Why Are You Renovating Your House?
Don't solve today's problems in a way that requires more costly solutions in the future.
The additional considerations presented here may cause you to re-evaluate your renovation concept to save headache and money in the future.
Renovations tend to focus on fixing a current or impending problem or solving a need for the present or near future. The horizon may not take into account the long-term future which will present different needs. Usually, the renovation gives the home a "new lease on life". The future is unpredictable, but you can dial in the project to minimize future risks without spending extra money and locking you into something you may not need.
You may currently have secure financial room to make substantial changes to your home, but in twenty years when construction costs are even more exorbitant than they currently are, will your financial runway will be long enough to adjust again? Regardless of whether you plan to keep the house, bequeath it, or sell it, will the money you put in today still hold any value later on?
Define What The Renovation Is Supposed To Become
An existing house might be reconfigured to create additional dwellings in the same footprint. A secondary suite might be added, an extension may provide an additional dwelling unit, or – although not actually a renovation – a new detached house may be added to complement the existing house. There is also the possibility of converting the existing building itself into a form now permitted under small-scale multi-unit housing regulations in your city.
These options are quite different from the usual renovation question of What should we change about this house? Instead of jumping to the usual, assumed strategy, one should first ask: WHY are we planning to do this? The reason one hears is usually in fact an assumed solution, but the root reason could have a better solution. For example, “create an addition” is one specific solution to the goal of “need more space”, but first ask: why do you need more space? That’s a complex and nuanced discussion, and the solution should be equally thoughtful.
The second question is What should this building be capable of accommodating in the future? That consideration is important because decisions that you make now can either keep your options in the future open or quietly make them unfeasible. For example, a beautifully renovated basement might need to be substantially reconstructed later to create a legal suite unless the renovation made a few necessary provisions for the eventual creation of the extra suite. Another example is a major kitchen renovation that might make little sense if the long-term plan requires relocating that kitchen altogether to accommodate a different home layout.
There may be multiple ways to address a given need, and each way should be evaluated in the context of several futures. The objective is not to predict exactly what will happen twenty years from now but to avoid making expensive decisions now that unnecessarily burden or restrict your future choices.
Replace Worn-out Or Dated Components and Materials
Are you bored with the interior or exterior finishes? Do they look dated? Are they worn out or discoloured beyond salvage? Replacing the finish materials - interior or exterior - avails you of the least expensive opportunity to add components that can save you money in the long run.
Upgrading floor finishes:
It’s easier to install in-floor radiant heating now than after ripping out the more expensive finish material later. Electric heating is the simplest to incorporate; dedicated circuits are easier to install than hydronic piping and a pump.
Upgrading exterior wall siding:
Your house most likely does not have insulation outside the sheathing, and your weather barrier is likely Tyvek secured with a million staples and correspondingly a million pinholes where warm air leaks out. With the siding pulled off for replacement, this is the perfect time to install a liquid-applied or self-adhesive sheet air barrier. That alone can improve the indoor thermal comfort, reduce dust, and save on heating and cooling costs. Really minimal cost, major impact.
If you can afford to add insulation boards before installing the new siding, it makes a significant difference to how well the heat is kept in The insulation continuity helps prevent condensation in the wall and therefore the growth of mold.
Replacing roofing:
A good roof shingle will last 20 years if you’re lucky and aren’t facing many strong storms. If you are about to replace your roof shingles, will you or your children continue to live in the house for more than 20 years? If so, you’ll need to pay again for future replacement; it will be less expensive to install a metal roof now because a good metal roof will last 50+ years. A very well-installed zinc or slate tile roof could last a century.
Replacing Windows:
If your operable windows need to be replaced, investigate the option of a “tilt-and-turn” style window or a hopper window. Future exterior insulation can be extended onto the frame to improve its performance. A window comprised of multiple panes with one being the operable portion lets in less light and less fresh air but lets through more heat than a one-pane window.
