August 2007

North York Green Community in the Planning Phase

Both Tridel and the K& G group are planning a green community in North York . It’s within 5 minutes of the YOnge- Sheppard subway. About 10 acres, there are 4 condo buildings planned , townhouses, rental apartments and a park in the works.

The project will have 1195 homes and be completed over the next 5 years.
Consumers are now starting to ask for LEED certification along with larger suites. Hopefully this will get us away from the thousands of pocket sized boxes being created by developers.

There are 5 LEED categories, they are:
Sustainable sites
Water efficiency
Energy and atmosphere,
Materials and resources
Indoor environmental quality.

Have Wasps Been Interrupting Your Outdoor Dining This Summer Here Are Some Good Ideas For Control

Wasps are beneficial insects because they prey on many other insects, including crickets caterpillars, flies, and other pests. But during late summer and fall they are more interested in collecting sweets and other carbohydrates. That’s why it’s not uncommon at this time of year for our outdoor activity to be disrupted by their annoying presence!

Wasps come in many types and sizes. The ones that are of most concern to people because of their stinging habits are yellowjackets and hornets. Control of scavenging wasps is difficult, as there are no insecticides that effectively repel or discourage them. The best strategy is to minimize attracting them.

Wait to serve food and drink until people are ready to eat. Promptly put away food when done and throw garbage into a container with a tightly fitting lid. Examine glasses, cans, and other containers before drinking from them to check for wasps that may have flown inside. If a wasp flies to your food, wait for it to fly away or gently brush it away. If you crush them they will give off an alarm scent that will attract others wasps.

Many people make the mistake of placing wasp traps in areas of human activity. This of course attracts more wasps. Place the traps in a wide circle 40 or 50 feet away from the area you want to be wasp free. Sweet smelling liquids like carbonated pop are the best attractant. And for an easy, effective, home-made trap, check out EarthEasy.com

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Amazing WD-40

Most of us are familiar with this amazingly agile little household mainstay and have used it to solve a number of different problems. I thought that you might like to know more about this well-known WD-40 product.

Though it originally was created in 1953 as a rust preventative solvent and de-greaser to protect missile parts, its versatility was quickly realized and people started trying it as a fix for just about everything. It may not be a cure-all, but just look at what it can do:

Gets oil spots off concrete driveways.
Loosens stubborn zippers.
Removes stains from stainless steel sinks.
Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots.
Lubricates noisy door hinges on vehicles and in homes.
Excellent at removing troublesome build-up on stove tops.
Keeps rust from forming on saws and other tools.
Keeps pigeons off the balcony. (they hate the smell)
Removes nasty tar and scuff marks on flooring.
Great for removing that summer film of bug guts on the front of the car.
… plus thousands of others.

BTW – know where the name WD 40 came from? It comes from the original project in ‘53 to find a “Water Displacement” compound. They were successful with the fortieth formulation, thus WD-40.

Native Plants and Saving Water

Want an easy care garden try planting native plants that don’t need water. There are plants that thrive in clay and beach sand. Because these types of plants have been thriving on the planet for thousands of years they attract butterflies and song buirds and support beneficial wildlife better than hybridized plants.

For more information on this you can contact the North American Native Plant Society at 416-631-4438 or visit their website at www.nan-ps.org, LEAF at 416-413-9224 website is leaftoronto.org and Wildflower farm at 1-866-476-9453 or wildflowerfarm.com. They are in Coldwater Ontario and specialize in these types of plantings.

Top 100 Items Consumed First During a National Emergency

Tips

If you live in disaster-prone area such as Tornado Alley or the Gulf Coast you probably already have a disaster kit. The July 27th issue of the Bacon Report has a list of the top 100 items that would likely disappear in a National Emergency or prolonged recovery period that can remind you of a few things you might have missed

Builders Going Green

Builders are looking for ways to obtain easy credits leading to certification under the LEED environmental rating system. This is an acronym for Leadership In Engineering and Design developed in the U.S. and adopted in 2004 by the Canada Green Building Construction Council.
LEED sets green benchmarks awarding up to 70 points in 6 different categories, including sustainable site development, water conservation , energy efficiency , selection of materials and indoor air quality. From this buildings are ranked in four classes, certified, silver, gold and platinum.

So buyers are going to be hearing more and more about simple improvements the current trend is bike storage which gives them a very easy credit.

Currently developers of L Tower, a 55 storey condo adjacent to Hummingbird Centre are aiming for LEED gold, the 2nd highest class. This will help them to distinguish the building esthetically and environmentally making the building easier to sell as markets will eventually slow from their current pace. Older less environmentally friendly buildings with high maintenance fees will become less desirable.

A Gold LEED designation could amount to a building having a 30% saving on water and energy compared to a conventional building.

The Toronto Community Housing Corp has sights set on LEED gold as well for the new Regent Park development. They are shooting for mixed development with 60% market rated units and green development plus architectural excellence.

An example of items that would gain LEED points would be dual flush toilets that cost $300-$400. more per unit. Kitchen cabinetry would have to be produces with low-emitting adhesives and sealants .. which means getting the manufacturing industries to change their standards.

So builders who courageously pioneer this will pay higher upfront costs. High performance windows, concrete for walls must contain 40% slag a by-product of steel production, low off-gassing carpets. Building for Platinum is much more difficult than gold. The upside is that their buildings will probably be more popular and retain higher values.

One builder in Hamilton building a rental apartment building is using most of the above plus solar heating for hot water, captured rainwater for flushing toilets, low flow fixtures for showers and sinks.

Energy Star appliances and heat recovery ventilation in each units. Meters for monitoring electricity used in each unit. A kill switch so that tenants can turn off all electricity in their unit when they leave the building, wind turbines, a reflective white roof to reduce heat gain and landscaping with native plants that don’t need water. The developer is Robert Manherz who built an off the grid home for himself.

Wow if you were a tenant wouldn’t you love to rent in this building?

To make a 10 storey building with about 84 units efficient enough to merit LEED points will cost about $300,000 but the future savings will be roughly $100,000 per year making the effort well worthwile.

The highest LEE certification at the moment for a mid-rise and highrise residential building is silver. Several more are targeting for platinum

LEED Rating Levels are:
Certified ( 26-32 points)
Silver (33-38 points)
Gold (39-51 points)
Platinum (52-70 points)

Registration – Once a building is registered with the council there must be a years occupancy and certification for it to be deemed as meeting LEEDS targets.

What this means for us as home buyers is a higher standard and quality of construction, lower costs and greater market value retention. Watch out for these new buildings and we will keep you informed on the blog here as they come along. Many builders of course will do the minimum just to get registered. That makes the rating system above important to note.

Hope this helps. Best Aeriol.

Hot Market Makes Renos Stronger

CMHC that’s Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp reports that renos are strong but with a twist. Where we used to reno to live in a home and enjoy it now folks are doing substantial renos for the sole purpose of Selling and getting a big buck for the place.

Most renos are painting, flooring and carpets, window and doors, and exterior projects such as fences, driveways, patios, swimming pools and major landscaping. Average cost of renos in Canada in 2006 was $12,431.00

CMHC reports that up to 43% of households are currently planning to renovate their homes. A very high number . You can visit www.cmhc.ca to obtain renovation planning guides and fact sheets to assist you in the planning phase of renovating your home.
$17.3 billion $ was spent on renovations in Canada in 2006. Do you think that maybe the housing industry seriously fuels our economy?