “brilliant at math, science and music.” Says
Johns, since these are subjects that require precision rather than
communication. They have a “marvellous ability to focus beyond the
ordinary,” adds their grandmother, Mary Jane Howie, who says she thinks her
grandsons may have careers working with computers.
Getting
them there, though, requires 100 per cent focus by their mother. Since a teacher
first suggested that her middle son, Matthew, see a specialist for
testing—which led to diagnoses for all three—Johns has redesigned her life
to ensure her boys get the treatment and support they need. She separated from
the boys’ father, who behaved as if he had the disorder but refused to
acknowledge it. She’s had to eschew full-time work in favour of occasional
part-time work typing up teleconferencing minutes and doing data management from
home. Her unpredictable schedule means she may be working until 2 a.m. “I
don’t think I could manage a full-time job out of the house,” she says.
“Half of every month I have a child at home because he’s being bullied,
can’t deal with a social setting or is sick. I’m also at the
doctor’s office four to six times a month. So we have to rely on welfare and
food banks to get by.
Recognizing
the bullying and awkward situations the boys face daily, the school has now
given Matthew and David each a “safe card” which they can hand to their
teacher to leave the class without an explanation. They head to the office and
phone their mother who talks them through the problem or takes them home
“My
boys are learning two curriculums every day—academic and social, which leaves
them exhausted,” Johns explains. “They learn through negative learning. If
they bump into a kid by accident, they don’t know how to say sorry. They
don’t know how to interpret what other kids say and are incapable of reading
sarcasm. They can’t do team sports because they’re overwhelmed by the other
kids and can’t read their expressions. And their motor skills are frustrating.
One still can’t ride a bike and another can’t tie his shoes up tightly.”
Advocating
for their medical needs also requires a great deal of energy, a reality shared
by all parents of special-needs kids.“One of the boys’ medications is not on
our drug plan,” Johns says. “They need it in order to attend school as it
helps keep them calm. But the cost is $10 a day for each child.” Johns went to
a symposium on ADHD, where a drug representative told her about a compassionate
program that provides meds for people who can’t afford them. “My
pediatrician hadn’t mentioned the program, which showed me you have to keep
looking for help until you find it.”
The
downside of this medication is that it suppresses appetites for the entire day,
so Johns’ sons are never hungry for lunch. Not wanting to waste food, Johns
doesn’t send lunches that would be thrown away, but a concerned teacher
threatened to call Children’s Aid, thinking the boys were being neglected.
Johns brought a note from her pediatrician to explain the side effects.
Johns
has a 17-year-old daughter, Sarah, from a previous marriage, who is not affected
by the condition. Sarah helps out a lot with the boys, and Johns knows her
daughter is aware she doesn’t have a traditional family existence. But Sarah
recently told her mother that she hopes to study special education at Brock
University in St. Catharine’s Ont., because she wants to help kids like her
brothers and knows just what it takes to provide the support they need. “My
mom is probably the strongest person I know,” says Sarah. “She’s not
afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She would do anything for us.”
After
much persistence, Johns is getting money for a respite care worker from the
provincial government, allowing her to devote more time to Sarah and her
long-time interest in Girl Guides. Johns was a guide herself, and has been a
leader for more than 12 years. This year, she is heading up Sarah’s Ranger’s
group, giving mom and daughter some much-needed time just to have fun. This
respite care also buys Johns an opportunity to do things that most of us can
easily arrange with a phone call to a babysitter or help from a spouse. “Now I
can do things away from the house, like meet a friend for coffee and a movie,”
she says.
It’s
been almost three years since the boys were diagnosed and all three are
improving. In fact, Matthew is in a new school, is no longer teased, and he’s
joined the band playing the drums.
“There was a time when Matthew would walk into our house and not talk
to anyone,” says Howie. “He was isolated and isolating. Now he has
conversations and even plays games with me.” While both Johns and her mom say
that David has become more distant with family and peers, they think it’s a
combination of AS and the fact that he’s entering puberty. Overall, he has
improved his social skills and enjoys spending time with the respite workers who
come to their home. Christopher has honed his communication skills and is
learning the difference between how to approach familar people versus strangers.
Right now he’s not in school because his tics from TS are bothering him, but
Johns is hopeful a new medication will bring them under control.
“I’m
working to make my boys as content and productive as they can be,” says John
s. “The reality is that 60 per cent of people with AS never have
relationships, so I will always have at least one of my boys living with me.
This is not a bad thing. At least I won’t be sad about an empty nest.” CF
MACLEAN'S
Business
Money for nothing, lawn sign for free
The backlash against soaring real estate commissions heats
up
By Shelly Sanders - Robert Greenberg is a real estate player, and he’s
on a
winning streak. As the top-selling agent at Harvey Kalles Real Estate in
Toronto, Greenberg tosses the dice a few times a month, gambling that by
listing homes at less than their true value, he will draw in more interested
buyers and multiple offers, all designed to spark lucrative bidding
contests. This year he's sold 98 homes, worth $93 million in sales, and
proudly says he could sell more because the buyers outnumber the properties.
”I just sold a house at Avenue Rd. and Lawrence [in affluent north
Toronto
]
through a blind auction,” Greenberg says. “I listed it for $599,000 knowing
it should get $675,000 or more. I had six offers. It ended up selling for
$701,800... $103,000 over the asking price.”
Agents¹ commissions are based on a home’s selling price, and although
there
is no set rate, five percent, split between the listing and selling brokers,
is most common. This means Greenberg would net $1.86 million, if his
brokerage takes half a per cent. Not a bad deal, especially when you
consider it’s 10 times what a high-end lawyer would charge for processing
the same number of deals.
But the whole practice of tying commission rates to selling prices is the
source of rising controversy, especially as soaring property values across
North America
have driven an explosion in pay days for top-end real estate
agents. The system “ill serves the interests of both home buyers and
seekers, and is a primary reason why such fees may be inflated by, on
average, more than 100 per cent or US$30 billion annually,” says Mark Nadel,
an attorney with the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., who
writes on policy issues. In an article published in October for the
AEI-Brookings Joint Center, Nadel writes that “this inefficient formula”
results in a “protectionist industry” on the side of brokers and rigged
against buyers and sellers because price, marketing costs, agent’s time,
expertise, and level of service are not taken into account when a commission
rate is determined.
There’s no evidence that a higher priced home is more costly to sell
and, as
we¹ve seen from Greenberg, the opposite may even be true, especially in
red-hot urban markets like Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. But commission
rates do not decrease with lower house prices or quick sales. This means
agents in
Canada
’s top markets are making more money, selling expensive
homes in less time, with fewer marketing costs, than agents in slower, less
expensive markets like
Halifax
and
Saskatoon
.
And a backlash may be beginning. Some are calling for a lower commission
system like the one in the
U.K.
where agents typically collect just a one
per cent commission. Here in
North America
, more and more brokerages are
popping up, offering flat-fee home sales, where the agent’s fee is fixed,
regardless of selling price.
But not everybody agrees there’s a problem. Alan Tennant, president of
the
Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and a realtor near Calgary with
Remax Rocky View, agrees that there are definitely agents out there making
lots of money, but he says there are other occasions when agents will have
houses listed for three months and when they don’t sell, owners take them
off the market, and the agent gets nothing, which explains why agents are
highly motivated to sell your home, even if the price is not what you want.
But this creates another problem—achieving the best price for sellers.
There
is little incentive for an agent to list a home at the highest possible
price and stay firm. An increase of $10,000 in the selling price means just a
$500 increase in the commission and it might make the home harder to sell.
It makes better economic sense, from an agent’s perspective, to price homes
to sell quickly.
At the root of the real estate paradox is the Multiple Listing Service
(MLS). Accessible only to licensed realtors, with $120 billion in sales last
year in
Canada
, this is one of the most effective marketing tools ever
created. It¹s like the stock brokerage of real estate—if you’re not on the
MLS, don’t expect to get a great price for your house. But the exclusivity of
the MLS is stopping real price competition from evolving, argues Nadel, who
would like to see this system modified to allow direct buyer access. This would
stimulate price competition, with sellers reaping the benefits.
Another exclusivity issue is that commission rates offered to buyers’
brokers are posted for realtors’ eyes only. If these rates are not
competitive, chances are your home will not have as many viewings as other
properties. When Surrey B.C. agent Scott Williams was searching for a
discount brokerage to join, he says he avoided one that offered low buyer’s
broker rates, because “other agents wouldn’t want to show homes where
they¹re not going to make very much.” To
remedy this situation, Nadel
suggests that buyer¹s brokers set their own fees or negotiate with their
buyers. “Most home buyers have accepted the pervasive myth that “as a buyer,
you¹re never paying a commission anyway,” Nadel writes. But this is wrong
because sellers think about what they¹re going to net after the commissions
are paid. If buyers’ brokers received a smaller commission, homeowners would
be willing to sell their house for less.
There are other options available to help consumers reduce real estate
fees,
like “for sale by owner”, but without the help of the ubiquitous MLS, this
method has never been easy. Flat-fee brokers, offering national MLS exposure
for a set price, may be a more realistic option. Consumers know right from
the start what they¹re going to pay plus they get the exposure they need.
But so far, few agents are interested, citing the high costs of selling
property as a deterrent. “The cost for placement on the MLS is $35 but this
is a false figure because of all the other costs involved,” says Kevin
Clark, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board and an associate with
Remax. “There is also the cost of the web site, market research for pricing,
the sign, time spent meeting with clients, open houses and staff who book
viewings.”
Yet agents who sell using only flat-fee commissions, like
Richmond
,
Virginia
realtor Lawrence Bunnell, are doing well with this business model. “Our net
company sales in 2005 increased by 195 per cent over 2004, and right now
we¹re ahead of last year,” says Bunnell, the principal broker at IHS Realty
who has been offering flat-fee pricing since 1997.
In October, IHS Realty entered
Ontario
, offering flat-fee service for $990
in the greater
Toronto
area, plus 2.95 percent to the buyer¹s broker at
closing. Outside the GTA the cost is $1,245. For this fee Bunnell provides
an MLS listing with photo, a local broker¹s services, a yard sign and a web
page. Scott Williams, in
Surrey
,
BC
, has been offering flat-fee rates for
the past year and a half. Williams, who works for the discount brokerage
Realty 5000 Sales, charges $2,500 for the MLS listing, a $650 administration
fee, and a minimum of $2,500 for the buyer’s broker. At first, this system
seems to be more expensive than IHS’s fee structure, and it is, for
lower
priced homes. But once you get into the $500,000 price range and up, it is
actually cheaper. Not surprisingly this flat-fee structure has been well
received by sellers. Williams has closed 67 deals this year including two
multiple bid transactions in the last couple of weeks. Nadel, a strong
proponent of flat-fee structures, says “if you can make money from flat-fee
pricing, it gives an indication of how much extra there is with percentage
of sale pricing.”
Even though flat-fees are proving to be a success in lowering costs
without
crippling agents, the real estate industry, which has grown incredibly
lucrative through soaring prices and rich commissions, is in no hurry to
embrace change on a massive scale. At a September meeting of CREA in
Halifax
, the main topic concerned amendments to the MLS. Tennant says there
was no reference to the “commission side of real estate.” And Greenberg, who
plans to remain the top agent in his brokerage, says “I have clients that
give me $10 million of business a year. They may get a cheaper rate, but not
a flat fee.”
Residents, developer join
up at Junction
TARA
WALTON/TORONTO STAR
Single mother Heather Heaney, left, was so
impressed with the project at an old Canadian Tire site she jumped at a chance
to put down a deposit. She has reason to thank Nancy Clark, second from left,
who opposed the original plan, Mike Labbé, second from right, whose Options for
Homes stepped in with the revised plan, and urban planner Pino Di Mascio, right,
who worked with both developers.
Neighbours
back Options for Homes' condo towers proposal after learning the costly extras
would be eliminated
December 30, 2006
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to The Star
It's not uncommon for concerned residents to pack
a Committee of Adjustment meeting when a builder plans a couple of 23-storey
condominium towers for their neighbourhood – especially when the developer
needs approval from the city for several variances to make the project work.
But it's an extreme rarity when the builder has
the residents' full support. In fact, you might call this a case of YIMBY –
yes, in my backyard.
Such was the situation this fall involving The
Village at High Park, a proposal to house 600 people in affordable and
environmentally friendly buildings near Keele and Dundas Sts. Nobody opposed the
variations, and the 30 residents present told city officials they support the
extra height and density requests.
Nancy Heaney has lived in the Keele and
Dundas
area, otherwise
known as the Junction, for 26 years, though she admits she didn't even know her
neighbours' names for the first decade.
Heaney has seen a lot of changes, too many of them
not for the better. Businesses have come and gone, and some buildings that once
contained thriving stores and restaurants have been left empty.
One that became a derelict eyesore was an old
Canadian Tire building at
417 Keele St.
, a half block
north of
Dundas
. A couple of
years ago, The Nexxt Corporation came in, bought the Canadian Tire land, and had
plans to build a large, upscale condo on the site.
But residents such as Heaney and Nancy Clark were
against this type of building, fearing it would mean people with money would buy
homes there, but eat and shop in better-heeled parts of town.
Instead of adding to the community, Heaney and
Clark felt it would detract from it.
"But the project seemed like it was out of
our hands," says Clark, who was frustrated that residents were not
consulted about concerns and issues. "I didn't want units to go to
professionals with cars, where people didn't patronize local stores and there
would be idling cars in the driveway."
Eventually, in response to community opposition,
Nexxt dropped its plan. But Nexxt contacted another developer, Options for
Homes, which has a history of developing affordable condos on less-desirable
land, and creating strong communities. The Distillery District in east downtown
got its start with an Options project –
70 Mill St
.
Junction residents geared themselves up for
another developer and another fight. What they didn't realize was that this
time, under the leadership of Options for Homes president Mike Labbé, their
opinions would matter.
"We walked into a split community of
opponents and supporters," Labbé recalls. "So we met with the
opponents first."
Clark
was one of the opponents, but
when she heard the developer was Options for Homes, which eliminates costly
extras and sells condo suites at cost, she quickly became a proponent.
"I read an article about Options for Homes in
the Star and I had been to the
Distillery District, so I got quite excited," she says. "They
organized a neighbourhood meeting, wanted to discuss the impact and concerns,
and asked us how a development could be done to address concerns."
Heaney, who attended a meeting with her daughter,
was equally impressed.
"The thing that's really nice about Mike is
he's never defensive and he's always open," Heaney says. "At one
meeting, people talked of their concern about traffic. Mike asked, `What do you
think? What do you want to see?' You also get a chance to build your community,
and I was also impressed by how environmentally sensitive this building will
be."
Heaney's daughter, Heather, a single mother, was
so impressed she has now put a down payment on a suite with two bedrooms and a
den. Through the meetings, she has already met some of her future neighbours,
and her monthly mortgage payments will be the same as the rent she pays now.
"Going from a traditional condo to an Options
condo, plus the design changes, got rid of all the opposition," says Pino
Di Mascio, a planner and partner at Urban Strategies, which worked with The
Nexxt Corporation as well. "Residents thought the building was too tall and
worried about what 600 extra people would do to a neighbourhood. But Mike had
endless meetings and was open to concerns so that ... people were comfortable
with this project."
"What worked for us is that we had an
approach to the site that gave us options," Labbé says. "Residents
told us they didn't like the initial height of the building, so we reduced the
ceiling heights from 10 feet to eight feet, which took 30 feet off the building.
Because we work with lower price points, we changed the architecture of the
building from glass, which says to people, `We're rich and you're not,' to a
warehouse look which fits in with the heritage of the area."
Other changes based on seven meetings with
residents over four months include building two towers instead of the original
three, and keeping the parking above ground to reduce costs.
