Andrew Shackleton

You Need A Water Softener In Waterloo Region

Andrew Shackleton — Tue, 12 May 2026 21:51:18 +0000

Most anyone who lives here knows that we have hard water. But I was a bit shocked when my daughter Miranda told me our neighbourhood in particular was number one for hardness in Waterloo, and perhaps Canada. She’s a great researcher and did a ton of work finding out everything you’d need to know about water softeners so we could buy a new one. It turns out Kitchener and Cambridge have very hard water too. You need a water softener in Waterloo Region.

What is hard water?

Hardness is caused by the dissolved metal salts of calcium and magnesium, usually in carbonate form, along with other metals in lesser amounts. Hard water is found throughout the world. The hardest sources are usually underground where water and rock have lots of time to interact. The rainfall and snowmelt that percolates through the soil into the aquifer starts out soft but contains dissolved CO2. This leaches minerals like calcium or magnesium carbonate out of the rock turning the water hard.

Calcium carbonate, mostly found in limestone, is not very soluble so only a little heat makes it precipitate out. It’s the whitish scale in your kettle and is also found in stalactite and stalagmite formations in caves. Magnesium carbonate is found in a rock called dolomite. It’s very insoluble and ends up in your kettle too. These minerals aren’t harmful to humans or animals but play havoc with hot water heaters, dishwashers, laundry, kettles and even showering.

Hardness is commonly measured in grains, which is a US unit of measure. One grain is equivalent to 64.8 mg of dissolved calcium carbonate in 1 US gallon (3.8 litres). Soft water is 3.5 grains or less. Very hard water is anything over 10.5 grains.

Waterloo Region gets 75% of our water from local wells drawing from rock formations containing lots of limestone and dolomite, making our water very hard. The water here ranges from 17 to 38 grains. My water is 38. I love the taste of our water (and trust the quality completely) but its hardness is definitely a drawback.

Water softening

The easiest and most common way of treating hard water is the use of a water softener. The main component is a tank containing tens of thousands of plastic resin beads made of cross linked sodium polystyrene sulfonate. This synthetic chemical (invented in the 1930s) is known as an ion exchange resin and functions to remove calcium and magnesium ions from your water. There’s also a water soluble drug version, without the cross links, used to lower potassium levels in people.

When you turn on a tap or run the shower, hard water flows into the resin tank and comes in contact with the resin beads. Due to concentration gradients, calcium and magnesium ions in the hard water displace atoms of sodium bound to the active sulfonate groups in the resin. The released sodium ions combine with the carbonate ions left behind in the water to form sodium carbonate, Na2CO3. The newly softened water flows from the resin tank’s outlet, through the supply lines and out to the tap.

Sodium carbonate is also known as washing soda, a centuries old household cleaner and laundry additive. It’s thousands of times more soluble in water than calcium or magnesium carbonate. So it won’t precipitate out as scale or interfere with your soap which is great news for your plumbing, dishwasher and washer, water heater, kettle and even washing up. Softened water does have slightly elevated levels of sodium but not enough to cause danger. It affects taste though and I prefer hard water for drinking.

The resin in your softener can only soften so much water. At some point all the sodium ions will be exchanged and your softener will no longer function. Back in the old days (I remember this) you’d call to have the tank swapped out but nowadays all you need to do is run the recharge cycle on your machine.

Recharge timing is automated on modern machines using a flow meter that measures how much water you have used. Older softeners use a clock timer that would be set to recharge every few days, wasting a lot of salt and water. The recharge is usually set to run in the middle of the night when no one is turning on taps or flushing toilets.

The recharge cycle has a number of stages and takes a few hours to finish. The most important part of this for today’s explanation is the brine cycle. Water softeners have a salt tank that stores up to 100 kg of salt. It is partially filled with very salty water. Brine is drawn from this tank into the resin tank and, due to the very high concentration of sodium, reverses the ion exchange on the resin beads I’d mentioned earlier. The calcium and magnesium form salt compounds with the chlorine from the brine and are washed down the drain into the sewer.

