From now until March 21, 2012, when you decide to hire one of our stuccocontractors.ca certified stucco contractors, we’ll order a 3D rendering of your home, FREE OF CHARGE. No catches, No gimmicks and no hidden fees.

It’s our way of saying, “We want you to be happy with your choice of hiring one of the contractors in our network”.

3D renderings are quickly becoming an important visual tool for homeowners looking to add curb appeal to their home.

We also want you to be happy with the design of your home. Your 3D rendering will include your choice of;

- Wall texture
- Wall colour and
- Moulding selection

We’ll discuss all of the details with you before your project starts. Our team of designers have been in the business for over 10 years and you can count on our experience to make it perfect, just the way you like it.

3D renderings take the doubt out of deciding on the many different exterior options when it comes to giving your home the curb appeal it deserves. Considering your home is the one of the most important investments you can make, don’t leave it to chance.

3D renderings also eliminate any miscommunication between you and your stucco contractor. A 3D rendering is like a map. Your stucco contractor will know exactly where you want to go just by looking at it and any detour can easily be brought back on track by referencing the design we create for you.

To get your FREE 3D HOME RENDERING, simply click the option on our form on the stuccocontractors.ca website. It’s as easy as that.

To find a reliable and reputable stucco contractor in North York, Toronto, Moncton or anywhere else in Canada, please visit www.stuccocontractors.ca. No fees. No hidden charges. And great work guaranteed.

Until our next post,

- the stuccocontractors.ca team

Jason and Valentina from Mississauga are a text book case. “We were tired of the bidding wars”, says Jason. “We went to an open house last weekend, Val and I both loved the house, we could have definitely called it home but we saw there was plenty of interest from all the agent cards left at the front door. Our own agent advised the house might get an extra 20-25k above asking.” If you were listening and watching Jason tell their story, you could tell this was a battle they didn’t win. “When it came time on Tuesday to make an offer, we didn’t even get a call back. We found out the next day that the house sold for $181,000 above list! How can we compete with that?! We’ve made a conscious decision to stay here but it does need some improvement. Instead of putting money into buying a new home, we’re going to improve ours.”

Renovating or retrofitting with stucco/EIFS is a good choice for older homes. First and foremost, you’ll be adding curb appeal to your home by giving it an exterior facelift. Second, you’ll be bringing your home up-to-speed in terms of energy efficiency. And third, stucco/EIFS requires very little yearly maintenance.

CURB APPEAL
We could always use more, the exterior of our homes is usually the first and only impression it will make to passers by. And when it comes to curb appeal, EIFS ranks as a top choice  with its endless array of options. First, you can pick any colour under the sun. So if you want a Peacock Blue home, you can have it. Second, there are many different textures you can select. We have a whole section on stucco colours and textures on our website, including a colour selector and tips on how to choose the right stucco colours, visit www.stuccocontractors.ca/choosing_a_stucco_colour for more information. It really is a handy guide and a great starting point.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The old adage certainly applies when we say, “Things just aren’t built like they used to be”. And it’s no different when we speak about houses. Older homes are great, they have a certain aura of design that is rarely seen in today’s construction. While modern building can certainly take some notes on design of old, there is still one thing that needs to be addressed. And it’s a big one. Energy efficiency.

The ADEXRES-VLS system is a perfect and inexpensive system for retrofitting.

If you live in an older home, you’re probably used to high heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer. The fact is, insulation standards have a come a long way since then and living green not only for the sake of the environment but for our pocketbook as well is an issue that won’t go away unless it’s dealt with.

The EIFS system to the left is a popular choice among retrofit projects because not only does it properly address the issue of energy efficiency, it also comes at an attractive price point.

Here is how it is put together;
1. Membranes
2. Polyisocyanurate board
3. Basecoat and mesh
4. Finish coat

The insulation factor is supplied by #2, the polyisocyanurate board, hard to pronounce, even harder working. Polyisocyanurate are very light insulation panels whose compressive strength and components allow them to be installed directly on a building’s vertical furrings.  Add this and you can put those savings from your energy bills into landscaping the front yard.

