Late 40's Drywall with Plaster Veneer Film

[Willa]

The west coast and southern Ontario are miles apart, more than just geographically.

My area took a big hit when several major plants shut down. That left a ton of people who had stable incomes unemployed. Many of them re-invented themselves and now do handyman or home renovation type stuff without ever having gone through an apprenticeship. The flip side is that since this area's economy took such a big punch in the gut, is that the people who had gone through apprenticeships in certain trades had priced themself out of the market. There are certain trades where there will always be a demand, often an emergency demand like plumbing, electrical, roofing. Many of the skilled workers left for where there was the money to pay for their services, and went to Toronto, Ottawa, etc.

DIY entertainment has led many people to think they could do a competent job. Like a can of paint is affordable for most people - and if the results are terrible then it can get painted over until it is fixed. I don't know what the breakdown might be for people who are professional painters - like how common it was for people to pay professional painters 100, 50, 20 years ago v.s. doing it themselves. I'm sure professional painters were outraged when pre-mixed paints became widely available - as their ability to mix a good paint in a good color was an important part of their trade.

The ratio of housing affordability has affected the trades, too. Insane housing prices in major markets has meant that people are stretched way too far to afford basic housing. Gone are the days when a single modest income could buy a starter home in larger urban centers. Gone are the days, too, when many people had an employer they worked for, for decades v.s. short term contracts that plague many working people and lead to intense financial instability. $ 400.00 worth of materials v.s. $ 6000.00 for a contractor to do the job has led many people in this circumstance to start learning to DIY.

So far in my experiences here, most contractor types do not have respect for old houses, and do not have any experience dealing with them, except to cover up the old features to make them look less old.

[phil]

I've noticed that at a kid, people valued things, especially antiques which were handed down and over time they became so scarce they aren't as commonplace and off the minds of many. . Same with houses. the craftsmanship and thought and care is gone , replaced by prefabricated cabinets and other junk. Now people care more about the square footage. here the population exploded because our government encouraged it . I saw a lot of changes around 1986 with expo and our city has been in a state of decline since as planeload after planeload of immigrants find their new home. Now it isn't the same friendly place and it doesn't have that comfortable feel it once did. . Its more like Toronto was 30 years ago where you walk down the street and people keep to themselves. the housing crunch is now such an issue. people driving further and splitting their houses into little pieces. this often ruins old houses. It becomes more about the land value and square footage and money and less about the design, materials, and form.
like antiques, the appreciation of older homes has weakened. Here there aren't so many old ones and many in greater Vancouver are gone or are being used but not Necessarily restored. in the high priced streets sure those old houses found rich owners and some do maintain them. It is different here because the real estate went so crazy that young people dont' even dream of ever owning a single family dwelling. we lost that because we had some governments in power that figured out they could defer any financial crisis and spike the building industries with immigration. it worked but here was a price.

I remember back in grades school the teachers explaining how we had such small population growth that when we retire there just wouldn't be enough younger people to support the services, so in part they tried to fix that with immigration. It's like borrowing from peter to pay paul.

as a kid I expected I would buy a house , get married have my 2.3 kids, buy a volvo and live and I guess it wasn't that I didnt' have the chance but I always thought no I don't want a condo I don't wan to raise kids in an appartment or condo. I want that piece of dirt then Ill have the kids. I had a little window after I bought at 40 but now over 50 I'm reconsidering the kids funny thing is a lot of the immigrants dont' have issues boppin em out.. lol maybe it's got some to do with where you had set your expectations. now I have 2.3 volvos lol..