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Make Working from Home Easy and Comfortable

With COVID-19 forcing us to social distance as much as possible, many of us have had to transition into working from home. What was hoped to be a temporary measure has simply become a way of life for many. Even if you worked from home before the global pandemic, things have certainly become different. Those trips to a local cafe have been cut short and we’re now a lot more confined to our home offices. At least, those of us with home offices are. 

If you didn’t have a home office before COVID-19 hit, you’re almost certainly wishing you did. Why not get one? Premier Group Contractors can make working from home a lot easier for you with a little bit of renovation. Here’s how we can help.

Use What You’ve Got

As you may know, expanding your home can be a lot more expensive because of how much extra work and material it takes. Why not use what you’ve got? If your home has plenty of space, but not in the right places, Premier Group Contractors has the solution. We can simply take some of that space and move it around.

Here’s an example. If you have a guest room attached to a den and neither one needs 100% of their space, why not borrow some? First, we’d remove the wall between the guest room and den. Then, we’d build a new wall, further into the den’s original space, and one dividing what is basically an expanded guest room. In the end, the guest room and den are a bit smaller, but there’s now a new room between them.

This same principle as well as others can be applied all over the house. By moving around a wall here and a window there, we can redivide the existing space in the house to give you the office you really need.

Make Some More Space

If there’s not enough space to go around, we can always expand your home to accommodate an office. Taking some of that yard space to build on a gorgeous attached office is an easy exchange. Plus, by expanding, you have a lot more freedom to make your office exactly how you want it. You have a lot more choices for where to put the door, what shape and size you want it to be, and where its windows sit.

Outfit Your Office

There’s more to an office than just space. Making sure your office is built for its purpose takes a little bit  more than that. Premier Group Contractors has the expertise to give it everything you need.

  • Giving it that hardwood or luxury vinyl tile that you need to comfortably move your office chair is a no-brainer.
  • Placing windows or moving old ones may be something that’s necessary for you. We want you to be able to get sunlight without causing light glare on your computer screen.
  • Built in shelving is a great way to store files, books, manuals, records, and more. It’s more stable than cheap, store-bought shelving and is built to match the room’s design.

When you’re ready to upgrade your home to accommodate working there, Premier Group Contractors is here to help. Move your desk out of your living room and make working from home easy and comfortable.

Are You in Need of Help Replumbing Your Home?

If you continually have problems with your plumbing, it’s possible that it’s just not doing its job right. Frequent backups, clogs, inadequate draining, poor water pressure, and more can indicate bad plumbing. The question is, how do you tell whether something is a quick fix or cause for replumbing your home entirely? Let’s look at some common issues and see what they’re telling us about your plumbing needs.

Old Plumbing Issues

One of the most common reasons why you would need help replumbing your home is if it’s fairly old. Plumbing standards change gradually. Over time, society changes its overall water usage and so on. That affects how much water volume our drains need to be able to handle. There’s a lot that goes into plumbing and its standards. So, if you house is 50+ years old (built before the 70s), there’s a very good chance your plumbing is not meeting those current standards.

In the case of old plumbing systems that were built to different standards, there’s rarely an easy fix. The problem isn’t just one broken piece, it’s that every piece is now inadequate. The whole system has to be replaced. 

That’s where replumbing your home comes in. By updating your entire plumbing system, we can bring your home’s plumbing up to current standards. That means no more pooling in the shower because your drains can’t keep up. That means no more weak water pressure. Most importantly, it means your quality of life goes up.

Broken Plumbing Issues

When a plumbing system is experiencing a lot of breaks, it can be a serious problem for the home’s residents. One burst pipe can cause a litany of problems, but it’s not necessarily cause for alarm regarding your plumbing in its entirety.

However, if you have repeated issues with bursts, cracks, breaks, or otherwise, there is likely a system-wide issue. Plumbing systems that begin showing breakage across the board are likely failing entirely. This can be caused by age, use of cheap materials, which we’ll explore more in the next section, and bad upkeep. 

Replumbing your home is the only way to get down to the bottom of broken plumbing systems. Spend the initial time and money on replumbing. If you don’t you’ll continue experiencing breaks, bursts, and more. In the end, you’ll pay more to replace things one piece at a time.