After the resin is refreshed with sodium ions (and rinsed) the last step is the refill cycle on the brine tank. Fresh water is pumped into the tank which dissolves some more salt for the next recharge. So every few weeks you’ll need to add some salt to the tank. It’s a special high purity salt made just for softeners so don’t use anything else. 20kg bags are somewhere around ten bucks give or take.

Buying a softener

If you need a new softener, picking out a suitable one isn’t a trivial task for an area like Waterloo Region and especially my neighbourhood. You need to factor in extreme hardness, salt consumption and your daily water usage for starters. How much salt you use is a concern for your wallet and for the environment. And a machine that recharges too frequently wears out quicker than it should. It’s important you pick the right sized machine for your home. Our old one was clearly too small for our needs and is half the size of our new one. Here’s a buyer’s guide to help you out. Once you have the sizing sorted, what brand and model are you going to choose?

A caution, the hydraulic plumbing in a softener valve body is complicated. The quality of this component really matters. The valve body on my old Culligan machine used unpainted plain steel solenoid hold-downs in a salt heavy and damp location. Is it a surprise they rotted out? Is spending an extra 10 cents on stainless too much to ask? The 3 rusty hold-downs in my photo are replacements I made from steel stock. We also had warranty issues for a sticky valve inside the first year. Of course this problem returned after warranty expiry. I ended up tearing down the valve body several times over 20+ years until it finally failed for good.

Whatever you buy, reviews and brand reputation should be carefully scrutinized. Some brands are definitely over-priced while others are way too cheap and poorly made. Make sure you can easily get replacement parts or service. As well, I would shy away from rentals or rent to own plans as these are never good value.

I wanted a quality softener I could install myself that also had a warranty. That sounds a lot like a rainbow unicorn but my daughter found us Aquatell out of London who offer exactly this. They have fantastic reviews and carry well regarded softeners made by Pentair. Their website has an easy to use calculator to make sure you get the right size machine for your home. The softener showed up at our door a week after ordering despite being told they were behind due to covid and supplier issues.

I installed ours without issue in half a day, including removing the old one. A shortage of 3/4 inch copper fittings at several hardware stores was my biggest hurdle, and it took me a few hours to fab up new supply pipes because I am slow and also careful. It’s never good to light your house on fire soldering new pipes into your basement ceiling. A plumber would be much faster than me and might want a few hundred to hook one up if you don’t do DIY like I do.

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Basement Bedroom Legal?

Andrew Shackleton — Sat, 02 May 2026 21:38:29 +0000

Is your basement bedroom legal? That’s a good question, one that I’m going to hopefully answer today. Windows, and many other components in a home, are regulated by the Ontario Building Code (OBC). Regulations for things like safety are usually a good idea which is why code compliance in regard to basement bedrooms is so important.

Ontario Building Code requirements

First off, what constitutes a bedroom? The OBC definition states that a bedroom must have a window for light and ventilation. That seems perfectly reasonable, and pretty much any basement bedroom I see advertised as such on MLS meets that criteria.

But basements are a riskier place than the rest of a home if there’s an emergency like a fire. If you’re in a basement bedroom asleep how are you getting out when the smoke alarm goes off? The OBC is clear on this matter, you need at least one way of escape that leads directly outside, either a door or an egress window.

An egress window needs to be big enough for someone to get through and also low enough to the ground that a child or shorter adult can get to it easily. The OBC requires at least 3.77 sq/ft of area with no dimension less than 15 inches. In Ontario, the bottom of the window can’t be any higher than 39.4 inches from the floor unless a permanent ladder or built in steps are used.

I was told, a long time back, that an egress window in Ontario didn’t need to be in a bedroom, just somewhere in the basement not in a room with a locked door such as a bathroom. This latter bit about locked doors certainly makes sense, and 2025 advisories from both the City of Markham and the City of Ottawa confirm the OBC requirements I cited.

Obviously these requirements also apply to accessory apartments. However, if there wasn’t an egress window in a common area, a landlord would need egress windows in every basement bedroom if the individual bedrooms had locks, as is often the case with student rentals.

