Home Renovation in Riverdale
Riverdale is bay-and-gable country. Narrow semis and rowhouses off Broadview, Logan, Pape and Carlaw, built between the 1880s and the 1910s, brick over wood frame, with front rooms that were never meant to connect to the back of the house.
First Place Homes has renovated Toronto houses since 1997 and Harvey Minuk quotes and runs every job. Riverdale semis behave in predictable ways once you have opened enough of them.
What a Riverdale semi asks for
A plan for the party wall. Two houses share one masonry wall. Anything that touches it, a beam pocket, a plumbing chase, underpinning at the footing, affects your neighbour's house as well as yours. That means notice to the neighbour, temporary support while the wall is open and sequencing agreed before anyone swings a hammer. While that wall is open is also the cheapest moment in the life of the house to add sound insulation on your side.
Basement height. Original Riverdale basements run shallow, commonly around 6 feet. Underpinning lowers the floor and keeps the full footprint of the room. Benching costs less and gives up floor area around the perimeter. Both are structural work requiring engineering and permits and on a semi the shared footing at the party wall needs a designed solution before excavation starts.
Two rooms becoming one. The wall between the kitchen and the dining room usually carries the second floor. Removing it means an engineered beam with posts landing on new footings poured in the basement. The plumbing stack and heating runs that lived inside that wall then need somewhere else to go. It is the single most requested job on these streets.
Second-floor bathrooms that are too small. Riverdale bathrooms are often tucked over the stairs with drain runs limited by joist depth and original joists are frequently undersized by current standards. We check the framing before we commit to a fixture layout.
The usual century home finds. Knob-and-tube wiring, lath and plaster, undersized joists and clay drain tile in the front yard.
The three jobs we do most on these streets
- Kitchen and dining room combined into one room with a structural beam. See kitchen renovation in Toronto.
- Basement lowering, waterproofing and second suites. See basement renovation in Toronto.
- Second-floor bathroom rebuilds and adding a second bath. See bathroom renovation in Toronto.
- Rear additions where the lot allows the footprint. See home additions.
Riverdale renovation questions
Can you underpin a semi-detached house in Riverdale? Yes. Underpinning a semi is done in engineered sections and the shared footing at the party wall is designed and sequenced before any excavation. Your neighbour is notified and the work requires a City of Toronto building permit and engineered drawings.
Do I need a permit to remove the wall between my kitchen and dining room? Yes, if the wall carries load and in a Riverdale bay-and-gable it almost always does. You need a building permit and an engineer's beam design. First Place Homes handles the drawings, the permit and the inspections.
How long does a Riverdale renovation take? Design and budgeting take 2 to 4 weeks. Construction runs 4 weeks to 4 months depending on scope, with city permit review time added on top. A kitchen with a beam typically sits in the middle of that range.
Talk to Harvey about your Riverdale house
Get a free consultation. Call Harvey at (416) 489-4083 or email harvey@firstplacehomes.ca.
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