Quartermaster Blog

Before you give up a weekend to refinish your deck, spend five minutes finding out whether it needs anything at all. Two Toronto-area Pros walk through the water test, the warning signs of rot, and when the honest answer is to rebuild instead.

Most roof problems are repairs, not replacements. Two Toronto roofers explain how to tell the difference, where roofs actually leak, and how to spot a roofer overselling you a new roof.

A roof doesn't wear out in one way. It wears out in several, and they're not equally in your control. Two Toronto-area roofers break down the four main causes, from impact and ice dams to rodents and sun, and explain which ones are worth your money and attention, and which fading is harmless.

The bad news: Toronto's in for a wet, storm-interrupted summer. Most years your big worry is keeping cool, but this year it's keeping water out. Here's how to tell if your basement is at higher risk for flooding or mould, what it costs if you ignore it, and the mostly cheap fixes that head off the damage.

In Toronto, you usually need a City permit to cut down a tree, even your own tree on your own property, once the trunk hits 30 cm across. Most homeowners don't find that out until they're mid-project, when the mistakes turn expensive: fines, months of delay, a neighbour who stops speaking to you. Three Toronto arborists walk through the four assumptions that cause the most grief, the permit process nobody warns you about, and the one job you can still do without a permit.

Rain you can mostly plan for. Wind is the part that catches people out, and around here the first casualty is usually a tree. Most of what protects your house costs very little and takes an afternoon, the trick is doing it at the right time.