Hiring a contractor

If you need to get an egress window installed, make sure you get a reputable contractor. It’s not a cheap endeavour as the foundation is being cut with a concrete saw. Not surprisingly, there are many people out there offering this work for thousands less than the going rate. This cost cutting seems to be the result of shady behaviour such as not getting a building permit. We had a couple vendors offering an egress window in the $3500-4500 range, and both said a permit was not required.

Of course I double checked this, and all of Waterloo Region and Guelph requires a permit. And they make the homeowner submit drawings of the proposed work as well. A permit is only a few hundred dollars and assures that your contractor does the work properly and to code. A reputable vendor will want between $5000 to $8000 for the work. Yes, it’s a lot of money but what is safety worth?

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Mortgage Rates

Andrew Shackleton — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 18:37:38 +0000

Bank of Canada leaves overnight rate unchanged at 2.25% at the March meeting

Steady state from the Bank of Canada? One might think so, with rates unchanged at 2.25% at March’s policy meeting, but the truth is a little more complex.

I heard PM Carney’s speech and it was spot on the money. And now with an ongoing conflict in the middle east it is problematic for anyone trying to gauge the future, including the Bank of Canada. They have stayed the course on rates simply because they have little other choice. According to the Bank, inflation pressures worldwide have increased due to turmoil in energy and the financial markets while at the same time the Canadian economy continues to cool.

With rates kept at 2.25% the Bank has flexibility to move either way as needed. What the next move will be is the million dollar question although I’d expect it will be modest, perhaps a 1/4 point either way. Here’s an excerpt from the Bank:

CPI inflation eased further to 1.8% in February, down from 2.3% in January. CPI inflation excluding changes in indirect taxes as well as core inflation measures have also come down and are all close to 2%. Food inflation slowed in February but remains elevated. The sharp increase in global energy prices has led to increases in gasoline prices, and this will push up total inflation in the coming months.

Against this overall backdrop, Governing Council decided to maintain the policy rate at 2.25%. With recent data pointing to weaker economic activity and uncertainty elevated, risks to growth look tilted to the downside. At the same time, inflation risks have gone up due to higher energy prices. We will continue to assess the impact of US tariffs and trade policy uncertainty, and how the Canadian economy is adjusting. We are also monitoring the unfolding conflict in the Middle East closely and assessing its impact on growth and inflation. As the outlook evolves, we stand ready to respond as needed. The Bank is committed to ensuring that Canadians continue to have confidence in price stability through this period of global upheaval.

The lowest available April 2026 rates are:

1-year fixed insured 4.69%
2-year fixed insured 4.24%
3-year fixed insured 3.89%
4-year fixed insured 4.09%
5-year fixed insured 3.75%
5-year variable insured 3.30%

Is the mortgage stress test still a thing in 2026? Yes it is, and with the higher rates we’ve seen, it’s even harder to qualify for a mortgage. The rules require you to qualify at either 2% above the rate your lender is offering you or 5.25%, whichever is higher.

Being forced to qualify at the higher stress test rate causes the principal portion of your monthly mortgage payment to shrink, lowering the maximum amount you’ll be allowed to borrow for your mortgage. But the rate you’ll actually pay once you buy is the rate you are offered by your lender. Your monthly payments will be calculated from this lower rate, not the stress test rate. As a result your monthly mortgage bill will be smaller too.

The stress test has been quite unpopular so the federal government has rolled out several new changes to make it easier to buy a home. They are now offering a first time buyer’s credit of $5000, and an increase in withdrawals from your RRSP to $35,000.

In addition existing borrowers are no longer required to re-qualify at the stress test rate when they renew or refinance their mortgages. This will allow borrowers some flexibility if they want to choose a different lender as they are no longer under the pressure of qualifying at an additional two percentage points.

If you’re looking for mortgage info or help please reach out.

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Affordable Tri-Cities Neighbourhoods

Andrew Shackleton — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 19:49:31 +0000

Today’s post covers the 3 most affordable neighbourhoods in each of the Tri-cities for buyers looking to purchase a detached property in 2026.

Cambridge

Galt has all three of Cambridge’s best areas for people on a budget. The number one spot, City Core/Wellington comes in at under 600k. Second place goes to Elgin Park/Coronation, located around ‘the delta’ where highway 24 crosses 8. Our final neighbourhood is Alison/Eastview North, with prices in the mid sixes. Be sure to use my mapping tool on my listing page to see Galt properties.

