Montreal, QC

Woodpecking His Way Through NDG, Montreal Without A Care

Walking over to a meeting with my client on Brillon avenue in Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) this morning and I hear this knocking noise closeby. I looked up and all around with no luck. Something caught my gaze down near the ground and there was this woodpecker going at it on a rotten tree trunk.

I was amazed how confident this bird was and how large it was. It stood more than a foor tall. I slowly stepped my way closer to him and only when I was 3 feet away did he feel I was too close.

He did not fly away, rather chose to move around the trunk to the backside out of my view. Well, I would have non of that and walked around to the other side. He studied me, likely sizing me up, and decided to walk, slowly, to another part of the trunk to continue his pecking search for food.

NDG has been rejuvenated over the last 15 years and is now one of the more sought out neighbourhoods in Montreal. Access to major highways, to downtown and services makes it a nice place to settle in. I offer a glimpse of real estate activity in my monthly NDG market report and provide more detailed, relevant statistics to my clients looking to buy or sell residential property in Montreal, Quebec. The homes on Brillon avenue are in the Eastern-most part of NDG and referred to as Westmount adjacent being tucked up against one of our most prominent neighbourhoods.

Anyways, It was incredible as it is the first bird who was not bothered by my presence. I guess it takes a large bird more to feel threatened.

A little research on the web and I have learned this was a Pileated Woodpecker, a very large North American woodpecker, almost crow-sized, it is the largest woodpecker in America. Adults are 40 to 49 centimetres (16 to 19 in) long, and weigh 250 to 350 grams (8.8 to 12 oz). They are mainly black with a red crest, and have a white line down the sides of the throat. They show white on the wings in flight. Adult males have a red line from the bill to the throat, in adult females these are black.

Market Report For July 2011 In NDG, Quebec

 

Notre Dame-de-Grace (NDG) experienced an average month in July. 10 homes and 13 condos were sold compared with 11 homes and 13 condos last month. Rising prices on Montreal Island have increased the availability of condos in NDG. Condos sales had risen significantly in 2004 and again since 2008 with a peak of 302 sales in 2009.

Average sales values for homes of $477,800 this month being purchased at 97% of the asking value indicates high demand in this sector. Inventory levels support at a low 2.3 months. Days sold was high at 55 days over 27, 37 and 35 in April, May, and June respectively. Condos take longer to sell in NDG averaging 105 days this July. The spring rush month was February and again in April at 41 and 56 days. The market is holding in NDG for condos with 145 active listings and 11.2 months supply. There are some new multi-unit projects nearing completion on Sherbrooke St. West and more on the way.

Condo discount levels off asking price remain low at 4% this month which is normal for the last number of years. The average price of an NDG condo is low this month likely due to newer and smaller units registering at $276,846 over $357,147 and $417,389 the last 2 months. NDG has varied property types and ages ranging from duplexes and triplexes separated for individual sale and multi-unit properties anywhere from 90 years old to fresh construction.

Given it's proximity to all services, autoroutes and downtown along with reasonable pricing, NDG will continue to experience strong activity in the foreseeable.

John B. Joseph has over 20 years of business to business experience in the U.S. and Canada in business process improvement, sales, consultation, sales management and has been helping buyers and sellers in real estate since 2005.

"Faulty Towers".....Funny, Faulty Decks.........Dangerous !

Faulty Towers was a hilarious British comedy. it was a sit-com staring one of the founding members of 'Monty Pythons Flying Circus'.

Faulty decks though that's a different kind of story, and if you are unlucky it's appearing on a balcony or deck near you.

Take a look at the example below and remember just because it's been there for a while doesn't mean that it always will be (there).

At 'A" you can see the short remnant of the original cantilevered beam built into the original floor framing of this building. The joists of the current construction are sistered onto either side. This is nailed with 4" common nails, not galvanized.

"B" Is the top end of the diagonal brace, a 4 by 4 bracketed by the sistered joists mentioned above. The same type of nails are used, but smaller ones.

"C" the base of the same diagonal brace is set into a shallow pocket in the cement bonded stone foundation wall. There is a horizontal steel pin, basically a spike nail pining it from moving.

So whats wrong with that you say?

Well: Nails are just pins that lock things in place . The weight transfer has to be wood resting on wood.

Nailing wood the side of another wood member without notching it in to support it from underneath means the weight transfer is being done on the nails. Nails can not resist the stress over time.

