RickToronto in the Junction

I had a diverter spout which, over time, collected enough limescale that when using the shower, 1/2 the water came out of the spout and only 1/2 came out of the shower head. Impossible to clean, even with CLR. Advanced noticed the pipe stub was composed of a smooth copper pipe, then a connector, then threaded pipe out of that, so they had to switch the diverter spout choice to "screw it to the threads on the end" from "use a set screw at the other end". And it did not help when you looked from under the spout, it looked like the smooth, set screw type, only, no there was no set screw. Of course, Murphy's Law applies with house repair parts, always. Now I don't waste water and have actual water pressure at the shower head. I have been putting up with this for far too long, frankly. I called them and they came the next day. Well done job, 24 hour service. Note I had them come by before and they showed my why the toilet bowl bloops on flushing which is a feature not a defect and reassured me something was not wrong. This kind of fast, helpful and thorough service is why I patronize independent service businesses in my neighbourhood. Once that was obtained, smooth as silk.

I had a tall - maybe 20-25m Manitoba Maple adjacent to my garage, which grew a huge side branch which was laying on, and ultimately, damaging my garage roof, and was imposing on the concrete block construction of the garage itself. After obtaining a City of Toronto permit, using Daron's arborist report as evidence, Daron removed the entire tree in two days. This was done by climbing into the tree, roping off sections, and cutting and lowering the sections. No boom truck and cranes, this was all by hand. Other than the obvious noise of chainsaws, Daron did not annoy or bother the neighbours, despite working in close quarters to several other yards. All wood was either run through a chipper truck or taken away in a trailer. At the end of the first day and upon conclusion, all wood chips, twigs, debris, leaves, etc., were cleaned up and taken away. No mess at all, even though they could have waited until the end of the second day, they cleaned up everything on the first and second day. I have nothing but a perfectly flat, low stump left in the yard which I can use to put a planter and grow something more suitable for a smaller yard. There were pieces from the main trunk that were at least 250 pounds and I estimate that the entire tree was close to a ton and a half of wood, expertly wrangled within a confined yard, by only two people (in case you think an "average" tree is something easy to move around, it isn't). The city is providing a more suitably small tree in the autumn which I will plant to meet city bylaws, and Daron gave me advice on how to plant it and how to maintain it over time, so it provides a nice canopy but doesn't become a garage damaging monster tree. All in all, highly recommended. Knowledgeable, timely, technical experts, neat and safety aware.

A vandal broke a pane on the opening panel of a kitchen bay window. Eddy responded quickly, came to the house for measurements and within two weeks overall, it was replaced today with a new double sealed unit. Eddy's crew were punctual, neat and swapped the glass in 90 minutes. You can't tell from the outside that it was ever broken and replaced.

Stephen just replaced a 27 year old door/opener with a new insulated vertical opening door with 2 remotes, sensors, control panel. Quality of craftsmanship is superior. Attention to detail is exceptional, you can see in how the various components are mounted and aligned. All debris removed, averything works very well. There are contractors who are nice and are average workers and good workers who are not that nice but Stephen and his helper are both gentlemen and craftsmen. I cannot imagine using someone else for this installation and expect better or a better deal.

After the Nor' Easter two weeks ago and after mopping up the water in the basement I called Mud Monkeys to take a look and arrange to repair my foundation. Darby came out promptly, we agreed on the job and it started the next day and ran until it finished. The hand dug 40' of founcation 8' to the footings, repaired cracks and waterproofed including the new dimpled plastic barrier. They worked neatly as to not offend the neighbours, left a safe site and recorded all work with photographs. No leaks spotted so far ( not much rain either) but I doubt there will be any based on the quality of the work.

I installed two new overhead fixtures and somehow as part of replacing the switch I knocked out power to the outlet at the end of the circuit. Rather than compound the problem I called ElectroPro and they came the next day, calling ahead to let me know. It was fixed properly in a jiffy. I wasn't going to burn the house down but I did need the outlet. I think I could have had them do the install and properly for the cost of the repair so a lesson learned.

After having (a false) CO alarm I called Richard who came the same day. We ruled out a CO leak but he found the Direct Energy HIP technician had damaged my furnace to the point it had to be red-tagged. Since it was 27 years old I decided to have a new furnace and AC installed instead. Even though the weather was warm, since it was red-tagged, he came the next day with 2 technicians and installed a new 95% furnace, high SEER A/C, humidifier, condesate pump and thermostat. They started at 730 am and were done by 3 pm. It works great. Quality and progessionalism of the install were first rate. I would not hesitate to recommend Coretemp for HVAC work. They are also arranging for nearly $2500 in rebates which makes a new furnace a lot more affordable than I thought.