These changes, along with a few others, required
variances, which were easily obtained with all the community support. Labbé
explains that by going from three towers to two, the height restrictions needed
to be changed. Another variance, which will directly reduce monthly costs for
residents, is the reduction of amenity space from the city-mandated two square
metres per unit to 1.35 square metres.
A technical variance was required to keep parking
above-ground, because this usually counts toward density. The density limit also
had to be increased to allow for enclosed balconies that can be used all year.
"Our approach takes $100 a square foot off
the price," Labbé says. "It will cost $98,000 for a small,
400-square-foot bachelor unit. The most common size will be the
one-bedroom-plus-dens at 630 to 645 square feet. They will be priced in the
$147,000-$155,000 range. The largest suite, at 970 square feet, is $212,000, 15
per cent lower than market value."
This affordability is even more incredible when
the green building techniques are taken into account. Energy-efficient low-E
windows will be installed and there will be three-stream garbage/recycling
chutes. Lighting will be either compact fluorescent or compact-fluorescent
compatible, motion detectors will be installed in the garage to ensure lights
come on only when needed, a high-efficiency boiler will be used, and hook-ups
and pads will be installed on the roofs to allow for solar thermal heating of
water.
"Our goal is to get maintenance fees down to
30 to 34 cents a square foot, which is 10 cents less than the industry
average," Labbé says.
Parking spots cost an extra $15,000, but Labbé
hopes that many of the new residents will consider the car-sharing plan,
especially since the building will have only enough spots for 70 per cent of the
residents.
"This is not a matter of choice, but an
opportunity given," he explains. "There will be 20 to 25 smart cars
and vans available. A computer system will register who has a car and for how
long, and residents with driving licences and the proper insurance will be able
to book a car through the Internet or by phone."
To help keep costs down, Options for Homes has an
unorthodox marketing approach. There is no fancy sales office, or
state-of-the-art website. Instead, there are free information sessions at the
site, which require pre-registration.
A scale model showing the two buildings gives
interested purchasers a three-dimensional view of the plans.
Construction is slated to begin in July 2007, with
summer 2008 occupancy, if all goes as planned.
·
For more information or to register, visit www.optionsforhomes.ca
or call 416-867-1501.
Incineration has joined the green wave
New system converts heat energy in solid waste
material into renewable energy
Dec. 9, 2006
.
01:00 AM
SHELLY SANDERS GREER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
As the debate over
Toronto
's garbage
continues, homebuilders are facing a waste crisis of their own. The residential
construction industry is booming, but with new homes and renovations comes
garbage: A new 1,200-square-foot home creates about 10,000 pounds of waste.
Because the City of
Toronto
does not accept
residential construction waste, builders have to take it to private landfill
sites. Soon this may not be an option.
"The biggest problem is there are only two
places,
Michigan
and
Sarnia
, for construction
waste," says Hugh Heron, president of Heathwood Homes. "What's going
to happen if either decides they're not taking our garbage anymore? Maybe the
answer lies in incineration."
Incineration is not as bad as some people think
because construction waste tends to be material people normally would burn, such
as wood and gypsum.
Unlike older incineration methods, the
relatively new waste-to-energy system converts the heat energy in solid waste
material into renewable energy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a
strong defender of waste-to-energy incineration, stating on its website that
burning municipal solid waste can generate energy while reducing the amount of
waste by up to 90 per cent in volume and 75 per cent in weight. About 10 per
cent of the ash formed is used for the cover of landfills and road construction.
To control incineration pollution, two
technologies are used to reduce the gases emitted into the air. A liquid spray
neutralizes acid gases, and filters remove tiny particles. Plus the high
combustion temperatures mean the waste burns cleaner and creates less ash for
disposal.
The Standards Development Branch of the Ontario
Ministry of the Environment prepared a study on waste management titled
"Environmental Risks of Municipal Non-Hazardous Waste Landfilling and
Incineration" in July 1999. This study involved a series of risk
assessments of two disposal facilities — a large-scale incinerator and a
modern landfill site — with a capacity of 6.6 million tonnes over 20 years.
The results found no significant difference in human health effects (cancer,
lung disease, nerve damage, reproductive effects) or impact on the environment
between the landfill site and the incinerator.
When waste reaches a waste-to-energy plant, it
is brought to a temperature of at least 850C for two seconds. This ensures
complete combustion. Energy is recovered from the hot flue gases by a boiler
system, creating steam to turn a turbo-generator which feeds the electricity
grid.
Waste-to-energy incineration is used primarily
in
Japan
, where land is
scarce, and in
Sweden
,
Denmark
, the
U.S.
and the
U.K.
About 2.8 million
tonnes of non-hazardous municipal waste are treated in the
U.K.
In 2002,
waste-to-energy incineration generated the energy equivalent of 726,000 tonnes
of oil in the
U.K.
, producing enough
power for more than 250,000 homes.
The construction industry would be a perfect
sector for waste-to-energy incineration, not only to reduce the huge amounts of
waste being taken to landfill sites, but also to cut costs for builders and
purchasers. Heron says it costs $92 plus tax a ton to take mixed construction
garbage to a landfill site — about $450 for a 40 cubic yard bin.
Another way to cut costs would be to recycle at
the site.
"We try to minimize waste by sorting and
recycling," Heron says. "We separate wood, mixed materials and brick
and concrete. But labour is a big problem."
Ed Buchesne is the sales manager for Allstar
Wood Waste and Recycling Ltd., a private transfer facility that pre-sorts
construction garbage and hauls it to
Michigan
and
Sarnia
. He says the
waste business is booming and his company expects to double its business next
year.
"Many builders segregate block, brick,
wood, drywall and shingles," he says. "But some builders do zero. They
tend to be the smaller builders who don't know or don't care."
Buchesne wants to emphasize the money builders
can save by separating materials.
"Assuming mixed waste goes into a
container at an average $500 cost, if you were to pull just the wood out, you
would save $150 a container," he notes. "Every new home creates a
container of waste, so if you're building a subdivision with 700 houses, you're
saving a lot of money. The cost is reduced because the trucking and handling
fees are less if the wood is removed."
Separating materials should be mandatory for
all builders to cut costs and waste. And waste-to-energy incineration should be
strongly considered as the only real long-term "green" solution for
managing construction waste.
In fact, when Halton Region announced its plans
to use incineration for the extra 150 tonnes of waste expected annually as
growth continues over the next 20 years, the green qualities of incineration
were cited as a major reason.
Shelly Sanders Greer has
a strong interest in green building. Reach her at shellywrites@cogeco.ca.
Sales centre takes LEED
M5V reveals that green living does not mean you
have to compromise on design or a comfortable lifestyle
SHELLY SANDERS GREER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
The first LEED-registered sales office in
North America
takes energy
efficiency and personalization to new levels.
M5V, developed by TAS Design/Build, reveals
what potential purchasers can expect from green initiatives in this 30-storey,
224-suite condominium, and shows that green living does not have to mean
compromising design or comfort.
Mazyar Mortazavi, a principal at TAS, explains
that purchasers can design their own floor plans to fit their space and still
benefit from reduced energy costs with a LEED building system.
LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, is a green building rating system, giving builders a
standard for sustainable construction. It's a point-based rating system,
covering six areas: site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency,
material selection, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design.
What makes this standard so valuable is that a
third-party independent review must take place before any building can
officially be LEED certified.
Stephen Carpenter, president of Enermodal
Engineering in
Kitchener
, which only
designs sustainable buildings, says that large buildings more than 300,000
square feet would see a 1 per cent to 2 per cent increase in capital costs
building to a LEED standard, while smaller buildings face at least a 10 per cent
increase in costs.
The cost for larger projects is less because it
is amortized over a larger budget.
Condo residents benefit with a 35 to 40 per
cent reduction in energy use over a new building built to code, and 40 per cent
less water used.
"When you look at it from a resident's
point of view, it makes a lot of sense," he says. "This is an
opportunity for the average consumer to think globally and act locally."
At M5V's sales centre, at King St. W. and Peter
Sts., green features include energy efficient and water-conserving appliances,
roof water collection for irrigation of the green landscaping at the sales
centre, a permeable paving system, which absorbs rain water instead of letting
it flow to storm sewers, and an efficient heat-recovery ventilation system.
"People don't realize that half your
heating load is ventilation, so the sales centre and the condo will be using
exhaust air for pre-heating," Carpenter explains.
What also makes this sales centre unusual is
that it can be taken down and re-used. Traditionally, sales centres are
destroyed once construction of the condominium begins, which add loads of debris
to landfill sites. In M5V's case, the flooring is all dry-laid so that it can be
re-used, the mechanical equipment on the roof can be taken down, and the wall
panels are re-mountable.
Although M5V has broken new ground with the
first LEED-registered sales office, it will be one of many condos in
Toronto
that have been
voluntarily built to a green standard. In
Canada
325 projects are
registered to become LEED certified, and 53 are certified. B.C. leads the way
with 22 per cent of all LEED certifications, followed by
Ontario
with 14 per cent.
"The first LEED condo was done by Minto,"
says Jeahny Shim, president and editor of Urbanation. "Tridel has
also built LEED-certified condos and other developers are voluntarily starting
to incorporate green features. This is consumer-driven as consumers are more
aware of energy costs and 40 per cent of maintenance fees are for
utilities."
The M5V condo project is in the final stages of
planning approval,says Mortazavi.
Peter Love, the chief energy conservation
officer with the Conservation Bureau, a division of the Ontario Power Authority
(OPA), says he is encouraging builders to build to a LEED standard now because
they will have more stringent requirements in the future.
"A report released last week included
building code changes," he says. "In five years' time, efficiency will
have to be 25 per cent better than allowed in the current code."
Richard Morris, a consultant with the OPA,
writes in an email that "codes and standards while important, establish the
`low-water mark' in most cases. It is important for leading developers to
continue to exceed the minimum standards, as mature and proven technological
advancements are usually commercially available ahead of amendments to the
Ontario Building Code."
Building green is voluntary, costs more than
traditional construction (up to $100,000 extra for a condominium to be LEED-certified)
and takes longer for approvals, which is why the City of
Toronto
is working to
bring another Toronto-specific rating standard to the market along with
incentives for developers to build green. The idea is to set the bar high and
make it easier to reach. This way, consumers, who have everything to gain from
green building, will have more developments like M5V to choose from, and green
features will be the norm, not the exception.
Joe D'Abramo, manager, Policy and Research City
Planning Division, is leading the team of planners and developers who have
created the Toronto Green Development Standard. He explains that other rating
systems, including LEED, do not address our unique climate, construction methods
and regulations.
"Other ratings improve buildings from the
owners' point of view, which is energy efficiency," D'Abramo says.
"Our perspective is that we need to think about what's good for the
environment. We wanted to establish a standard that addressed our environmental
pressures like air quality, water quality, energy efficiency and the urban
forest."
The high cost of building green is a major
reason more developers don't choose this route. D'Abramo explains that
Toronto
is probably
behind other cities in the
U.S.
and
Europe
when it comes to
green building. He says that
Toronto
is looking at
effective incentives for green development used in other cities like
Chicago
,
Vancouver
and
New York City
. These include
fast-tracking approvals for green builds, which saves thousands in carrying
costs, better financing rates from banks, and public leadership.
"Many developers are fearful of green
technology," he says. "They would prefer it if the public were
involved and if city staff were trained to handle green development
systems."
In the end, the rating system is just part of
the solution. D'Abramo, Carpenter, Love and Morris are all working toward the
same goal — incorporating high levels of energy efficiency in all future
condominium developments. The key component will be the consumer's reaction and
demand for better energy standards. D'Abramo says there is never likely to be a
mandatory standard equal to LEED or the Toronto Green Development Standard,
which puts the onus on developers to continue to adhere to standards on a
voluntary basis.
Expecting the unexpected
Port
Hope couple boldly restore a Georgian townhouse, adding some funky, modern
accents
SHELLY SANDERS GREER
SPECIAL
TO THE STAR
After renting out their 1844 Georgian townhouse
as three apartments for years, Lee Caswell and his partner, Blaise Gertz,
decided to call it home.
Caswell, who runs Antiques on Queen in Port
Hope, and is president of the Canadian Antique Dealers Association, wanted to
remain true to the home's classic and Greek Revival detailing on the exterior,
but he was also determined to bring today's bold colours and patterns inside,
reflecting their individual tastes.
Today, after four years of construction and
design, the home is complete. And, just as Caswell and Gertz intended, this
eclectic residence is a standout with its striking combination of classic
heritage, bold modern and funky retro styles.
"The contractor and architect we worked
with had strong sensitivities to old buildings." Caswell says. "They
had some respect for the home's original intent. What you project to the
neighbourhood is really important."
The exterior is exactly as it would have been
in the 1800s, with classical and Greek Revival detailing. Caswell and Gertz had
the symmetrical windows restored, the chimney was rebuilt, the brick was painted
the authentic red colour reflecting the home's style and age, and the grout,
which had been painted black in the 1930s, was lightened.
But once you step through the elaborate front
door and on to the wooden pumpkin- and charcoal-coloured checkerboard floors,
you realize that this is no ordinary restoration.
"For the front hall I bought a ribbon for
an adding machine to use as a stencil for the squares, which I then painted
pumpkin," Caswell explains. "In the dining room, which has the same
pattern only a bigger scale, I traced linoleum squares. We did it ourselves and
found it to be easy."
An antique armchair, once used as a potty
chair, is upholstered in purple suede and is the perfect finishing detail in the
hall, telling guests to expect the unexpected.
The parlour, which is off the hall, is a
melting pot style with heritage drapes, charcoal walls, antique furniture
adorned in modern fabric, and the original Greek Revival fireplace.
"The fireplace mantle was copied from
American architect Asher Benjamin's book The American Builder's Companion,
which was published in 1827," Caswell says. "The Greek keys in the
corners of the mantle are exactly like those in Benjamin's book, and the
bookcases, which we had built, were designed from the same book. The right
bookcase actually covers a radiator.
"We had noted
Toronto
architect Phillip
Carter, who specializes in libraries, design our bookcases and our terrace. He
also did the addition for Port Hope's heritage Capitol Theatre."
The floral curtains were the inspiration for
the parlour and are one of Caswell's favourite pieces. At one time, they hung in
Toronto
's
Christie
Mansion
and 30 to 40
years ago, made their way to Port Hope. Caswell discovered them in a Port Hope
home and when the owner was moving on, he quickly offered to take them.
"The woven silk curtains are from the
1850s and are probably French," he says. "The original tassels were
intact and every edge had little bobbins attached. But there was a lot of
damage, especially from animals, so we had them cleaned, altered and re-lined.
We based the parlour's colour scheme on the curtains, which tie the whole room
together."
Painted in a bold red, the dining room is a
dramatic contrast from the parlour. The many antique pieces here say heritage,
but an eye-catching tray collection on one wall adds modern drama.
"More than half of these trays were hand
painted by an old friend," Caswell says. "He has died so this wall is
sort of an homage to him."
Made of either paper mache or tin, most of
these trays are from 1850 or earlier. The oldest is from 1780. Caswell's friend
would find these trays at antique stores and repaint them.
The most eclectic room in this house is the
kitchen, boasting wooden floors painted a vivid pumpkin, the original red brick
fireplace, built-in period armoires, and sleek glass cabinets.
"The armoires come from farmhouses and are
from the same vintage as this house," says Caswell. "We had them
built-in as corner cupboards. One holds the fuse panel and is a pantry and the
other is for storage."
Modern and traditional are fused together with
the wooden and glass cabinets. Caswell says the corner where the glass cabinets
are was dead space and Blaise had the idea to put in glass cabinets to hold
their more decorative crystal. The more functional kitchen necessities are
housed in new wooden cabinets, which Caswell painted the same colour as the trim
in a full gloss. "This fools the eye as you can't tell the old from the
new," he says.
