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Keith Tripp home inspector at ProVantage Property Inspection ProVantage Property Inspection provides residential home inspections in the Greater Toronto Area, Ont

It was a tough weekend for the rodents with this beauty taking command of my back yard. I believe it is a red-tailed haw...
10/13/2026

It was a tough weekend for the rodents with this beauty taking command of my back yard. I believe it is a red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis, despite it being mostly white and black. It has incredible patience and was not bothered by my presence at ground level.

Black locust: friend or foe?The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is plentiful here in the West Hill area of Toronto. ...
10/01/2026

Black locust: friend or foe?
The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is plentiful here in the West Hill area of Toronto. It is listed on Ontario’s invasive species list but was at one time, and still in some parts, a tree valued for its rot resistant and extremely tough wood. In the U. S, farmers and wood lot owners plant it for use as fence posts and other farm use. Back around COVID time I noticed the city culled some large black locust trees just at the entrance to Colonel Danforth Park, at the bottom of the steep entrance hill. The black locust is now sprouting back up with a vengeance (see the photos of the smaller trees in the fenced area), so I am not sure what their long-term plan for control is. I have some black locust logs I have been drying out for a few years. The black locust is extremely dense and tough wood. When freshly cut, it displays a beautiful golden yellow colour. Rather quickly that colour changes back to a chocolatey brown, making it easy to mistake for walnut. For all the negatives of the black locust, see Ontario’s invasive species listing https://www.invasivespeciescentre.ca/invasive-species/meet-the-species/invasive-plants/black-locust/ The full tree photos are at the Lawrence bridge over Highland Creek. There are some massive specimens on Meadowvale just North of Lawrence.

What HVAC would you install? As we see the duplexes and triplexes arrive here in Toronto. I wonder what HVAC they are in...
09/14/2026

What HVAC would you install?
As we see the duplexes and triplexes arrive here in Toronto. I wonder what HVAC they are installing in those small units? I came across this duplex, with a lower-level separate living unit below a two storey living unit. Heating load for the top is 21,875 BTU/hr, heating load for the bottom is10,487 BTU/hr. Cooling for top (equipment size recommendation not cooling load) 1.5 tons, bottom is 1 ton. Ductwork is available. What HVAC would you install ? For the last 50 years or more in this area ( Toronto, Ontario, Canada) the gas furnace, with forced air fan and ductwork has been the heating system of choice.

When you see a ledger board that appears to be outboard of the EIFS it raises questions. What are the flashing details? ...
09/10/2026

When you see a ledger board that appears to be outboard of the EIFS it raises questions. What are the flashing details? Is the deck attached directly to the wood frame or do the lag bolts pass through the soft EIFS materials? This EIFS installation is about 3 inches thick as you can see with the underside photo.

In search of the elusive Scarborough Laneway suite.A colleague on linkedin mentioned he thinks there are close to ZERO l...
09/09/2026

In search of the elusive Scarborough Laneway suite.
A colleague on linkedin mentioned he thinks there are close to ZERO laneway suites in Scarborough. So I set out to find one and in doing so I discovered there is a clear distinction between a laneway suite and a garden suite. One site I checked out was this build at 12 Deep Dene Drive. This is a new large, detached house, with the old small house still standing, and almost impossible to see there is a garden suite in the backyard. Not a laneway suite because a laneway suite must abut a public laneway, and that laneway provides the fire access route. In this case the garden suite will be accessed via a driveway through the property. This is a large 106 x 203 feet lot. So garden suites are coming but if anyone knows of a true laneway suite in Scarborough please share with us.

Thou shalt not paint brick , or else??They recently painted the brick veneer walls on this plaza close to my house.Paint...
09/06/2026

Thou shalt not paint brick , or else??
They recently painted the brick veneer walls on this plaza close to my house.
Painting brick is the in thing these days with house flippers in my area. Grey seems to be the colour of choice. The textbooks and other people say you shouldn’t paint brick, but I have seen lots of painted brick that is doing just fine thank you very much. Why not paint brick? Theory is that moisture needs to escape from the brick, and it does that through the porous surface. If painted, moisture will be trapped behind the brick, and then will force the paint off the wall over time. In the mean time the wet brick may suffer freeze thaw damage. My opinion is that it all depends on moisture transmission through the brick. Bricks in a dry sheltered area will do just fine (those are the ones I am talking about). If the wall is subject to excessive moisture travel inwards or outwards, the paint is not going to work.
On the plaza bricks at a high level on the parapet are already damaged, an indicator of inadequate parapet flashings and vulnerability of this particular brick. Let’s see how it goes. Maybe they even intend to put another cladding over this brick?