Incorrect Plumbing Issues

Lastly, we have to take a look at incorrect plumbing. If you are experiencing consistent issues, but your house isn’t that old, there is a very real chance the plumbing was done wrong. This is not as uncommon as we would hope, and can really screw things up for homeowners.

Incorrect plumbing is done for a lot of reasons. Most commonly, it’s due to amateur plumbers doing the installation, or someone looking to save money by cutting corners. Either way, the result is a plumbing system that is not up to plumbing code and that is not made to last.

Common issues found in incorrect plumbing are:

  • Bad drainage due to pipes of an insufficient diameter
  • Frequent bursts because of an insufficient pipe thickness
  • Leaks caused by poor pipe connections
  • Frequent clogs due to improperly connected pipes, joints, and inappropriate use of corners and intersections
  • Poor water pressure due to pipes that are too wide or that are badly connected

These issues are not one-off problems. They can only be truly solved by removing all of the failed work and replumbing your home.

Finding Solutions

If the solution to your problem looks like replumbing your home, Premier Group Contractors is here to help. We do general contracting work as well as all of the specialty work that comes with construction. We have a lot of experience with plumbing work, and look forward to giving you that modern standard that every building strives for. Give us a call to schedule or get a quote.

The Benefits of Adding Interior Walls to a Stone House

If you own a stone or brick house, you may never have considered the possibility of adding interior walls. In truth, many wouldn’t even consider it, knowing the benefits. Brick and stone walls are incredibly beautiful to look out. However, they do have some drawbacks, and Premier Group Contractors wants to tell you a bit about them. So, why should you consider adding interior walls to your stone house?

Insulation

The first and most important reason to consider adding interior walls to your stone house is the matter of insulation. Raw stone and brick do a very poor job of insulating. As a matter of fact, clay – as in bricks – is porous. Yes, even when fired. That makes brick a very poor material to have as your only barrier from the elements. While it looks absolutely delightful, it’s not doing you a service.

With modern brick houses, the building is made with two layers of brick with a gap between them. This is superior to a single-layer brick wall for many reasons. This gap can be filled with spray foam insulation to improve interior temperature regulation. However, some older brick houses don’t have the same double-layer. While these houses use other means to improve weight-bearing, these solutions don’t improve the insulation issue.

To improve insulation, you can coat brick or stone walls with damp proofing and build an interior wall. The interior wall involves building a wooden frame that lines the stone or brick and then adding insulation and drywall. This massively improved insulation and also gives you a new inner wall.

Interior Temperature Regulation

One of the primary reasons to consider adding interior walls is to help regulate the temperature of your home interior. No one likes being freezing cold in winter or overheated in summer. Having poorly insulated walls is going to guarantee temperature issues during less than ideal weather.

Plus, when you have bad temperature regulation in your home, it costs you big time. That brings us to the second reason why you should consider adding interior walls to your stone or brick home. You can save money on electric or gas, which can get expensive when trying to keep up with bad insulation. Stop running your heater nonstop throughout the winter. Instead, give your heater a house that can actually keep all of its hard work within its walls, rather than leeching out into the environment.

More Customizable

While it’s somewhat of a side convenience, adding interior walls does make your home more customizable. While you have to say goodbye to the exposed brick, you can say hello to painting, wallpaper, molding, and easier mounting. Being able to easily nail or screw things into your wall makes decorating ten times easier. So, with your new interior walls, mount your TV or hang a painting, all while staying at a comfortable temperature. Premier Group Contractors is happy to help.

How to Remove Crown Molding from Your Walls

Tired of the crown molding in your house? Want it removed temporarily to paint? Either way, the process is much the same. Although, if you plan to remove it permanently, you may not need to be quite as careful as if you plan to put it back later. To remove crown molding from your walls, just follow these simple steps. While time consuming, it’s fairly easy.

Save Your Wall

The first step is to ensure your wall doesn’t get damaged in the process of removing the molding. Use a utility knife to cut the paint that’s long-since dried between the molding and wall. You’ll want to cut right along the edge of the molding to effectively separate the two.