Three chairs, a fireplace and two pillows in
the kitchen are a perfect conclusion for the tour. Two chairs are dark wood
antiques, but the pillows resting on them scream retro with their vibrant, funky
circular patterned fabric. In stark contrast is the other less formal chair,
which is painted white with the paint crackling. The fireplace is a Port Hope
original but the china carefully displayed on its mantel is blue and white
Chinese exports.
"We wanted our home to be relaxed, not
uptight or stuffy," Caswell says. "You can't be afraid to put modern
fabric on an antique. You can also mix old and new art. Your home should be all
about you. Mix it up and have some fun."
How to choose antiques for your eclectic home
As president of the Canadian Antique Dealers
Association, Caswell loves living in Port Hope which he calls "a playground
of antiques." Here are three tips from Caswell on what to look for when
choosing antiques for any type of home:
·
Go for the classics. Think of an antique piece of furniture as a basic
black suit where you can change the look with accessories. Choose a dining table
that can do double duty as a library table in the future. For a hallway, pick a
traditional table and place an ultramodern chandelier above it. Or purchase a
period table and mix it with modern chairs.
·
Be prepared to spend. Caswell says you should consider antiques as
investments. Quality is something you will never regret.
·
Get professional help. Make sure you're looking in reputable stores and
ask for help to examine the quality of pieces. The best place to start your
search is on the Canadian Antique Dealers Association website: http://www.cadainfo.com.
Here you will find reputable dealers across the country, collecting advice and
information about the industry
The lost art of fakery
The ancient craft of creating the look of real wood with paint is making a
timely comeback
Faux bois becoming popular for environmental reasons and because it's
cheaper than exotic woods
SHELLY SANDERS GREER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Gail Redshaw was facing a dilemma: The back stairs in her 1840s house in
Oakville, which she purchased from her grandmother, were worn and in desperate
need of a facelift.
However, they were painted with an unusual technique called faux bois
— where paint is used to create wood grain — and finding an artist
familiar with the process would be difficult.
But when she found out the front doors of her church were recently painted
with a faux wood grain, she quickly contacted the contractor.
David Bambury painted the steel doors at Munn's United Church in faux
bois, an ancient technique that dates back to the Egyptians. He learned
the craft from his father, Phil Bambury, who is retired but still works
occasionally with his son matching colours and wood grains.
"Since wood was scarce in the desert, people would wood grain clay
pots and other objects to look like rare woods," David says. "During
the 1800s in Europe, wood graining peaked. A lot of forests had been cut down,
so the art of wood graining grew in order to meet the demand for the look of
wood."
The elder Bambury says that the "main issue of graining perhaps is
it's more relevant today than it was years ago. Environmental people are
worried about chopping down trees. Commodities are being exhausted. Wood
grainers can take a steel door and give it an exotic wood finish like teak
from Burma or a redwood from Indonesia."
David says that his father learned how to wood grain in Wales in the 1940s,
when almost every painting company had a wood grainer on staff, who would
distinguished himself from the other painters by wearing a bowler hat. Phil
adds that wood graining was a very exclusive club with nobody else allowed on
the job while the grainer worked.
"In 1943, when the war was on, I left school and became an apprentice
to a general contractor," recalls Phil. "He was well into his 70s
and had started graining in the 1800s. So I learned the old-fashioned ways as
well as the modern ways of wood graining.
"We used to use crystals mixed with water for over painting. Today's
latex products are more convenient. The old-fashioned way was more realistic
but took longer."
David Bambury recalls his father telling him that most wood grainers had
their own secret recipes and tools and one of the most common ingredients was
stale beer.
"One of the grainers my dad apprenticed with would tell the customer
to have a pint or two ready when he arrived to grain the door," says
Bambury. "He would use about two ounces for brush graining and drink the
rest!"
Bambury explains that as graining became more popular, products were
developed allowing people to create their own wood grains on objects at home.
One of the most common is the graining rocker tool, which is still available
at many paint stores.
"The problem with a lot of these tools is they create the same pattern
over and over and the work is often done poorly," he says. "This
gave wood graining a bad name and its popularity decreased. Hopefully, if
people see how realistic graining can be when it's done professionally, it
will make a comeback."
Bambury and his father encountered their first job in Ontario 15 years ago.
Erindale Presbyterian Church in Mississauga had hired them to strip and
refinish the wood frames on their stained glass windows.
"We discovered that the paint on the windows contained lead,"
Bambury recalls. "As a healthier and easier alternative, we suggested
wood graining over the existing paint with a faux wood grain to match the
pews. The results led to more work at the church.
"Soon after we were asked by Montgomery's Inn in Etobicoke to wood
grain the bar in this historical tavern that had been converted to a museum.
There was an original receipt for wood graining of the bar by a painter in the
1800s. To make it as historically accurate as possible, we wood grained the
bar to match a sample that was still visible."
|
`Hopefully, if people see how
realistic graining can be when it's done professionally, it will make
a comeback.'
David Bambury
|
To get an authentic wood appearance, Bambury works in stages. He
sands the surface, paints a base coat, paints the wood grain, and then applies
a few protective coats of sealer. He uses a variety of specialized tools
including brushes, a flogger, which is a 12-cm horsehair brush, and steel
combs that have been around for 100 years. His tools were given to him by his
father, who received them during his apprenticeship in Wales.
There are also a couple of not-so-specialized tools that come in
handy—rags and his thumb.
In addition to the realism wood graining can bring to any surface, there
are two other reasons for a growing interest in this art — cost and the lack
of disruption it causes.
These were the reasons Dianne and Brad Daniel had Bambury wood grain the
front door and staircase of their Oakville home.
"About five years ago, David wood grained our fiberglass front door to
look like wood," says Dianne Daniel. "He did the interior and the
exterior in a dark walnut with wood grain features. It truly looks like wood
and has stood up very well. Now our door looks different than any other door
in the neighbourhood. And it was cheaper than buying a wooden door."
When it comes to cost, Bambury says a double set of oak front doors would
be about $5,000. To wood grain them is $500.
The Daniels were so pleased with their door, that they decided to have
Bambury wood grain their natural oak staircase this summer.
"We wanted a dark walnut look but to strip the stairs down ... would
be a major undertaking," says Dianne. "David wood grained the
staircase in just a few days and there was hardly any disruption. It looks
like we have a brand new flight of stairs."
Phil believes the technique will become increasingly popular as people are
made aware of the art, but he worries that there will not be many people able
to provide a proper service.
"The process can be simple if you want something to resemble
wood," he says. "It's much more difficult if you want to copy a
wood. That's the difference between a stainer and a wood grainer.
"And the problem today with training someone is that it takes
patience. When I was an apprentice I was supposed to spend part of every
evening practicing. I don't think young people today are interested in doing
this."
You can contact David Bambury at http://www.woodgraining.ca.
Shelly Sanders Greer is an
Oakville-based freelance writer with a passion for historic homes.
You can reach her at shellywrites@cogeco.ca.
Canadian
Living
Nitpicky. Who, Me?
By Shelly Sanders Greer
“You need to come to the school right away. Your kids
have lice.”
I never thought I’d hear these words--ever. I can take on icky
child-rearing challenges with the best of them, but nits—no way.
“How can my kids have
lice?” I ask the nurse indignantly.
“It’s going around. But don’t worry,” she says. “They like
clean hair so it’s not a reflection of hygiene.”
Oh, that’s helpful. Now I feel so-o much better.
As the nurse runs her fingers through my older daughter’s hair looking
for lice, it hits me: there could be hundreds of them, and I have to remove
every last single one. Wishing I could just be swallowed up on the spot, I
hustle my kids out the door and head straight to the pharmacy. What I wouldn’t
give for a portable siren to plunk on the top of my mom-mobile. I’d let it rip
to show everyone I mean business.
At the drugstore, I feel like my kids have neon nit signs on their heads.
I ask the pharmacist for lice shampoo in a hushed voice, checking over my
shoulder to make sure no one has heard. It’s just the way a teenage guy must
feel when he lays his first pack of condoms on the counter.
Back at home, as I put the shampoo on my six year-old’s head, she
shrieks hysterically. “It’s burning, it’s burning!” I lose it and call
my husband for backup.
“The girls have lice,” I scream. “The shampoo is b-u-r-n-ing their
heads. You have to come home right now.”
“Lice?” he asks incredulously. “How can my
kids have lice?”
“They do. But it doesn’t mean they’re dirty. I just don’t know
how to get rid of them…I’m going crazy!”
There’s a long moment of silence on the other end of the line. I wait
for him to tell me that he’ll take care of everything. No such luck.
“I wish I could come home, really, Hon,” he coos into the receiver.
“But I have clients coming soon.” (Oh, how convenient!)
“But what am I going to do?” I scream again.
“I don’t know. What are you supposed to do?”
Ahhhhhh! Thanks for nothing. I hang up. Now both girls are crying. I’m
crying. Even my almost two-year-old son, who doesn’t have lice, is crying,
though he has no idea why.
I tediously pick live lice, and the occasional dead carcass from strands
of hair and silently scheme at ways to get back at my husband who’s sitting in
a clean office.
“Ouch, mommy, you’re pulling my hair,” sobs my younger daughter.
I tell her I’m sorry but secretly wish I could just shave their heads.
When I finish searching scalps, we all hit the sack, exhausted from the
ordeal. The next morning I give my kids their cereal and check their
heads—again. As I listen to the news, I hear of human misery: job losses,
poverty in
Third World
countries and diseases that affect millions of people.
Suddenly, I’m somewhat ashamed but also amused at how I’ve blown
those little buggers (the nits, I mean) out of proportion. I was terse with the
nurse, shrieked at my husband (OK, well maybe he deserved it) and lost it with
the kids. (Maybe I’ll blame it all on PMS.)
I’m not saying that I don’t care if my kids get lice again, but if
they do, I’ll try to envision the bugs with adorable little animated faces. At
least that should keep the shrieking down to a minimum.
________________________________________________________________________
Shelly Sanders Greer,
writer, mom and experienced nitpicker, is happy to report her family has been
living lice-free in
Ontario
for more than a year.
College Park gets sculptured borealis glow
Artist delivers finishing touch
Glass, steel, LED lights used
SHELLY SANDERS GREER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Bay St. has acquired a new subtle glow that may remind some of the Northern
Lights. A new glass and stainless steel sculpture with digital lighting,
created by an award-winning Canadian artist, is part of a new luxury
condominium just south of College St.
While developers from Canderel Stoneridge Equity Group and Tricon Capital
Group Inc. were planning The Residences of College Park, they realized the
height of the two future towers would make them city landmarks. The first
phase, which is now built, is 51 storeys and the second phase, which will be
ready for occupancy at the end of 2007, will be 45.
"We wanted to give something back to the city to show our appreciation
for all the support we've received," says Riz Dhanji, vice-president,
sales and marketing, Canderel Stoneridge Equity Group. "So we came up
with the idea of having a sculpture made that would reflect the project, and
we put a lot of thought into who would do this. It was not part of any art
requirement by the city or any other community stakeholders."
A competition was held by the developers and New Brunswick-based artist
Peter Powning was commissioned to create two sculptures — one for each
tower. This is Powning's first public piece in Toronto in his 35-year career.
He has created pieces for the Ritz Hotel in New York City and has had gallery
showings in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Florida.
"This was unusual for me because I've never done a competition
before," Powning says in a phone interview.
"There was a different set of limitations. I was given some thematic
suggestions about scale and guidelines and the sculptures had to fit the
space."
The sculptures are each 3.9 metres tall and are made of stainless steel and
recycled glass shards of various sizes.
They will be set in granite bases to give the sculptures elevation, adding
just under a metre of height. Powning explains that the Northern Lights effect
is created by three things: the form, which is a stainless steel mesh
exterior, the glass which lies within the mesh, and the digitally-controlled
lighting.
"The developers suggested a theme of Northern Lights," says
Powning, who has been named the 30th recipient of the Saidye Bronfman Award
for excellence in the crafts for 2006. "When the second tower is
complete, the second sculpture will be unveiled and the pair will be mirrored
reverse spirals. The two will look alike but there will be subtle differences.
When we have both going they will relate visually and the lighting effects
will have rapport.
"The piece is an elegant vessel for light spirals. I've used LED
lights and there are programmed scripts that light the sculptures day and
night," he says. "There is a simple elegance and the pieces tend to
nod in the art nouveau direction. The recycled glass looks like ice to me,
which again, is a Northern Lights reference."
Powning ended up getting the glass from Utah, where he hand-selected every
piece. He also made a small number of pieces himself to fit into the form.
These glass shards change as the natural light varies during the day, and
again as the transmitted light shifts.
Dhanji likes the fact that both residents and passers-by will be able to
enjoy this sculpture.
"We wanted to create communities and having something unique in the
streetscape is a good way to do this,'' he says.
"Because the lighting reflects against the glass, different colours
shine. It will light up the street at night with a classy, warm feel."
Powning says he is not aware of any sculpture similar to what he has
created.
"My reference point for this sculpture comes out of my head," he
says. "While it pushed my limits, it still came from the same source as
any of my other work."
Powning's new sculpture is at 763 Bay St.
To learn more about Peter Powning and his work, visit http://www.powning.com.
GREEN LIVING: Other countries show more solar initiative
Shelly Sanders Greer
The future for solar power is not bright in
Canada
, where we continue to rely on fossil fuels.
We’ve had no financial incentives to choose solar energy,
which is expensive to install, and lag far behind our international counterparts
when it comes to renewable energy sources.
Ontario
has just introduced a new solar program, but it doesn’t offer enough
financially to encourage the average consumer to harness the sun.
It’s been more than a century since the ability to turn
sun into power was discovered. But the rush to develop fossil fuels buried the
interest in solar power, which has never gained momentum. In
the last 20 years, as the technology has become more refined and fuel supplies
have decreased, the
U.S.
and many European countries have begun looking at solar as a worthwhile
alternative. Amid growing concerns about pollution from fossil fuels, solar is
poised for more dramatic growth worldwide.
The best thing about solar is that it peaks during the
highest demand time—the hot summer. When air conditioners tax the traditional
electrical system, we end up paying a premium of 20 to 30 cents an hour for
power that we have to import. With solar, there are no transmission or
maintenance costs, it is clean energy and the power grows with the sun. But you
have to pay for the energy your home will need up front. At around $30,000 for
solar panels to power an average house, it would take 30 years to get your
investment back.
This is a price Canadians can’t or won’t pay which is why solar advocates
believe the government needs to step in and offer some type of financial
incentive for builders which could be passed on to consumers.
The
Ontario
government does have a new Standard Offer Contracts Program in the works, and
has just revised the building code to encourage homeowners to put solar panels
on their roofs. Rob McMonagle, executive director of Canadian Solar Industries
Association, is happy about this new program but says it is still not as good as
financial incentives offered in
Europe
and the
U.S.
where solar energy has been a priority for years.
Although details won’t be announced until the fall, McMonagle says that
essentially, the Ontario Power Authority will buy excess electricity from
homeowners with solar panels for about 42 cents per kilowatt hour. This is
almost three times as much as the 13 cents per kilowatt hour it costs the
average homeowner for electricity. Solar electricity users will make money by
selling excess power which should encourage the sales of panels. Every kilowatt
of solar-produced electricity will pay for four hours of electricity purchased
from the grid. But McMonagle adds that the 42 cent price is only about half of
what is offered in countries like Germany, which installed over 600 mega watts
of photovoltaic or solar electric power last year.
Canada
installed one mega watt.
In the
U.S.
,
Minnesota
offers a maximum $20,000 rebate to homeowners who install grid-connected solar
electricity.