MAINTENANCE
Wouldn’t life be better if it were maintenance free? If your lawn just cut itself every week, your garden planted its own seeds and the wood portions on your home re-painted automatically? You’d have more time on your hands than you’d know what to do with. Unfortunately, such is not the case. While you can put Astroturf on your lawn to rid of the weekly cutting, there’s a way to reduce the amount of time spent on re-painting exterior wood portions on your home. Replace it with stucco/EIFS.

Imagine getting rid of removing peeling paint, priming, 1st finish coat, 2nd finish coat… and this just doesn’t only apply to walls, but for mouldings too.

Pre-based foam mouldings are made from foam and cement, a completely inorganic duo that is  unaffected by Mother Nature’s elements. Rotting? No. Warping? No. Insect troubles? No. And the only reason why you would have to re-paint? If you wanted to change colour. And it comes in plenty of styles to suit your home’s design. We have a page dedicated to exterior stucco mouldings, how they’re made, how to select the right ones, please visit http://www.stuccocontractors.ca/exterior_stucco_mouldings_and_trim

We may be biased because we work in the stucco/EIFS industry but with what other material can you get maximum curb appeal, optimum energy efficiency and an exterior that requires little yearly maintenance?

To find a reliable and reputable stucco contractor in North York, Toronto, Moncton or anywhere else in Canada, please visit www.stuccocontractors.ca. No fees. No hidden charges. And great work guaranteed.

Until our next post,

- the stuccocontractors.ca team

A harmonious effect is created when the wall colour is the same as the mouldings (Click to enlarge)

We stopped by to see Glen and Erica after one of our North York Stucco Contractors just recently finished their stucco project.

We helped them find their contractor and just wanted to follow-up to see how everything went.

“We love our new home, the stucco looks great and the moulding work is seamless. Our contractor explained everything they were doing and aside from a few rainy days, stuck to their timeline and we were really pleased with that.”

And we love this home too. We’re big fans of keeping both the colour of the stucco wall and mouldings the same. It has a calming effect and really works well in light gray.

But what if it were another colour? Say a dark brown, would it give the same effect? In our opinion, not really. We feel when a homeowner chooses this technique, a light hue is the best route to go. This will allow the shadows, midtones and highlights to properly interact with each other  since the base colour is light. If it were dark, all three would get mixed in together and create a chaotic visual. While it may be bold, it will be for the wrong reasons.

That’s not to say we don’t like when the stucco and mouldings are different colours, we do as long as the combination works. We have a page dedicated on how to choose the right stucco colour and texture for your home. You can find that on our main website at http://stuccocontractors.ca/colours_textures.html.

And if you need advice, please give us a call a toll-free,  1 (888) 260 8899 or local, (416) 900-8715. We’ll be glad to assist as best as we can. But at the end of the day, you’re the one who will be coming back to your home every night so first and foremost, you should be pleased with it. Not your neighbours.

To find a reliable and reputable stucco contractor in North York, Toronto, Moncton or anywhere else in Canada, please visit www.stuccocontractors.ca. No fees. No hidden charges. And great work guaranteed.

Until our next post,

- the stuccocontractors.ca team

We completely transformed this once brick home into a stucco and stone masterpiece

One of the things we love about 3D renderings is the ability to let our imaginations run wild.

We started this with one of our Oakville Stucco Contractors and our client was very pleased.

We don’t have the before shot handy but here is what the home will look like when it is finished.

To give you an idea, the current lay of the land is all brick. After owning the home for just over a year, Vince and Tara thought it was time to personalize their investment with a complete exterior over-haul by adding their own curb appeal.

The idea is to add a stone skirt all around the house about 3′ in height from the ground. From then on, stucco will takeover, including the roof dormers that are at the moment, aluminum siding.

Vince and Tara requested that the stucco be a similar colour to their roof. We thought this was a wise choice considering their roof is quite high and attracts a high amount of visual attentiveness.

Each window on the lower floor is trimmed with MX126 from Mouldex Exterior Mouldings and uses the stone cap MX201 as the running sill across each elevation. On the dormer windows, a thinner version of the MX201 is used as the sill as a more subtle substitute.