Prepare To Sell – Improve Resale Value
If you plan to sell your house, you might assume that you need to make it look as appealing as possible to maximize the purchase offers. However, ask yourself: who is likely to buy it and why do they want it? Can a couple or family afford to buy your house, or is it likely to be developers or builders who intend to demolish the house and convert it to a duplex or multiplex to be stratified and re-sold? It is uncommon now in Metro Vancouver for people to buy a house, improve it, and re-sell it for a profit; the construction cost for the work is much higher and the number of people who can afford a detached, single-family house is much lower.
Even simple cosmetic upgrades cost tens of thousands of dollars, which may not be recouped in the sale price. A new coat of paint, a thorough de-clutter, professional cleaning, and minimal staging go a long way, and potential buyers who would want to move in are able to picture themselves in the home without an obvious restyle getting in the way. It’s my personal opinion that quite a few people are tired of Instagram-type imagery and would rather use their imagination.
Age In Place – Improve Comfort And Health, Improve Accessibility
I will have a future article that explores renovations to allow the owner to age in place, so I don't expand on it here.
Prepare For Future Climate – Improve Climate Resilience
Climate change introduces several new conditions, so decide which one or ones are of greatest concern to you. I won’t detail here most upgrades to address the concerns but will point out the downstream consequences of the upgrades commonly made.
Heatwaves
The obvious approach to dealing with hotter, longer heatwaves is installing a central AC system – likely a heat pump with multiple indoor head units. Ducted indoor units look far better but make future remodeling more expensive since more drywall must be ripped out. Ceiling cassettes and floor-mounted indoor units are available, and the refrigerant piping can be more easily re-routed.
The second consideration is how much hotter future weather will be. Install as much cooling capacity as you can afford, to avoid ripping out the system in five years to install new equipment suited to more intense heatwaves.
Colder Winters
When colder winters make you feel uncomfortable in your home, you may want to add insulation in the attic. Your ceiling is not airtight; ceiling lights, bathroom fans, and even the top of some walls create tiny openings that allow moist, warm air to escape into the attic insulation. The moisture-laden air is leaking into the attic where it is currently vented away naturally. Increasing the insulation without sealing the hundreds of tiny holes and construction gaps in the ceiling increases the likelihood of mold growth.
Storm-induced Power Outages
Many people who want to install solar panels want to offset their consumption from the electric utility and therefore lower their bills; the panels provide power for much of the load during the day when rates are high, and the load is lower at night when the rate is lower. While the panel supplier is designing and installing your system, you may want to add more capacity to have enough power to cover your core needs for the duration of a power outage. The major outages in metro Vancouver a little while ago were the result of a strong storm, and storms like that are becoming more frequent.
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/power-outage-vancouver-weather-lightning-2026-12667837
Other Climate Hazards
Not many people consider heavier rainfall, heavier snowfall, and flash flooding until the lowest floor is soaked or underwater or a roof has collapsed; so few people are considering renovation for these situations. In a later article, I'll discuss how to address these extreme weather events.
Reduce Energy Costs – Improve Energy Efficiency
As discussed in upgrades for handling colder winters, a common energy upgrade is increasing the amount of insulation in the attic because it’s relatively quick and inexpensive. Before adding insulation to the attic, seal all penetrations and tiny holes in the ceiling with a vapour-impermeable, continuous, airtight sealant to avoid fostering mold growth.
A second, common energy upgrade is replacing the windows. If the windows need to be replaced, see my comments above. If they’re still functional and you want better performance, consider instead replacing the sealant around the window on both the inside and the outside to prevent air leakage.
The third common energy upgrade is replacing an old furnace with a high-efficiency furnace, duel-fuel furnace, electric furnace, or a heat pump. Heat pumps are the most efficient, but they are comparatively expensive to buy. Your money is more effectively spent on reducing the heating and cooling loads first by increasing airtightness and insulation. The heat pump is then less expensive. A new gas-fired furnace is the least expensive, but a future upgrade to improve the home’s airtightness will trap the gas and other chemicals that do inevitably leak from gas-fired equipment (link to study).
More Living Space or Growing Family – Addition
Expanding your house horizontally usually eliminates the ability to build a laneway house or nanny suite. Those might not hold interest for you, but they are much better revenue generators for a subsequent owner – either your own children or a future buyer.