Indiana
has had property tax exemptions for solar users since 1975, and
California
has earmarked $350 million for new residential building construction using
solar in 2007.
Ontario
’s new building code clarifies solar installation and makes it easier for
builders to install solar panels. David Brezer, director, building and
development branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, says the new code
offers exemptions for combustible solar panels to be installed on buildings that
are supposed to have only non-combustible products.
“You can also install solar panels even if they penetrate roofing material, as
long as the panels don’t affect the integrity of the roof,” Brezer explains.
While this new building code makes it easier for builders to install solar
panels, it still falls short compared to other countries. In
Spain
, for example, new building codes will go into effect in 2008 making solar water
heating mandatory.
And although the Standard Offer Contracts Program will help offset costs, is it
enough to change people’s attitudes about solar energy?
Bob Bach, director of
Sustainable Buildings
Canada
, believes the 42 cent a kw hour Standard Offer Contracts Program “totally
changes solar photovoltaic power.” He says there is a rapidly growing interest
in solar electricity because of this program and “we are going to see
significant growth in solar photovoltaic power.”
McMonagle says the Standard Offer Contracts program will see a growth in solar
installations but thinks more help is needed. CanSIA estimates this program will
see the installation of up to 15,000 systems by
Ontario
homeowners over the next five years. This would be equivalent to about 40 MW.
McMonagle says that better financing mechanisms, allowing homeowners to amortize
the extra costs of solar, are also required.
Victor Fiume, president of the Ontario Home Builder’s Association, agrees.
“I don’t think we’re quite there yet as a society, for an item like solar
that makes people feel good but never pays back financially,” he says. “Most
customers today will not buy a home based solely on energy efficiency.”
What
Fiume
would like to see is help from banks and lenders for people looking to buy
energy efficient homes. He points
out that if you save $100 a month on utilities, this should be taken into
account within your mortgage.
Fiume
, McMonagle and Bach would love to see solar become standard on new homes. But
given the new solar electric program and the revised building code, which are
good but not enough, chances are solar-powered homes, like the energy efficient
R-2000 home which was introduced 20 years ago, may continue to be an
unattainable novelty for the average homeowner for years to come.
Green Living Tightly built homes jeopardize air
quality
Shelly
Sanders Greer
While
building “green” has been gaining momentum over the last few years, indoor
air quality has actually taken a back seat. The level of energy efficiency in
new homes has increased, and will continue to increase when the updated
Ontario
building code requiring better energy efficiency takes effect next year. But,
unless there is a stronger emphasis on ventilation and an avoidance of
building products that release or off-gas toxic chemicals, indoor air quality
will continue to erode. And it doesn’t matter if you buy a $300,000 home or
a $2 million dollar home. Toxic building products are used in every new home
built in
Ontario
.
In
a recent report from Environmental Defence—Polluted
Children, Toxic Nation: A Report on Pollution in Canadian Families—lab
tests found that adults had an average of 32 toxins in their bodies while
children had 23. Although the test group was small, 13 people from across
Canada
, it has spurred Health
Canada
to begin a larger, national program tracking toxic substances next year.
The
report also revealed three significant findings that cannot be ignored. First,
the toxins found are known carcinogens; second, every child tested had at
least one toxin at a higher level than the adults; and third, many of the
toxins found exist in all of our homes.
Probably
the most ubiquitous building product in every new home is particle board,
which can be found in sub-floors, cabinet boxes, shelves, closets, interior
doors, window bases, moulding and kitchen cabinet doors. Particle board can
take the form of plywood, MDF or oriented strand board.
Dan
Morris, an engineer who is president of Healthy Building Inc. and teaches a
sustainability building advisor certificate program at
Seattle
Community College
in
Washington
State
, says that particle board is a composite product made with sawdust and
formaldehyde.
“It
is used anywhere in a house that used to be wood,” he says, “and it is one
of the worst things we have ever put into housing. Its half-life is between 10
and 40 years which means it will off-gas formaldehyde for a long time. MDF has
a higher density than plywood so the formaldehyde comes out a bit slower than
in plywood.”
Dr.
Kapil Khatter, director of health and environment for Pollution Watch and
president of Canadian Physicians for the Environment, says “formaldehyde is
certainly a carcinogen and the best thing is not to buy particle board at
all.”
Renee
Bergeron, media relations officer for Health
Canada
, says formaldehyde is present at low levels in all Canadian buildings. In an
e-mail, she stated that most homes tested in Canadian studies had formaldehyde
levels below the Health Canada guideline. She does state that we can lower our
exposure to formaldehyde by increasing the flow of outdoor air to the inside,
which means increased ventilation. She also agrees that “wood-based products
assembled with urea-formaldehyde resins (particle board, MDF) emit more
formaldehyde than those assembled with phenol-formaldehyde resins (e.g.
oriented strand board), and bare products emit more than coated products.”
Although
Canadian-made particle boards are tested on a regular basis for entry into the
Japanese market, and have the best rating going into this market, we import a
lot of the particle board used in our own new homes. And this is not tested
nor is there legislation mandating testing of these imported building
products.
Dale
Black, manager of quality management systems for the Canadian Plywood
Association, says currently
Canada
does not test for formaldehyde for imported plywood and MDF.
“I
am not aware of any legislation, provincial or federal, that mandates panel
products must be tested,” he says. “And plywood is coming into
Canada
from other countries like
China
and
Brazil
. It has come to our attention that a person building a home in
Toronto
used plywood and it off-gassed terribly.”
Morris,
who says the same problem exists in the
U.S.
, attributes it to free trade.
“In
the late 80’s we had lowered formaldehyde by 70 per cent,” he says. “In
the late 90’s, with free trade, formaldehyde
was going up again. The reason is we can’t tell any other country what to do
or how to make products. So we are importing lots of particle board from
Mexico
which has lots of formaldehyde.”
Complicating
this increase in formaldehyde levels, is the tighter, more energy efficient
homes being built. With nowhere for the chemicals to go, they remain in homes
for people to breathe in.
In
tighter houses with more energy efficiency, pollutants build up and are harder
to get rid of,” says Morris, who believes the biggest problem in new homes
today is inadequate ventilation. “In houses with poor ventilation, dust can
get to be 500,000 particles per cubic foot of air that you breathe. I think
there is a conflict between green building and indoor air quality.”
Morris’s
advice to homebuilders is simple: “If in doubt, keep it out” and provide
good ventilation in all new homes. Morris would like to see heat recovery
ventilation systems in new, energy efficient homes. This would allow fresh air
to enter the house through a single intake and then be distributed through
ducts to other rooms. Stale, polluted air would be removed through a separate
exhaust duct.
Sarah
Winterton, executive director for Environmental Defence, and Dr. Khatter say
the study proposed by Health
Canada
for next year, should start now and that we should be getting rid of known
products with toxic chemicals as soon as possible.
“It’s
a matter of mandating industry to implement pollution plans and implement
products with safer materials,” says Winterton. “Should
products with toxic chemicals be created in the first place?”
History Lessons
Shelly Sanders Greer
The old farmhouse belonging to a family friend had always captured the
imagination of Gillian Santangeli.
It was during her wedding shower in the home that she first found herself
secretly wishing that it was her own, daydreaming about the restoration work she
and her future husband, Dave, would complete.
Santangeli had spent a great deal of time in the house on many special occasions
with the owners, the Scott family, and even lived there for six months.
“We spent holidays with the Scott’s and Dave and I played tennis on their
backyard court before we were married,” Santangeli recalls.
“My dad helped (a previous owner) turn the kitchen pantry into a bathroom and
he also gave them strawberry plants that are still growing.”
Built in 1910, the 3,500 square-foot historic gem once commanded 20 hectares of
farmland and now sits on a pretty half hectare in the old
village
of
Oakville
.
After their wedding, Gillian and Dave relocated to
Toronto
, had two sons, and never thought about moving to
Oakville
. Until Gillian’s mother called to tell her the house was for sale.
“The Scott’s had the house on the market for a while with no bites,”
Gillian says. “So Dave and I came out one weekend to stay in it, to test drive
it. When Dave said he was ok with the commute we decided to buy the house.”
That was in 1998 and Gillian finally found herself in a position to turn her
dreams into reality.
Determined to make this a home and not a museum, Dave and Gillian have worked
carefully to restore the house back to its vintage style, without sacrificing
practicality and modern conveniences. It hasn’t been easy, or cheap, and they
soon discovered that before decorating, some structural renovations were
required.
In the end, they love their three-storey home that fuses original birch floors
with skylights in the kitchen, original beamed ceilings with new William
Morris-inspired carpet and an original claw-foot tub with a vanity made from
wood found in the garage.
When they bought the house, the Santangelis knew the roof needed to be
replaced immediately.
“We interviewed three contractors and asked about an ice and water shield
because the house is old, not insulated well, and has a crazy roof line,”
Gillian says. “Two roofers said we didn’t need a shield but the third, who
has an old house himself, said that’s exactly what he would do. It only cost
about $1,000 more to get the ice and water shield and now we know water can’t
get into the house.”
After the roof was finished, the couple looked forward to another more
noticeable improvement—a new garage. The existing one had a dirt floor and
leaned noticeably to one side.
A concrete slab had to be installed first and then the contractor, Mr.
Renovator, worked with the Santangelis on matching the exterior to the existing
home.
“We ended up using vinyl siding because we could get it in narrow strips which
matched the house. The entire garage cost $40,000.”
The biggest expense were the custom wood carriage doors, made by Architectural
Windows in
Brampton
from a sketch the Santangelis drew. They look like old-fashioned doors that
open in the middle but are actually ultra-modern and roll up and down with just
the push of a button.
“You should spend money on structural things like windows and the roof and
wait until you can afford to upgrade things like trim and floors,” Gillian
says.
“One way we were able to save was to let people know what we were doing. After
the mason fixed the chimney for us, he dropped off two doors from his house that
he didn’t want. They matched our doors and we were able to use one right
away.”
One of her best “finds” was a light fixture for the bathroom.
“Our electrician knew I liked old fixtures and one day he showed up with an
old porcelain fixture. He just game it to me because it had been taken out of a
house he was working on and the owners didn’t want it.”
A desire to get rid of some overgrown shrubs on the side yard led to an
expensive landscaping project in 2000.
“The side yard was dense, unusable and open to the road,” Gillian says.
“We also wanted to redirect people to the front door, and
restore the back yard to native shrubs and trees.”
Intriguing Landscapes was hired and they installed a wooden fence to make the
side yard safer and more private. A stone wall between the house and the garage
helped direct people away from the mudroom door on the side of the house to the
front door.
Now the home stood proud on the street, looking better than
it had looked in years.
In 2001, the Santangelis decided to spruce up their basement with some new
flooring. However, when they pulled up the plywood floor the concrete floor was
cracked and rodents had taken up residence.
The Santangelis decided to put a drain in the floor, which meant getting rid of
the old concrete. But with the new stone wall and wooden fence on either side of
the house, there was no room for heavy equipment to help haul the debris.
The concrete floor was hammered into bits, which were then carried out in
bucketfuls by workers from Good Impressions, the contractor hired to refinish
the basement. This extra labour added up and the Santangelis regretted dealing
with the landscaping before the basement.
This was not the end of their underground problems. Below the concrete they
found clay pipes wrapped tightly with tree roots. And at every joint there were
four inches of roots inside.
“There was only one inch inside the pipe for water to go through and all the
water from the house ran through these pipes,” Gillian says. “Why it
hadn’t backed up was amazing.”
The clay piping was replaced with UBS pipes.The concrete for the new floor also
had to be brought in by bucket, creating so much extra labour the renovation
cost $10,000.
The next major task was to restore their children’s bathroom, renovate the
master bedroom and bathroom, as well as replace the old knob and tube wiring,
which is a fire hazard.
Gillian chose subway tiles for the boys’ second-floor bathroom. When they
removed the cabinets, they discovered the original wall plaster had been scored
to look like subway tiles.
“Obviously the original owners wanted subway tiles but perhaps couldn’t
afford it and this was their cost-saving solution,” Gillian says. “When we
opened up the floor and walls in the bathroom, we found that we were restoring
the layout to almost exactly what it had been originally. It was very satisfying
to have physical evidence that we were doing what was right for the house.
“We also installed a mosaic tile floor that reflects the period of the home
and refurbished the old claw foot bathtub we found in the third floor bathroom.
And we didn’t replace the nickel-coated door knob in the boys’ bathroom—I
like the fact that so many hands over the years have worn the nickel off in one
spot.”
One of Gillian’s favourite rooms is the master bedroom “which feels like a
tree house because of the sloped ceiling and large trees outside the windows.”
It was an addition made in 1970 but the Santangelis wanted to rearrange the
space. They also wanted to use rounded corners on the walls to match them to the
original walls.
Gillian was pleased to find pre-made
round corners were available—a much cheaper alternative to plastering. The
bedroom has a large balcony overlooking the yard. A tiny bathroom was made 18
inches bigger by removing a wall.
“We learned that every setback has some benefit,” Gillian says. “When the
contractor working in the master bedroom slipped off his ladder and put his foot
through the kitchen ceiling, the hole gave us access to the dining room wiring
so we were able to rewire the light, changing it from knob and tube.”
Seven weeks were needed to renovate the two bathrooms and rewire the home, which
cost $25,000.
“The most expensive item was the wood vanity in the boys’ bathroom which
cost $1,200 in labour,” Gillian says. “We supplied the wood which was in the
old garage but it had to be planed and the carpenter went through two blades
while making it.”
It’s now been a year since any major work has been done and the Santangelis
are enjoying their century home along with their third son
who is now three. But Gillian still struggles with practicality over
authenticity.
“I have trouble with the windows at the back of the house,” Gillian says, as
she sips a cup of coffee and watches Will play with his toys. “They were part
of a family room addition the Scott’s did but the windows aren’t in keeping
with the character of the house. I would have done smaller windows like the ones
at the front but these fill the walls, going right to the floor. I do love the
light and the connection to the back yard but it’s difficult for furniture
placement.
“My philosophical stance, I guess, is to restore the original part of the
house and renovate newer areas like the addition.
“With the way
Oakville
is going now, as old homes get torn down and replaced with new monster homes,
we have to restore this house and its history to ensure it stays standing and is
appreciated.”
Toronto Star October 22, 2005
The Mystery House
SHELLY SANDERS GREER
Special to the Star
In my southeast
Oakville
neighbourhood, I’ve become jaded by the sight of wrecking crews knocking down
bungalows to make way for larger homes.
Contractor’s white panel vans are a familiar sight and the sounds of
construction are just part of the ambiance. So when a small bungalow became an
empty lot one day, I thought “another one bites the dust.”
But when I walked my dogs past the site a few days later,
and noticed the foundation formed and poured, I became intrigued by this
mysterious house that was being built so quickly.
The plot thickened a week later, when I saw HGTV design show host and author
Debbie Travis looking trim and fashionable speaking animatedly to a camera in
front of a partially framed new house. When she saw me, she ducked out of view.
The house is posted with No Trespassing signs and a
security guard patrols the site at night.
I realized this was no ordinary construction site. And why
was Debbie Travis in my neighbourhood?
Most people are star-struck by actors and musicians. For me, it’s the
decorating gurus like Travis, Candice Olsen and Sarah Richardson who leave me
shaking at the knees.
At the spring Home Show in
Toronto
my daughter and I waited in a long line to get Debbie’s autograph in her new
book, Debbie Travis’ Facelift, Solutions
to Revitalize Your Home, while my husband and other two kids stood
impatiently nearby.
I wanted to walk over confidently, say “Hi Debbie,” and find out what she
was doing here. But the burly guys in hard hats, along with the danger postings
and the large “NO TRESPASSING” sign, made me think twice. I headed home.
