Don’t move into a retirement home; retire your house and stay at home!

The LEGO House
Image Source: bc.vt.edu: Virginia Tech:
Building Construction: Passive Solar Design of Lego Houses

“Retirement has been a discovery of beauty for me. I never had the time before to notice the beauty of my grandkids, my wife, the tree outside my very own front door. And, the beauty of time itself.”
Hartman Jule

It’s a beautiful thing: to be able to wake up one day in the neighbourhood you’ve loved and lived in for years and realize: “I don’t have to go to work today…ever again.”

You can take a stroll down the street to the nearby park where you took your children to play. Now you’ll be able to take your grandchildren there as well. You can stroll part the shops near your home in East Toronto, West Toronto, the Beaches, Oakville, or wherever. You’ve shopped there all your life; but you’ve never had the time to really browse until now.

The new backyard garden can be tended while chatting with your neighbours. In the winter you can invite them into your new sunroom for tea. Your friends can reach you and vice-versa as easily as they ever could…no long drives to the suburbs; no gated communities; no “common areas;” no nonsense. Just you, the place you love, and a beautiful new house that you can call home for years and years to come—worry free, designed with every conceivable contingency in mind for your future.

Yes, you have kept the beauty of the family home by retiring the old family house. With a sensible re-design and rebuild of the property (think Lego), you have preserved all the memories and beauty of your existing home, with a brand new living space designed for a comfortable and safe retirement.

Just think of the joy and satisfaction you’ll feel helping your grandkids build a tree house in the tree you planted outside your front door years ago. Now that’s what beautiful retirement living is about.

Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

You can read other related articles here:
wobuilt.com/blog: Comment about Aging: Adapting Your Home for Comfortable Living

seniors.gc.ca: Government of Canada: Seniors Canada: Working for Seniors

servicecanada.gc.ca: Service Canada: Services for Seniors

carp.ca: CARP Canada: A New Vision of Aging in Canada

southeastsun.com: Senior living : How the right home updates help seniors age well at home
"With a few home improvements and modifications, seniors can stay safe at home and live independently for many years."
by ARA Advertorial

Does Your Rental Property Need Repairs? RRAP Info Sessions for Landlords

Screenshot: Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program 2010 - 2011
The RRAP Information Sheet
Credit: toronto.ca

Please find information about two upcoming Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program sessions:

Does Your Rental Property Need Repairs?

Through its Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) provides financial assistance for Toronto landlords to repair or rehabilitate rental or rooming house properties to a minimum level of health and safety, or to convert non-residential properties onto affordable rental or rooming house accommodations.

The City of Toronto's Affordable Housing Office, which administers the program, is holding two information sessions to provide details to landlords about RRAP:

June 15, 2010
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Metro Hall, Room #303
55 John Street
Toronto, ON M5V 3C6
South-east corner of King and John (two blocks east of Spadina)
Public Transit: subway to St. Andrew, then walk through "PATH" to Metro Hall or walk above ground 2 blocks west.


June 17, 2010
6:30 - 8:30 pm
North York Civic Centre, Committee Room #1
5100 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M2N 5V7
On the west side of Yonge Street, five blocks north of Sheppard Avenue
Public Transit: subway to North York Centre Station.

For more information about RRAP, please visit:

toronto.ca/housingportal

or call 311

Credit: City of Toronto
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Attend this information session to find out more about the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program.

links:
cmhc-schl.gc.ca: Rental Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program — Rental RRAP
cmhc-schl.gc.ca: Programs and Financial Assistance: [the renovations programs were extended for two years, until March 31, 2011]
toronto.ca: Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program 2010 - 2011
toronto.ca: The PDF RRAP Information Sheet:RESIDENTIAL REHABILITATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 2010-2011
toronto.ca: The power point presentation: Affordable Housing Opportunities Information Session April 7, 2009 at Metro Hall.

Green Retrofitting – How Much More Is It Than the Old Energy Retrofitting in the 90s?

Collage: ecoENERGY Retrofit with WO-BUILT

I did an interesting Google search the other day (“what is the difference between green retrofitting and energy efficient retrofitting”) and the obvious conclusion is that energy efficiency is part of green retrofitting. Not really surprising.

But it did not answer the question how it differs.

My first job in Canada in 1993 was working for an Energy Services Company; essentially we went into buildings and retrofitted the lighting, heating/air-conditioning, water consumption and some other systems to make them more energy efficient so that the project could be paid back from the savings. In today’s world this would be considered "green".

Is "green" retrofitting than just a new word for the same thing or does it have another dimension to it?

One aspect is the multitude of new systems which are impacted by new green technologies, solar, green roofs, wind turbines etc. Of course these technologies had been around a long time, but were too expensive or too rare to be used on a larger scale.

But the more interesting aspect is the emotional level that is different. Going green is about quality of life, saving the environment and our planet, about comfort in the home and work place and many more emotional feelings. Energy efficiency on the other hand was mainly about saving money; it is hard to get really excited about this and to be emotionally involved.

So, even though we were on our "green" ways 20 years ago, we have finally created the buzz that was needed to get everyone involved. That’s the difference.

This my take on "green" - What’s yours? We would love to know.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc.

links:
Wo-Built: Being Green in Toronto – Everyone Can Participate!
Wo-Built: Going Green in the City: Building and Renovating with "Being Green" in Mind:
Part 1 - Eco-Friendly Home Improvements
Part 2 - Going Green Is Becoming Mainstream
Part 3 - Living Rooftops - An Environmental Alternative for "Green" Building
Wo-Built: Our Green and Eco Tweets to Follow

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