If the local market conditions in the future still permit a family to buy the home to live in, a larger house intrinsically increases the selling price – perhaps out of the range of most potential buyers. On the other hand, the larger footprint could simultaneously be an advantage if you’re willing to offer the larger house for a comparable price to one the size of
If your future plans include keeping the house, a larger house is more expensive to heat and to cool. If you plan to add another storey, you may need to enlarge and enhance your existing building foundations. If the foundations will be exposed, this is an excellent time to apply waterproofing to the concrete, replace the weep tile (typically 6” diameter) with corrugated 8” weep tile, and install clear crush backfill instead of the typical soil-laden gravel which is less capable of handling high rainfall.
Consolidating Extended Family – Addition, Secondary Suite, Nanny Suite / Laneway House
Bringing an extended family into the same property may be done with an addition to the existing house or by constructing an entirely separate building - a coach house or laneway house - to provide significant privacy. If you build a secondary house, you’re creating an additional maintenance burden for your children or an additional thing to fix up if you sell the property in the future. A second building is more expensive to build, to operate, and to maintain. However, depending on the potential buyer, a second, separate building could be far more valuable than a secondary suite.
A secondary suite is a less expensive alternative that is permitted in more situations and generally will be quicker to build. Privacy and independence can be achieved with thoughtful planning, but using some of the existing home space for the secondary suite may require some significant reconfiguration which could compromise the enjoyment of the primary dwelling unit. The BC Building Code has allowances for creating a secondary suite within an existing house which reduce the amount of work needed, but a secondary suite still must have its own heating and cooling controls.
Before looking into design, ensure that the zoning of your property permits the type of additional dwelling unit you want and that the parking spaces required can be accommodated. An addition is typically less expensive than a separate, new building in the back yard.
Disaster Resilience
Wildfire
Some major renovations are the result of damage by or threat of a wildfire. Typically, the roof finish material and the siding material are replaced with metal. In these situations, it's an excellent time to replace the water-resistive barrier to improve airtightness (and energy efficiency) and add at least a nominal amount of mineral fibre insulation to improve resistance to extreme heat. In a major wildfire, the heat will be transmitted to the sheathing which can still catch fire if it's hot enough.
Earthquakes
If you have researched improving the seismic resistance of your house, you may have seen hold-downs and maybe clips in the roof. Before considering work in the framing of your house, investigate the soundness and strength of your house foundations. They were designed under a different building code. A stronger wood frame will still fail if the foundation upon which it sits cannot keep up with the larger forces applied.
Floods
Foundation drainage systems are designed for typical rainy weather of the past. A renovation to improve resilience to flooding would likely involve replacing the existing draintile pipe with one of a larger diameter, so the backfill against the house would be dug up. With the foundation exposed, one should scrape back the existing dampproofing and apply a true waterproofing membrane to ensure long periods of wet weather or local flooding don't push water through the normal cracks in the concrete, which dampproofing does not seal. This is also an excellent opportunity to add rigid insulation to the exterior of the foundation. Adding the insulation to a basement foundation or to a foundation that is the common 18" into the ground will make a large difference in the lower floor staying warm throughout the winter.
In the first stage of my SAPPHR Strategy, I talk with the owner to get an understanding of WHY they need what they need. The RAD Study™ is a report that puts down in writing this reasoning and gives us a chance to discuss different solutions. I share my expertise in building performance to illustrate how the client's brief extends across decades and how a renovation will be tested against changing households, climate conditions, building life, and redevelopment pressure.
This deep analysis helps avoid regret and limitations in the future. The saying "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," is an expensive gamble that can be avoided with the right conversations.
Click on the button below to download a copy of a RAD Study™ for a home in Burnaby.
DISCLAIMER:
The information included in this article is to an extent generic and intended for educational and informational purposes only; it does not constitute legal or professional advice. Thorough efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of the article at the time of writing, but having read this article, you understand and agree that Daniel Clarke Architect Inc. disclaims any legal liability for actions that may arise from reliance on the information provided in this article. I am an architect in BC, but readers are recommended to consult with their own architect on their specific situations before making any decisions or exercising judgement based on information in the article.
Comments