The next morning, I woke up determined to walk over to the house and introduce
myself to Debbie and get the story behind this house. But she was nowhere to be
seen.
So, with curiosity as my guide, I walked up to a guy who
was putting tools in the back of his van.
“Excuse me,” I began, “but can you tell me what’s
going on here? This house is going up really fast and I’ve seen Debbie Travis
here with cameras and lights.”
“It’s for a TV show,” he replied. “Debbie Travis
and Tribute Communities are building this house in five weeks. It has to be
ready by November 12.”
“Five weeks? How is that possible?”
“Well, they have at least 40 people working here every
day. The foundation was formed and poured in one day. Twenty roofers shingled
the roof in one and a half days. I had 20 of my guys here to wire the house in
three days, and I think they plan to have the drywall done in one day. There are
also 12 kids here who are being trained to build houses. Kids who are down and
out, without jobs--kind of a second chance.”
Seeing that he was exhausted and anxious to be on his way,
I said thanks and rushed home to search on the Internet for more information,
which I found eventually on www.canada.com.
Searching under “Debbie Travis” I discovered a letter written to applicants
thanking them for their interest in being on her new show:
“Through our online application process and the cross-Canada open casting
calls in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax, we have received
over 5,000 applications…..The 12 participants chosen for my new show will
represent the best of our diverse country.”
I planned to contact my editor the next day with this
information but he beat me to it with an email asking me to write about this
house and interview Travis. I immediately called Cathy Paine, deputy director,
publicity and promotions for publisher Random House, who would set up the
interview.
Paine confirmed that this house is being built for a new TV
show—From the Ground Up with Debbie
Travis—a 10-episode one hour prime-time series for Global airing next
spring.
And Travis, with the help of Tribute Communities and master
tradespeople, is helping 12 young Canadians—ages 19 to 30--learn valuable
trade skills. The young people will be vying for a reward of at least $10,000,
which will go to the person judged by viewers to have the most ability and best
attitude.
The young workers are even living together while they’re working on the house.
“Once it’s built it will go on the market,” Paine told me. “We hope to
get at least $1.5 million for it as the people building it are the tops in the
business.”
To get more basic information about the size of the house
and permits required, I contacted Shelley Reeds, architectural technologist in
the building services department of the Town of
Oakville
. She dealt with the permit required to build this home.
“The house is huge,” I said to her in a phone
conversation. “Were any special variances or permits required for the size or
to get it done so quickly?”
“The house is 353 metres which is about 4,000 square
feet, and the basement will be finished,” she said. “They did not need a
variance for the size. It’s within the size allowed for the lot, but they did
need and received permission to work longer hours than usual to get it finished
on time. This means there are noise issues but the neighbours are fine with
it.”
My final call, before meeting Travis, was to Mark Cohen,
vice-president, sales and marketing for Tribute Communities. I wanted to know
how they were involved.
Cohen told me that Tribute doesn’t own the home but it is
working with Travis’ people.
“We’re part of the fabric of the show,” he said. “Our involvement
includes management and guidance with respect to trades and the kids in building
the house.”
Knowing that this part of
Oakville
has some of the priciest real estate in
Canada
, I asked Cohen why this particular area-- where small bungalows on large lots
can go for $800,000-- was chosen.
“There was a feeling that there was a reasonable chance
of uplift of the property’s appreciation,” he replied. “This is a
wonderful area where there is not your typical subdivision housing.”
Finally, with my “homework” complete, I was ready to
meet with Travis.
But it was not meant to be. We were told that an interview
could only take place if the story would be held until next spring, because
“we don’t want stories to run until closer to the air date,” said Paine.
For a daily newspaper this is impossible so my interview
was cancelled. That’s why I’m writing this piece about Travis without
actually talking to her.
In a perfect world, the interview would have taken place and maybe we’d even
hit it off so well that she would come to my house for tea and give me Facelift
(Travis’ HGTV renovation show) ideas.
Instead, I’ll keep walking my dogs past the site,
wondering, like my entire neighbourhood, why there’s a security guard every
night and what’s going on when the camera is rolling.
Canadian
Living
My summer Son
It’s a cool, overcast July
afternoon and my three children and
I are in the parking lot of the local mall, waiting for an eight-year-old boy
from
Belarus
to arrive from the airport. His name is Yauheni (pronounced Ugenny) and he is
coming from a little village called
Svaryn that sits just north of the Ukranian border. Yauheni, who speaks no
English, will live for seven weeks in our home in
Oakville
, Ont., as part of a respite-care program called Belarus Children of Chernobyl
(BCC). I’m worried about the language barrier—we speak no Russian—but
I’ve been assured that Yauheni will be able to pick up English quickly.
As soon as I read an article about
BCC, I wanted to host a child and
help him or her get the health care that isn’t available at home. My husband,
Steve, and I
also wanted our kids—Amanda, 10,
Bethany
, 8, and Ian, 4-- to see that all children don’t have the same opportunities
they have, and to reach out and help others. Luckily, our kids were enthusiastic
about the idea, so we volunteered and underwent the required criminal check by
the RCMP. Steve’s Rotary Club provided the $2,000 for Yauheni’s travel
costs.
After a home visit by BCC board members, we were matched with Yauheni.
Only needy children are chosen, and Yauheni certainly qualifies. His father
chops wood for a living; his mother does factory work when she can find it. They
live with Yauheni and his two sisters in a one-room wooden house with no central
heating and keep horses, pigs and chickens. Life is tough in their rural
village, where most houses still don’t have electricity. And the lingering
fallout from the
Chernobyl
disaster still damages the health of the
Belarus
people and its economy.
Shepherded by a translator, Yuliya Lobach, a group of
kids finally arrives. Yauheni is small. His dark blond hair is cut severely and
he’s wearing an old green sweater, black dress pants and black shoes. His
mother dressed him with care. He has no luggage, just two plastic bags. I watch
him glance nervously up at Yuliya and feel sad that such a small child has to
travel so far without his family. On the drive home, he looks, wide-eyed, out
the window.
Once we’re home, Yauheni smiles,
pats our two dogs, then walks slowly around our kitchen/family room, examining
everything. Ian shows him some toys, but Yauheni is fascinated with the dogs. As
I make dinner, Amanda turns on the TV. Instantly, Yauheni is mesmorized by
Scooby Doo. He hardly touches his burger, but eats one potato chip after
another, his eyes locked on the screen. When
Steve arrives home, Yauheni shakes his hand, awed and smiling shyly. We had been
told that
Belarus
children revere their host fathers, and it’s true.
Yauheni sits down happily on the
extra bed in Ian’s room, where he will sleep. He proudly hands me the bags he
brought. One holds two bottles of pop; the other holds a gift for me—chocolate
and a small white tablecloth. This
gift asks me to keep him safe.
Ian, who is too young for modesty,
demonstrates how to use the toilet. I bathe Ian while Yauheni watches. Then,
Yauheni, in a bathing suit donated by one of my friends, sits
down in the warm water, looks up at me and smiles.
I’m sitting in the backyard reading, while Yauheni and
the girls play badminton. I look up when I hear peals of laughter. Yauheni is
strumming the racquet like a guitar and dancing around the yard. The girls are
laughing hysterically. “Mom, Yauheni’s a riot,” says Ian. I’m thankful
the kids are getting along so well.
“Mom, tell Yauheni to get out of
my room,” yells Amanda. I head upstairs. Amanda is sitting on her bed and
Yauheni is playing on the floor. “He just barged in without knocking,” she
says.
I shut the door and knock.
“Knock on door,” I say to Yauheni, who smiles and nods.
Mission
accomplished, think, and head back downstairs.
“Mom, I need you,”
Bethany
yells five minutes later. I head back up.
Yauheni is knocking on
Bethany
’s door, opening it, saying “Hello,” then closing it and knocking, again
and again. Clearly something was lost in translation.
“Mommy, look!” Yauheni
pulls at my arm and points up to a
balloon (he started calling us Daddy and Mommy about a week after he arrived).
We’re at an outdoor street festival and Yauheni, who has never seen a balloon,
is entranced by
the strays floating silently up into the sky. Steve buys Yauheni his
first Canadian toy--a Lego robot.
“Thank you, daddy,” says Yauheni, his eyes shining. Back home, he carefully
places it under his pillow.
I’m sitting in our dentist’s office holding
Yauheni’s hand while four of his 12 decaying teeth are removed. Most aren’t
baby teeth, so he’ll have to live with holes in his mouth. This is our third
appointment. Yuliya came with us the first time to explain things to Yauheni,
but, coming from a place where dental care is infrequent, antiquated and done
without anaesthesia, he is frightened. His eyes water, but he holds back his
tears. As the drill hums, his body
starts trembling. “It’s going to be OK. This is going to help you,” I say.
I don’t know if he understands and I feel helpless. He is so small and
vulnerable.
The dentist—who, along with our
doctor, optometrist and hearing specialist, donated his services-- shakes his
head in discouragement. “The roots are so long in one tooth, I’m having
trouble getting them out,” he says. His assistant hands him a large silver
tool that looks like something from my husband’s workshop. Shaking and
grabbing my hand Yauheni fights off tears but whimpers softly. He’s ashamed to
cry, but I feel my tears pushing
through. No child should have to be so strong.
We go home, Yauheni’s mouth is
so swollen it looks like a tennis ball. “What happened to Yauheni?” asks
Bethany
. I explain about no fluoride, no dental care and his rotten teeth. “I
feel bad for him. I won’t complain about brushing my teeth anymore,” she
says.
“Come
on, Yauheni, it’s time to go to dinner,” I say. With our children in French
immersion, we love going to
Quebec
and thought a trip to
Quebec City
would be fun for Yauheni. But he’s angry
and sullen. At first he even refused to come into the hotel room and walked away
down the hall, ignoring us.
“Ahhhh, me no eat,” he says,
reluctantly turning off the TV. It’s amazing how quickly he has been
gripped by television and computer games. I had been considering buying video
games for our kids, but Yauheni’s obsession is discouraging.
As we look for a restaurant, Yauheni lags behind, head down and sullen.
Bethany
likes to be in charge. “You’re
going to lose us,” she says, but he pretends he doesn’t hear. “He’s so
ungrateful,” she mutters.
“I’ve decided not to be so
stubborn anymore,” says Amanda. “I see how it looks
and I don’t like it.”
I wish I could get inside
Yauheni’s head and understand why he’s so angry. Maybe he’s homesick.
Quebec City
must look as different as life on
Mars.
“Mommy, I hurt my finger!”
cries Ian as the kids play in the park near our hotel.
I see a splinter in Ian’s finger, but he won’t let me
touch it. Yauheni comes over to see what’s wrong, then reaches down to his own
foot, pulls off a Band-Aid and puts
it over the splinter. Ian calms down immediately. “Ian my brother,” says
Yauheni.
My heart melts and Amanda and
Bethany look on, open-mouthed. “I can’t believe Yauheni did that,” says
Bethany
. “That was really nice,” agrees Amanda.
In the fort at
Quebec City
, Yauheni points to a rifle and pretends to shoot. “Me, Yauheni, phoom, phoom.
Me big, me papa,” he says, pointing at a military outfit on display.
“When Yauheni is 18, he’ll go
into the army like his father,” Steve explains to our kids.
“Will he get hurt?” asks
Amanda. She’s softening, more tolerant now.
“I don’t want him to go into
the army,” pipes up
Bethany
. “Can’t he live with us?”
Yuliya visits us in
Oakville
the second week of August. We’ve asked her to help us find out why Yauheni is
so sulky. I worry that he may feel like an outsider. I wonder if he is angry
with one of my kids. He understands quite a bit of English now but still gets
mad suddenly, then ignores us. In her midtwenties, Yuliya is a professor of
English literature at
Minsk
University
. With no kids of her own and a decent salary, she is able to volunteer with BCC
for the summer.
Together we watch Yauheni and
Bethany on the swings in a nearby park. Yauheni jumps and lands on both feet.
“Mom, a girl broke her arm
jumping off this swing,” says
Bethany
.
“Yauheni, don’t jump off the
swing,” I say. He gets back on, swings high and then jumps again.
“Don’t jump, Yauheni. You
could hurt yourself,” says
Bethany
. Yauheni walks off with a scowl on his face.
Yuliya spends a few minutes with
Yauheni, but he won’t really talk to her. She decides to call his parents and
ask why he acts this way. Fortunately they are among the few people in the
village with a phone. After a few minutes of
rapid-fire Russian, Yuliya hands the phone to Yauheni.
“His father told me to hit him
if he doesn’t do what you want,” she turns and says to me.
This reminds me of one night at
dinner when Ian was misbehaving and Yauheni said: “My papa…,” then grabbed
his own ears and yanked hard. “Me bad.”
He hangs up, then comes to me in
tears and hugs me tightly. This is the first time he has cried. I feel like
we’ve broken down a huge barrier. “Yauheni tells me he’s upset that he
makes you unhappy,” says Yuliya. “He is going to behave better.”
“Mom, I want to play with Yauheni’s Spiderman
toy,” cries Ian. I’ve bought each of them a toy, but
Ian wants whatever Yauheni has. By the time I reach Ian’s room, he is
playing with Yauheni’s Spiderman.
“Yauheni gave Ian his toy,”
says Amanda. “He hardly has any toys but he gives away what he has.”
As I gather used warm clothes to send back to
Yauheni’s family, I think about how carelessly we buy and discard things.
I suggest to the girls that we forgo back-to-school shopping for clothes this
year, and just buy supplies. They agree, and tell me they don’t want much for
their birthdays or Christmas, either.
“Do you wish you could stay in
Canada
?” asks
Bethany
. She now thinks of Yauheni as an equal, a brother. “Yes, yes, me love
Canada
,” Yauheni says looking like a true Canadian with his Toronto Maple Leafs
baseball cap and hockey jersey.
“Me come back next year,” says Yauheni before he boards the bus to the
airport. He has more hair on his head and colour in his face than when he
arrived, but he seems sad and
lethargic. He has missed his parents, he tells Yuliya, but loves being here. I
hand him his new backpack filled with toys, a photo album of the summer, and a
letter for his parents, translated by Yuliya.
“We’ll try to have you next
summer,” I say, afraid to promise.
Chernobyl
children can come every year until they’re 18. Then, if they can pass an
English literacy exam, they can go to university in
Minsk
for free. This is my dream for Yauheni.
I’ve been trying to stay strong, not to get too
attached. But seeing the way Yauheni has
changed our family is weakening me. Tears run down Ian’s chubby cheeks. “I
don’t want Yauheni to go,” he says. (When my son found out there are no toy
stores in Svaryn, he tucked some of his own toys into Yauhen’s backpack.)
“Neither do I,” says Amanda.
She has matured this summer and is able to put someone else’s needs before her
own. At first, Yauheni drove her crazy, begging her to show him how to use the
computer.
I reminded her that it would soon
be a memory for him, while she can use it every day. After that, she helped him
with it as much as she could and is
more generous now about helping her brother and sister.
Steve had worried that he
wouldn’t be able to care for another family’s child, but when Yauheni
greeted him with open arms and a big smile every day, Steve
returned the hugs, and they spent hours kicking the soccer ball.
My kids can’t bear to see Yauheni’s bus drive away,
so we leave. All three are crying softly. I
will miss Yauheni wrapping his arms around me for a hug when I tucked him
into bed. I want to cherish my children forever.
I can’t believe how spoiled I
am, how much I take for granted, and I realize that all of us want to give more
to each other and to the world around us, now.
Yauheni showed our family how to
share what we have and open our hearts. This stranger became our summer son and
brother.
