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Home Improvements

Articles about home improvements and decorating projects.  Perfect for home sellers and owners.

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Protect Your Home Foundation home repairs

Protect Your Home Foundation

Protect your home foundation from shifting and cracking

Winnipeg home owners love their basement rec-rooms.  But several problems, including flooding basements, cracking and shifting foundations are always a concern.  Normally, our main concern is during wet weather, when sump pumps can become overwhelmed by the water, and tiny cracks in concrete basement walls allow water to seep into our prized man-caves and game rooms.

cracking and shifting foundations
cracking and shifting foundations

However, there are several causes of shifting and cracking foundation walls:

Extended drought causes foundations issues

Extended dry periods, such as what we’re experiencing this summer (2021), will cause the ground to dry up and crack, shifting soil all along your foundation walls.

Severe droughts can affect soil moisture levels even deep into the ground.  If it goes deep enough, and affects the clay around the foundation footings, the impact can be severe.

Drying clay will shrink, causing vacant pockets around and underneath the footings.  This will increase the chances of the footings shifting or dropping.

Prevention: Water your foundation on a regular basis.  When watering your lawn, make sure your sprinklers work right up to the basement walls, to keep the soil nice and moist.

While it is commonly believed that, if a house is beyond a certain age, it will have ‘settled as far as it’s gonna settle’, I know of cases where houses have shifted after 30 years of relative stability.

Sudden changes in soil moisture levels

I read once that a fully grown birch cluster can take 8 bath-tubs full of water out of the soil every single day.  If you have several large trees close to your home, and suddenly remove them, the moisture levels around your home will suddenly change.  This can affect home foundations, and can cause severe shifting and settling.

Sudden, or even gradual changes in soil moisture are quite often the culprit of these issues with foundations.

Tree roots effect foundations

Tree, planted too close to foundations, can over time develop roots that are big enough to crack concrete.  As prevention, don’t plant trees or even large shrubs too close to the house.  However, if your home already has several large trees around it, don’t be too hasty in removing them, because this can cause another, equally severe issue…Protect Your Home Foundation home repairs

 

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Bathroom Renovations with Tiles

Wall Tiles in your bathroom: Many uses and benefits

Wall Tiles for your bathroom

Bathroom Renovations with Tiles Wall tiles have always been popular because of the huge range of styles and colours available and the fact that they have so many uses. Think of wall tiles in the home and a lot of people will instant think of the bathroom, but that isn’t the only room in your home where they can be used and will look great.

Many benefits of wall tiling

Obviously the bathroom is the most popular room in the home for wall tiles because not only do they look great but they are also impenetrable to water, meaning that they can be used in showers and on the wall between the top of your bath tub and the ceiling to provide a waterproof barrier. They can also be used as a splash-back behind wash basins as this area can often get wet and wall tiles are better for dealing with this than painted walls, even if bathroom specific paint has been used. As these three areas are usually covered with wall tiles in a lot of homes, people decorating will often tile all remaining walls in a bathroom to give continuity and also because wall tiles are so easy to clean, are hard wearing and long lasting.

Importance of waterproofing

Showers have become increasingly popular in modern homes over the past 20 to 30 years, with more and more people seeing them as a quick and convenient alternative to a bath. A lot of homes now have a shower that is combined with the bath tub as this is cheaper than having a separate shower cubicle installed. It is also a space saver in a room which is normally the smallest room in the house. If you have a shower in your bathroom then it is essential that you completely waterproof the area that will be in contact with water. Failing to do this can have disastrous consequences. Flooding into downstairs rooms is common in homes where bathrooms haven’t been properly insulated and leaks can also affect wooden joists causing them to rot and making the structure of your home unsafe. Ceramic wall tiles combined with waterproof grout and waterproof sealant specifically made for baths and showers is the most cost effective way of making this area completely waterproof.

 

Ideas for small bathroom remodeling

Also read How to equip the perfect bathroom according to your lifestyle

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Never miss an episode of our real estate podcast. Install our FREE Podcast App available on iOS and Android. For your Apple Devices, click here to install our iOS App. For your Android Devices, click here to install our Android App. Check my videos on Youtube

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