One of the things Vince and Tara really liked was that we were able to match them with a contractor that does both stucco and stone. Their choice was a cultured stone and various contractors in our network are certified installers as well. So with one hire, they had one contact, one contract and one company which made figuring out timelines and schedules a whole lot easier.

We’re seeing the stucco & stone trend emerge more and more as of late, and why not? It creates a higher level of visual impact whether it’s a 3′ stone skirt or complete accent walls to better define the look of a home.

We’ll follow up with Vince and Tara as their project progresses.

As always, if you’re looking for a reputable and professional stucco contractor in Oakville, Toronto, Calgary or anywhere else in Canada, please visit our main website at stuccocontractors.ca to get started. No commission. No hidden fees. Just great stucco contractors guaranteed.

Until our next post,

- the stuccocontractors.ca team

3D Rendering of stucco house completed for one of our Toronto Stucco Contractors (Click to Enlarge)

We thought we would share our latest 3D rendering from a project starting next week.

This one was done in collaboration with Anthony and Wendy from Scarborough, ON and one of our Toronto Stucco Contractors.

The current house stands with brick and a stone entrance. We took their curb appeal to a whole new level, not only with stucco, but by  adding crown mouldings under the soffit and trim around their windows and doors.

We also used reveals to make their entrance stand out. We like to exaggerate front entrances because it’s the first place on-lookers see when they view your house. Why not make it pop?

And that wasn’t the only thing. To replace the corner quoins, we decided to run pilasters up the side, topped off by the crown at top. The crowns were built out around the pilasters to enhance each top corner. Nice effect that we rarely see.

We tied the corner pilasters into the design of the windows and doors by using the same shape, just a different size for proportion purposes. Half to be exact. Each window and door uses a 6″ pilaster on the vertical edges and a header along the horizontal. The bottom of the windows have a sill, complete with a slope and drip-edge for water management.

And to finish it off, to hide the expansion joint that would cut through the middle of the house, we used a mid-band that would also act as the trimming for the portico.

Passionate about houses,

The stuccocontractors.ca team

Non-Flat exterior mouldings provide an extra element of depth and dimension.

Flat stucco mouldings help out with your pocket book.

In recent conversation between a homeowner and a Toronto Stucco Contractor, we took a deeper look at the flat vs. non-flat moulding debate and even did a 3D rendering for visual effect.

The image on the left is an example of a tower with non-flat mouldings. The image on the right is the exact same rendering except we used a flat moulding to dress up the windows.

If you’re looking to add exterior stucco mouldings to your home/building, take a look at both and see for yourself. Then read on to see our comparison between the two.

AESTHETICS
Exterior stucco mouldings have come a long way since their inception. Gone are the days where your options were limited to flat and square step mouldings. Instead, the technology now available allows manufacturers to offer  a variety of shapes. With this comes aesthetic value, answering the call for curb appeal. And really, that’s what it’s about. Non-Flat exterior mouldings add an extra element of depth and dimension that flat mouldings can’t provide.  And as you can probably tell from the images above, the non-flat version, trim and sill included, simply look better. AESTHETICS WINNER: NON-FLAT MOULDINGS

COST
But everything has a price attached to it. Here’s a basic comparison from a leading exterior moulding manufacturer;

1 x 4 flat moulding trim: $2.95 per linear foot
1 x 4 non-flat moulding trim: $3.60 per linear foot
Difference: $0.65

Not a huge difference but still less expensive. An average window spans 4′ high by 3′ wide, making the total linear footage of 11′ (4′ left side + 4′ right side + 3′ top). For a flat moulding, the cost would be $32.95. Non-flat would run you $39.60, a difference of $6.65. COST WINNER: FLATS, by a hair

INSTALLATION
If you read our previous post on Budgeting for Stucco Trim, the cost to install your mouldings is equal to the amount spent on your mouldings. If you purchased $100 of material, it would be $100 to have them installed. Going back to our example of our 4′ x 3′ window, again, the difference to install would be $6.65. INSTALLATION WINNER: FLATS, by a hair

Techincally, flats have won our case demonstration by a small score of 2-1. But is an extra $6.65 worth extra curb appeal. Only you can decide that but here are some cost saving tips when it comes to purchasing exterior mouldings.

