Journal
Everything I write, newest first: neighbourhoods read through their buildings, how to look at a house, what materials do as they age, and the ordinary work of keeping a place in good order. For readers as much as buyers and sellers.
- Charleswood: deep lots, open ditches, and houses from every decade
What the lot, the drainage and the era of the house each tell you.
- Crescentwood: four houses in five built before 1960
Character houses, and the systems behind the plaster.
- Downtown: buying a home means buying into a building
Towers, reserve funds and the Manitoba condominium documents.
- Exchange District: homes in buildings that were built for business
Lofts in heritage buildings, and where the real costs sit.
- Fort Garry: river streets, Pembina towers, and the houses by the university
Three building eras under one name.
- Linden Woods: two houses in three built between 1981 and 2000
Original components reaching their replacement years together.
- North End: three houses in four built before 1960
Old, mostly owner-occupied houses, renewed in layers.
- Osborne Village: towers from the 1960s and 1970s, and the walk-ups around them
Two kinds of building, two lists of questions.
- Sage Creek: a neighbourhood still on its first set of roofs
Settling lots, first replacements and the warranty question.
- St. James: more than half its homes built before 1960
Mid-century houses, and how far their updates went.
- St. Norbert: houses from every decade, where the La Salle meets the Red
Two rivers, the city's edge, and no single era.
- St. Vital: one name, two different building eras
Why the half you buy in changes what you check.
- The Maples: seven houses in ten built between 1961 and 1980
A neighbourhood built on the years insurers ask about.
- Tuxedo: three building eras under one name
Large houses, where each system's age matters more.
- West Kildonan: four building eras, neighbourhood by neighbourhood
Reading a house by the decade it was built.
- Whyte Ridge: three houses in four built between 1981 and 2000
For buyers and sellers of a thirty-year-old house.
- Wolseley: almost nine houses in ten built before 1960
Old houses, suites, and several renovations at once.
- River Heights: nine houses in ten were built before 1960
What one census figure tells you to look at before you buy there.
- Reading a house, before naming its style
Begin with the shape, light, materials, and details.
- Materials that age, and the details worth keeping
A closer look before deciding what needs replacing.
- Seasonal care starts with paying attention
Practical observations for houses and cottages.