
The Home You Stop Worrying About
By Christopher B. Smith — Red Seal Carpenter and BCIN-licensed designer, Woodsmith Construction. East Toronto. For about twenty years, there was an easy answer to

What Knob-and-Tube Actually Means for the Renovation You’re Planning
By Christopher B. Smith — Red Seal Carpenter and BCIN-licensed designer, Woodsmith Construction. East Toronto. The basement was the reassuring part. New panel on the

The Order You Do Things In: Planning an Older East-Toronto Home You Intend to Keep
By Christopher B. Smith — Red Seal Carpenter and BCIN-licensed designer, Woodsmith Construction. East Toronto. A while ago we wrote about what renovation planning actually


Toronto Renovation Costs: The Annual East Toronto Cost Index
Introduction The most common question we hear from homeowners across East Toronto — from Leslieville to the Beaches — is: “How much will my renovation

Renovations Gone Wrong: How Homeowners Get Hurt — and How to Protect Yourself
This is the first in a short series on something our industry doesn’t talk about honestly enough: why so many renovations go wrong, what it’s

What’s Actually Under Your House Decides What a Basement Suite Costs
Search “legal basement apartment Toronto” and you’ll get a dozen versions of the same article. Minimum ceiling height. Egress window dimensions. Fire separation rating. A

Renovation Money in 2026: What a Toronto Homeowner Can Actually Claim
Most of what you’ll read online about renovation rebates in Ontario is out of date. Not slightly out of date — wrong. Some of the

Underpinning, Bench Footing, or Neither? The Honest Truth About Lowering an Older East-Toronto Basement
Almost every older home we work on in the east end has a version of the same basement: low and cool and a little damp,