The Alternative To Cedar Siding On Your Cottage

A question I get asked a lot is "were do I find inexpensive cedar siding for my cottage, every were I call they either do not have any or it is ridiculously expensive".

The problem is finding cedar these days in any large size, this has become harder and harder, there just aren't overly large cedar trees anymore to create the siding sizes that people want. Because of this cedar has become a premium product and with a premium product comes a premium price tag.

There are a lot of alternatives to having to pay a premium price for cedar siding;

• Maibec/CapeCod. These are the two main manufactures in Ontario of pre-painted wood siding. The siding is actually Quebec pine and it comes painted in almost any colour you want. It also comes with a paint warranty that is long enough that you shouldn't have to worry about repainting the siding on your cottage for the next two or three decades. The installation is quiet simple and the end product looks wonderful. You don't have to stick with painted siding, they do offer a natural finish on their siding, the finishing products are usually UV resistant and as long as the siding is installed properly you shouldn't have any problems with rodents or bugs wanting to eat into the siding.
• Pine. If you are just looking for siding or board and batten that you can install and allow to go grey overtime then you could buy the rough sawn pine that is sold in very lumber yard in the province. As long as it is installed properly then it should last as long as cedar siding would and weather naturally like you want it too.
• Vinyl siding. Vinyl siding has come along way in look and in quality. Good quality vinyl siding lasts longer and looks closer to wood siding to the point were some people cant tell the difference. The price of vinyl siding is a lot less then wood. 

Whatever you do know that you have options now and you don't have to break the bank by buying cedar siding for your cottage. 

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Winter Damage To The Cottage-Get It Fixed Right Away

In the coming weeks people will be slowly moving up to their cottages to open them up and get them ready for the warmer weather and some fun by the water.

What a lot of people will find will be some wort of damage to their cottage from the long winter months. This could be a broken window, some damaged shingles or a deck that couldn't handle the weight of the snow.

When people find this they tend to have two different reactions;

1. They start calling around to local contractors to get it repaired immediately, not caring what the cost is and not caring about the company that is doing the repair;
2. They wait and do nothing with it thinking that they will repair it themselves or they will have it repaired in the fall when they are done using the cottage.

Both of these options come with obvious pitfalls, what you should do is combine these two reactions into one removing the parts that will get you in trouble.

You should never hire someone to do work on your cottage without taking the time to check them out and come to a mutual decision on the cost of the repair. On the other hand there are somethings that you should have fixed or repaired immediately so that they don't cause more damage like water leaks from damaged shingles on a roof.

If you wait to find a contractor in the fall you might find that they are all booked for the fall and winter seasons. You should start your search for a good contractor to do the repairs immediately, take your time to check them out and then firm up a proper price to do the work, Then you can talk about scheduling them in to do the actual repair.

Another thing to consider is getting you contractor to do any upgrades or remodeling while their onsite doing the repair. This helps cut down on the cost of these upgrades and repairs as there is a setup fee and clean up fee that can be saved when they are already there at your cottage.

Remember that waiting to repair winter damage to your cottage will only cost you more money in the long run.

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Change Your Pierson Windows In Your Cottage

Most older cottages were built with Pierson windows.

Pierson windows are a brand/style of windows that were either one single pane of glass or two panes of glass that allowed cottages to add sliding windows for ventilation. There were also other options of fixed windows with small sliders below. The material that the frame of the window was made from was usually cedar.

At the time these windows were the most popular window installed in cottages and they lasted a long time. But as cottages aged so did the windows, the windows started to fail and leak not just water but leak air as well. This didn't just let water into the cottage but also cold drafts on those clean cold cottage nights, turning enjoyable evenings into battles to stay warm.

If you want to make it easier and cheaper to heat your cottage while making the place more enjoyable for you and your guests then you should be changing those Pierson windows. You don't have to break the bank buying new windows for your cottage, Vinyl windows will work just fine.

Vinyl windows have come along way in the past decade, they are now the standard window for all homes, they use to be the cheapest and poorest quality option but modern technology, styling and a growing market of vinyl window manufactures have brought a higher standard of vinyl window to the market.

Vinyl windows are usually a double pane window but if you have a heavily sealed and super insulated cottage already then you will want to lean towards the triple pane window option. Either way changing your old windows for new ones will help regulate the temperature in the cottage for heating and for cooling.

New windows offer a lot of advantages over older windows;

• They can cut the UV light coming through the window and save your curtains, paintings, furniture and rugs.
• They are much more secure then the older windows as they are hard to force open and even harder to break.
• New window seals do not leak water or air like old windows.
• They increase the resale value of your cottage.
• They have better sound damping for those nights when the neighbors parties go on just a little to long.
• New windows glass is clearer then older windows, giving you a much better view of the lake and those sun sets that you enjoy.
• In some jurisdictions there are rebates for retro-fitting your windows that will help pay for the insulation.
• They are much easier to open then the older side sliding windows.
• Newer bug screen technology allows a better view but still keeping the biting insects outside.