Shelly
Sanders Greer used her fee for this article to defray the costs of Yauheni’s
visit this summer.
homemakers
children of my heart
By Michele Singleton as told to Shelly Sanders Greer
As I stand in line at Wal-Mart in
Oakville
,
Ontario
, I watch as a lost child is reunited with his mother. The woman’s face
betrays a mix of terror, relief and frustration.
“Why did you wander away?” she
asks her son in a gruff voice.
The young boy looks frightened and a little nervous at his mother’s
reaction.
I don’t even know this woman and her child yet I find tears streaming
down my face. I am still raw, still sensitive from my trip to
India
, during which I helped immunize young children against polio. Amid the poverty
and a myriad of social problems, my spirits were buoyed by the incredible sense
of family. In
India
, if a child was missing, the mother would be reassured knowing that somebody in
the village would help him.
I look around the store in my
comfortable suburban neighbourhood and see all the
things we consume and later often carelessly toss aside. At a
government-funded school in
India
that I visited, sheets of paper were erased after being written on, so they
could be used again.
There is so much that we take for
granted here in Canada, and yet beyond the material abundance, we still search
for meaning and fulfillment in our lives—filling our shelves with self-help
books and seeking safety for our kids with laws and locks. Our world is so
different from the one I just left. Neither is an ideal place. The flood of
emotion catches me totally off guard again and I am relieved to pay for my items
and leave the store.
My trip to
India
as a volunteer to help prevent
polio was just 10 days long. But the people I met, who had nothing yet offered
me food, and the incredible sense of purpose I felt there have changed me
forever. Material possessions are
less important than I once thought: I realize people and relationships are what
matter to me.
My journey actually began on Thanksgiving Sunday in 2003. As I sat in
choir at
Maple Grove
United
Church
in
Oakville
, Ont., where I live, one of the members of our church, Mary Jane Howie, gave a
short talk to the congregation about PolioPlus—an ambitious program aimed at
ridding the world of polio by 2005-- and an upcoming trip to
India
arranged by Rotary International. Mary Jane had already been on three trips to
Third World
countries. “You see thousands of people on the ground who are polio
victims,” said Howie. “They scrabble in the dirt, can’t go to school or
work. They’re a great hardship for a family.”
What moved me the most was when
Mary Jane held up a photo of a child and explained that the oral polio vaccine meant
that “this one will walk.” I thought it would be incredible to have that
kind of impact on someone else’s life. I turned to a choir member who was
sitting beside me, and said, “I’m going.” My decision was made just like
that. As a public health nurse this would be a chance to take my expertise to a
Third World country, and it was a short expedition, which meant I didn’t have
to give up my job.
The next night, my son Andrew, and daughter Cori, now in
their early 20’s, and I gathered in my comfortable bungalow for a Thanksgiving
feast with my parents, sisters and their families. “I’m going to
India
in the spring to immunize children,” I announced over turkey. Everyone looked
at me like I had six heads. I’m known for being adventurous (I took up skiing
and in-line skating when I was 40), but
this was extreme. My parents expressed their concern about my safety, while my
son asked why I would volunteer my own money and vacation time to do this. I
talked to him about the privileged lives our family has and the opportunities we
take for granted. “It’s really easy for me to look at volunteering this way
because I have received so much support along
my own life journey,” I explained.
Ten years ago, when I was in my early 40s,
I went through a painful divorce, and needed a lot of support from family
and friends. When I emerged from my self-pity, I realized that for a long time I
had tried to be someone I wasn’t. It was time for me to choose how to live my
life. I realized I have a need to give back to the world.
In my job I’ve had the
opportunity to work with people who are dealing with substance abuse, mental
health issues, poverty, family violence and great personal loss. Hearing their
experiences really changed my outlook on the world and my relationships. And
now, I was making the decision to go to
India
because it felt right and I could do it.
My family, including my son, who
was still a bit skeptical, was supportive. But I had just five months to be
properly immunized for the trip and figure out where I was going to come up with
the $4,500 it would cost to go overseas. As it turned out, I had to drastically
change my spending habits. After months of scrimping, I was able to raise the
money to be part of the 10-person group from our church which left in February
2004. We were part of an 85-person team that included 70 Canadians. In turn, our
team joined 100,000 volunteers made
up mostly of people from
India
as well as teams from other parts of the world like ours.
We reached
Lucknow
, a city of three million people in the state of Uttar Pradesh, after hours of
travelling. The roads leading from the airport were paved, but I could hardly
see them for all the traffic, people and animals. There were no stop signs,
painted lines, or traffic lights. And it incredibly noisy because horns blared
every time a driver raced past another car. I fully expected to see my life pass
before my eyes.
The Taj Residency, an elegant
hotel, protected us from the many mosquitoes and thieves, and provided food that
was safe to eat. We would need this security and nourishment to work all day in
the heat. Right beside the hotel was
a field with wild pigs and people living in tents and huts. I would continue to
see this striking contrast of rich and poor living side by side throughout my
stay.
Uttar Pradesh is the largest state
in
India
and one of the poorest. It was our
destination because of the rise in polio cases here, due, we’re told, to the
pervasive myth among some groups that the vaccine causes sterility, a major
concern in a culture that relies on children to provide for their elders. In
2003 Uttar Pradesh accounted for almost 70 percent of polio cases worldwide. An
outbreak in 2002 had infected 1,600 children, up from 268 the year before,
putting millions more at risk of paralysis. Over the next week, there would be
94,588 polio booths or clinics set up in Uttar Pradesh to help reach the goal of
immunizing 32 million children over six days.
Our destination was a private
school in a slum area that had been converted into a polio clinic. Our driver
got lost so I had a tour along narrow dirt roads where I saw tiny children as
young as 18 months old standing alone and barefoot. They wore faded clothing
that still hinted of the bright colour it once was. There were ditches where
sewage collected, piles of garbage and old rickshaws. Hawkers and beggars of all
ages swarmed traffic. Goats, pigs and dogs were wandering the narrow, crowded
streets, and cows were roaming and eating out of garbage cans. I had expected to
enjoy the smell of curry, but instead I found the odour of animals overwhelming.
The begging children were quite
persistent and had an unforgettable look of despair in their eyes. I could see
several who were victims of polio, with their paralysed limbs. I knew there
would be clinics in this area, too, and I hoped these desperate children would
have access to them. It was dry, dusty and hot. I already felt grimy and
thirsty, but I didn’t want to drink too much water because there were few
toilets outside of our hotel.
When we finally arrived at the school, we sat in a courtyard with three
female health-care workers from
India
, putting drops of the polio vaccine into the children’s mouths, marking baby
fingers to show they had been immunized and handing out stickers to thank them
for coming. We took turns, working as a team, but since white people are rarely
seen, we were the main attraction. I
felt uncomfortable at first, with people staring at us, but soon got used to it.
The children, who came in groups
with older siblings or a parent, were petite and beautiful, dressed in their
best outfits. Their clothes were old, with broken zippers and missing buttons,
but they were spotless. I was moved by how proud parents were of their children
and how patient older siblings were with their younger brothers and sisters. As
I held tiny babies after giving out drops, I felt the wonder of life and love in
my arms; the vulnerability of these children but at the same time their
incredible resilience. I wanted to talk to some of the older children, to know
their names, but language was a barrier.
One little boy in particular really stole my heart. He was about nine,
with straight black hair that flopped into his eyes. He was wearing a man’s
white dress shirt buttoned right up to his neck and long pants. There was a
mischievous sparkle in his eyes. One Indian
women told him to bring back five kids to be immunized. He ran away and brought
back many kids, including babies. Children such as him were instrumental in
getting others immunized as they had not heard of the sterilization myth.
“This brings me back to an era we grew up in--one of trust,” remarked Mary
Jane. Indeed, siblings at age six
are responsible for babies. They’ll go into a house, grab a baby and say
“polio,” and take the baby to a clinic such as ours.
As we drove back to the hotel in the late afternoon, I listened to the
music of India—the endless crescendo of car horns—and thought about all I
had seen in just that one day. I was tired, thirsty and overwhelmed by the
contrast between the beauty of the country, with its clear blue sky and lush
green land, and the poverty of the tent city I saw, which lay under a dark haze
of pollution. I thought about
the contentment of the children who were warm and accepting, and the horrible
conditions in which many of them lived.
When we ventured further afield to bring the vaccine door-to-door in
rural villages, the smell of human and animal waste hung heavy in the air. We
could tell which homes had children in need of the vaccine by the chalk markings
on the doors. To be effective, the vaccine needs to be given three times, and
these markings showed if this was done, how many more doses were needed, or if
the children in the family had never received it.
In a one-room thatched-roof house,
an elderly woman held a baby boy. Morar Murray-Hayes, the minister from my
church, tried to persuade her to have him immunized. A man stepped forward and
in his limited English, said, “90 percent coverage, this village.” It was
obvious he did not think this baby needed the vaccine. Morar pulled out a photo
of her daughter and made a cradle with her arms to indicate this was her baby.
“My baby, vaccine, no polio, big,” Morar said. “
Canada
100 percent coverage.” The man could not be persuaded though, and we left
hoping the village leaders would speak to the family. Another health-care team
would be by next week to try again.
I felt frustrated by our failure
in instances such as that one. I
thought about how mothers here watch their children die of curable diseases, how
the health-care centre had no electricity and like a place you’d take your car
to. Health records were handwritten on foolscap and the equipment was
antiquated. I saw teenaged girls, who already had three kids, dying of anemia. I
reminded myself that I couldn’t single handedly overhaul the
system, but I was helping hundreds of children grow up strong, able to
walk. I knew this was where I should be.
At a final meeting held for the local community just before we left to
come home, the results of our polio blitz were announced. More than 35 million
people were immunized against polio over six days-- more
than the entire population of
Canada
. I was thrilled and felt proud to be part of such an initiative. It also made
me think about how each one of us was a small yet critical part of this large
effort.
I realize now there’s not too
much I can’t make happen. And we have so many opportunities to pursue our
dreams. This experience has also helped me become more aware of the people I’m
with and the surroundings I’m in. I live more in the here and now. I am able
to listen better, rather than think about what’s next on my to-do list. And
I’ve seen changes in the way I respond to the stresses of everyday living. I
often say to co-workers: “Hang on. It will get done. Don’t worry; let’s
focus our energy.”
Though
India
is on track to be rid of polio forever, parts of
Africa
are on the brink of the largest epidemic in recent history and were the focus
of a major PolioPlus campaign in the spring of 2005. I wanted to go but had
already booked a work-related trip to a children’s mental health conference in
Alberta
that overlapped with the
Africa
campaign dates. It was a hard decision for me to make. I am so fortunate to
have choices—to give locally or to give in a developing country—and a
balance of the two seems best for me right now. I do hope to be able to go on
the next polio mission, but, failing that, I will find a Third World cause that
can use my skills and expertise. As I feel myself getting slowly sucked back
into my comfortable lifestyle, I want another dose of reality; to be reminded of
what really matters to me. I also feel the need and desire to nurture others, as
I did when I was a mother of young children. I can’t eradicate diseases such
as polio by myself, but I can be part of a larger group that can achieve those
greater goals and enrich my own life at the same time.
<sidebar>
PolioPlus: A polio-free world in 2005
Although polio has disappeared from
Canada
and other
First World
countries, it is still crippling children in the
Third World
. While children over age five develop immunity to the polio virus and don’t
need vaccination, the world’s infants and toddlers remain painfully
vulnerable.
In 1985 Rotary International decided that the elimination of polio should
be a priority because the billions spent on vaccines could be put towards other
pressing health needs. It raised $247 million US to kick off PolioPlus and,
working with the World Health Organization, Unicef and the Centers for Disease
Control in the
United States
, the goal was to get rid of polio by 2005.
By 1996, 150
countries were polio free, including
China
and
Brazil
. By the end of 2003, polio had been eliminated from all but six countries, and
nearly five million children, who otherwise would have been paralysed, were
walking and running.
Strenuous
immunization programs are on track to contain polio in the remaining few
countries—especially in
Nigeria
. PolioPlus hopes to celebrate a polio-free world by the end of the year. For
more information, check out www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus.
Plan now for exterior
lighting
By Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to the Star
If you’re waiting anxiously for your new home to be built, take heart.
You have a big advantage over resale homes when it comes to exterior lighting.
With a bit of planning and foresight, you can set the stage for a brilliant
display now or years down the road.
“If you work with an electrician during the construction phase of your
home, you can add extra outlets, run wires through the property, even hardwire a
transformer which will make it easier and cheaper to add light fixtures in the
future,” says Pam Bingham of LUNA, a Mississauga company that specializes in
exterior lighting.
“You do need to have a landscape
plan first, but many new upscale homes include this in the sale.”
Bingham explains that the best approach to lighting is to decide what you
want to light, the purpose, and then worry about fixtures. “If you want to
light your landscape, you’re looking for ambience and will want fixtures that
help create atmosphere,” she says. “You
can expect to pay between $275 and $325 for a fixture installed. A number of
fixtures are needed to give a composition of light. You need layers to create
the composition.
“I learned that you need to sit in your house to figure out what you
want to see lit up from inside,” says Fulvia Walton, an
Oakville
client of LUNA who had her exterior lighting done this fall. “Then you have
to decide where you want rooms outside. Sit in your backyard and choose what you
want to light.”
For Paula Smith, a client of Bingham’s in Port Credit, there was no
question about what she wanted to highlight…her Japanese garden.
“Pam brought light from a fixture on my balcony to uplight my Japanese
garden,” says Smith. “It looks spectacular.”
In addition to landscape lighting, you need to have security and task
lighting. Bingham explains that security lighting requires motion detectors that
can be switched on from inside the house.
“New owners again have an
advantage because they can hard wire control systems during construction. If
money is not an issue, you can even get a control panel for $30,000 which allows
you to check on your home from just about anywhere. If you’re in
Florida
, for example, you can go online and turn lights on, see the temperature of your
home or see if there are any leaks.”
Task lighting needs fixtures that
provide direct light for barbecues, skating rinks and pools.
“Fibre optics are becoming
popular for lighting swimming pools because of their safety. Light travels down
the fibre to the pool so there is no chance of electrical issues,” says
Bingham.
Fibre optic lighting for a 16 foot
by 32 foot pool starts at $8,500,” she says.
Another, more efficient light
that’s just starting to become available to consumers is LED (light-emitting
diode). “In the past it was used for clocks on microwaves and was only
available in colours,” says Bjarne Pedersen, a lighting consultant who runs
Architectural Lighting Design in
Burlington
. “LED’s are becoming more efficient, last 100,000 hours, and draw a very
low wattage. They’re starting to be made in white light and are developing
quickly for homeowners.”
LED lighting is found primarily in
holiday lights right now. The cost for one strand of lights is about $12,
compared to $3 for a traditional strand of the same length, says Bingham.
Once the fixtures are chosen,
Bingham has to make sure the effect of the light is the focus, not the light
itself.
She considers the wattage amount,
beam spread and angle, and where the fixture should be mounted.
“I decide if the lighting
fixture should uplight, downlight, graze or spotlight the feature, to get all
the shadows and nuances from the light,” she says. “I use decorative
fixtures for garden beds and walkways but very sparingly, otherwise they end up
looking like runways.”
One thing Bingham always considers
when doing a lighting plan, is the effect of the lights on the sky and
neighbours, especially if the lot is small.
“Even if you can’t invest in
an expensive lighting scheme, you can still be a good neighbour by using
dimmers, watermarked glass on carriage fixtures that diffuses light, and
avoiding spotlights which wipe out architectural details and bother neighbours
with excess glare,” she says.
The International Dark Sky
Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving dark skies while
at the same time maximizing the quality and efficiency of night time outdoor
lighting, has an excellent web site with tips on how to minimize glare and
maximize the effect of exterior lights. (www.darksky.org)
Among its recommendations are eliminating floodlights which glare, using low
voltage halogen bulbs which cast a whiter, more focused beam than standard
light, avoiding over lighting, and installing lights where they won’t be
damaged by plows and shovels.