The fourplexes are coming, and they’re not small!This 66 by 165 ft. lot at 114 Kitchener Rd. sold 2025-05-16 for $725,00...
09/01/2026

The fourplexes are coming, and they’re not small!
This 66 by 165 ft. lot at 114 Kitchener Rd. sold 2025-05-16 for $725,000. They are being almost polite by saying existing SFD was “burned down”. The previous house blew up with a gas explosion!
Based on the permit dates they are moving really fast on this: Apr 17, 2026 Demolition: Proposal to construct 3 storey Fourplex, existing SFD was burned down. New build permit dated Dec 16, 2025 .Then recently there is an August 19, 2026 Approval for New Laneway / Rear Yard Suite: Proposed 2 storey garden suite. See also 26 202666 ZAP
So this is a fourplex plus garden suite. See info on garden suites here: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/planning-studies-initiatives/garden-suites/
It certainly is an imposing look. I am not keen on how they maxed out the lot width with the building. Presumably there is room for a laneway along the South side. Architecturally there was opportunity to build a structure that looked a lot nicer and took advantage of the depth of the lot.

The fourplexes are coming: No garage? No worries. Building permit data for City of Toronto is available to the public un...
08/31/2026

The fourplexes are coming: No garage? No worries.
Building permit data for City of Toronto is available to the public until completion of the permit work. This house is at 53 Flerimac Rd. on a 50 wide x 193 feet lot.
It reads: Proposal for a new 2-storey fourplex.
Proposal to demolish the existing dwelling and construct a new two-storey 4 unit detached houseplex with a front porch, rear porch and 3 outdoor parking spaces in the rear yard. Driveway to be altered.

Three parking spots for four living units typically won’t cut it in this area where most detached houses have 3-5 cars. Really good chance the backyard parking will just spill over into available green space for whatever number of vehicles show up. Neighbour’s now get to breathe in exhaust fumes as they sit in their back yard.

This is my shiny newish Samsung fridge.Failed after 9 months with a gas leak. Still under warranty fortunately. The tech...
08/31/2026

This is my shiny newish Samsung fridge.
Failed after 9 months with a gas leak. Still under warranty fortunately. The tech guy was good, told me it was a common problem with a faulty fitting. But..the techs do not travel with parts! We were without a working fridge for 4 days. After the repair the company wants me to fill in a survey about the service, for free, on my own time. The part these companies don’t seem to understand is:
a) The product is a dismal failure lasting for only 9 months before break-down.
b) I would never buy another Samsung fridge again, unless offered financial compensation.
c) Sending techs to fix common problems without any parts may save Samsung some money, but indicates lack of respect for customer and will cost them business.
d) I don’t do free consulting to help you improve your business, which means NO I will not fill in the survey even if the tech guy was good. Pay me to do the survey and offer me compensation for pain and suffering and wasted food and I might do it.
Does anybody know the trick to buying appliances these days? Seems the old-time reliable brands just aren’t the way to go anymore. My previous LG fridge lasted only 4 years also, then died with a well-known compressor failure.

Biidaasige ParkThis is an amazing project to reroute the Don River back to it’s natural course where it enters Lake ONTA...
08/29/2026

Biidaasige Park
This is an amazing project to reroute the Don River back to it’s natural course where it enters Lake ONTARIO. Beautiful location and result with so many native plants and walking paths and views of the City. I visited the East side last Sunday (August 23, 2026). Too bad about the noise booming from the club to the South on what would otherwise be a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Another case of the City ignoring noise issues and the fact that the noise bylaw has giant loopholes in it. Neither police nor bylaw officers will respond to a noise complaint to shut it down.

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