Imitation not always better than real thing

Newer materials should be tested rigorously before mainstream use

Question: We had our new home faced with imitation stone siding. It did an attractive job. Early one morning, about a week ago, we heard tapping on the outside of the house. I stepped outside and saw a woodpecker fly . . .

Posted: 2018-06-09

Garden-dwelling spiders a good sign

Question: How can I repel spiders in my garden? They are so ugly and creepy. I can’t stand them. They might be poisonous, I don’t know, but I dread going to work in the garden just in case I see . . .

Posted: 2018-06-09

Finding the middle ground

Charleswood two-storey is a livable looker

Designing a show home is no easy task. On the one hand, a builder’s goal is simple: to draw in prospective buyers by wowing them with luxurious features such as exotic cabinetry, eye-catching countertops and fabulous flooring. On the other hand . . .

Posted: 2018-06-09

Housing affordability issues hit home in Manitoba

Housing affordability has long been a hot-button topic in Canada’s biggest cities such as Toronto and Vancouver. Manitoba has always prided itself on its housing affordability, with successive provincial governments promoting the Manitoba Advantage — that building or buying a . . .

Posted: 2018-06-09

Alluring lodgings on Deer Lodge

Big city home feels like it's in cottage country

When you turn on to Deer Lodge Place off Portage Avenue, you’re immediately transported into a different world. Though you’re less than half a kilometre from one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, the mature trees that line the street and surround . . .

Posted: 2018-06-09

If you have a home with solar panels, you're in the money

Real estate poll shows trend to top features

While Bernadette in the novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette bemoaned the excessive number of Craftsman-style houses in Seattle, a recent report from RealEstate.com, a new real estate site from the Zillow Group geared to first-time buyers, presents a different view. . . .

Posted: 2018-06-02

Replacing threatened trees no small task

Many concerned after emerald ash borers found in Winnipeg

There is nothing like the warmer weather to make people look at their gardens and trees and wonder about this growing season. Predictably, I receive many concerns about emerald ash borers infesting ash trees. Now that this insect has been . . .

Posted: 2018-06-02

A good garage is worth the investment

Having a garage is one thing, using it effectively is another

To build, or not to build — a garage. That is the question. The answer, for my long time friends Sue and Rick Kizuk, was an easy one. Yes. After having lived in a home with an attached garage for many years, their . . .

Posted: 2018-06-02

Don't let pesky insects make you bug out this summer

Plan ahead for insect-fighting strategies

Mosquitoes are poised to be the biggest party crashers of the summer. Illnesses caused by mosquitoes, fleas and ticks has more than tripled in the United States since 2004, according to a report released this month by the Centers for Disease . . .

Posted: 2018-06-02

Living Vehicle redefines what 'home' looks like

For Heidi Hansing, the last three years felt as if she were moving backward. "Nothing in my life was what it seemed, " Hansing says of her divorce after 22 years of marriage. "Everything had changed." For 30 years, Hansing had served . . .

Posted: 2018-06-02