48 — Friday, March 15, 1991 - North Shore News

(5 | Home renovation

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1 and safe practices

go hand in hand

A FEW years ago, the movie The
Money Pit looked at the lighter
side of home renovation.

The handy-man special that the
unwary couple in the film bought
sucked up all their savings and,
literally, collapsed around them.
To some, that picture was a pain-
ful reminder of their own
misadventures in the reno game.

Canadians spent $19 billion on
home renovation last year, and
some of that cash was undoutedly
spent fixing problems that
shouldn’t have happened in the
first place.

Take one case cited by Doug
Grieve, a Toronto claims adjuster
for Wellington Insurance: ‘‘Our
client was laying floor tiles in his
basement. He didn't have the
room properly vented, though,
and the glue vapours were collect-
ing. When the furnace kicked on,
the whole room blew up — and
caused $70,000 in damages.”’

This homeowner wasn’t serious-
ly hurt, but others aren’t so lucky.

Wkon renovation projects go
wiong, they can at minimum be
expensive, and at worst endanger
you and your family. Latest fig-
ures (1988) from the Canada Safe-
ty Council show that of the over
1,500 fatalities in Canadian homes
that year, more than half (63 per
cent) were the result of falls or
fires.

Electrical fires and falls are
common mishaps during renova-
tion or can be triggered by poor
design or workmanship, such as
the lack of railing on a deck or
incorrect wiring.

Whether you do the work
yourself or contract it out, protect
yourself against unnecessarily
costly and unsafe practices. Grieve
is concerned the dangers could in-
crease during the recession.
**People who can’t afford to move
or hire a builder will do the work
themselves. And some contractors,

faced with less business, will be
forced to cut corners to make jobs
profitable.”’

When shopping for that han-
dy-man’s special, or inspecting
your current house for needed
renovations, look closely. That’s
the advice of Bob Dunlop, partner
in Carson, Dunlop & Associates
Limited, Toronto consulting
engineers and building inspectors.

The previous owner might have

. Claimed the house was ‘“‘totally

rewired,’’ but, says Dunlop, ‘‘the
number of houses that have had
thorough rewiring are in the mi-
nority. The reality is, they’ve up-
dated one or two plugs in the
kitchen, period. Some just put
new faceplates on.”*

Using a tree analogy, Dunlop
says the key is to have a wide
and even distribution of power
along the many circuits or ‘‘bran-
ches,’’ so one circuit doesn’t bear
too much of the load — 100-amp
service with 24 circuits is better
than 200-amp service with only
12,

There should also be individual
circuits dedicated to feed major
appliances such as stoves and mi-
crowaves.

Beyond the electrical system,
other areas that commonly pose
safety problems include removing
a wall to create that ‘‘open con-
cept’’ look — make sure it’s not a
support beam — and adding an
insert to an old fireplace.

Get a fireplace professional to
ensure there is sufficient veritila-
tion and that the chimney,
damper and original firebrick can
be adequately inspected and
cleaned after installation.

Entrusting the work to a build-
ing contractor is the safe route to
go. But get the right contractor.
Shop around, and talk to some of
their previous clients. .

“It’s important to have a con-

See Keep page #9

HOME SHOWSALE

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