Planning an Aurora Renovation, Inside or Out

Victorian and Edwardian houses in Old Aurora

The Northeast Old Aurora Heritage Conservation District takes in a mostly residential area of late-1800s and early-1900s houses in the northeast quadrant of Yonge Street and Wellington Street East, with styles ranging from Ontario Victorian vernacular to Craftsman bungalows. Plenty of homes elsewhere in Aurora Village belong to the same generation. When we open walls in houses like these, we expect plaster over lath, framing that is not quite square, floors that have settled and a trail of repairs by earlier owners. That history does not rule out a renovation, but it does mean the planning deserves more time than it would in a newer house.

For older homes we usually recommend:

• An unhurried first visit before any pricing, so the written estimate reflects what the walls, floors and framing actually look like
• New drywall blended carefully into the surviving plaster where only part of a room is changing, so the patch is hard to spot
• Levelling and subfloor work before new flooring or tile goes down
• Trim, doors and finishes chosen to suit the period of the house rather than fight it

Interior work inside the district is generally left to the owner, but exterior alterations such as porches, windows, cladding or additions may need the Town of Aurora's heritage approval before they start. When your plans touch the outside of the house, we build that step into the schedule and shape the design around what the district plan allows.

Decks that stay solid through Aurora winters

Ontario's freeze-thaw cycles are hard on outdoor structures. Water gets into joints and fasteners, freezes, expands and slowly works everything loose. Footings set too shallow can heave, leaving a deck that tilts, pulls away from the house or bounces underfoot after a few seasons. In Aurora Heights, where many houses went up between the late 1950s and 1970 on generous lots, and on the larger hillside and ravine properties of the Hills of St. Andrew, there is often room for a big deck, so it pays to build the structure properly from the ground up.

Our deck builds start below grade: footings taken below the frost line, correctly sized beams and joists, a proper ledger connection where the deck meets the house, and flashing to keep water away from the rim joist. Above that, we help you weigh pressure-treated lumber, cedar and composite boards against how much upkeep you are willing to do each spring. A raised or attached deck often needs a building permit, so we confirm the requirements with the Town before construction begins. Many Aurora Heights houses are due for work inside as well, and planning a kitchen update alongside the deck lets the back door, the flooring and the new outdoor space line up.

Making more of a Bayview-area subdivision house

Most houses in Bayview Northeast were built from the mid-1990s onward, and Bayview Wellington mixes detached homes, townhouses and condo apartments. The earliest of them are now old enough that builder-grade kitchens and bathrooms are wearing out, and many basements have never been finished. Families who like their street often want more usable space rather than a new address. The structure in these homes is usually straightforward, so more of your budget goes to layout and finishes instead of hidden problems.

Common projects here include finishing a basement into a family room, guest suite or home office, replacing a builder kitchen with a layout that fits how you actually cook, and turning a basic ensuite into a tiled walk-in shower. Timing follows the scope, though kitchens tend to take three to six weeks and basements four to eight. Before any of it, you get an itemized written estimate, nothing is added to the job without your say, and the work area stays protected and tidy while your family lives around it.