As we talk to numerous builders and developers in the Southern California area to gather information for this website, we also come across people from other parts of the United States or even other countries. We recently spoke to Jonathan up in Alberta Canada about his new development where he is building affordable homes for under 250,000 dollars. He told me about some of the unique challenges they have with building a home way up in the great white north.

In a land where temperatures routinely get down to -20 F you need to do a lot of things differently than you would in the beautiful weather of southern California. For starters all their homes have basements so that the water lines and sewer systems can be buried deep enough to get below the frost line. Most people in Alberta will develop that basement area in to a useable living area. In fact Jonathan showed me pictures of some of his new houses with developed basements and they are quite beautiful. This really adds to the living area of a home. In a two story home if you have 1500 sq ft and you develop the basement you can get another 700 sq ft of living space.

Obviously the homes need to be very well insulated to keep out the harsh Canadian winter. The insulation in the attic has to be of a certain standard to keep warm air from the living levels from escaping up into the attic. There must be adequate ventilation in the attic or else condensation will develop and frost will build up on the rafters. This would not be good because that would then cause moisture problems and ultimately mold issues.

Another thing that is almost a must when building in Canada is a garage. Preferably an attached garage that is also insulated. This is really nice to have on those really cold mornings when your car might not even start if it is left outside exposed to the elements. Car batteries lose much of their power in extreme cold and the oil in your car becomes like tar. If your car is parked in an insulated attached garage you will have none of those problems because it will be up to 20 degrees warmer than outside.

This makes me all the more happy that I live in Southern California where the weather is almost always nice.

Jonathan’s company is Broder Homes in Blackfalds, Alberta

He also recommends Carmen Paradis Real Estate in Calgary as his real estate agency.