The Plan4 Blog: The ecology of homes

The Forest for the Trees Series: Spruce Blues and Wet-Weather Woes

By Paul Hetzler, Certified Arborist When I’m asked to diagnose tree problems, folks naturally want the remedy. Sometimes the only...

The Forest for the Trees Series: Renting vs. Planting Trees.

Paul Hetzler, Certified Arborist Planting a tree isn’t rocket science, which is good thing. If it were that complex, I’d wager we’d have...

The Forest-for-the-Trees Series: Preventing Construction Damage to Trees.

by Paul Hetzler, ISA Certified Arborist. From a tree’s perspective, home construction is the source of all evil. I have to admit beavers,...

A burning need to know: protecting your home from fire

This blog post is about fire coming from outside of your home. I'm not going to sugar-coat this: fire is often fast and fatal. Before I...

A Cool Home in Summer Heat

July 26, 2020. 10 am. It’s 32 degrees and muggy. It’s been stinkin’ hot for weeks. It’s fine if you have air and live by water. It’s not...

Snow, ice and your hydro and internet wires: take action to keep your home connected!

Last week we got 15 cms of soggy snow...then the temperature went to -15 and everything froze solid, colline de bins. Shoveling was...

Not Singin’ in the Rain: Basements and Water

Despite the flooding on the Ottawa and Gatineau rivers in 2017 and 2019, I'm not really concerned about rivers flooding: I'm way more...

Some notes on heat and cold and moisture in your home

Woke up to -28 this morning in Wakefield. A bit of a shocker considering the weather's been pretty mild this winter. Compared to last...

Chicken Little: Is the sky falling?

no it's not