Kitchener

K-town also offers real value. The downtown core south of Queen running along the west side of King to Rockway and Ottawa consists of several smaller hoods, with prices in the low sixes for a single family detached home. Our next contender, Fairview/Kingsdale is located on the north side of Fairway Rd. Prices here are in the mid to high sixes. Only slightly more expensive is Victoria Hills, located to the west of the downtown core out to Fischer Hallman.

Waterloo

The most expensive of the three cities, Waterloo, has real value nevertheless. Lakeshore (immediately south of Northfield) holds the number one ranking. A detached home in this mature family friendly suburban hood averages 770k. The 2nd most affordable spot goes to Glenridge/Lincoln Heights, straddling University to the west of the expressway. Homes here sell for just under 800 grand. The last neighbourhood in the trio is uptown Waterloo east of King. This large area offers a variety of styles and ages with average prices sitting at 814k.

More info

Make sure to check out my crime report covering all of the 9 neighbourhoods. As well, I have pages for all 59 KW hoods, with maps, images, schools, videos, groceries, and things to do. Of course, each page has its own listings link too.

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Waterloo and Guelph vs Kitchener and Cambridge

Andrew Shackleton — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:29:13 +0000

The Waterloo (and Guelph) Premium?

Waterloo real estate has always been expensive, something I was vaguely aware of even before I was in the business. Not long after I began selling I noticed that Guelph real estate was priced very similarly to Waterloo, and that both cities were considerably more expensive than Kitchener and Cambridge.

Over the years the ‘Waterloo premium,’ as I called it, would wax and wane month over month. I can recall seeing it a few times close right up relative to Kitchener, but more often than not Waterloo prices would be at least 100k higher. I sell in Guelph too, and prices there always seemed quite high. Conversely there were deals galore in Cambridge and Kitchener, something many of my buyers were also cognizant of.

But why the price disparity? I know these cities. I recently moved back to Guelph, having lived in the royal city previously, and my parents are from there too. But I’ve spent most of my life living in Kitchener and then Waterloo. While I haven’t ever lived in Cambridge, I certainly know it well enough. The four are all great places to live.

The Home Price Data

I decided to do a deep dive using historic data. I wanted a clean study though, so I focused on the most popular market segment, single family detached. I didn’t want the problematic apt condo segment muddying the waters, especially with what is going on with student accommodation in Waterloo. Inventory levels for detached are healthy and represent a neutral or balanced market.

Chatting with my data scientist girlfriend, the subject of standard deviation came up. She mentioned that the standard deviation for each city might vary significantly due to where outliers are sitting relative to the mean. I argued that we can’t know if this is the case without delving into the figures on a month over month basis, or even over a shorter time frame. Here are a couple hypothetical cities A & B both averaging one million dollar sale prices, but having drastically different standard deviations.

In my data set, if the deviations vary city by city, they do so in a way that doesn’t appear to impact the averages longer term. The MLS sale price data consistently ranks Waterloo, Guelph, Kitchener and Cambridge highest to lowest over the last 5 years straight. I don’t think this is a coincidence so what other factors are accounting for this? Is it lifestyle, commuting, income, employment, education, or something else?

Household Income

Income is certainly a factor but isn’t enough to explain the $170,000 gap in prices between Waterloo and Cambridge seen in 2025. Household income is only $14,000 apart, at $122,000 and $108,000 respectively. Guelph and Kitchener came in at $119,000 and $110,000, again, not a substantial gap. There must be other things to consider.

High Tech Economy

Fundamentally, with regard to tech and education Waterloo is a very different place than any of the other three. It has two universities, Laurier and the University of Waterloo with UW being world renowned for stem education, particularly for engineering and computer science. The city hosts the Perimeter Institute as well as Open Text, Shopify and Blackberry. Almost all of Canada’s major insurers have head offices in Waterloo.

Waterloo’s tech boom has filtered into Kitchener, with Google being the most famous example, but nevertheless Kitchener lags behind in regard to higher education. Kitchener’s Pharmacy College at King and Victoria is an offshoot of UW. While Kitchener’s Conestoga College does offer degree programs now, these represent only 10% of the academic curriculum. Cambridge had no public colleges at all until Conestoga College opened its Fountain St. Campus in 2011.

