Great Lakes Custom Home Builder Has A New Website

If you are interested in building a custom home or cottage or renovating an existing one and you are on the Bruce Peninsula then you should check out our new website.

Great Lakes Custom Homes has a new website, it is still being tweaked and added to over the next couple of months, but it does explain the area that we service, what we do and has photos of past work that we have completed.

We build and renovate on the Bruce Peninsula with an eye to high quality and open transparency while we are building and renovating.

Check out the new website at https://greatlakescustomhomes.ca

Or email us at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Gas Fireplaces In Your Cottage

Since this has been one of the wettest spring/summers in a long time up in the Bruce Peninsula, you might be getting a little tired of feeling damp at your cottage all the time.

But what do you do? It's to hot to turn the furnace on (if your cottage has one) and its to warm out for a wood fireplace to burn properly to dry out the building.

You could place dehumidifiers everywhere to dry the place out but they'll only work when all the doors and windows are kept shut and then your going to have to spend a small fortune on electricity to run the air conditioner.

One of the simplest and easy ways to dry the air out in the cottage and take the chill out of the air regardless of the temperature outside is to have a gas fireplace installed.

Most places in the Bruce Peninsula do not have access to natural gas so you will have to go with a propane gas fireplace.

There are several different companies that supply and install propane to the Bruce Peninsula so you will have your choice of what company you will want to deliver your propane.

Propane is stored onsite in metal containers, the size of the container will depend on the amount of propane that you and the company that you buy it from figure that you will use in a certain time frame.

If you use your cottage all year then they will install a larger storage tank, if you only use it part of the year then you can get away with a smaller storage tank.

Gas fireplaces come in an endless variety of shapes and sizes to fit anyone's tastes and needs. Gas fireplaces are all run on thermostats now, so it doesn't matter if the temperature is 10 degrees or 20 degrees they will heat and dry the room removing the damp air and making the cottage feel more comfortable. Once the desired temperature has been reached they will automatically turn themselves off.

Gas fireplaces will easily heat an entire cottage, duct work can be installed to move warm air around to different parts of the house that wouldn't get a normal flow of heat from the fireplace.

The price of gas fireplaces ranges as much as the size and shape of them, there are smaller inexpensive fireplaces and there are large luxurious fireplaces, it all depends on your budget.

A gas fireplace can be the anchor around a larger renovation to completely transform the look and feel of your cottage. Or it can be just an add on to another wise finished room.

If you want to discuss this type of renovation to your cottage email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

New Insulation The Key To Keeping Your Cottage Warm

Do you have trouble heating your cottage when the wind starts to blow of the water?

This is a common problem with older cottages and on the Bruce Peninsula there are lots of older cottages.

If you own or have recently purchased an older cottage then you probably know what I'm talking about.

There are many reasons why this happens;

• Lack of insulation. Or older insulation or non at all.
• Older windows. Pierson windows which are singe pane or cheaper vinyl windows all air to invade the house through the glass and around the window it self.
• Holes. With older cottages there actual holes from previous renovations, animals and general age and weather.

What you should be thinking about is if you are planning a renovation then you should set aside money to update the insulation and the windows in the cottage. This isn't as appealing as changing the flooring or updating the kitchen and bathrooms but it's probably more important then any of the other things that I have listed above.

Since insulation has to be installed either in the walls or on the outside of the walls under the siding then it needs to be done first and should not be done later.

Updating the insulation and windows has a very positive affect for the cottage with little to no downside other then the upfront cost.

1. Insulating and window replacement will reduce the energy consumption that it takes to heat the and cool the cottage. That's good for an area that high electricity rates.
2. Ups the resale value of the cottage. Nothing helps raise the value like new windows.
3. Allows longer use of cottage. With new windows and insulation you can use the cottage earlier in the year and later into the fall.

The wind blowing of the great lakes can be unrelenting, the only thing to do is to insulate against it. Stop the wind blowing through the cottage and change the windows and insulate.

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.