Winnipeg Free Press Newspaper Archives Jun 6 2015, Page 121

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 6, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE G5 winnipegfreepress. com HOMES WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2015 G 5 DANNY DeLEEUW 204- 989- 5000 ROYAL LePAGE Dynamic RE Where City Meets Country Luxury condos with large balconies at the corner of Sturgeon & Saskatchewan Ave. with easy access to the airport, Assiniboine Park and Polo Park. RARE ST. JAMES OPPORTUNITY! ¡ Floor plans - 812 to 1264 sq. ft. ¡ 9’ Ceilings ¡ Heated indoor parking ¡ Concrete and steel construction ¡ Granite or Caesarstone countertops in kitchen and bath ¡ Engineered hardwood floors ¡ High- end fixtures ¡ Excellent soundproofing ¡ Meeting room ¡ Fitness room C a r r i e . c o m STARTING AT $ 2 39,9 0 0 CENTERPORTCANADA WAY SASKATCHEWAN AVE STURGEON RD Michael Michaelides 204.997.4835 Sales Office open Sat & Sun 1- 4 or by appointment D e a n F l e t c h e r 2 0 4 . 2 9 7 . 0 9 9 8 y pp 1200 Sturgeon Rd. www. sturgeonmeadows. com Century 21 Bachman & Associates May 2015 INDIVIDUALS Robert Prystupa Max Bachman Laura & Marnie Ross Chris Unruh Gary Bachman Greg Grewal Jamie McCreedy Tracy McLachlan Tom Hayward Justin Pokrant Randy Koroscil Kim Thompson TEAMS Fyfe & Company Shelley Barnett David Unruh Alison O’Toole Kirk Miller Amit Bindra Luda Kozlova Earn 1,000 Bonus Air Miles when you buy or sell with us. Call 204- 453- 7653 for details. Cole Castelane Team Dave Lowery Team What do you Cancer screening saves lives. live for? SUPPORTED BY S OMETIMES a flood is a good thing. Consider Noah. When the waters receded, life was not so bad for his family and his menagerie. Similarly, Lisa and Peter Knapp escaped a flood that might have swamped their entire bungalow. One year later, things are good for them, too. And they have a fully renovated basement to boot. “ Last spring, a geyser erupted in our front yard due to a watermain break. The water was shut off minutes before our entire home was swamped,” said Lisa. As it turned out, the finished basement was a complete disaster zone. It had to be stripped down to bare concrete, including the removal of soggy fibreglass insulation, waterlogged furniture, squelchy children’s toys, as well as short- circuited electric baseboard heaters and more. “ It could have been worse. At least the water was clean. Thank goodness it wasn’t a sewer line that ruptured,” Lisa optimistically opined. When the floodwaters receded, the Knapps were faced with the tedious job of collecting insurance money to pay for the renovation of their basement. They dealt with three adjusters before they were satisfied a reasonable settlement had been reached; they have since changed insurance companies. Said Lisa, “ Insurers will cover the basics, but we decided that it was in the best interest of our family to upgrade the basement to modern standards.” Their policy required them to get quotes from three contractors before any reconstruction could begin. The flood happened in early May 2014, and it was not until the fall of the year before a contractor suitable to the Knapps and their insurer was hired. Lisa said Tyson Hiebert of Hammerdown construction was given the job because her husband had read an article about him in the Free Press ; moreover, during a face- to- face interview, he came across as honest, reliable, forthright and knowledgeable. “ If a person is going to be working in your house when you are not at home, you like to think he is attending to business. Tyson and his crew were a dream to work with,” she said. The Knapps started to lay out the floor plan of their new basement by running strips of different- coloured duct tape along the concrete to represent room partitions. When Hiebert saw their work, his main comment was “ You need a bigger bathroom.” It was decided the existing electrical panel would be moved to another part of the basement to create sufficient room to expand the bathroom and hide the panel in a rebuilt storage room, which would also contain a built- in fridge; the original storage area had an outdoor aluminum screen door for an entrance. When the design was finalized, Hiebert arranged to have the inside concrete walls spray- foamed. He recalled it was in November during a nasty cold snap, and the foam could not be applied because windows had to be opened for ventilation. “ The cold outside air condensed on the warm interior walls, causing moisture to form. There was no way the foam would properly adhere to wet walls. It set back our schedule by about a week... one of those glitches that homeowners and contractors have to accept during a reno.” From that point, however, the rejuvenation of the basement proceeded uninterrupted. The floor in the main room and the treads of the stairway from the upstairs were covered with Bolton Oak vinyl planking, a waterproof material that is easy to clean with a wet cloth or mop. Drop- down white- tile ceilings hide ductwork from a new forced- air furnace; the walls were painted with a light grey- tone called Snappy Dresser. A sofa with dark charcoal upholstery from IKEA and a Cow Chair with different shades and textures of hide from Home Sense complement a grey and off- white shag rug. A bar with a high- end laminate countertop that looks like mottled marble includes a stone back wall and is built into an alcove with overhead pot lights. The bar has lower cabinets with walnut- stained drawers and cupboard doors with ample space for utensils, glasses and bottles; a wine and beer cooler is located under one end of the countertop. The same Bolton vinyl planking in the living room was used in a spare bedroom slated to become the couple’s daughter’s bedroom when she is older. One original window was left in the room, and an egress window was added to meet code. The bathroom floor is Dura ceramic tile, a tough composite material less prone to cracking than non- composites. The extended room includes a lovely plate- glass shower as well as a new sink, vanity and modern pistonstyle toilet. A large laundry area between the bathroom and the spare bedroom features a 24” wide countertop for folding clothes built over top of a washer and dryer. A small shelf and stone backdrop increase the width of the counter to 32” so it overhangs the appliances below. “ I love everything about our renovated basement, especially the shower in the extended bathroom,” said Lisa. Her next idea is to hire Hiebert to renovate the kitchen, a throwback to the early ’ 50s when the 1,100- squarefoot bungalow was built. Sometimes floods are a blessing. davidsquare81@ yahoo. com FLOOD of renewal RENOVATIONS DAVID SQUARE Water in basement leads to satisfying reno PHOTOS BY DAVID SQUARE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The main room now features a large TV, pot lights in ceiling, luxury vinyl floor and a bar to the right. The new basement bedroom has two windows, one for extra light and one for human egress. G_ 05_ Jun- 06- 15_ FH_ 01. indd G5 6/ 4/ 15 6: 42: 06 PM