Yes, Guelph does have the University of Guelph, a highly regarded institution with a heavy focus on food, agriculture, the environment and animal health. It’s certainly a boon to the community, adding $2 billion in local GDP and 8.6 billion nationally, but hasn’t delivered the anywhere near the level of economic growth seen in Waterloo.

Commuting Into GTA

No doubt the presence of a university bolsters prices, but Guelph’s proximity to the GTA is another factor that mustn’t be discounted. Many commuters make the run into the GTA daily, with travel times often 30 minutes shorter than the tri-cities. I had a client who did exactly that, working in Mississauga before finally buying in Guelph. We started searching in and around her work, but the closer homes were to the GTA the more unaffordable they were. While Guelph is expensive compared to much of Waterloo Region it is far more affordable than buying in Georgetown or Milton.

Educational Opportunities

Higher education seems to be important to much of the population living in the the more expensive of the four cities, and educational level directly correlates to pricing. 65% of Waterloo’s citizenry has either a diploma or a degree from a post secondary institution. Guelph is close behind at 57% followed by Kitchener at 53%. Slightly less than half of Cambridge, at 47%, has this level of education.

In part ‘like likes like’ explains things a bit. Educated people may very well gravitate to cities that offer higher education. Income and prices seem to align with this as well. Families looking for a place to put down roots usually want what’s best for their children such as good schools. Of course, cities with booming economies driven in part by post secondary education likely offer better employment opportunities over the long term.

As I’d said earlier, all 4 cities are great places to live, but demographics and income are definitely a factor in where people choose to live. The more expensive of the lot may offer up a potential of a better future that people are willing to pay a premium for. The data is clear, 5 years worth of unchanged price rankings for the four cities is not an anomaly.

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Waterloo Region Housing Shortages?

Andrew Shackleton — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 23:22:12 +0000

January Housing Data

In case you’ve missed things, Ontario is experiencing one of the slowest markets in decades. We’re facing plenty of headwinds after years of very robust growth. Prices are falling, inventories are up. And for now, the situation for buyers is looking great. Here are the January numbers from my board for the Region.

So should we be worried about housing shortages in Waterloo Region too? Surprisingly enough, yes, when we look at things on a slightly longer time scale, given the Region of Waterloo is now facing an unprecedented water capacity crisis that will be years to fix.

Water Shortages

Development has now been frozen across much of the region due to shortages in the Mannheim service area. All of Waterloo and most of Kitchener are affected as well as a lot of the smaller communities in rural areas. While the freeze won’t affect units currently under construction, new permits are not currently being issued.

Waterloo Region staff came up with a preliminary rough estimate of 81 million dollars to fix our water supply crisis but Regional Chair Karen Redman has already bumped that figure, citing $90 million a few days back. A short term solution decided on by the Region on February 6th won’t be completed until 2027 and the timeline for a more permanent solution is unknown.

The Region is advising municipalities that “the region does not support approval for development applications at this time,” which obviously begs the question, when will new developments resume? Local builders, needless to say, are a little dismayed.

New and Resale Housing Supply

If you’re a buyer looking for a home to live in you’ll likely prefer freehold. According to CMHC, for December 2025, only 6% of the 6679 units currently under construction is either semi, town or detached. The bulk of housing currently being built is either purpose built rental apartment or apartment style condo.

The resale market is equally constrained in these exact segments. I’ve been saying for a while now that the downturn is somewhat investor driven and the data backs that up. Inventories for freehold properties while higher than before, are still in seller territory for semis and barely into neutral for detached and townhouses. Tightness in these sectors will provide freehold owners with a bit of a buffer in a down market like we have been seeing.

Conversely, the condo market will see increased downward pressure on prices as new rental properties come online. Developers will eventually curtail future builds if they are unable to sell the existing stock they have underway right now, regardless of the water issues I’d mentioned earlier.

