Tag Archives: advice

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Decks are great. You can lie in the sun or shade and dream, breathe fresh air, have a glass of wine or share a meal with friends. It also increases property value. There’s also the fact that, on nice days, the deck becomes an extra room. The house becomes bigger.

So why not build one? It looks so easy! Well, yes and no. If the deck looks more like a smaller porch, okay. But if you opt for a big, beautiful, friendly deck, roll up your sleeves and be patient.

A passionate do-it-yourselfer can build any size of deck, as long as they are serious, patient and organized. Even better if they enjoy team work.

Before you start the work, take the time to consider the following advice.[……]

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If you decide to open the inside of your home to natural stone, you have opted for a durable, chic material that requires little maintenance.

Stone works in numerous places in all rooms: interior and exterior walls floors, walls and retaining walls, staircase, wine cellar, work surface in the kitchen, vanity top in the bathroom.

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A stone floor is the most solid and durable there is. To make it more ecological, use lime mortar during installation. The most widely-used stones are slate, granite, limestone, marble and quartz, as paving stones or slabs. They allow for all sorts of possibilities in terms of finishes depending on the desired look: sponging, sanding, polishing.

For exterior paving, don’t forget to establish a minimum 1.5% slope to facilitate rainwater drainage.[……]

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It’s usually best to find a balance between paying your mortgage and contributing to your RRSP. Here’s why.

In a perfect world, paying off your mortgage before contributing to your RRSP would be a good thing to do. But that would call for extreme discipline.

After your last mortgage payment, you would have to keep putting the same monthly amount aside for your retirement. That’s not very realistic.

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Another possibility is to make substantial contributions to your RRSP before buying a home. However, a home is more than a financial investment; it’s a life choice that you don’t want to put off for too long. The RRSP that you started early could help make you a homeowner more quickly through the Home Buyers’ Plan.

That’s why it’s usually best to find a balance between paying your mortgage and contributing to your RRSP, even when RRSP returns are lower than mortgage interest rates.[……]

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Painting a surface purple – or any other colour – is a trivial exercise in itself, but there are techniques to give the finish a refined, rich and often spectacular effect. There are too many techniques to list them all. We’ll limit ourselves to the most current ones, which we sometimes tend to forget.

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Natural sponge painting consists of giving the painted surface a less smooth, less polished aspect, making it more natural. You can either paint directly with a sponge or use a brush or roller first and then go back and use the sponge. If the sponge is synthetic, the result will be slightly different. Using a glaze or adding a little water to latex paint makes it more translucent and enhances the power of the effect. An example of a combination of colours: a dark blue applied over a clear blue will give the impression of a stormy sky.[……]

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Using concrete as a decorative element or simple insulator requires knowledge, precision and unlimited patience. It’s often better to rely on the support of a professional. But if you prefer to do it yourself for your own pleasure, you’re going to be spoiled.

Here’s a bit of advice.[……]

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Do you not like concrete? It’s grey, cold, ugly, uniform, old fashioned. You don’t even like the word “concrete”. But concrete has come a long way in the last few years! The proof: there is concrete that generates light because of the luminous fibre optics it contains. Want to hear more?

There is translucent concrete which allows the natural light to shine through, self-cleaning and depolluting concrete, concrete that sparkles, concrete that reproduces photos, concrete that changes colour. All of this could be flooding the market soon.

Good old traditional concrete is easy to maintain, resistant, waterproof, solid. Originally reserved for industrial buildings and architecture, concrete has become a popular decorative material in the last few years.

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Concrete is not a noble material, but it highlights natural materials like wood, stone and slate. As a floor covering, it fits easily with any of these materials to ensure variety when it comes to flooring. It has even been used to complement terra cotta tiles. [……]

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