By separating the molding from the paint on the wall, not only will you avoid the paint pealing or tearing, you’ll also keep it from putting unnecessary strain on old dry wall as it pulls. If you’re hoping to save your molding, you’ll also want to cut the paint between molding pieces where they attach at the corners.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The next step is going to involve a firm, metal putty knife. These tools are thin enough to get into tight spaces while still strong enough to act as weak crowbars. Begin at one end of a piece of molding. Place the corner of your putty knife against the seam between molding and wall and attempt to shove it in between the two. If you have difficulty, try tapping the handle of the putty knife with a hammer. The extra force may be all it needs to separate the two.

After getting your putty knife between the molding and wall, it’s time to begin prying the molding away from the wall. If you have no interest in saving the molding, this doesn’t have to be a delicate task. As a matter of fact, you can quickly replace your putty knife with an actual crowbar, which will more quickly pull the molding away. Although, it is also more likely to split the molding into small pieces, which is why you should only take this speedy route if you intend to throw the molding away.

Save Your Molding

If you’re more interested in saving your molding to put back on after a paint job, you’ll want to go much slower. In order to avoid bending the molding to a breaking point, you’ll begin at one end, prying the molding only about 1/8th of an inch from the wall before moving further down. Gently pry all the way down the molding, making an even amount of progress before returning to the beginning.

As you get more space between your molding and the wall, you can switch to a straight-edged crowbar. Just remember, you still need to be careful to avoid splitting the wood of the molding. When the molding is fairly loose, but still secured by nails, you’ll have to use a bit more force to pull it away from the wall. Finally, the molding should be removed. Repeat this process on any remaining walls where you want to remove crown molding.

Get Professional Assistance

Don’t want to spend hours to remove crown molding from your walls? Don’t fret; that’s exactly what Premier Group Contractors is here for. We do this kind of thing all the time, and are happy to do it for you as well. Give us a call if you need some help to remove crown molding from your walls and we’ll let you know when we’re free to help.

Replace Damaged Flooring As Soon As Possible

Did you know you need to replace damaged flooring as soon as you can? There are a lot of reasons why damaged flooring needs to be tended to early, and we’ve put some of them together. Premier Group Contractors is dedicated to serving Toronto, and today, that means ensuring you’re safe and saving as much money as possible regarding flooring integrity. Here’s what you need to know:

Types of Flooring Damage

There are a lot of different ways that flooring can get damaged. Each one comes with its own challenges. Some common types of flooring damage are:

  • Cracks, cuts, or holes in linoleum, vinyl, or other sheet flooring
  • Broken floorboards
  • Water damage
  • Moisture damage
  • Broken tiles

Long-Term Effects

These types of flooring damage can have some long-term effects that are even worse than the damage you see on the face of it. Let’s take a moment to see what those effects are.

Spreading Damage

When you have damaged linoleum, vinyl, or other sheet flooring, it can actually lead to worse damage. While breaks in sheet flooring is unlikely to cause any harm if all you ever do is sweep, most people mop these floors somewhat regularly, as they’re commonly installed in kitchens and bathrooms. Mopping sheet flooring with holes in it can lead to water getting under the sheeting. This water can soak into floorboards or collect between the floorboards and sheeting. One little hole turns into a whole new can of worms.

Mold

Water and moisture damage on hardwood flooring and carpet is a great way to begin having mold problems. 

If the water damage on your hardwood has broken through the sealant, the boards may have soaked up the water and begun to grow mold. If this are of the floor frequently has water on it, this issue will only get worse. Mopping over it, tracking in water from shoes, or frequent spills in this area can lead to worsening mold that may spread under the flooring until the entire floor is damaged outside of view. Then, to replace damaged flooring, you have to do a lot more than fix a few boards.

If your carpet frequently gets wet, it can also begin developing mold. It may be out of sight, growing in the padding beneath the carpet, or even on the subfloor. If this happens, the mold will spread as far as it can. If you see any discoloration in your carpet where there is frequently water spilled or tracked in, it might be worth pulling up a corner of the carpet to check the state of things underneath.

Structural Damage

When flooding or water damage happens, it can actually do structural damage. The water damage will weaken flooring and structural supports. Your floor is, then, much more likely to break or cause supports to cave. A few months after a flood, be sure to have a professional visit your home to check your floors. They can make sure the structure isn’t damaged nor developing any problems.

