Originally Posted by Pine Cone

So let me get this straight. You can only have a bathroom in a basement without a sump pump is the mains sewerage is below the level of your basement, probably on a flat site? Is this very modern houses only then?

Originally Posted by jimf

Building code requires a backflow preventer (ie non return valve) nowdays - they aren't 100% effective but worth putting in if there's the chance they could help.

Originally Posted by jimf

From what I've seen in Calgary the main foul drain (or sanitary drain as they like to call them here) usually exits the house under the basement floor. ....

Originally Posted by dbd33

There's a sensible discount on flood/water damage insurance for house that have them so they may eventually pay for themselves.

Originally Posted by jimf

I should check our insurance policy - I though sewer backup damage wasn't covered.

Originally Posted by Pine Cone

Most of the houses I've been looking at online seem to have either forced air central heating or 'baseboard heating'. Is this basically electric underfloor heating? If so, cripes, it must be hideously expensive to run.

Does this forced air central heating typically extend into the basement if the basement has been finished? If not, is it easy/relatively cheap to upgrade an existing central heating system to include the basement when finishing it off?

What about water-based heating systems? Does radiator central heating, like in the UK, exist in Canada? What about much cheaper to run hydronic underfloor heating, as found in most scandinavian counties?

Quite a lot of houses also seem to have electic/gas fireplaces in one of the main living areas. Is this mains gas or bottled gas normally? I much, much prefer logburners as a secondary method of home heating, since even those which are restricted to high burn temp without a rural slide for overnight, will still pump out loads of heat for hours and will work in a power cut. Are logburners common, as I've not seem a single house in the GTA with one? Are there regulations preventing their use or restricting use to only certain models/particulate emissions standards?

I'm trying to understand central heating/hot water boilers/furnaces. In Canada does central heating and hot water heating run off the same system or seperate ones. Are hot water tanks common is are those combi-style instant hot water heaters more common. Not a fan of those, as it means cold shower in a power cut. In relatively modern houses, do they run from gas, oil or are they electric.

Lastly, are solar hot water and PV panels in common use/affordable/easily available. I've got no experience with their use in much colder climates, but I do have friends with solar panels in the North of England and Scotland and even with all the grey skies and rain, they have still found them to be financially viable. Given Toronto is much sunnier over winter, I did wonder whether it would be an option or is there some reason why the extreme cold would mean it's not an option.

Originally Posted by BristolUK

the best part, no getting rid of ashes.

Originally Posted by jimf

I should check our insurance policy - I though sewer backup damage wasn't covered.

Our rental house that got flooded - it was only an inch of diluted sewage in the basement but that's enough to require emptying, satitising and rebuilding bottoms of walls. Apparently that house had been flooded in 2005 3 or 4 feet deep. The owners didn't bother putting in a backflow preventer after the first flood but they did after the second.

Originally Posted by Juggernaut1064

Should check your insurance for open fires and log burners too, friends in MB wanted to use their open fire as they live in an acreage with lots of free wood but they where quoted $1800 EXTRA insurance if they used the open fire, you can still use it but if theirs a fire and they attach blame to your open fire your up that creak without a paddle ! Might just be MB where insurance is a lot but if your not sure you should check.

Originally Posted by dbd33

The influence on house premiums of wood burning stoves isn't as clear cut as some posts here suggest. There may be a surcharge and that surcharge may depend on whether or not the stove is the primary heat source but there's also a surcharge for having oil heat, for being five miles from a hydrant, ten miles from a fire station, being middle aged, having a poor credit rating, being near a river and a range of other factors. The surcharge may vary with the type of stove and manner of installation.

Take a picture of the stove and email it to the company that's quoting.

Originally Posted by Aviator

Open fires are considered secondary heat and usually don't affect insurance We have 3 and no premium loading. Log burners (air tights) are considered primary heat and often will affect premiums.

It is important to disclose any of this to the insurer be be certain one is covered though.

Originally Posted by Juggernaut1064

Might just MB then or who ever they used as an insurer ?
Or as dbd33 says, These friends are way out east of Winnipeg then way north in the boonies, pretty much a fire would reduce their place to ash before the Fire Brigade gets there.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

A fire in a timber-framed house is usually enough to destroy it. IME once the fire has spread beyond one room and/or into the attic, the fire brigade's interest begins and ends at the safety of people and stopping the fire spreading to neighbouring properties. On many occasions they seem content to let it burn out rather than leave a smoldering and/or unstable shell. The first time I saw such a gutted house was in the suburbs of NYC so about as far away from "out in the boonies" as you can imagine.

I see the remains of one or two house fires each year, and in the past 13 years I can only think of a single one that was heavily damaged, with scorch marks up the outside, which was subsequently repaired.