When you start to think about renovations to your cottage you should think about changing your windows before you change anything else on the exterior walls. Windows first and then everything else.

If you would like a quote on new windows for you cottage email me and lets talk.

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes

Shingles Blowing Off The Cottage-Its Time For A Steel Roof

Are you getting tired of replacing the shingles on your cottage or better yet getting tired of paying someone to come and replace them for you?

Well maybe you should start looking at getting a steel roof installed on your cottage.

Steel roofs aren't the same steel roofs as the old cabins or barns from way back when you would hear every drop of rain tinging on the roof. Modern steel roofs are insulated and installed in a way that you don't hear anything more then what you hear with an asphalt roof. The colour of steel roofs are usually good for a life time, no more repainting of steel roofs like they use to do with old barn roofs as the paint is applied in the same fashion as it is on a new car in the factory.

The styles of steel roofs have changed so much in the past couple of decades that you don't have to settle for the same look as old farm houses. The styles that you can get in steel roofs like standing seam can give your cottage a modern appealing look that will up help your cottage in many different ways;

•  A steel roof can make a boring cottage look more modern and sleek.
• Steel will help shed snow off the roof when there is no one around during the winter months, thus lessing the load on the roof and helping to prevent collapse.
• Steel has a very high wind resistance. Strong winds will not remove a properly installed steel roof.
• Steel helps heavy rains run off the cottage more efficiently, helping to prevent leaks.
• In the spring steel sheds ice from snow melt and freezing rain so that ice dams do not form.
• Steel protects against damage caused by swinging tree limps, animals or falling debris from trees.
• Steel is a forever product. You should never have to replace a steel roof when it is installed properly.

With the colours and styles available you should be able to find a steel roof that fits any style of cottage or home and one that will fit your personal preference.

If you would like a quote on a steel roof, email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes

The Most Important Thing You Should Be Looking For In A Custom Home Builder?

Whether it's a custom home you are going to build or a custom new cottage the most important thing you are going to have to decide on is who you want to actually build it.

Hiring your custom home builder or general contractor is more important then who draws the plans or designs the kitchen.

Most people, when they are thinking about hiring a builder to build their custom home tend to think of two things right away:

1. How much is the home builder going to charge me to build the home?
2. How good is the quality of the home that they build?

The sad thing is that it is usually in that order that people think, they think price first and quality second. Here's a little secret, when the house is built and you have paid all the bills almost all successful contractors end up costing you the same amount of money. Regardless of what you have been told at the start about what their fee is or how they will bill you the end cost of the entire project usually ends up about the same amount of money. The builders who are cheaper then all of their competition don't survive because they don't make enough money to cover their overhead, make a living and still give a warranty. They end up to far behind in debt and closeup shop to work for someone else.

Since the real cost of hiring contractors is basically the same then we should move on to the quality of the home. This is where the good builders and the not so good builders separate themselves. When you are a builder of custom homes you are more like a project manager. You pick the people and sub trades that are going to complete the project and then you management how much they get paid, how long it takes them to do their work and at what quality that they achieve the work with as little flaws as possible. If you can manage that then the end project should be a very high quality.

Its not hard to distinguish a quality custom home builder, you just have to see the pictures of some of the projects and that should tell you if they can complete your project to the standard that you expect. This just takes you asking the right questions and carefully looking at their past work.

Since the first two are actually fairly easy to figure out with a some due diligence there is one major thing that people tend to forget when prioritizing what to look for in a custom home builder and that is their attitude. 

A good sized cottage to construct should take anywhere from 6 months to a year depending on the when you start, the size of the home and the level of detail in the home. Your home builder is going to be the one person that you talk too, email, text or meet onsite for 6 to 12 months. A lot of times you are going to have to email back and forth 5 to 10 times a day, meeting on weekends and holidays, having phone meetings, discussing money, designs, plans, options, upgrades and problems when they arise. If you don't get along with your home builder then the wonderful experience of building a custom home or cottage will end up being the worst 6 to 12 months of your life.

Building a custom home or cottage is one of the biggest investments of your life and it should be one of the most exciting ones as well. If you don't get along with your contractor then you should be finding a different one. A rocky relationship between the homeowner the home builder will actually affect the project. When you don't get along with your contractor then you don't communicate well with and them with you, this starts to delay the project because decisions aren't made in a timely fashion and time slips away as the homeowner and the contractor try to ignore each other.

When building a custom home you need to be able to trust your contractor in a way that you can come to them with any idea you have for the home regardless of how crazy it is, their job is to tell you why it's crazy and impossible or if it isn't what the cost is and how it will affect the project as a whole. The whole point of a custom home is that it is custom to you the homeowner and nobody else, if you can't communicate your hopes and dreams for it to your contractor then it ceases to be a custom home for you the homeowner.

Take the time and meet with your contractor, get to know them. Get to know them at least enough to get a feeling of how they communicate and how the two of you get along in each other's company. 