Although exterior lighting can be
expensive, it is something that will last, can be enjoyed 12 months of the year,
and puts an end to the black hole outside your windows at night.
If you’re in the market for a
lighting specialist, Pedersen suggests making sure the person is lighting
certified, which means they have passed an industry qualification exam. “You
should also consider the experience of the person,” he says. “A person
dedicated to landscape lighting has the time to understand all the products
available.”
For more information about LUNA,
contact Pam Bingham at 905-271-8024, or check out the website: www.lunalighting.ca.
LIGHTING TIPS
Here are five tips from Bingham on how to make sure your new home will be
ready for lights when you move in or years later:
- Put
in as many exterior outlets as possible, and don’t forget the fascia (the
band around the edge of the roof that the eaves trough attaches to). You can
use it for Christmas lights.
- If
you plan on adding a driveway, deck or patio, get the electrician to run
wires under the area so you can hook up lighting fixtures later.
“By planning ahead, it will be
easier to fish wires through in the future,” says Bingham.
- If
you plan to do extensive lighting someday, you’ll need a transformer to
convert the standard 120 volts to 12 volts, which is safe even if a dog
bites the wire.
- Have
the electrician run wire to the end of the property in the front and back,
especially with a lot of land.
- When
you choose bulbs for your exterior light fixtures, think about your
neighbours, especially if you have a small yard. “Frosted bulbs, dimmers
and fixtures that direct light down can help you be a good neighbour and
save energy,” says Bingham.
The
strength of straw
Shelly Sanders Greer
special to the star
Lorraine Quast hopes her new house with straw bale
insulation encourages people to dream about non-conventional homes in urban
areas.
And
even though the southwestern Santa Fe-style house, with sun-baked wood and
desert colours in
Oakville
isn't finished, it's already attracting attention
from people around
Ontario
.
Quast says
they get a constant stream of visitors—architects and people interested in
building their own straw bale homes, who have heard about theirs through word of
mouth.
“People think
we’re hillbillies,” she says. “We’re a curiosity but then when they see
us they realize we’re ordinary people.”
The idea for this
type of home grew from visits out west, to
Arizona
. Quast and her husband Michael were enthralled with the colour, light and
architecture of authentic western houses, with distressed corbels, posts and
clay. This style, combined with their passion for healthy, energy-efficient
materials, led to the decision to build a straw bale home.
Set on a
mature street a couple of blocks from Lake Ontario, this house will be ready in
a couple of months for Lorraine, Michael,
and their children Parker, 7, and Mikayla, 5.
"What
excites me is that more and more people are coming by and want to do this (build
with straw bales)," Quast says.
The house is almost 4,000 square feet, but Quast says, "a lot of
that is the 16-inch-wide walls" - a result of the straw bale plus 16
½ inches
of cement/lime plaster on the interior and exterior of the bale. The two-storey
home has three large bedrooms and a basement, and although the labour costs were
higher, they were offset by less expensive materials. Michael Quast figures it
cost about the same to build as a traditional home.
Lorraine
says the reaction from neighbours has been mixed.
“It’s
an eclectic street, with million dollar homes and little wee cottages. One woman
caught me off guard at a Christmas party and told me she hates that we’re
imposing an architectural style on the street. I recognize there are issues but
I think we’re adding to the spirit of the street.”
Overseeing
the job is Mike Holmes, from HGTV's Holmes on Homes, and a friend of the Quasts.
This is his first experience with a straw bale home and he has been surprised at
its natural R-value of 40.
Michael
Quast, who did extensive research on straw bale homes in order to get building
permits and insurance, says the R-value on an average home with two by four inch
framing is 12 and the R-value for two by six inch construction is 22.
Mark
McInnis, national manager, underwriting for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing
Corporation, says R-2000 homes, which are the most energy efficient homes being
built today, have an R-value of 40.
(An
R-value—or its metric equivalent RSI-value—is a measure of a material’s
insulation capability. The higher the R-value, the greater resistance to heat
loss, according to CMHC.)
Holmes is
also impressed by the straw bale walls' ability to breathe, which allows for
excellent air exchange.
"With a straw bale home you don't need an HRV
(heat recovery ventilator) that R-2000 homes need," he says. "It's
surprising to see how the house holds cold air in the summer and heat in the
winter. This house is a great example of a home built above and beyond the
code."
The
straw bale walls and plastering were done by Ben Polley of Harvest Homes in
Guelph
. Polley, who also lives in a straw bale house, says
that the walls gain strength over time because of the addition of carbon
dioxide.
“The
lime content of the plaster absorbs carbon dioxide over its life cycle,” he
says.
He has been building this type of
home for six years in
Ontario
, and turns down a dozen straw bale home requests a
year because he can't get the trained staff he needs.
Polley attributes the increasing interest in
straw bale homes to their superior energy efficiency, fire retardancy,
cost-effectiveness and freedom from toxins.
"The
insulation from straw makes these homes three times better than conventional
homes and almost twice as good as an R-2000 home, considered to be the best on
the market for energy efficiency," he says.
As for
fire safety, Polley explains that the bales are so dense they don't have the air
needed to catch fire.
"The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. put the
straw with the lime plaster in a furnace and blew flames at it," he says.
"The minimum time allowed for the material to resist is half an hour. After
two hours at 1,400F, there was no ignition."
Polley
also says that straw and plaster have 10 times the weight carrying capacity of
standard two by six framed houses and four times the lateral strength, which
protects against wind loads and hurricanes.
As
for cost, Polley says that when he's been bidding for a house against a
traditional builder, they've been in the same range.
"Straw
bale insulation is more labour-intensive as you're dealing with material not
designed for construction, but the straw costs less than conventional
insulation."
"You
may spend more on construction, but you'll save on heating and cooling years
down the road," Holmes says.
Most
of Polley's clients are women, which is unusual in the building industry,.
and a significant number of them are interested in the
health benefits of straw bale insulation. Women contact Polley initially,
on behalf of their families, after discovering the benefits of this type of
construction.
"The
materials are inert," Polley says. "They don't off-gas (give off
fumes). A large part of my market is families with kids who have asthma."
Holmes says the pros for
building with straw bales are far greater than for traditional materials.
"People
don't know about off-gasses," he says. "Wood, steel, foam, drywall
produce off-gasses. Straw has no off-gasses. And mould likes to feed on the
composites of drywall. Straw is resistant to mould, bugs and mice."
Lorraine
Quast points out that straw bales offer no food value for pests like termites,
as they’re a waste product from a farmer’s field.
Straw
bale insulation is just one of the many new self-sustaining construction methods
that Holmes believes will become an important part of the housing industry's
future.
Four
years ago, Polley says a study was done that found 1,000 straw bale homes in
Canada
. There has been no research since then, but Polley
says the number of starts has grown exponentially since. He builds eight to 10
straw bale homes a year and is already taking bookings for 2006.
"There's
so much to learn, not just for the builders," Holmes says. "People
will make the change faster than builders. The funniest thing is that it's not a
lot more money to build a self-sustaining home."
If
you're interested in starting a unique housing project like the Quast's, Holmes
says you should slow down and have patience.
"If
you don't educate yourself on the possibilities, how can you follow up on a
builder?
"You should find someone who is using new
techniques or wants to learn new techniques. There are not enough builders doing
this kind of thing yet, but it's growing."
If you’re
interested in straw bale construction, you can get in contact with the Ontario
Straw Bale Building Coalition through their web site: www.strawbalebuilding.ca.
This will also provide you with a lost of builders who do this kind of
construction.
Highrises are reaching
the heights of high-tech
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to the Star
The groundwork is being laid for sophisticated technology in new
Toronto
condos that will keep residents ahead of the high-tech game for years to come.
A combination of advanced cable
networks and fibre-optics will provide residents with innovative audio-visual
opportunities, more convenience within their suites, and optimum security.
And condo owners pay only for the
services they want, which can range from high-speed Internet to a touch screen,
which controls almost every electronic function in the suite.
“We’re in the Jetson’s age,” proclaims Barry Fenton, CEO of
Lanterra Developments, developer of the Toy Factory Lofts.
“We
have to be ahead of ourselves all the time,” Fenton adds. “What
we’ve heard from our clientele is they want to be ahead of everybody else in
terms of Internet access. The wiring adds to our cost, but we’re providing it
as a free service to clients.”
David Hirsh, a principal at
Brandy
Lane
Homes
, which is building Loggia condominiums on the Queensway,
says
Bell
Canada
is bringing a fibre optic backbone to Loggia.
“These homes will be
future-ready,” Hirsh says. “They will have very fast connections to the
internet and digital TV. With the use of a router, you can network a suite so
computers can talk to one another. And there will be one point within the suite
to access satellite TV, telephone, internet and digital TV.”
Paulo Stellato, a partner at Cityzen, which is developing
London
on the Esplanade, says that these suites will all be pre-wired for the latest
Rogers
technology, and have customizable features.
“We’ve taken the next step in terms of amenities to make life
easier,” he says. “You can control blinds and temperature while you’re
away, and personalize music, audio and visual components. There is a premium to
customize but you can select what benefits you.”
At Monarch’s new Waterview development, suites are also pre-wired and
can be upgraded to a client’s needs. An extra jack, for example, is just $200.
Automated blinds go for $16,000 and a complex, one-touch panel is over $100,000.
“This is the way the future is going,” Linda Mitchell,
vice-president, sales and marketing, high rise, says. “Our Waterview model
suite is wired so you can see the opportunities. With our touch screen, you can
automate lights…turn off the lights in the entire suite with one button, dim
the lights in the living room or call in from your office to control the
lighting.”
Mitchell explains that audio-visual components can also be customized,
with different systems in different rooms.
“You can custom-design rooms with surround sound. You can also have a
home theatre where the lights and blinds automatically go down when the screen
is on.”
Once the wiring is in place, it seems as if there is no limit to what can
be done in both the suites and common areas.
London
on the Esplanade is installing Cybersuite—a high-end security system with an
LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, allowing the concierge to send a message to
all the suites simultaneously or individually. This would help notify residents
about fire drills or get messages to people about mail or visitors. Residents
will also be able to communicate with neighbours using an LCD screen.
“We’d like to think we’re at the leading edge of cybersuite
technology,” Stellato says. “Our integrativeness sets us apart.”
The popularity of wireless technology means new
condo owners will be able to use their laptops anywhere in their
buildings, anytime.
“Everybody has a laptop in this part of town,” Fenton says. “At the
Toy Factory, you can be in the hot tub using your lap top. People don’t want
to be tied to their computer at their desks.”
For people who are new to the techno-world, the Waterview is offering
cyber lounges with computers and Internet access. And golfers can get in the
game in the middle of winter, using a golf simulator. Mitchell explains that
when you hit the ball, it reads how far you drove it. Waterview will also have a
theatre with surround sound for 15 people to gather and watch a movie.
Even if you’re not into computers or technology, just having the wires
in place can be a benefit when it comes to reselling your suite years from now.
“Having the capability for this technology is the most important thing
when it comes to resale,” Mitchell says. “In older buildings the groundwork
is not there and these advanced functions are not possible.”
-30-
Flexing for the future
By Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to the Star
When Angie and Gino Romasco started looking for a new home 10 years ago,
they wanted a flexible floor plan that would accommodate their family of four as
well as Angie’s parents.
They found what they were looking for at
Brampton
’s
Springdale
development, in one of 20 two-storey FlexHomes being offered by Townwood Homes.
“We were looking at convertible homes so we could live with my
in-laws,” says Gino. “We fell in love with our home because we would each
have our own places, with our own entrances, and they were able to make a few
modifications we wanted.”
There are two entrances to the 3,000-square-foot house, one at the front
for the Romascos and their two daughters, and one at the side for Angie’s
mother, Asunta Principi, who is now in her 70’s.
The main floor contains a master
bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining
room, family room and open stairs to the basement. . A staircase leads to two
bedrooms over the garage, private retreats for daughters Monique, 26, and Tanya,
23.
The side entrance leads to the
second floor, which contains a separate bathroom, kitchen, and dining room for
Principe
.
“We’re both owners of the house,” Gino says. “We have our own
furnaces and bills. The only thing we share is taxes and water. This has been
fantastic and I would do it again.”
So would many other buyers, but Townwood no longer offers FlexHomes, says
marketing manager Ingrid McCallum.
“We still get requests for these two-family homes that were built 10
years ago,” says Ingrid Mccallum, sales and marketing manager, Townwood Homes.
“With so many families today coming back together, as the population ages,
this is a wonderful solution.
“I think this a product people would like to have accessible to them
but it’s a problem zoning for these. They are really duplexes and cannot be
called single-family dwellings. But developers need to know this is a type of
house people are seeking.”
Zoning is only one reason FlexHomes haven’t caught on with builders,
suggests architect Ken Viljoen, who designed the Townwood homes in
Springdale
. He says there are logistical problems as well.
“It’s difficult to design a home for two different families,” he
explains. “You have to have separate heating and air conditioning which is not
easy to do in a subdivision. It also had to be designed so it could be converted
back to a single-family dwelling.”
It’s that adaptability that makes FlexHomes so attractive, especially
as the population ages.
Pat Chrisjohn, a policy analyst with Peel’s housing and property
department, recently conducted a study on the housing needs of older adults. She
discovered one of the biggest concerns for people over the age of 55 is
navigating their way up and down stairs.
“Right now these people can manage,” she says. “But they want to
live on one floor when they get older.”
She says FlexHomes are the answer, because they provide the one-floor
living seniors prefer, and fit seamlessly into neighbourhoods.
Which is exactly why the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC,
has been promoting the idea of flexible housing for the past decade.
CMHC’s FlexHousing program encourages builders to design homes that can
be easily adapted to meet the evolving needs of its occupants—perhaps even
allowing them to stay in one home their entire lives.
From wiring and plumbing to soundproofing and wider doors, the goal is to
plan ahead for future renovations and adaptations.
For example, a bit of extra planning now can make it much easier to
install an elevator when stairs become a problem.
“A two-storey FlexHouse has stackable closets built big enough to act
as a shaft for an elevator,” explains Collinda Joseph, a senior researcher
with CMHC. “The basement is wired for an elevator during construction so the
cost is lower because you don’t have to reconstruct the home later.”
Another example is building a main-floor washroom with a shower big
enough for a wheelchair, along with extra plumbing and wiring to accommodate a
full-sized bathtub or a washer and dryer—anticipating the changing needs of
its occupants.
“The bathroom has three potential uses and no extra plumbing or
electrical is required down the road,” says Joseph.
Other CMHC suggestions for flexible housing cover everything from
parking, entrances and hallways to kitchens, bedrooms and laundry rooms. It even
recommends special roof trusses to allow future use of the attic as added living
space.
Although there are no set rules or guidelines for FlexHousing, CMHC
continues to promote the idea to builders and buyers.
“We encourage the voluntary adoption of the various features by
builders and stir the market by educating consumers,” says Mark Salerno,
district manager for the GTA. “We
do not have rigorous standards or certification of FlexHousing, though.”
But Joseph, who has been in a
wheelchair for 20 years, would like to see FlexHousing become the law across
Canada
. She knows this would be difficult because building codes are provincially set.
“It would be great to have Flex
adopted as R-2000 homes are adopted,” she says. “In
Great Britain
, every new home has to have four features of visitability: on-grade entry,
wider doorways on the main level, a bathroom on the main level, and circulation
space on the main level.”
Because FlexHousing
hasn’t attracted as much attention from builders as CMHC expected, it
conducted a study was in 2001 to examine the cost difference between Flex and
traditional homes.
