Some Toronto residents had cars to recover from the flooded Don Valley Parkway on Tuesday morning; others had basement flooding to deal with, and as far afield as Mississauga up to 70,000 homes had no power. All this was a result of a record-breaking storm on Monday evening, which saw Pearson International Airport report 126 … Read more
Water leak detection is essential to enable plumbers to repair leaks as soon as they are suspected. There are a number of different ways to detect water leaks, which have evolved over the centuries. Some of these methods are used for residential plumbing repairs, while others are used mainly in large-scale applications such as commercial … Read more
For the first time in years, the Don Valley Parkway has closed to traffic three weeks ago because of flooding. Toronto experienced a downpour overnight that caused the Don Valley river to rise and set off the alarm on the Dundas Street Bridge at 3 am. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, the chair of Toronto’s public works … Read more
Let’s face it – we’ve all ignored small water leaks at some point, either because of the time and effort or the cost involved in repairing them. It’s not wise to do so, however, because the associated risks can be more devastating than you’d expect. For homeowners in Toronto, plumbing repairs during warm weather are … Read more
Keeping your home’s foundations in good condition can be a costly process. The best way to make sure you keep ahead of any problems is to have regular inspections of your foundations and basement, but too often this gets side-lined ahead of other, more pressing issues. Here are 10 signs that you might need some … Read more
In most of the freestanding homes in Toronto and Scarborough, sump pump installations are commonplace. The pump protects your home from rising floodwaters by expelling them before they can reach a level at which they do damage. It’s not helpful to have a pump if it isn’t operating correctly, however, and like all machinery, these … Read more
Finally, in a long-awaited and much-needed move, the province is cracking down on those aggressive salespeople who come to your door insisting on doing an inspection of your hot water heater. A recent article in the Toronto Star reports that the Minister of Consumer Services has announced a plan to help protect consumers from these … Read more
Water damage claims in Toronto have doubled in number during the past decade and now account for 40% of all home insurance claims compared with 20% ten years earlier. This puts them at number 1 on the claims list, displacing fire which has been pushed down to 37%. All this has caused insurance premiums to … Read more
Spring is here, and with the gradual warm-up in the weather, you can expect to find a number of plumbing problems in a Toronto home. Probably one of the most problematic is leaky pipes in the walls. Whether you live in a new house or an older one, it’s possible that any cracks or gaps … Read more
If you’re relatively handy around the home, or you live in an apartment and don’t want to keep bothering the supervisor to resolve minor residential plumbing problems, you probably want to be able to do basic chores such as unblock a toilet or clear a minor clog in the drain. To do this successfully, you … Read more
We’re into March and that means spring isn’t far away. And if the winter was anything to go by, we may well get a “normalized” spring – which means lots and lots of rain. It’s also traditionally the time to spring clean your home, and it follows that you might as well do some basic … Read more
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of plumbers in Toronto. At least, they call themselves plumbers but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are qualified. And homeowners contract them to do specialized work, pay them good money and then wonder what went wrong when they are left with damages their insurance won’t cover and the “plumbers” … Read more