Professional Flooring Replacement

When you’re ready to replace damaged flooring, give us a call at Premier Group Contractors. We’ll be sure to fix your flooring as soon as possible, mitigating any spreading effect and ensuring your home is safe at all times.

Drywall Repair Contractors Near You

Ending up with damaged drywall can be a huge pain. For small nicks, dents, and holes, a little bit of joint compound is enough to do the trick. However, what’s the solution for a larger hole? A hole the size of your fist can be repaired at home, if you’re willing to spend a few hours getting all of your tools together and working on it. But, if you don’t want to waste the time, or the damage you’re dealing with is a bit more extensive, hiring a professional is the way to go. Premier Group Contractors are happy to help and are the best drywall repair contractors in the Toronto area.

Drywall Damage

There are all kinds of drywall damage that can require repair. Knowing what kind of damage needs repair is the first step to hiring someone. After all, we need to come prepared.

Holes

Getting a hole in your wall can happen to anyone. All you need is for something, or someone, to fall against it. Any point in the drywall where there’s suddenly a lot of impact is liable to cave in. Fixing this kind of hole can be complicated, especially if it’s more than a few inches wide.

Cracks & Breaks

Getting some hairline cracks in your drywall is actually pretty easy to fix, cosmetically. Breaks where the drywall has completely split are harder to fix cosmetically. The part where things get tricky is asking yourself, “Why is my drywall getting cracks in it?”
If your drywall is cracking or breaking, there’s a good chance it’s due to structural damage. The floor above it or the roof may be bowing and pressing against it more than it should. Or, the foundation may be shifting, causing the pressure to shift into weird places on the drywall, leading to damage. In either case, having a member of Premier Group Contractors come out to assess the damage can save you from a lot of trouble and expense in the future.

Water Damage & Mold

If you’ve recently had flooding, your drywall may have been heavily impacted by it. Flooding can lead to all kinds of damage with drywall, such as crumbling or cracking from extensive water damage or even mold issues. In either case, large portions of your drywall may need to be replaced in order to repair the walls. This work, especially if it involves mold, needs to be done by a professional.

Drywall Repair Contractors in Toronto

Premier Group Contractors is proud to serve the entire Toronto area. We have many years of experience doing renovations, remodels, and one-off contracting work as well. That makes us experienced and adept at repairing and replacing drywall. If you need drywall repair contractors to check out your home, give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you get things back to normal.

Have a Fireplace Installed in Time for the Holidays

Fireplaces are a known centerpiece for holiday-related festivities. If this year could use anything, it’s some additional holiday cheer. For many people, a fireplace, where there wasn’t one before, can be exactly the thing they need. So, if you’ve been planning to have a fireplace installed, why not do it now, in time for the holidays?

Beat the Weather

While, normally, it’s already begun to snow this time of year, the change in climate has given us a bit more time before snowfall. Construction of any kind is best done when it’s not as cold and wet. So, before the snow really starts coming down, use this opportunity to get your new fireplace installed. If you beat the snow, you can enjoy the benefits of a warm fire this winter, instead of waiting until next year.

Holiday Benefits

Because the fireplace is so central to so many holiday activities, there are some specific benefits to having one built before winter. Families can gather around the fire for holiday stories. The stockings can be hung from the mantel. As we all know, Santa Claus needs a fireplace to deliver gifts to the kids. Mantels are also a great place to put a menorah. You can even include a runner or other such decorations to help your seasonal affects stand out.

If holiday perks aren’t enough, consider the practical and aesthetic benefits. There really is nothing quite like sitting by a fireplace when it’s cold out. There’s a warm place for the kids to play or read. You don’t have to pay as much in electricity to heat your home. Plus, fireplaces just look really nice. No matter who you are, there’s a design style you’ll love for your home fireplace.

