c/edmonton-home-renos

I finally asked my contractor why our quote kept climbing

We were redoing our basement in the west end near West Edmonton Mall. The initial quote back in March was $18,500 for framing, electrical, and drywall. By week three I noticed a bunch of small charges showing up for things like "material transport" and "site cleanup." I asked my guy Dave about it while he was packing up his truck on a Tuesday evening. He just shrugged and said "that's how we keep the base price low, you gotta expect the extras." It added up to almost $2,300 more by the end. Has anyone else had a contractor do this where the real cost only shows up in the add-ons?

That moment my plumber saved me $800 with one sentence

I was getting quotes to move my laundry hookup to the basement wall. First guy quoted me $1200 and talked about jackhammering concrete. Then my regular plumber came by, looked at the setup for 5 minutes, and said 'you know we can just run the pipes through the ceiling joists instead.' Saved me $800 and a ton of mess. Has anyone else had a contractor suggest a simpler fix that totally changed your reno plan?

That $15 moisture meter saved my basement reno

Overheard a guy at Home Depot say he never drywalls a basement without checking every inch with a pin meter first, and after poking around my own walls I found a damp spot behind the old paneling I would have sealed right over. Anyone else had a bad experience skipping the moisture check?

Tried both spray foam and rigid foam for my basement rim joists. The rigid was way easier to work with.

Found out my 'finished' basement was never insulated at all

I was tearing down some old paneling in my place near Whyte Ave last month and found nothing behind it but dirt and cobwebs. No insulation, no vapor barrier, just bare concrete from 1959. The kicker is the guy I bought the house from had it listed as 'fully renovated basement' and charged me 20k extra for it. I checked the city records and there was never a permit pulled for that work. Has anyone else dealt with sellers hiding garbage work like this?

I had the worst reno week of my life after cheaping out on a $30 reciprocating saw blade to cut through a cast iron stack in my 1950s Edmonton bungalow.

It took me 6 hours and 3 broken blades to get through one pipe, has anyone else learned this lesson the hard way with old plumbing?

My plumber buddy told me to run PEX instead of redoing copper in my 50s bungalow

I was about to drop $1200 on copper pipe to repipe my basement bathroom in Edmonton. My buddy who does service work for a living said just use PEX it's fine for residential. I was skeptical because my dad always swore by copper. But I went with his advice and ran PEX from the main line to the shower and vanity. Saved me probably $800 in material and the install took half a day instead of two. No leaks after 6 months. Has anyone else made the switch from copper to PEX and regretted it later?

Shoutout to the old hardware store on 118 Ave

Stopped by that place on 118 Ave last week to grab some trim nails and noticed the bins are still labeled with handwritten price tags from like 15 years ago. The guy at the counter even remembered my grandpa from when he used to go there for lumber in the 90s. Anyone else got a spot in Edmonton that feels stuck in time like that?

My flooring guy told me to always buy 10% extra laminate, I thought he was nuts

I ordered laminate for my 500 sq ft basement in Edmonton and only bought 5% extra to save cash. Three planks got damaged during cutting and two had weird warping, so I ran out and the store was out of my batch. Had to wait 2 weeks for a restock and now the new boxes don't match the old ones perfectly. Anyone else had to deal with mismatched batches on basement floors?

PSA: I found out spray foam insulation can actually trap moisture in Edmonton basements

I was all set to spray foam my basement walls last week until I talked to a guy at Total Home Reno on 99 Street. He told me that in our climate, closed cell foam can seal moisture inside the walls if you don't have a proper vapor barrier underneath. I looked it up on the Alberta Building Code site and found a stat saying 30% of basement renos with spray foam end up with mold issues within 5 years. That totally changed my mind, now I'm looking at rigid foam boards instead. Has anyone else here had problems with spray foam in their Edmonton basement?

PSA: Don't skip the vapor barrier in Edmonton basements

I helped a buddy finish his basement last summer and he insisted we skip the poly on the exterior walls to save $80. We hung drywall in June, by September there was black mold creeping up the bottom 6 inches of the walls. Two guys I know on the south side did the same thing and now they're tearing everything out. Anyone else seen this mistake around the city?

My basement flood clean up took 3 days longer than I planned

I had a pipe burst in my basement back in February and figured I'd have it dried out and patched up in a weekend. Ended up spending 6 days ripping out wet drywall and insulation because I kept finding mold behind the baseboards. The rental dehumidifier from Home Depot ran nonstop for almost a week and my hydro bill was brutal. Took me another 3 days just to get the framing straightened out since the studs had swelled up. Anyone else run into hidden water damage that snowballed way past your timeline?