Buyers Market

Nevertheless, if you’re a buyer, things are good here in Waterloo Region. We have seen year over year reductions in every segment except semis. Buyers have choice. Conditions are a thing again! And if you can’t afford freehold or really hate cutting the grass, condos are still an option.

How long will this last though is a matter of debate. The water crisis is a real problem for new builds. Shortages in the more desirable segments of our market are likely. And at some point, the market will turn. “When?” is the million dollar question.

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November 2025 Market Review

Andrew Shackleton — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:54:25 +0000

The quietness of the 2025 fall real estate market has continued into November. While prices are a bit of a mixed bag relative to October, they are down moderately in every segment compared to last year.

Robust inventory levels and lower sales volumes continue to put downward pressure on prices, which has been especially the case for the past several months.

In fact we are at multiyear highs for listings and multiyear lows for sales volumes. And with buyers now clearly in the driver’s seat, days on market is also trending higher, with a typical property in every category taking over a month to sell.

This is not a local phenomenon. Calgary and Toronto are seeing similar market conditions. I suspect that part of the decline we are seeing is investor driven, especially in the apt condo and townhouse segments. Rents here and in many places across Canada are lower relative to both last year’s and the 2023 figures. It is difficult to make a case for real estate investment in the short term. Compare this to the TSX, up by 25% compared to January.

Going forward into the new year, we are faced with under performing housing targets and high immigration levels even after Ottawa’s cuts. As of September, Ontario met just 26% of its target. Immigration is expected to come in nationally at 3/4 of a million people in 2026, and many of them will chose to live in Ontario.

With low rates, low supply and lots of potential buyers, there’s a compelling argument for a turn around in the real estate market. But when that will occur is certainly hard to predict. The Bank of Canada has predicted sluggish growth next year at the last meeting. And at the moment it’s obvious that buyers are reluctant and that’s not surprising with all the turmoil south of the border. I think we’ll see more of the same slowness in December and into January.

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Should You Worry About Radon?

Andrew Shackleton — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:45:36 +0000

Is radon lurking in your basement? Is it something you should worry about? It’s definitely a concern, it’s the highest cause of lung cancer for non smokers, and the 2^nd highest for smokers. One in five homes have concentrations of the gas above recommended levels. Only a small percentage of homes across the country have dangerous levels, with even lower levels found here in Ontario, but there’s no way of knowing if your particular home is affected without testing.

What exactly is radon? It’s a radioactive element that’s also a noble gas. These gasses are chemically inert, meaning they aren’t very reactive, and have wide usage in a variety industries. Radon is chemically inert but atomically unstable, with a half life of 3.8 days. This instability leads to radioactive decay, where a nuclei splits into something else, giving off dangerous ionizing radiation in the process.

Radon eventually transmutes into stable lead through a series of decay chain daughters that are radioactive too. The daughters are toxic heavy metals and lodge in the lungs causing further havoc. The decay chain of radon lasts years. Each step in the transmutation produces more beta and alpha particles, further damaging cellular machinery, causing cell death or even cancer.

The radon that lurks in random peoples’ basements comes from the the decay of radioactive thorium and uranium found in the earth’s crust. Many of the radioactive isotopes in this decay process have very long half lives and will be indirectly producing radon for millions if not billions of years into the future.

Thorium and uranium are commonplace but aren’t evenly distributed in the crust. Geology, soil type and glaciation all factor into the presence of radon for a particular location. Maps are available that show these areas. But the randomness of these factors combined together make it impossible to say which houses in a neighbourhood will be affected.

Testing is the only sure-fire way to know if you’re at risk if your house is in an area prone to radon. If higher than recommended levels are uncovered the installation of a ventilation system is a great idea and will completely alleviate the issue. The systems aren’t even that expensive, coming in at under $2,000. Here’s someone I know who does radon testing and mitigation, Tom Weber.

So yes, radon is a problem. Cancer is definitely something no one wants and radon elevates that risk. Even though only 7% of Canadian homes have dangerous levels, your home might be one of them. And radon is constantly transmuting, with a half life of only 3.8 days. Every time you breathe in some of the gas, a portion of the radon nuclei split, blasting your lungs with a tiny jolt of radiation. If you’re concerned, testing is the way to go. Your future self might thank you.

