As Canada’s housing market continues to heat up, don’t look to buy a new house this year—renovate instead.
There is no question that this is the time of year when a lot of Canadians get “the itch”, the new home itch, that is. Spring is the hottest time of year for the Canadian housing market and some markets (Toronto and Vancouver) are red hot in 2018.
Rather than go through the time and immense expense that is required to get your home ready for sale (not to mention the stress of looking for and purchasing a new home), why not look at the opportunity right under your feet? In other words, is it time to consider a basement renovation to gain that much-needed extra living space?
Canadians are currently investing in home improvement like never before. A recent CIBC poll shows that 40% of Canadians plan to renovate their home this year. Many who undertake that work are expected to spend an average of $20,000. Considering home prices are expected to climb, it’s probably more cost-effective to invest in your home’s equity than to move and buy a new house right now.
According to the Appraisal Institute of Canada, a finished basement can mean a rate of return of 50 to 75 per cent. Installing flooring and walls to an unfinished basement is a good first step. With revolutionary basement products like DRICORE® Subfloor and DRICORE SMARTWALL®, renovations that historically took months to complete are no longer the norm. It’s possible to save time and money when finishing your basement with all-in-one engineered drywall panel like DRICORE SMARTWALL® —an installation that can be five times faster than conventional basement finishing approaches. DRICORE SMARTWALL® incorporates your drywall, insulation, vapour barrier and framing all into one, simple to use panelling system.
Just ask Kristen Sanger, a DIY blogger who lives in a 100-year-old storefront conversion in downtown Toronto.
“It still had the damp cold feeling of a 100-year-old basement,” she says of her basement prior to the March renovation. “The semi-detached wall in our basement was rough. Someone had plastered over the brick that was there and done a poor job of it.”
Kristen Sanger, DIY blogger
While she had originally considered framing out and drywalling the problem wall, there was an insulated fireproofing bulkhead that would have needed to be taken apart. Opting instead to use DRICORE SMARTWALL® to avoid doing that, she and her husband were able to build their wall in just a few hours.
“I cannot believe how quick it was to go up,” she says. “The best part of this system however is that you don’t have to tape. I mudded the whole wall in about 15 minutes.”
Homeowners like Sanger are taking the right approach in this heating housing market to invest into their current properties. Because while we all know homes are an investment, sometimes the best value comes from enhancing what we already have.
For more information, visit dricore.com