Coach Homes in North Vancouver - Expand Your Space and Your Income!

Coach Homes in North Vancouver – Expand Your Space and Your Income!

Coach Homes in North Vancouver - Expand Your Space and Your Income!What is a coach home?

North Vancouver, Canada, has approved coach home construction for qualifying lots. Also known as laneway homes, granny flats, or carriage homes, they are small self-contained homes that share lot space with a larger primary home. A small secondary home is a great way to increase your monthly income or to expand the living, working, and playing space available for your family.

Great mortgage Helpers

Given the shortage of space and rising cost of housing in North Vancouver coach homes are gaining interest. Secondary basement suites are already very common as mortgage helpers in North Vancouver, but with a detached secondary home there is the added bonus of privacy for you and your tenants! Coach homes are more marketable than basement suites because they offer an independent living arrangement, are above ground, include private garden access, and may be built with outdoor decks.

Home office, guest house, studio

If you have wanted a comfortable space for of town guests, a private place for an ageing family member, a home for a live in caregiver, a place to concentrate on work, a peaceful studio where you can reflect, or even a place where musicians in your family can practice, then a coach home could be your solution. If you live on your property and don’t already have a legal secondary suite then you may be able to build one. Coach homes are usually located at the rear of a yard, in place of a garage, although they may contain a one car garage.

Qualifying lots

Qualifying lots must be within the boundary of the city of North Vancouver, and it is very likely that in the near future they will be built within the district of North Vancouver as well. The lot type must be designated for …

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How to Save Thermal Energy at Home

How to Save Thermal Energy at Home

How to Save Thermal Energy at HomeHeating is one of the most important functions of our home energy. This is why the biggest proportion of energy bills is allocated to our heating. Just like other things in our homes, our ways of using heat can be improved to be more efficient for our homes and especially our money.

A major amount of things at home require quite a lot of funding to be made environmentally friendly and energy/money efficient – however, there is also a great number of things you can do to ensure the efficient use of your home energy that cost you absolutely nothing but a bit of time and patience. Why is it that our heating bills can be so much higher than, for example, our neighbors, even though our houses are roughly of the same size, and use the same amount of heat?

The answer to this is simple – bad insulation; unwanted heat escape. On the surface of things, it may seem that heating your home is nice and simple; that we turn on a switch and expect our home to be heated after a certain time. It escapes many of us that the amount of heat we actually need is usually much, much less than what we pay for, and this is normally due to 2 things: drafts (through cracks and holes) and poor insulation.

Let’s focus on each of these in a little more detail and look at how we can solve them. Research shows that cold air (drafts) coming into your home causes 20% of your heating to go to waste. From high-school physics, we know that heat travels from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature – if your home’s walls have even the smallest of holes or cracks in them, you are automatically wasting …

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HOW TO CUT COSTS WHEN BUILDING A HOUSE

How to Cut Costs When Building a House

HOW TO CUT COSTS WHEN BUILDING A HOUSEEveryone would like to save a little money when building a new house. After all, there are added expenses when building, such as repayments on the land and during the construction phase which often adds pressure on both the buyer and builder to have the house completed as fast as possible. These simple tips will help to cut costs even before you start building your new house.

  1. Choose a block that is already prepared – A new subdivision should have all your services in place and also have a nice sandy block ready to be built on. This will reduce the cost of your earthworks which can be significant. If you’re buying in an established area with the intention of knocking down and rebuilding, call the local council to find out what the conditions of the land are like in that area. They may be able to tell you the type of engineering detail that is common and if limestone or rock is prevalent.
  2. Ensure your home designer has a track record of bringing house designs in on budget – this is also such an important step as a poor house designer or architect can spend your money on poor construction details that provide no benefit to the home or the owners. Be sure to ask them how they have performed in the past. It’s their job to ensure that they deliver a home on budget, and not blame their clients for ‘changing their mind’.
  3. Make all your product and colour selections before construction starts – Most owners don’t understand why this is critical to cost savings. A builder will typically send out for quotes at the start of the project. If colours and product selections have been totally completed then the builder can receive quotes for the entire home.
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HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF HOME DESIGN

How to Do it Yourself Home Design

HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF HOME DESIGNThere is a substantial population of people who do not want to hire an interior designer to oversee their home decorating projects. Often this is because they wish to be involved in each and every detail of redecorating their homes. For many this gives sense of satisfaction and achievement. Redecorating your home by yourself is much different from engaging an outsider to decorate your home. You know yourself better than anyone else. Therefore you are better suited to design a room according to your requirements and needs better than a professional decorator. This is true even if you are not a creative person.

You already know your favorite colors. You already know what helps you relax and what helps you feel energized. Most of all you know what the rooms in your home are used for and how often you use them. What you may not know is where to begin. If you find yourself at a loss for ideas begin by asking yourself a few simple questions.

Ask who and what each room is used for. This answer will tell you a lot about the kind of design you want. Make sure that the room shows the personality of those who use it and is functional. Next ask yourself what pieces of the room must stay and what can go. It would not be prudent to plan a décor for your dining area and then find you have no room for a table, but if you do not eat in your kitchen, having a table there may not be necessary. The third question you should ask is how much you can afford to spend. If your budget is limited you will need to find a way to decorate that is inexpensive. This is very possible and can still give …

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How To Start a Home Craft Brewery

How To Start a Home Craft Brewery

Beer lovers take their brews seriously. If you’re ready to try your hand at making craft brew, you need a few pieces of equipment, the right materials and a persistent attitude. Making your own beer has its own tasty rewards once you learn how to do it. Once you get a good recipe going, you can upgrade to a microbrewery and make money on your hobby.

How To Start a Home Craft Brewery

Beer Making Equipment

Many first-time homebrewers cut their teeth on a starter kit. These starter kits feature instructions, a recipe, and fermenters. You still need ingredients and a kettle to brew the beer. Take your beer making to the next level with wort chillers and a volumetric filling machine to fill your kegs and growlers. Racks, thermometers, bottles and hydrometers all help in the brewing process.

Necessary Ingredients

Hops, malt and beer yeast are all necessary ingredients to the brewing process. Healthy yeast is essential for the fermentation process that creates the alcoholic content of the beer. Ensure enough oxygen is available at the start of the fermentation process for the health of the yeast. Malt is sweet while hops balance the flavor. The more hops used, the more bitter the flavor. All these ingredients come as dry or wet and depend on the brewer’s preference.

Additional Ingredients

Customize your brew with your own additional ingredients. Grains are needed to make wheat beers. Add some fruity extract to change up the flavor with peach, strawberry, raspberry and watermelon. Sweet orange peel, grapefruit peel, coffee and cacao nibs can all add a unique flavor to any beer. The combination of flavors is what makes your recipe uniquely yours.

Making your own beer lets you taste the finished product. You can create your own unique combinations to satisfy your taste buds. The options are endless …

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