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Check Your Sump Pump!

Andrew Shackleton — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:44:00 +0000

It’s fall, check your sump pump! This post gets bumped every year (first written in 2018) because I know so many people who’ve had flooded basements. I want to stop you from having a really crappy day and a big hole in your pocket book. There’s a reason my sump pump video has been seen 40,000 times.

Flooded basements make the news in the spring and fall each and every year. Neglect, power failures, poor drainage, changing seasons, and rapidly changing weather are almost always one or more of the causes of a flooded basement. You can’t control the weather or the seasons. Sudden heavy rains, warm snaps in the dead of winter, the spring thaw and the onset of rainy fall weather can all cause wet basements.

But battling mother nature isn’t always hard. Checking your sump pump and making sure you’ve got good drainage for your eaves troughs is often all the work you need to do to keep your basement dry.

Living in a 135 year old home and working as a Realtor has taught me quite a bit about drainage and sump pumps. The 1889 property has a sump pump just like almost every new home built over the last 35 years.

Sump pumps are installed in new homes as a preventative against future water penetration and as remediation in older properties where water is entering the foundation. The system consists of perforated piping (called weeping tile) on the outside of the foundation that directs ground water to a sump, which is a shallow pit in the basement that collects the water. The sump pump sits in the sump and periodically empties this water to the outside of the home.

Your sump pump has to work extra hard if you live in an area with a high water table, or have soil with poor drainage such as the clay that is quite common in Waterloo region. Ground water simply wants to go wherever it can, running as water does, from high places to low. Draining water away from the foundation is the weeping tile’s job since it sits lower than your basement walls, but it’s also a good idea to get the water away from your foundation so your sump pump doesn’t have to deal with it.

You can do this by adding extension pipes to the ends of your downspouts. 10 feet is a good distance, or you can get really ambitious like I did. A couple of years back I dug drainage piping for my eaves-troughs a good 20 or 30 feet from my house.

Prior to my hard work, the spring thaw and heavy thunder storms would often mean a wet laundry room but now the room is bone dry. As an added bonus my sump pump hardly comes on at all except for a couple of weeks in the spring.

Needless to say, having a working pump is even more important than good drainage. Pump failures definitely cause the vast majority of flooded basements and most of these issues are caused by poor maintenance.

But what can you do when the lights go out? If it’s just for a little while you’ll probably be fine. If the power is out for a few hours though and you have a regular pump, you might need to get bailing if your sump pit is going to overflow. Definitely don’t let water reach the motor on a pedestal type pump.

While power failures are rare, they do happen, especially in rural areas. If you’re worried, consider a back up system. Most of these are battery powered and I’ve seen plenty over the years.

Another type is a water powered back up pump. I saw one for the first time just a few weeks back. It uses municipal water pressure to power the pump and the high water switch which starts the pump. I suspect that this latter option may be superior to some battery systems with insufficient pumping power. As well, batteries degrade and require maintenance.

Regardless of what system you have, check your sump pump now and keep your basement dry, the November rains are just around the corner! Watch my video if you want to learn even more.

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Why Move From Toronto To Kitchener Waterloo?

Andrew Shackleton — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 19:01:52 +0000

Why move to Kitchener Waterloo from the GTA or Toronto? Is relocating right for you? Lots of people seem think so, and it’s become a popular move. Immigration from the GTA and from abroad is has added 70,000 newcomers to the Region of Waterloo’s population in the last decade. Waterloo Region is now the fastest growing metropolitan area in the entire country.

Lifestyle

If you’re from the GTA you might think Kitchener Waterloo (KW) is somewhat boring and reserved. While there’s a grain of truth to this sentiment it isn’t a bad thing necessarily. There just isn’t as much to see and do here. KW is tiny compared to Toronto. Kitchener has roughly 277,000 residents while Waterloo comes in at 136,000. The region hosts an additional 20,000 post secondary students primarily in Waterloo. The City of Toronto at 3 million is over 7x bigger.

We have no major league franchises although we do have the Kitchener Rangers, an excellent OHL team that has produced many NHL stars. KW has some good concert venues, big and small, but nowhere near the nightlife that the big city has. There are plenty of great restaurants to choose from. Still, you won’t find blocks and blocks of fun bars and restaurants scattered throughout the neighbourhoods like you do in TO.