FOCUS ON VISIBLE SIDES OF YOUR HOME/BUILDING…
…meaning give extra attention to the parts of your home that deserve it, and less attention to those that don’t. The front of your home definitely requires more thought since it’s visible to everyone. But does the side of your home need the same treatment if no one can see it? Probably not. Do you do a lot of entertaining in your backyard? Do you have a corner lot with 2 highly viewable areas?

Save money by using non-flat mouldings in the visible areas, and flat mouldings on the not-so visible areas.You’ll still get curb appeal where you need it and help out your pocketbook where you don’t.

USE A HORIZONTAL HEADER with FLAT VERTICALS…

Non-flat header with flat vertical combination

Not only is this a moulding money saver but it’s also a unique look, different from common picture frame windows where the same trim surrounds each side.

IN OUR OPINION
Go with non-flat mouldings where you can. Flat exterior mouldings are widely used among mass sub-division homes, quite common considering one site can have upwards of 1000+ windows. While it may cost you a little extra, you’ll get maximum curb appeal and a greater sale value if and when you decide to put your home on the market.

Until our next post,

The stuccocontractors.ca team

After the previous stucco contractor walked away from the job, we were called in to finish it.

This is a great story of how one good thing leads to another, although for the homeowner, it may not have always seemed that way.

Last week we got an inquiry from from a woman in Calgary who’s stucco contractor had just walked off the job. She just took over this property and was excited to see it to completion considering her neighbour’s house was starting to take shape and loved where it was headed. Except the company she hired decided they didn’t want to do the job anymore.

Completely in distress, she found us online and gave us a call, telling her story. Within a few hours, we had one of our team members from Calgary head over to see her. That same night, she was given a quote and we were given approval to start the job.

The homeowner is happy. We’re happy. And to top it off, we were seen working on-site by another area resident who needed their house done as well.

One of the things we can guarantee at stuccocontractors.ca is that we’ll never leave a job unfinished. All of the stucco contractors in our network have proven time and time again that even the smallest details make it to completion.

If you’re looking for a stucco/EIFS contractor in Calgary or anywhere else in Canada, visit http://www.stuccocontractors.ca to get started, FREE!

And the second job we went to see, we got that too. We hope that leads to another good thing as well.

Until our next post,

The stuccocontractors.ca team

The "Before" Shot

This is a rendering of the final design

We recently worked closely with a Toronto Stucco Contractor and his client to come up with a front entrance design for their newly built project.

This is a 5,000 square foot home nestled on a ravine lot. The homeowners know that their front entrance is definitely different than most but they wanted to make sure it had the right amount of detail to really make it pop.

After tossing a few ideas back and forth, we created a 3D rendering with a concept of how we can maximize this home’s curb appeal. The design we plan to use at the front of the house will carry all the way through for the rear and sides. After a brief presentation, we got the go ahead and the job is slated to start next week.

Keep your eye-out on our stucco blog to follow this project’s progress.

Until our next post,

The stuccocontractors.ca team

Our network are true specialists in stucco/EIFS, not anything and everything

We were driving past a sub-division today and noticed this Ford Focus that listed their services on the back of  their work truck, err, work car.  You can see they plenty to offer. Among stucco and mouldings, they also do painting, brick, patching and yes, horticultural work too. (Click to enlarge the image)

One of the benefits about working with a stuccocontractors.ca stucco contractor is knowing they are specialists, meaning they focus on doing only one thing and doing it well. They are not general contractors who sub-contract their work nor do they do plumbing on the side either. We’ve seen it before.

Whether you’re looking for a stucco contractor in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or anywhere in between, we can help you find the right company for the job. FREE!

To start looking for a reputable stucco contractor, please visit http://www.stuccocontractors.ca. Fill out our short form, and we’ll get back to you within 12 hours to discuss your project.

- The stuccocontractors.ca team