Thursday 18 August 2011

One response so far!

There has been a lot in the news lately about leaky condos. 

This article was in the Calgary Herald on June 28th, 2011, about some leaky condos in Calgary.  It quotes Calgary Liberal MLA Kent Hehr speaking out about this issue.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Shoddy+workmanship+blamed+Calgary+condo+owners+crippled+huge+repair+bills/5021566/story.html

This article was in the Calgary Herald August 12th, 2011, about PC leadership candidates at a forum in Fort McMurray, about condo issues in that city. (this is not just a problem in Calgary!)
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Tory+hopefuls+target+crumbling+condos+Fort+McMurray+forum/5245107/story.html

Of course, this is an issue for single-family homes too.

Yesterday and today, I emailed ALL of the PC and Liberal leadership candidates, as well as Calgary Liberal MLA Kent Hehr.  I haven't heard back from any of them yet, but it has only been one day, so I am still hopeful that I will hear back from at least some of them!

I also emailed our MLA, Minister Lindsay Blackett, since we are in NW Calgary.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear back from his assistant only 8 minutes after I sent the email!!!  After she had the chance to actually speak to Minister Blackett about it, she was able to arrange for a phone meeting with us and Minister Blackett for Monday afternoon.  So, someone from the government is actually willing to talk to us about this!

I would strongly encourage anyone else facing similar issues to also contact the government about this.  Please let me know if you can think of anyone else I should email!
If anyone else wants to contact any of these same people, here is the contact info:
PC leadership candidates
Doug Griffithsinfo@betteralberta.ca
Doug Hornerinfo@hornerforalberta.ca
Ted Mortoninfo@tedmorton.ca
Gary Marinfo@garymar.ca
Rick Ormaninfo@voterickorman.com
Alison Redfordinfo@alisonredford.ca
Liberal leadership
candidates
Laurie Blakemanlaurie4leader@gmail.com
Bill Harveyhttp://www.electbillharvey.ca/contact-bill-harvey.html
Hugh MacDonaldhttp://www.votehugh.ca/contact
Bruce Payneinfo@87strong.ca
Raj Shermaninfo@electraj.ca
Liberal MLA
Kent Hehrcalgary.buffalo@assembly.ab.ca
PC MLA for Calgary NW
Lindsay BlackettCalgary.NorthWest@assembly.ab.ca

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Letter to the editor - Calgary Herald

I wrote a letter a couple of days ago to the Calgary Herald.  They had a story in recently about leaky condos in Fort McMurray and what various Conservative leadership candidates were saying about building envelopes etc.  The Herald published my letter today! 

Here is a link:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/Leaking+Tuscany/5265842/story.html

And a copy of the letter:
Re: "Tory hopefuls target crumbling condos," Aug. 12.
This article highlighted issues with building envelopes on condominium buildings. This is also a major issue with singlefamily homes.
We have a 13-year-old house in Tuscany, built by a major Calgary home builder who is still in business.
We have had several leaks over the years, but only recently discovered that they are due to the building envelope being installed incorrectly when the house was built. The building paper was lapped incorrectly, and our stucco thickness does not meet the Alberta Building Code.
Unfortunately, our house is past the one-year warranty, and there is no recourse against the builder for breaking the building code. We have serious water damage in our home. We are having to pay to redo our entire building envelope and re-clad our entire house, which should not be required on a house of this age.
The Alberta government needs to make changes to building inspections and the home warranty program to hold builders accountable for their errors.
We have started a blog detailing our experiences: http: //leakyhouse.blogspot.com/.
We have heard of many other homes with similar issues, and according to our engineer and contractor, this is a major problem affecting hundreds, if not thousands, of homes built in the last 15 years.
We hope the Alberta government takes immediate action to deal with this issue.

Friday 12 August 2011

Reno plans - advice needed!

We have been busy the last few weeks choosing things for our reno.  We have chosen new colours for the outside, new windows, etc.  But the biggest issue we are having is what to do with the interior window sills, casing etc.

Right now, our window sills, window casings, baseboards, interior doors, stair railings, fireplace mantle, etc. are all oak.  We were not planning on doing an interior reno right now - partly because we want to wait until the kids are older and less likely to wreck things, and partly because now that we have to do the exterior it will be awhile before we save up enough money!

The contractor, designer, and window salesman are all trying to convince us to go with painted window sills and possibly re-use our oak window casing.  Well, originally they were trying to convince us to go with painted window sills AND casing, but we weren't sure of that because it totally wouldn't match the oak in the rest of the house.  Their reasons are:
- paint grade would be cheaper than oak
- oak is apparently not "in" anymore
- they think we should set ourselves up to do an interior reno in the future

But we're still not conviced.  So today I got some paint that is about the same colour as the window sill colour they are recommending, and painted one of our windows.  (since they will be getting replaced in a few weeks, it doesn't really matter).  I have attached some before and after photos.  We're really not sure.
What do you think?

Have you ever seen this type of white / off-white and wood combo before?  Anyone else have this?
Looking for some advice!!!  Thanks :-)


BEFORE: (all oak)

AFTER: (off-white/oak combo)