Understand your home
A house is a building before it is an investment. This is what I look at in one, after some twenty-five years of building and renovating, and what it means for what you will spend on it.
Structure
Foundations on clay. The Red River Valley sits on clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry, so some seasonal movement in a Winnipeg house is normal. Bowing walls, horizontal cracks or wide cracks are not.
Water and drainage. Grading that slopes away from the house, downspouts that discharge well clear of it, working weeping tile, a sump pit and a backwater valve. Most basement problems start outside.
Framing. Sloping floors, doors that stick and windows that bind can point to movement or to past alterations. They cost nothing to notice and tell you which professional to call.
- What should I check in an older Winnipeg house?
Clay, water, wiring, Poly-B, vermiculite and winter damage, in the order I look at them.
- Reading a house, before naming its style
Shape, light, materials and details first.
Systems and envelope
Electrical. Aluminum branch wiring from roughly 1965 to 1975, 60-amp services and certain older panels can affect insurance and financing as well as safety.
Plumbing. Grey Poly-B supply lines from roughly the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, and older cast-iron or clay drain lines, which a sewer camera inspection can check.
Insulation and attic. Original walls usually mean original insulation; vermiculite in an older attic may contain asbestos; poor venting shows up as ice dams and on the heating bill.
Climate. January nights in Winnipeg average about −21 °C and the coldest fall below −30 °C, while July days average about 26 °C (Environment Canada climate normals, 1981–2010). That range is why roofs, furnaces and windows here are judged on age and condition, not looks.
- Materials that age, and the details worth keeping
Character versus condition.
- River Heights: nine houses in ten were built before 1960
What one census figure tells you to look at.
Maintenance and reserves
The large bills come from components wearing out on a schedule you can roughly predict. Note the age of the roof, furnace, water heater and windows, estimate when each falls due, and set money aside over the years that remain, rather than using a percentage of the price.
Red flags before an offer: water staining or efflorescence in the basement, horizontal foundation cracks, a 60-amp panel, aluminum branch wiring, Poly-B lines, vermiculite, and a basement or addition without closed permits. None is automatically a reason to walk away; each is a reason to bring the right professional before the conditions expire.
- Typical service lives of roofs, furnaces, windows and more
The table to build a reserve from.
- Seasonal care starts with paying attention
Practical observations for houses and cottages.
What I describe is what I look at. It is not a home inspection or an engineering opinion: a licensed electrician, plumber, structural engineer or home inspector settles the questions it raises.