Bought Yourself a Cottage-Now Is The Time To Renovate

You've just bought your cottage, if your like most people you realize that the cottage is going to require some work, old cottages always need a helping hand.

What you should do is have anything major repaired right away that can't wait; roofs, foundations, water lines, toilets, sinks, well and septic system.

Having these things fixed will allow you to use the cottage over the summer if only briefly, this way you have a safe place to stay and you also get the chance to get a feel for what you want to do to the old cottage.

The best way to find out what needs to be done to your cottage is to use it and stay in it,this way you will know what works well for you and what doesn't work well for you.

Make a list of everything you want to change and everything you think will need repairs and start your planning and designing. This is when you should call your contractor, call them now so that come the fall and winter they can book you in to do the work. The summer season is the busiest time for contractors in cottage country and you don't want to have to try and hire one on short notice(it wouldn't happen). It's better to hire them to come and do the repairs and renovations in the fall and winter when you aren't using the place and they aren't that busy. Don't worry about not being there a good contractor can do most things over the phone or email with pictures and drawings.

If you retain a good contractor then you will be able to get them to come out and look at your cottage and give you advice on what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. Through email you guys can then hash out a plan and a price for the work that needs to be done in the fall.

This way the place is completed by the time you want to use it in the spring and you won't have to worry about living through the noise and dust of a renovation.

If your looking for renovations for your newly bought cottage send me an email and I will see if I can help you with it. The earlier you can schedule your renovations the better chance they will be ready for the spring.

greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Thermally Modified Decks And Docks For Your Cottage

One of the biggest pet peeves for cottagers is having to repair or replace the deck or the top of the dock because the boards have rotten and aren't safe to walk on anymore.

This replacing the entire deck or even the constant replacing of individual boards gets tiresome and somewhat expensive after awhile especially if you aren't very handy and have to hire a professional to do the work for you.

Cottagers are usually leary about installing composite decking because its not a natural product and can look fake, it also comes with it's own problems that natural products do not suffer from.

There is a product that has arisen in Canada that is perfect for our ever changing climate. It is called thermally modified wood.

What is thermally modified wood, it is wood that has been heat treated and compressed in a kiln until it collapses at a cellular level. The result is a piece of wood that is completely water impermeable. Because of the heating process the sugars are burn't out of the wood creating a brown colouring to the wood, if the decking is left untreated then it will simply fade to silver overtime like cedar does.

Since there is no way for water to penetrate the wood and there is no sugars left in the wood there is no way for the wood to rot and no food value for bugs to eat.

Thermally modified wood usually comes in Maple, Ash or Southern Yellow Pine.

Most thermally modified wood comes with a clip system that allows the decking to be installed without using face nails, leaving the decking free of nails or screws.

Thermally modified wood is becoming widely available in specialty decking stores and certain specialty contractors that work with the product.

If your looking for a deck that you will only have to install once then look at a thermally modified deck and spend your weekends at the cottage relaxing instead of working.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes

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