Went to that Habitat for Humanity ReStore on 99 St last weekend

I swear half the stuff in there was the exact same laminate flooring I put in my first condo back in 2008, just sitting there for $8 a box. Did all the old peoples' renovations just get dumped there over the years or what?

Just crossed the 200 bathroom tile job mark yesterday

I've been doing bathroom renos around Edmonton for about 4 years now and somehow yesterday was my 200th tiling job. It was a small master bath in a 1970s bungalow near Whyte Ave. The homeowner asked me how many tiles I've laid total and I did the math in my head, came out to around 12,000 tiles. Has anyone else kept count of a random milestone like that or am I just weird?

My neighbor pointed out my window well drainage problem and it saved me a headache

Last spring after a heavy rain, my neighbor Bob came over and pointed out that water was pooling right against my basement window well. He said if I didn't fix it soon, I'd be looking at a wet basement down the road. I ended up digging out the gravel, adding a proper drain pipe that runs away from the house, and backfilling with larger stones. It cost me about $80 in materials and a Saturday afternoon, but now I don't worry every time it pours. Has anyone else had a neighbor spot a problem you completely missed?

Warning: that cheap laminate flooring might cost you double in the end

I overheard a flooring guy at Totem Building Supplies telling a customer that some of those budget laminates from big box stores will warp after just one Edmonton winter. He said the locking systems are garbage and you'll have gaps forming by spring. I almost bought the $0.79/sq ft stuff for my basement but now I'm second guessing everything. Has anyone actually had good luck with the cheaper options around here?

Chatted with a plumber at Home Depot who said I should stop using sharkbite fittings for my basement reno

My buddy laughed when I showed him my plan and said sharkbites are for emergencies only. Now I'm wondering if I should redo the three joints I already put in last week. What's the real lifespan on these things hidden behind drywall?

Been fighting with nail gun jams for years but swapping to collated screws changed everything last Tuesday

I used to spend half my day fighting a cheap Paslode that jammed every 20 nails, but after a deck job in St. Albert last month I gave collated screws a try and I haven't touched the nailer since - anyone else get tired of chasing jams on rentals?

Vent: Quote from my contractor that still bugs me 3 months later

So I hired a guy to redo my basement bathroom here in Edmonton, and he told me 'just use mastic for the shower walls, it's fine.' I did a quick search and found out mastic should never go in wet areas (it re-emulsifies). $800 worth of tile work had to be ripped out after I caught it. I switched to a thinset pro but it cost me an extra week of delay. Has anyone else had to second-guess their contractor's material choices like that?

Saved $200 by ditching duct cleaning and renting a rotary brush myself

I was quoted $350 from one of those duct cleaning companies that calls every month. Instead I rented a rotary brush kit from Home Depot for $85 and spent a Saturday afternoon doing it myself. The whole setup took maybe 2 hours once I figured out how to feed the brush around the 90 degree bends. My furnace filter actually stayed clean for 3 months after, way longer than usual. Has anyone else tried the DIY route for duct cleaning in Edmonton or should I stick with pros next time?

That one Tuesday last February when everything went right on a kitchen gut job

We were demoing a 1980s kitchen in a Capilano bungalow and the tile backsplash came off in three whole sheets, no cracked drywall behind it at all. Has anyone else ever had a renovation day where nothing fought back for once?

Switched from laminate to LVP in my basement and I get it now

I was dead set on putting laminate down in my basement reno. Cheaper per square foot, looked nice in the showroom. Then my contractor showed me what happens to laminate when the concrete underneath isn't perfectly dry. He tested my slab and it read over 6% moisture. With LVP you don't have to worry about that as much. Paid about $3.20 a square foot for the LVP instead of $2.50 for laminate. So far after three months no issues, and the floor actually feels warmer. Anybody else make the same switch and regret not doing it sooner?

I was sanding my drywall patches all wrong for 5 years

Honestly I always thought you just sand until it feels smooth to the touch, but my buddy who does drywall for a living saw me doing it a few weeks ago and laughed. He said I was using too coarse of a grit and leaving swirl marks that'd show up after paint. Tried his trick of starting with 120 grit then finishing with 220 on my last basement patch job and the difference was night and day. Anyone else learn they been doing something the hard way for years?

Painted my kitchen cabinets last spring and they're already peeling

I did a full sand and prime job back in April on my 1990s oak cabinets in that south-facing kitchen. The paint started lifting near the stove handles after just 4 months. Did I skip a step or is this just an Edmonton humidity issue messing with the cure time?

A contractor told me my basement subfloor plan was overkill

I was planning to put down 2 layers of plywood and ditra over my new concrete slab in Edmonton. He said just use a dimpled membrane and one layer of tongue and groove OSB, saved me about $400. Has anyone else had a contractor talk them out of overbuilding something?