What we do have is tons of nature. Get in your car or on your bike and you can be in the countryside in 10 minutes. The Grand River marks the eastern boundary of KW and offers up great fishing, hiking, kayaking and canoeing. I spend a lot of time on the water in the summer. You can rent a canoe here.

I should mention Oktoberfest too. It’s the second biggest beer-fest in the world. It runs for 2 weeks in the fall in locations throughout KW and brings an incredible 700,000 visitors to the twin cities. If you decide to go, the gold standard for festhallen has always been the Concordia Club. Tickets sell out early.

Traffic

I spent 15 years driving in and around the GTA for work. Driving west from Scarborough at 3 pm on a Friday was always a treat. I’d be lucky to hit Winston Churchill at 5. The horror of being stuck at the bottom of the 400 in rush hour is still burnt into my brain. And there’s nothing like downtown at 5 trying to get on the Gardiner. I’m sorry, traffic in the GTA sucks pretty much everywhere. I don’t know how people do it.

In Waterloo Region you can usually get anywhere in KW in 15 minutes or less. This is true for Cambridge as well. A worst case trip from the north end of Waterloo to the south end of Cambridge during rush hour would be 45 minutes. Driving here is relaxed and wonderful.

Public Transit

Toronto has the TTC which is quite good from what my family who have lived in TO tell me. We have the LRT and bus service here. Some of the newest subdivisions here are poorly served, as one would expect with new neighbourhoods. The LRT construction caused massive disruptions to business and ran behind schedule and over budget but the train has actually been a success. But I wouldn’t say KW was walkable unless you live in the core where the LRT runs.

Income and Housing Costs

Kitchener and Waterloo are relatively wealthy communities, with median household incomes sitting above Toronto’s and slightly below Brampton’s and Mississauga’s. But home prices here are massively cheaper in comparison.

Crime Statistics

All cities have crime. Toronto and Peel Region have significantly more murders per capita than Waterloo Region does. And these figures, unfortunately have risen a bit over the years. We do have issues with criminal organizations, gangs and drugs that are behind the scattered gun crime we see here. Don’t get me wrong, Toronto and Peel are very safe, especially compared to US cities, but they are not as safe as here in KW. Check out my post on crime if you want to learn more about local crime stats and where the best neighbourhoods are.

Education

Waterloo, with two universities is a very smart city. The city has a higher education rate than even Toronto. Kitchener is a bit more industrial and blue collar. It’s on par with Brampton right now but change is coming. Conestoga College now grants degrees and McMaster, Laurier and UW all have satellite campuses in Kitchener.

Employment

KW is Canada’s silicon valley. Google and Shopify are a couple of well known names in the sector. Academia, the insurance industry and Toyota are major employers too. Manufacturing is still a sizable portion of the economy.

Car Insurance

Driving in Toronto and the GTA in general is risky. That’s an opinion many people share and it’s one the insurance industry agrees with. You’ll save a lot of money on insurance living in KW.

Typical Costs Of Living

Groceries, heating, electricity and gasoline are about the same here as in the big city. But long term care homes are considerably more expensive in KW in comparison to Toronto. Real estate commissions are roughly 20% lower than the GTA. Also, there is no Toronto land transfer tax. Buying or selling a home in KW is tens of thousands cheaper in fees and taxes. Property taxes are higher in KW but valuations in Toronto are higher so you end up more or less even on what you pay.

Why Make The Move?

So why move here to Kitchener Waterloo from Toronto or the GTA? How about affordability, peace and quiet, room to grow, and proximity to nature. The local economy has low unemployment with lots of job opportunities. We’ve got some great schools too. And traffic that’s like an easy Sunday drive; I couldn’t forget that! If you own a home you’ll pocket quite a bit of cash when you sell because of our much lower prices. These are just a few great reasons to relocate. Check out my neighbourhoods pages if you want to learn a bit more. And if you’re homesick for major league sports, concerts or clubs, Toronto is only 90 minutes away. Living in KW, you really can have your cake and eat it too.

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