Design Choices

When you think fireplace, you might be thinking of one of those big, square, traditional ones made with brick. The fact is, if that’s not your cup of hot cocoa, there are a million other styles to choose from. When you hire Premier Group Contractors to have a fireplace installed, you don’t have to have one built from stone. If you don’t have anything in mind, consider these three possibilities:

Gas and Electric Fireplaces

There are a number of gas and electric fireplaces in varying designs. However, for some people, buying a plug-in fireplace is very unappealing. The good news is, you don’t have to! Gas and electric fireplaces can be installed inside a constructed mantel and mounted inside the wall. These types of fireplaces  will not have a cord coming out the back and feel a lot less like a glorified heater. Plus, gas fireplaces offer a real flame without needing electricity to function. They can also have certain types of stones layered in the bottom for a very cool visual effect.

Wood Stoves

Not all fireplaces are built into the wall. Some people prefer wood stoves instead. Wood stoves are typically made of metal and stand separate from the wall. They have an exhaust pipe that leads out of the house, in place of a chimney. The only concern with wood stoves is that they are hot on all sides and should be used with caution if there are children or pets in the house.

These stoves come in all kinds of designs. You can get old fashioned ones made of iron, with a flat top to put a kettle or pot on. Or, you can opt for one with more color and a unique shape.

Hire Premier

It doesn’t matter what kind of fireplace you feel a connection with; Premier Group Contractors can help you get it put in before the holidays. Give us a call if you’re looking to have a fireplace installed asap.

How to Tell If You Need New Insulation in Your Home

Occasionally, there comes a situation where one will need new insulation in their home. If you’re not sure if this applies to you, let’s take a look at how to find out if it does. If the answer is yes, You can rely on Premier Group Contractors to help you with new insulation installation.

Signs You Might Need New Insulation

Of the reasons you might be looking into new insulation, the most likely is that your home is not regulating temperature very well. If your heater has to be running nonstop in the winter to keep the house warm, you might have insulation problems. The same can be said for if you need to run the air conditioner or fan all summer to keep cool.

While these signs might point toward a problem with insulating, we have to take a closer look at what’s already there before we can tell if that’s the root of the problem.

Do I Have Insulation?

The first question we need to answer is whether or not your home is insulated already.

If you can say yes to any of these questions, you probably already have insulation:

  • Was your house built by a professional construction team?
  • When you go into the attic, is there a layer of fluff coating the area outside the storage zone?
  • Do you have siding on the outer walls and drywall on the inner walls?

If you can say yes to any of these questions, you probably don’t have any:

  • Is your home a log cabin with the logs visible from the inside?
  • Is your home made of stone or bricks that are visible from the inside?
  • Can you see the wooden supports of your walls from the inside?

Insulating Stone Houses and Cabins

If your home has walls made of stone or logs, you might be wondering how you can have it insulated. Having walls that are only stone or only logs provides really bad insulation. The cold and heat can get right through, since there’s nothing holding it off. So, how can you fix this?

The short answer is, you’ll have to have interior walls built. This process involves putting in support beams along the inside of the existing walls, filling the frame with new insulation, and then attaching drywall to said frame. This is a pretty invasive process and will take away a small amount of your interior space on all sides. However, it will save you money and stress when your temperature is better regulated.

Is My Insulation Damaged?

If you’re reasonably sure that you do have insulation, but you’re still having trouble with temperature regulation, or feel that you need better soundproofing, the next step is figuring out of there’s something wrong with it. This is something you will need professional help with. Having one of our professionals visit your home to check it out is the first step.

While at your house, our team will check for these common types of insulation damage:

  • Collapse. This is when insulation gets damp and collapses within the wall, leaving the rest of the space uninsulated.
  • Pests. If your home has pests, they can sometimes eat, move, or cause insulation to collapse.
  • Other damage. If there is anything causing your insulation to fail in its job to keep your home insulated, we’ll let you know.

Give us a call if you need the state of your home’s insulation inspected or if you need new installed from scratch. We look forward to hearing from you.

Home Design Hacks for Your Home Remodel

If you’re planning a home remodel, you should go into it with an idea of what you want by the end. Whether you have experience and are doing the home remodel yourself or you’re hiring Premier Group Contractors, knowing what you want is important. That’s why we’ve put together some home design hacks you can use. Looking to get the most out of your renovations? Here are some things you should consider.

Double-Sided Fireplace

The double-sided fireplace is a genius innovation that has changed the entire way we think about fireplaces. It used to be that fireplaces were primarily put against walls or, in special cases, in the middle of the room. Combining these two locations to get the most out of fireplaces has given us the best of both worlds.