Joseph explains that a baseline
home in
Saskatchewan
was used for the study. It was 1,800 square feet and cost $146,000. When the
Flex features were included, the cost difference was just $3,000—about 2 per
cent.
“If Flex is designed in the construction, it’s not much more,” says
Joseph. “But if you have to renovate later, the costs are much more.”
Greg Hussey, of Karwood Homes, which has built 35 FlexHouses in a
Newfoundland
subdivision, thinks builders resist the idea of Flex because it can be
difficult and frustrating to change their process.
“Building is a for-profit business,” he explains.
“The margin is ridiculously low
so when you get involved with Flex you don’t have the time to deal with
issues. I had one home turned down by the building inspector because the
thermostat was too low—48 inches instead of 52. If a builder is just starting
to do Flex, and has trouble with an inspector, he’ll just run away.
“Builders need to be educated, stand their ground and change their way
of thinking. As the demand increases, more builders will take Flex on.”
New deal for green
homes
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to the star
New homebuyers in
Canada
can now save $700 to $1,000 a year on utility bills, get a refund from the
government, and take advantage of a 35-year amortization - all by purchasing an
energy-efficient
house.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp.
is offering buyers a 10 per cent refund on the one-time premium charged for the
mortgage insurance CHMC provides. CMHC assists homebuyers making down payments
of 5 percent to 25 per cent, by insuring these high-ratio mortgages.
The premium varies with the percentage borrowed.
For example, with a CMHC-insured
high-ratio mortgage for 90 per cent of a
$300,000 home purchase, the premium would be 2 per cent, or $6,000. The rebate
in this case would be $600.
CMHC is also offering a 35-year
amortization. By extending the amortization- the total lifespan of the mortgage
- to 35 years (most amortizations are 20 to 25 years), mortgage payments are
lower because they're spread out over a longer period of time, and th savings
can be applied to energy-efficient upgrades.
"You can buy more house with energy-efficiency upgrades with the
same income," says Mark McInnis, national manager of underwriting for CMHC.
"The trade-off is you're paying
for a longer term which means a bigger loan, but we find as salaries increase,
people tend to shorten their amortization periods anyway. This longer
amortization gets you in the door."
To qualify for this program, a home's energy efficiency must be rated
using Natural Resources Canada's NRCan EnerGuide for Houses rating system and
meet certain requirements geared to save energy and utility costs.
Homebuyers apply for the program when
arranging the mortgage. For more information, call 1-800-668-2642 or visit:
www.cmhc.ca.
"Our builders are very excited because they can build better homes
that save money. The rebate is great but the amortization is the sleeper,"
says Don Johnston, director of technology and policy, Canadian Home Builders'
Association. "There is one builder in
Newfoundland
who is building his whole marketing strategy around this product."
The longer amortization means you can spend more money on
energy-efficiency upgrades while keeping your monthly mortgage payments the same
as if you had hadn't bought the upgrades, says Barbara Mullally Pauly, senior
chief, Housing Programs, Office of Energy Efficiency, Natural Resources
Canada
.
Pauly explains that while it
costs more to make a home energy-efficient, the upgrades can help defray this
cost by lowering energy bills and making a home less expensive to run.
By choosing superior windows or
insulation over hardwood floors, their heating costs will decrease, making the
house cheaper to run. As utility costs are expected to continue rising over
time, this could have a significant impact on your overall budget.
"When it comes to buying a house, it's a very emotional
decision," she says. "It's harder to sell people things they can't
see. But investing in energy efficiency will give you better returns and the
money you save can be reinvested in the home later for other upgrades."
Although this is good news, some
industry insiders feel it falls short of what's needed.
"It's a step in the right direction but I don't think it's
enough," says Darren Cooper, a professional engineer and owner of
Beacon
Bay
, a company that specializes in high-end production of custom homes in the GTA.
"In
the
United States
, rebates are given on mortgages. If the house heats 50 per cent faster, then
you're spending 50 per cent less. Therefore you get a rebate on your
mortgage."
Lenard Hart, manager of Built Environments, EnerQuality Corp., a delivery
agent for R-2000 homes and EnerGuide for New Houses program in
Ontario
, believes the cost of operating a home should be taken into account by banks.
"Homeowners of energy-efficient homes should be allowed to have more
debt because they don't have the monstrous utility bills," he says.
There are two types of homes that
will qualify for this program: R-2000 homes and homes that score at least 80 on
the EnerGuide for New Houses scale. An average new house rates a 70 or 72 and an
R-2000 home exceeds 80, according to Peter Love, president of EnerQuality.
"R-2000 homes and builders are
kind of like the research and development arm of
Canada
's construction industry," says Love.
"When an R-2000 home is built,
production builders come to look. I'm happy to see that some of the big builders
have adapted a few R-2000 features."
Love explains that an R-2000 home -
30 per cent more energy-efficient than traditional homes - features four unique
components:
An R-2000 home must be built by a trained R-2000
builder. For information on R-2000 homes and licensed builders in your area,
visit www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/r-2000.
The home must exceed 80 on the EnerGuide for New Houses
Scale. This scale, from one to 100, lets buyers predict the impact of
energy efficiency upgrades on their future monthly utility costs. In fact,
Cooper, who lives in an R-2000 home himself, says an R-2000 home will have a
guaranteed heating cost for three years. If it goes over, you will be reimbursed
the difference.
The home must be airtight with the entire volume of
inside air exchanged with outdoor air one and 1/2 half times per hour.
"Traditional new home construction is better these days, with better
insulation and not much natural leakage," says Cooper.
"But the building code
doesn't address the problem of increased humidity which means more mould, he
adds.
"You need to bring the outside
air into the home efficiently to stop mould, which is what sets the R-2000 home
apart from other new homes.
"Using a heat recovery
ventilator (HRV), fresh air comes into the HRV, is warmed up and filtered to
reduce dust and pollens. In traditional homes, exhaust fans suck warm air out of
the house and cold air enters through outlets, which is less efficient."
An R-2000 home must be inspected and certified by a
licensed R-2000 service provider.
Johnston
says there are about 30 in
Ontario
and they work closely with the builder, like a coach, throughout the building
process.
Although the R-2000 home is superior
when it comes to energy efficiency, the cost and closely monitored production
schedule mean it may never be available for the mass market.
"It's difficult to meet the air tightness requirement of an R-2000
house," says Hart. "If anyone knocks a hole in the drywall, it won't
meet the airtight-ness test."
For many new homebuyers, however, there is the option of upgrading your
home's energy efficiency to 80 on the EnerGuide for New Houses scale to receive
the CMHC credit and amortization rate. This rate.
This rating, which is higher than
most houses built today, is expected to be the norm five years from now.
"The Government of
Canada
wants all new homes built to be rated at 80 by 2010," says Love, "and
we're looking forward to working with them to make it achievable."
As development charges
increase, so will prices
Shelly Sanders Greer
Special to the Star
A huge increase in development
charges will raise new home prices in 2005 across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
“The housing industry is seeing an increase in development charges,
planning fees and application fees,” says Jim Murphy, director of government
relations, Greater Toronto Housing Builder’s Association.
“This will have a significant
impact, as 20 to 25 per cent of a new-home price is taken up by development
charges, government taxes and fees. Municipal development charges are the
largest component of this percentage.”
As of July 1, the City of
Toronto
development charges will more than double. For a single detached home, the
charges for a six-month period will rise from $4,370 to $9,075. A townhouse’s
charges for the same period move from $3,544 to $7,222.
Murphy says that most municipalities in the GTA recently updated their
development charges bylaw, a process that takes place every five years.
On average, development charges
will increase 40 per cent but there are exceptions, like
Toronto
and
Brampton
, jumping 75 per cent.
Development charges help finance capital infrastructure for population
growth.
In
Toronto
charges cover childcare, shelters, emergency medical services, parks and
recreation, libraries, fire, police, roads, transit, sewers and water.
In the 905 area, a GO transit levy
was added in 2001 to cover new trains, buses and facilities, but it still
catches new buyers by surprise.
“We had GO transit development charges we didn’t expect,” says Lori
Royle, who moved into a new home in
Oakville
in December. These additional expenses plus others added up to several hundred
dollars.
Michael J. Fisher, a Streetsville lawyer who specializes in real estate,
says that a municipality in the GTA could increase
its development charges between the date of purchase and the closing date. He
advises clients to budget for this and other unforeseen expenses.
“It’s rare, but it can happen,
especially with condos which take longer to close.
Builders have clauses in their contracts to pass along development charge
increases to keep their profit margins and viability,” he says. “We try to
delete the clause entirely but as a fallback we’ll put a cap on it.”
Murphy wants buyers to be aware they are paying these charges, so
they’ll hold municipalities accountable for capital projects.
“Development charges raise several millions of dollars for
municipalities which buyers pay,” Murphy says. “Our concern is making sure
that GO Transit, for example, is justifying the cost and that it’s kept to a
minimum for the buyer. As a building industry, growth should pay for growth.”
In the 905 area, which has experienced massive growth over the past 10
years, new schools have not kept pace with the population.
Murphy notes education development
charges fund the purchase of land, not buildings. The province funds the
buildings, which often creates delays in getting them built.
The province needs to be more
open to other methods of financing schools that involve the private sector.
Until something changes, he says buyers will continue to see vacant land slated
for schools remain empty.
Though development charges appear to put new homes at a disadvantage
compared with resale, new homes increase more in value during the first few
years as neighborhood services develop.
The
waiting is over
January 8, 2005
The eager anticipation of moving into your new home can
make builder delays very frustrating
Here are some suggestions on how to make the wait fun
and productive, writes Shelly Sanders Greer
When David and Natalie Kaplan signed a contract for a new home at
Bathurst
and Highway 7 in April 2004, they planned on a November move-in date.
Construction has been delayed, but
they’re now hoping to move, with their two year-old daughter Naomi, in
mid-March, almost a year after they signed the contract.
Waiting for a home to be built, with the sometimes inevitable builder
delays, can seem like an eternity.
But the Kaplans, along with two other families, have come up with 10 tips on how
to make waiting fun and productive.
1.
Take photos of the home as it’s being constructed and put them
in a scrapbook as a keepsake. But
make sure you get permission before you arrive on site.
“There’s a
safety issue,” says Suzanna Cohen,
director of communications for the Greater Toronto Home Builder’s Association.
“These are construction sites. If anything happens to a homebuyer, the builder
is responsible. Talk to a salesperson who will find out when it’s safe to
visit the site.”
A key time to
take photos, with permission, is before the house is drywalled.
“This way
you have the opportunity to see where the piping is and where the studs in the
wall are,” says Natalie Kaplan.
“Label
each photo and file it carefully. Once the house is built, if you want to do
some electrical work and need to fish wires, you can use the photos as a
reference. In the townhouse we’re in right now, which we bought new, my
husband wanted to make it internet friendly, which was easy to do with our
photos.”
2.
Visit model homes regularly for décor inspirations.
“We
visited every single model home from
Hamilton
to
Mississauga
,” says Lori Royle, who waited 14 months with her husband and son to move into
their new home in north
Oakville
in December.
She found it
helpful to take photos of things they liked, such as a wood stain they adopted
for their new staircase.
3.
Drive by your home and, if anything concerns you, ask for an
inspection to ensure problems are quickly detected and fixed.
The Homebuyer
Friendly web site, www.homebuyingtip.com,
recommends buyers check their homes at the footing stage (to make sure it
corresponds with the layout you’re chosen), just prior to drywalling (to
see framing, insulation, mechanical and electrical work), and just before you
take possession.
During onesuch visit,
Royle noticed that a vent was in the wrong spot.
“If we had not
noticed this during construction, we would have had to live with it,” she
says.
Although there
is only one mandatory inspection (just before closing) required by
Ontario
law, some builders will accommodate extra inspections.
“We are
looking at more homebuyer inspections, to see how to make it happen as a better
service for our customers,” says Richard Luciani, sales manager for Aspen
Ridge Homes. “It is very difficult, logistically, to do this for everyone, and
there is always a liability and safety aspect. But if you do want to see the
home during construction, contact the sales person.”
4.
Start a New Home file, with magazine photos, paint chips, and
brochures from companies that provide services you’ll need.
“I’m
looking at ways of dressing up rooms with window coverings, lights and new paint
colours,” says Natalie Kaplan. “We’ve made an effort to go to New Home
shows and I’m keeping a New Home file with brochures from closet organizers
and reupholsterers.”
Royle measured
windows and walls to determine the size of furniture needed. Her two and a half
year-old son, Adam, chose the colour for his room and Lori had fun thinking
about nursery colours for the baby she’s expecting soon.
5.
De-clutter before you move to avoid the cost and hassle of moving
junk.
The Kaplans are
undergoing a huge de-cluttering process, which has allowed them to reorganize
and see their stuff in a new way.
“My
husband has a habit of dumping magazines on the dining room table which has
become cluttered with paper,” says Natalie. “I don’t want to repeat this
pattern in our new house so we’re thinking of a way to add a work area like a
desk in the kitchen where he can plunk his magazines out of sight.”
6.
Visit new homeowners who used your builder.
“Ask people
if you can walk through their new house,” says Luciani. “This is really
helpful if the model you’ve chosen doesn’t have a model home, and gives you
a better idea of colours and decorating tips.”
If you’re uncomfortable approaching strangers, ask to see houses in the
framing stage.
“Some things
look good on paper, but in real life, they’re not as good,” says Suzanne
Loechert, who moved into her new home in 2002 with her husband and daughter.
“We saw homes in the framing stage and picked one of these. It was also a big
help when we decided to make structural changes.”
7.
Save up for the down payment, furniture, appliances or upgrades.
“We saved up
to buy new appliances and for upgrades that we didn’t have to pay for until
closing,” says Royle. “I bought a refrigerator with the freezer on the
bottom, a self-cleaning oven, and a front-loading washing machine, which I
love!”
The Loecherts
wanted to make sure they had more than enough saved to cover the closing costs.
As a former mortgage broker, Suzanne remembers seeing foreclosures from people
who didn’t save enough for the lawyer’s fees, closing costs, increased
taxes, and the transfer of the deed.
8.
Shop around for the lowest mortgage rate.
“We encourage
people to talk to the financial representative the builder is dealing with,”
says Cohen. “This may decrease a buyer’s mortgage rate because the builder
has negotiated a rate for 500 homes which is better than the rate you can get on
your own.”
Cohen also
warns people to be aware of the common 90-day time period
for locking in rates.
“In an
environment where interest rates are increasing, you want the lowest rate
possible for the longest period. Ninety days won’t work for a new home.”
Both the
Loecherts and Royle spent time looking for the best rates, but ended up staying
with their own banks.
“It’s
important to be comfortable with your lender,” says Loechert. “We found our
bank was pretty good competitively and matched the builder’s rates.”
9.
Visit home stores like Home Depot and Rona to get an idea of
prices for flooring and lighting.
“Some of the
upgrades we saw at the décor centre were more expensive than if we did them
ourselves,” says Suzanne.
“It’s
really nice to get hardwood floors, but we decided to do structural changes,
like a built-in gas fireplace, as upgrades instead, things that couldn’t be
done once the house was built.”
The Kaplans have electricians in the family so they’re installing their
own light fixtures.
“We’re
bridging our mortgage for two weeks so we have time to do the lighting and other
things before we move in,” says Natalie.
10.
Browse through the builder’s décor centre
“We went to
our décor centre five times,” says Royle.
“We
knew we would have a three hour appointment to choose everything and felt that
would be overwhelming unless we were prepared and knew what we wanted to
spend.”
She also
suggests taking samples to the window of the décor centre to see them in
natural light.
“They have
heavy fluorescent lighting in the showroom. The samples look really different in
natural light.”
Luciani
recommends people start with their kitchen cupboards and flooring and work from
there.
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