\n\t\tWhat do the current weather changes mean for us and our homes?\n\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Boathouse_Cottage_weathered_Northwestern_Ontario\"](\"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/files\/2022\/08\/pexels-jaxon-castellan-11579869-scaled.jpg\" "\\"pexels-jaxon-castellan-11579869\\"")
\n\t\tPhoto by Jaxon Castellan: on Pexels\n\t\tGetting worse?<\/h3>\t\t\n\t\t\t
Unfortunately, none of us have a crystal ball telling how the weather and climate of our area are going to change moving forward.<\/p>\n\t\t
This year and last<\/h3>\t\t\n\t\t\t
What can we do about it? While most people have the current high water levels on their mind, last year was equal amounts dry and hot. Potential extremes seem to be constantly in flux, from season to season and year to year.<\/p>\n\t\t
Plan Ahead<\/h3>\t\t\n\t\t\t
The best thing that we can do as homeowners is to think about the what-ifs, now. Maintenance and updating are better than picking up the pieces after the fact.<\/p>\n\t
The water level is the most visible issue from last fall to this spring, as seen from one of my previous listings out on Lake of the Woods.<\/p>\n
(see the below photos)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Before\"\/](\"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/files\/2022\/07\/Primary-Comp-0-00-15-05.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"After\"\/](\"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/files\/2022\/07\/DJI_0954.jpg\")
\n\t
As you can see in the Fall of 2021, this home and cottage had its dock far above the water level. In the Spring of 2022 at the same home, it was mere inches away from fully submerged. (Later in the summer got much worse, as most of us know.)<\/p>\n\t
Unfortunately, I don’t know what the next year or 10 will bring us. The examples put forth in the last two years have shown us that we never quite know what mother nature will throw at us.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWhat Can we do?\n\t<\/h2>\n\n\t\tPlanning\n\t<\/h2>\n\n\t\tfor the future\n\t<\/h5>\n\t
\n\t\tfor the future\n\t<\/h5>\n\t
As we move forward with planning for our future, keep in mind any additional steps to retrofit your home is something the Canadian government is offering grants for.<\/p>\n
If you have plans to make your home more energy efficient or to have more reliable heating, the Greener Home Initiative provides grants and loans for home evaluations and retrofits.<\/p>\n
This includes help with insulation, newer more efficient windows and doors, air sealing and renewable energy systems.<\/p>\n
Visit the link below for more information.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCANADA GREENER HOMES INITIATIVE\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n Water levels in Northwestern Ontario fluctuate with the seasons, as I’m sure we all know by now. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that we can do about the water levels as our lake is fed into from multiple different locations, some outside of our province and some areas outside of our country.<\/p>\n To have as a reference, here is a link to the Lake of the Woods Control Board and their recommendations for building, docks and Hazard Land Levels. If you are looking to build or make any modifications to your property, this is a good resource for Lake of the Woods specific information.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLAKE OF THE WOODS CONTROL BOARD\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n Visit here<\/a> to see an article by ‘Cabinlife’ about preparing your cottage and property in case of fires. It covers smaller steps like landscaping and pruning trees and vegetation on your property or cleaning the gutters and installing ember guards.<\/p>\n\t Another great article is this one here from ScienceNews, which covers all things flood, fire and prevention related. Keep in mind though it is written for the United States and their climates and biomes.<\/p>\n Home and cottage owners in Northwestern Ontario who were affected by the 2022 spring flooding have until October 7th, 2022 to apply for the Disaster Recovery Assistance.<\/p>\n \n Lets Talk\n Getting Ready to Move<\/strong>\n Let’s Move! Congratulations! You’ve bought your new home but now what? The possession date for your new home is getting closer so let’s make sure no important tasks fall to the wayside. I’ve created this post to give you a collection of resources to make moving to your new home as seamless as possible. Schedule […]\n <\/a>\n \n Home Maintenance\n Weather [in] Northwestern Ontario<\/strong>\n The place we call home Kenora and Lake of the Woods Northwestern Ontario has always had a unique climate. We get both sides of extreme temperatures and plenty of different weather events. Have you been affected? For homeowners in Northwestern Ontario who have been directly affected by the high water levels from 2022, the Ontario […]\n <\/a>\n \n Buying\n Cottage Search – Buying a Cottage on LOTW<\/strong>\n Buying a Cottage on Lake of the Woods What are the main things to look for when searching for the perfect Cabin, Cottage or Camp on Lake of the Woods? I wrote this blog to help outline a few key points that I always look at when showing my clients a potential cottage. Keeping your […]\n <\/a>\n \n Buying\n Neighbourhoods In Kenora – Where do you want to be?<\/strong>\n The Neighbourhoods of Kenora Are you thinking about a move into the Kenora area but you’re not quite sure what neck of the woods you want to be in? Location, Location, Location I’ll give you a brief description of each of the main areas that we usually categorize Kenora into. Followed by some bullet point […]\n <\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The place we call home Kenora and Lake of the Woods Northwestern Ontario has always had a unique climate. We get both sides of extreme temperatures and plenty of different weather events. Have you been affected? For homeowners in Northwestern Ontario who have been directly affected by the high water levels from 2022, the Ontario […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21673,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,1],"tags":[14,27,28,26,11,18,17,30,29,15],"class_list":["post-636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-maintenance","category-kenora-ontario","category-kenora-real-estate-blog","tag-14","tag-cabin","tag-camp","tag-cottage","tag-home-maintenance","tag-info","tag-kristie-cavanagh","tag-lake-of-the-woods","tag-lotw","tag-realtor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions\/841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kristiecavanagh.com\/fr-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t\tPrevention\n\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tin case of the what-ifs\n\t<\/h5>\n
\n\t\tHigh water\n\t<\/h3>\n\t
\n\t\tPotential Fires\n\t<\/h3>\n\t
\n\t\tRebuilding\n\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tIf you didn’t catch this link before\n\t<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOntario’s Disaster Recovery Assistance\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t