In the last 17 years of building custom homes for people I have been able to get along with them so well that to this day if I see them on the street or in a restaurant we end up stopping and talking about life, family and the weather. We actually never talk about the house that I built them, by the end of the project I end up being more their friend then their builder.

Gone are the days with the rough, tough and gruff builder tells you what you are gonna get in your home and then hands you the bill and walks away. Custom home building today is a shared experience, it should be part learning experience for you the homeowner and part exciting and joyful as well as you see your dream come to life in your new custom home.

Remember that you want to enjoy building your custom home or cottage so take the time to find a builder that you can enjoy it with.

If you have any questions about custom home building or you would like to talk to me about building a custom home/cottage you can email me at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott

Great Lakes Custom Homes

How Far From The Water Can I Build My Cottage?

This is one of the most important questions that you should be asking when you are looking to buy property to build a new waterfront cottage.

Every municipality has a different setback from the water for new construction.

Every municipality in Ontario works off the same location no matter how far back they are restricting the building of new cottages. That location is the historic high-water mark. The high-water mark is determined by what the historical level of high water is in your area. Every area can be different. If you are building on the great lakes you would have noticed that they tend to rise and fall up to 4 to 5 feet in less then a 5 year period. That means that sometimes your new cottage will be close to the water where other times (if your waterfront is shallow) the water could be a fair ways away. Every municipality has a different distance from that high water mark.

Finding the historic high-water mark can be done in two different ways depending on the municipality;

1. Hire a surveyor to come in and survey the property. They will be able to determine the high-water mark with the actual elevations and also be able to mark for you the location of the high-water mark and the point that is closest (to the water) that you can build a new cottage on paper or PDF to submit to the township.
2. Some municipalities do not require a survey as surveys can become costly to people, especially in certain remote cottage areas. If you can identify trees that are large enough to be older then the last time the water hit the high-water mark then you can use the ones that are closest to the water as your mark. You do all your measuring from those trees and the local building department will approve it once they either seen the drawing you have done or visited the site to see the stakes and take some measurements. 

There are municipalities in Northern Ontario that still allow you to build cottages within 50 feet of the high-water mark. Where other municipalities in southern Ontario require you to be 100 or even 150 ft from the high water mark.

These setbacks can greatly affect the amount of enjoyable space that you end up with around your cottage. If you cottage is pushed back 150 ft on your lot and you end up near the road then you are kind of defeating the purpose of having a waterfront cottage.

It is easy to find out this distance, either your real estate agent can find out for you or you can make the calls to the local municipalities yourself. The building and planning department will not only be able to tell you the setbacks on the piece of property, they will be able to tell you also what the restrictions are for the size, height and shape of the cottage you are allowed to build on are. That goes for any accessory buildings that you want to construct like garage's, bunkies or storage sheds.

The only way that you can build closer to the water then the municipal setbacks is to buy a piece of property that already has a cottage on it. Most municipalities will allow you to replace an older cottage with a new one and place it in the same place as the existing cottage even if it violates the setbacks from the high-water mark.

Before you make that offer make sure you do your due diligence.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes

Is Stone More Expensive Then Wood Siding?

The simple answer to that question is "yes".

There are several reasons that stone is more expensive then wood siding or any other exterior material that you want to put on your new home or cottage;

• The actual material is more expensive to buy then wood siding. Stone has to be quarried, that means that it can only be taken out of the ground once and it has to be done with explosives and or heavy equipment. Where wood siding is made from Quebec pine and can be re-harvested every 20 years or so and can be handled with smaller equipment. 
• Stone is labour intensive to work with as it is heavy and requires either a piece of equipment or several strong backs to move it around a jobsite.
• There is a shortage of good qualified stone masons in southern Ontario. This means that to find a mason that will do a high end superior job will cost you more money as they are usually in high demand, they usually have a waiting list.
• Most stone is not uniform. Stone is usually blended with different shapes, colours and types of stones to create a pattern or non pattern that is appealing to the eye. This takes time to layout on the ground before it can be installed, this process requires you to handle the stone more then once which costs more time.
• You have to prep the wall with either rain screen or wire mesh or both. These products and the time it takes to install them drive the price of the installation higher.
• Usually shipping of stone material is expensive as it is heavy and quarries are far away from most build sites.
• When installing stone you must use scaffolding whenever you get above or near the workers head height. The assembling of scaffolding is time consuming costly work.
• Stone is a forever product, as long as it is installed properly, you should have little to no maintenance going forward as stone does not rot and insects do not eat it like they do with wood products.

One thing about building a new home or cottage in the Bruce Peninsula is that the quarries for most of the stone that you will want on the outside of your home is located there. That will cut the shipping cost of the stone down to a minimum. 

In a world that wants you to buy local as much as possible, buying quarried stone for your home that is from the same area is a good thing for you and the local economy.

When setting your house budget if you are looking to have stone installed on the outside you will want to add some more monies so that you do not end up with sticker shock.

Rob Abbott

President

Great Lakes Custom Homes