c/edmonton-home-reno

The guy at ATCO told me my furnace was fine, 5 months later it died

Back in March a friend of mine who works for ATCO came over to look at my old Lennox furnace. He said it was running fine and just needed a filter change. Fast forward to last week and the thing just quit on me in the middle of a cold snap. Had to call Dependable Heating out to replace the whole unit for $4,200. Turns out the heat exchanger had a crack that he missed. I'm not mad at him because he was just being nice but now I'm wondering if I should have paid a certified HVAC guy for a proper inspection instead. Anyone else ever get bad advice from a friend who works in trades?

Thought I was saving money on insulation until I saw my heating bill

I spent 3 winters in my 1950s bungalow near Whyte Ave wondering why my furnace ran nonstop. Last January I finally crawled into the attic and found 4 inches of blown in from 1980 that was all compressed and useless. Added 12 inches of new stuff myself for about $400 and my February bill dropped by almost 50 bucks. Anyone else put off attic work and regret it later?

Had to pick between spray foam and rigid foam for my attic reno

I was finishing my attic in a 1950s house near Whyte Ave and had to decide between closed cell spray foam and rigid foam boards. The spray foam was $2,800 but the rigid foam was only $900 and I could do it myself in a weekend. Has anyone else gone with rigid foam and regretted it in an Edmonton winter?

My contractor told me to skip the vapor barrier in my basement reno. Three months later I had mold.

I don't get the hype around spray foam insulation anymore

Had a house in St. Albert that I did with spray foam back in 2018 and now I'm dealing with a musty smell in the attic because the stuff trapped moisture. Tried retrofitting with rock wool on my current place near Whyte Ave and the air quality is way better. Anyone else have issues with spray foam not breathing right in Edmonton's climate?

Dropped $800 on spray foam insulation in my garage ceiling and it paid for itself in one winter.

My heating bill went down by about $120 a month after I sealed up that uninsulated garage ceiling, so I'm wondering if anyone else has seen similar savings or if I just got lucky with my setup?

Unpopular opinion: skip the fancy French drains and save your cash

I dropped $2,800 on a contractor-installed French drain system in my Edmonton backyard last spring and it clogged up within 3 months anyway from all that clay soil. Has anyone else had better luck with a simple surface trench or gravel pit instead?

Just found out my 1970s windows are single-pane from a heat loss test

I bought my house in Edmonton last year and last week I borrowed a thermal camera from the library. I pointed it at my living room windows on a cold day and the glass was basically blue while the frame was yellow. That's when I realized they're all single-pane from the 1970s. The library clerk said the heat loss through them is probably costing me an extra $200 a month in gas. Has anyone here swapped single-pane windows for double or triple in an older Edmonton home and noticed a big difference on their bill?

Had to rip out my basement floor after 2 years because of bad vapor barrier

I finished my basement back in 2022, put down LVP over a 6 mil poly barrier from Home Depot. Last month I pulled up a corner to check something and found moisture trapped under the whole thing, mold starting on the subfloor. The poly had tears everywhere, must have happened when we laid the flooring. Anyone else had problems with the cheap vapor barrier from the big box stores?

Used to spend hours skim coating every tiny crack before painting

I spent 4 hours on my living room walls last year trying to get them glass smooth before I painted. Then I realized for a basement rec room nobody even notices those hairline cracks once the paint is up. Why do we bother with all that prep when the next owner is just going to cover it with paneling anyway?

Tried brush-on vs spray polyurethane for kitchen cabinets and one was way faster

I re-did my kitchen cabinets last month and started with spray polyurethane because I thought it'd be easier. Ended up with tiny bubbles and uneven coverage on the door panels. Switched to a good quality brush-on wipe on poly for the rest and it leveled out perfect in half the time. Anyone else find brush-on beats spray for interior cabinet work in Edmonton?

Hot take: I spent $1,200 on kitchen cabinets from Home Depot and they're fine

Everyone in this group keeps saying you need to go custom or order from a specialty shop, but I took a chance on those stock cabinets from the big box store. After 18 months they haven't warped, the drawers still slide smooth, and I saved about $3,000 compared to the quotes I got. I put them in myself with a laser level and some shims, took me a weekend. Yeah the wood isn't as thick as the fancy stuff, but for a rental property I'm flipping it made sense. Has anyone else here gone the cheap route and regretted it later?

Found water damage behind my bathroom tile after a shower leak last month

Last month I noticed a musty smell in my main floor bathroom after a shower. Turns out water was seeping behind the tile because the grout cracked near the base. I ripped out a 3 foot section and found mold on the drywall behind it. Cost me about $400 to fix with new cement board and fresh grout. Has anyone else dealt with hidden moisture issues in Edmonton homes with all the freezing and thawing?