They seem to work when everything is new and tight. Then things get a bit loose and flexible. For a while there is a little 'wow' deflection felt. It can last for years. You'll even forget about it. "Oh, it's OK, it's aways been like that".

The nails loosen from wood shrinkage, wood degrades from water exposure and nails rust, loose diameter and loose their hold strength.

Then one day it's not OK. gravity wins, you loose.

At 'C' water collects here, keeping the wood wet, slowly rotting and the spike nail rusting.

To be safe:

A and B have to be bolted though with non rusting blots that pass through all the wood members and clamp them together. The number an spacing have to be staggered to prevent check splitting down the length of the grain.

C needs a rust proof bracket that holds the wood brace end off the stone to allow it to dry after rains and holds it securely on the stone foundation with through bolts. Lag bolting and cinch anchor bolts cannot be guaranteed to work on all kinds of stone.

Now look around the corner to this part of the structure:

Here we see some of the more common problems with decks.

The ledger board (against the wall), has no flashing and only has two (E) lag bolts set in mortar.

Now look at where the joists join onto the ledger (D). You can't see the nails because they are very small. There's only 5 of them and they are not galvanized.

To be safe; The ledger board has to be solidly attached. That means at least 5 bolts in this much space.

Ideally the bolts should be through bolts but if the stone is too friable then shorter lag or cinch anchor bolts can be used provided they are doweled into the stonework with epoxy. Of course they have to be galvanized or made of non-rusting alloys.

I've seen some amateur use of tapcons here (cement or masonry anchoring screws). They should never be used - they have even less shear strength than nails. They fail by just breaking off. The metal is not strong enough.

The ledger has to be flashed to keep it dry or wood rot decay will be a problem. Don't count on pressure treated wood to be sufficient. Remember you are not building for the weekend or just the next ten years, you're building for forever.

Lastly; Joist hangers - the proper type will not rust and each joist will be secured with 14 nails not not just 5 'toed' nails.

DO NOT use screws at any structural joints including joist hangers or any other bracket that transfers weight.

Fire code requires that all structural weight bearing or transferring joist brackets (and other similar hardware attachments) be only attached with nails (not screws or ring shank nails). This is for the safety of firemen so that when floors burn through, the joist and other horizontal timbers be allowed to release and fall without pulling down the walls on top of the firemen. Screws disrupt that release.

So if you're looking at property anywhere in the Montreal area and you need a full inspection............

Buying a home, even new, is like buying a used car.

In a factory, so the legend goes, if your car is made on a hung-over Monday morning or a weekend-anticipating sloppy Friday, it might come out less than par. But it is still quality tested and within acceptable standards.

So you don’t typically ”inspect” at new car at the point of purchase. You are well advised to do so for a used car.

Housing should be treated the same way, even new homes. You all understand the sense of having a ‘used’ home inspected, similar to a used car.

But houses are not factory built. There’s more that a few hung-over Monday mornings occurring during the build period. And it’s not even the same guys doing the same design or having the same training level each time.

Mistakes are made, errors occur and things are forgotten or missed. Everybody is in a hurry. And it's definitely a tougher market out there.

This spring I've had a larger number of 'issues' found during my inspections that used to be negotiated to resolution. Now more of them are causing the sale to crash and burn.

After her second inspection one client, herself a part time realtor complained to me that this deal was going to fail because of something I had found. (The first home she had me inspect had "pyrite' issues.)

I said, " Had they made a reasonable settlement would you have bought the house?" "Yes" was the answer!

"If I hadn't identified the presence of asbestos, would you have been better served? " "No!" was the answer!

So it's as if you bought a used car and about a month or so goes by and you now you suddenly have to put in a new transmission.

What are you going to say to the mechanic who inspected it before you bought it? Plenty, I'm sure.

What? You didn’t have an inspection? Oh……….

Here is something you should know : Asbestos components are not limited to PAST installations

.

Read the lettering on the pipe. It says the same thing in both french and English.

"Asbestose cement do not dry cut" This is a warning for the installers.

Now look at the date above that; '13.05.09' The punctuation is in french format but it means this product was fabricated May 13 th, 2009.

I inspected this multi unit condo building in June of 2010. This piping is running overhead in the ceiling of the common basement parking area.

So as the X Files say "It's out there"!

This I posted as a comment to Dale Ganfield's excellent collaborative post Asbestos Exposure Prevention: Tips and Valuable Information

This is a good concise article with clear understandable advise.

(N.B. I'd tried to re-blog it but it did not work for some reason.)