There’s practically no more significant purchase than when you’re buying a home, so it is wise to learn as much as possible about the construction of the home you’re planning to buy. After all, you don’t want to get surprised later on by an issue you could have avoided merely by digging deeper into investigating the specifics of how your home will be constructed.
At Blythwood Homes, we want you to know more about building homes. Specifically, we want you to know more about how the homes we build are constructed, including all the care we take to make your new home the perfect place for you to enjoy living for many years to come.
The reason we are deeply invested in your understanding of home-building is twofold:
- We want you to know that you’ll be paying for quality work you can trust to last.
- We encourage you to take part in the custom design of your home, so you’ll be guaranteed to have everything you need in place from day one.
Separating the Wheat from the Chafe
If you’re not continuously working in the home-building industry, you’re unlikely to keep up with the latest changes that factor into how well a building is constructed. More importantly, in today’s world of fake news and social media rumour-mills, it can be challenging to sort out the fact from the fiction, even in real-world practical situations like home construction.
In light of this situation, it seems pressing to provide expert information on the quality of new homes versus old by addressing rumours regarding which is built the best. That said, if you prefer to gain an unbiased perspective of first-hand accounts, you can also check out a few home owner testimonial pages to gain a larger perspective on how well our homes hold up.
Looking at Both Sides
Generally, different people land on both sides of this argument, with no consensus. But when choosing the right home to buy, you need to have a solid foundation of knowledge to help guide you to the right decisions. To get the whole perspective, here are a few points on each side of the argument to help you make your own decision.
Considering the Merits of Old Homes
Some believe that old homes are built to be more solid. This is partially due to the availability of wood today, and how scarce some kinds of wood have become. Another factor contributing to the impression that old homes are better built is the idea that some fine craftmanship has been lost over the years.
While both of these points are valid, every old home is not created equal. To find homes that live up to these standards, you’d need to find buildings in what were Canada’s most affluent neighbourhoods at the time when they were built. After all, the best construction of the past is likely to be the most expensive and the kind that’s more likely to last.
If you want to settle the argument about whether new or old homes are better, you’d have to compare cheaply made homes of the past with those built today, as well as the most expensive homes of the past with those of today.
Considering the Other Side of the Argument
When you consider whether today’s homes are well-built or not, or even how they stack up against the homes of the past, there are a few more factors to include in the argument. For one, today’s building laws mandate a strict building code that ensures the safety of all people who buy a home.
Flaws of the Past
In the past, the same building codes did not exist, so older homes carry the potential for unsafe features. If you buy an old home and find out that it contains aluminum or knob-and-tube wiring, you could have trouble getting it insured before you pay the expensive cost of replacing the entire electrical system.
Additionally, the home you want to purchase could contain dangerous materials like asbestos that have been banned in constructing newer homes. When you factor in these considerations, you’ve got to ask yourself whether a better-built home merely means one that has remained standing for a long time or an energy efficient home that is capable of protecting its inhabitants?
The Money Pit
If you buy an older home thinking it is sure to have “good bones,” you could end up running into many problems that result in enormous unexpected costs. Besides those already mentioned, your home could have
- A Damaged Foundation
- Bad Plumbing System
- Mould Problems
- Insect or Vermin Infestation
- Poor Insulation
- Air Circulation Issues
The result in any of these cases is almost always a situation where you’d have been better off buying a newly constructed home that you can trust to be in perfect shape from day one.
Blythwood Homes has experience in renovating homes to bring them up to modern standards of comfort and energy efficiency. In most cases the cost for this work is equal or greater than building new.
New Features of the Present
Besides improved regulations that ensure your safety and prevent additional costs down the road, when you’re building a custom home, it will often contain new building technology like energy efficient doors and windows.
These features might not guarantee that your home will still stand a hundred years from now. Still, they will help lower your heating bill while simultaneously contributing positively to protecting the environment by lowering the amount of power consumed by your home daily.
The bottom line in this debate is that each situation will depend on the particular house itself. That said, new homes are less likely to contain problems because of the strict building codes that exist today. Since the most significant factor will always depend on your ability to find a home builder you can trust to do fine work, the hardest part is already over.
Choose Blythwood Homes so that you can get all the information you need on building your custom home and remain updated on construction every step of the way.