Can we talk about my furnace going out in the middle of a -40 stretch

Two weeks ago my 15 year old Rheem furnace decided to die on the coldest night of the year when it hit -42 with wind chill. The heat exchanger had a crack that was leaking carbon monoxide into the house, and I only found out because my CO alarm went off at 3am. Anyone else have a furnace fail at the worst possible time and how did you handle the emergency replacement situation?

Neighbor's basement flood cost him $8k because he skipped the backwater valve

Overheard a plumbing crew talking at Rona on 99 Street about how many houses in older neighborhoods still don't have one. Anyone else check their basement plumbing setup after hearing stories like that?

Old drywaller told me to stop using mesh tape on corners and I was so wrong

Honestly, I was doing corners with mesh tape for like 3 years because it seemed easier. Then this old timer named Gord showed up to help me finish a basement in Highlands. He watched me for maybe 2 minutes and goes 'that tape is for rookies, use paper tape with a metal corner bead'. I thought he was being a boomer about it but he made me try it his way. The corner came out so much sharper and the mud didn't crack at all after it dried. Now I switched to paper tape for all my inside corners and it's a total game changer. Has anyone else had a veteran reno guy make you dump your whole method?

Talked to a neighbor about his old furnace and it changed my mind on replacements

I was chatting with my neighbor in Mill Woods last week while shoveling, and he mentioned his furnace is from 1998. He said he gets it serviced every fall and it still runs fine, which surprised me because I was sure anything over 15 years needed to go. He told me the real thing to watch is the heat exchanger, not just the age, and that a good tech can check it for cracks. That hit different because I was ready to drop like $5k on a new unit without even checking mine. Now I'm booking a service call first to see what shape my 2007 model is actually in. Has anyone else had an older furnace checked and been told it's still got life left?

Showerthought: my bathroom fan was just moving air around, not actually venting it

Found out last month the duct from my upstairs fan was just dumping into the attic, not outside. Had to cut a new hole in the roof to fix it. Anyone else find a hidden venting mistake in their old house?

My neighbor just told me his basement flood was from a blocked weeping tile, not his sump pump

We were talking about his big repair job in Mill Woods, and he said the city inspector found the main issue was the outside drain system, which he never even thought to check. It made me wonder how many of us are just looking at the inside stuff and missing the real problem. What's the best way to check your weeping tiles before you start an inside reno?

My basement floor drain went from a quiet drip to a full on fountain show

So about two months back, I noticed a tiny bit of water around the floor drain in my basement laundry room. Figured it was just some condensation, no big deal. Fast forward to last Tuesday, and I'm down there doing a load when I hear this weird gurgle. Suddenly, water starts bubbling up out of the drain like a mini geyser, maybe an inch high. I'm standing there in my socks, just staring. Turns out the main sewer line from my house to the street had a partial collapse, and all the backup pressure found the weakest point, which was my old floor drain seal. Had to call a plumbing company from the Yellow Pages, and the guy just laughed and said, 'Yeah, that's a classic Edmonton clay soil special.' Cost me $2,800 to get it fixed with a liner. Has anyone else in the city had their floor drain turn into a fountain because of sewer issues?

Why does nobody talk about the weird frost line surprises you find in Edmonton basements?

I was finishing my basement in Mill Woods last winter and my contractor found a patch of concrete that had never been properly insulated, leading to a cold spot and some minor frost heave we had to fix before we could even think about drywall.

Pro tip: I used to think you could just slap new flooring over old concrete in an Edmonton basement

I was putting down laminate in my Mill Woods basement and skipped the moisture barrier, thinking the slab was dry enough. A year later, the planks started buckling at the edges from the damp. What's the best underlayment you guys have used for our local concrete floors?

My basement drywall job used to be a weekend of dust and misery

For years I'd cut everything in the room, making a huge mess, and my wife would be mad for days. Last fall, I finally set up a cheap plastic tent in the garage of my Bonnie Doon house and did all the cutting out there. It took an extra 20 minutes to set up, but saved me hours of cleanup and a lot of grief. Anyone else have a simple change that made a messy job way easier?

My brother-in-law from Calgary insisted I could just paint over the old oil-based trim in my 1980s bungalow with latex.

Three coats and a week later, it's all peeling off in sheets, so who's a good painter in Edmonton that can actually strip this mess properly?

Saw a house on 124th Street with a full window wall where the living room used to be