A double-sided fireplace can be placed in a wall between two rooms. This is most commonly done between a master bedroom and a sprawling master bathroom with a tub. This location makes it easy to relax by the fire no matter the occasion. You can lie in bed, in the middle of winter, and watch movies while the fire keeps the room nice and warm. Or, you can move your party to the bathtub and take a long soak while the flames keep you company. It’s a win-win.

Laundry Chute

With time, the laundry chute has become somewhat antiquated and unseen in newer houses. However, there’s nothing outlawing us from having one. For many, the washer and dryer fit nicely into a second-floor laundry room, right beside the bedrooms. This makes the need for a laundry shoot dissipate entirely. However, not all homes have second-floor laundry rooms.

If you have your laundry room on the first floor or in the basement, you’re almost definitely tired of carrying laundry down every couple days. While the trip back up is still necessary, imagine cutting out half of the transport labor! Laundry chutes are not difficult to have installed and can easily be added during a home remodel. And, with that, you’ll be throwing your laundry downstairs instantly in no time.

Island Stovetop

With many a home remodel comes a new and updated kitchen. If you want maximum space and efficiency, you’ll almost definitely end your kitchen update with an island or breakfast bar. Islands help to utilize otherwise unused space and give you more counter space for food prep, cooking, and for casual eating.

If you put your new stovetop at the inner edge of the island, you also have the added bonus of being able to cook for bar occupants. While you can technically cook for bar occupants from anywhere in the kitchen, this is slightly different. Cooking from the island allows you to serve food directly to their plates from the pan. You can also have a chat with them while you’re waiting for their bacon and eggs to cook. 

Reliable Home Remodel Contracting

If you’re in the market for a reliable contracting team for your next home remodel, give us a call at Premier Group Contractors. We love taking on a new remodeling project and we look forward to hearing from you.

Kitchen Layout Styles for Your Kitchen Remodel

If you’re planning to get a kitchen remodel done, you should have an idea of the kind of kitchen layout you’re looking to achieve. While no kitchen is exactly the same, there are standard styles of layout that are a good place to start. From there, you can talk with us about anything you want different or what specific elements you want. However, before jumping to details, let’s begin with basics.

The Cozy Galley

This one is a common kitchen layout for homes built in the late 20th century. A galley kitchen has two straight counters that face each other, leaving you with a long, narrow kitchen. This is great if you have limited space. The kitchen acts as a walkway between a dining room and living room or a dining room and breakfast nook. One of the primary benefits of the galley kitchen is that all cabinet space is as accessible as it gets. There’s no need to deal with corner cabinets, which waste space, when all of your cabinetry is on one of two walls and doesn’t connect to a perpendicular wall.

The Baker’s Island

There are plenty of ways to have an island kitchen, but we want to highlight a kitchen layout that’s ideal for bakers. This kitchen layout is open concept and great for those with spacious homes. The key features of this kitchen are a straight or L-shaped set of counters and cabinets with an island across from them. The island provides extra cooking or baking space and also gives more surface space to install a stovetop.

In this layout, the stovetop is most useful on the island. That’s because, in a baker’s kitchen, we can incorporate two stacked ovens against the wall. This will allow you a lot of extra oven space for pans full of cookies or tins of cake batter that you would like to finish baking at the same time.

The Breakfast Peninsula

Peninsula kitchens are called that because there is a portion of counter that juts out from the wall, forming a type of peninsula. This is most commonly seen in what would, otherwise, be a U-shaped kitchen. It’s one of the more popular kitchen layout styles.

The peninsula counter is a fantastic way to have a breakfast bar. If your peninsula is outfitted with an overhanging countertop, a few bar stools can turn yout peninsula into a place to eat. Serve your kids breakfast from one side of the bar to the other. Host friends for morning coffee and pancakes. You’re only limited by your imagination with such a useful feature.

Hire Premier

When you’re ready to start your kitchen remodel, come talk to us at Premier Group Contractors about your kitchen layout preferences. We look forward to doing a consultation and discussing the future of your home. Give us a call if you have questions or would like to schedule a consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!

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