Tips for Moving

Moving can be an exciting and overwhelming experience. There is a lot to remember when planning your move, but with some organization your experience can be a lot less stressful.

A Few Weeks Prior to Moving

1. Arrange your moving day well in advance – When booking a truck or hiring a moving company, it’s often worth comparing several estimates. Your Royal LePage agent can provide you with some referrals for local and national movers. 
2. Re- direct your essential services to your new home; arrange to have services such as gas, electricity, and cable TV to be connected on the day the sale closes.
3. At your current home, arrange to have your gas, water, and electricity meters read on the day you leave and have the bills forwarded to your new address. If necessary, water heater and furnace rental agreements should to be transferred to the purchaser.
4. Update your contact information and provide a forwarding address for schools, work, and services such as banks or insurance companies
5. Also, don’t forget to make arrangements for pet or baby sitters for the day of the move.

Days Prior to Moving

1. Gather all important personal, medical and insurance documents and keep them separate from other moving items
2. Pack valuables and any personal items that you will require in the interim of your house being unpacked.
3. Make sure to pack and label items by a theme, such as kitchen or bathroom, so you can easily get organized when unpacking

Day of the Move

1. If you are using a moving company make a list of all items to be moved and compare it to the movers to make sure you agree on contents to be delivered
2. Check all shelves, closets and cupboards for any items that may have been left behind

After the Move

1. Apply for a new drivers license, health card or other items that require an up to date address
2. Register your car at your new address. Your insurance company will have a limited time grace period so make sure you register before the deadline
3. Check open and closing hours of stores and services in your new neighborhood. This will help you feel settled earlier

Moving can be difficult, but with careful planning your move can go smoothly so that you can start enjoying your new home right away.

 

Cbc.ca
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
http://www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|203788|cbcn|20140603|197467646
CBC News has obtained data showing the results of approximately 14,000 radon tests in homes across the country, which show that over 1,500 homes Health Canada tested had radon levels above the department's guidelines.  

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada after smoking. It's a radioactive gas naturally emitted from the earth through the breakdown of uranium in soil. It enters your home by seeping in through cracks, pipes, windows and the foundation of your house.

It's estimated that radon kills 3,000 Canadians a year.  The Canadian guideline for radon in indoor air is 200 becquerels per cubic metre (200 Bq/m3). The data obtained by CBC News shows that the five highest results in the country were found in:
- Armstrong Station, Ont. (5,657 Bq/m3)
- Bas-Paquetville, N.B. (5,590 Bq/m3)
- Sparwood, B.C. (2941 Bq/m3)
- Gaspé, Que. (2,923 Bq/m3)
- Gooderham, Ont. (2,741 Bq/m3).

In 2012, Health Canada released a report showing that 6.9 per cent of Canadians are living in homes with radon levels above the current guideline. The results were based on a two-year survey of approximately 14,000 homes across the country.

"I'd like to see legislation. I'd like people be required to test," says Anne-Marie Nicol, an assistant professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University. Health Canada recommends that you take action if the radon levels in your house are 200 Bq/m3 or higher. 

Test your home's radon levels

But it is not a requirement to test for radon or take any steps if you have high levels. Radon levels can vary from one house to another and Health Canada recommends that everyone test their home.  

Of the homes that Health Canada tested in the survey, approximately 1,557 of them had results above the guideline of 200 Bq/m3.

The World Health Organization recommends the guideline for countries be 100 Bq/m3. Data obtained by CBC News through an Access to Information request shows that 2,514 additional homes tested in Health Canada's survey have radon levels between 100-199 Bq/m3. According to the WHO, the risk of lung cancer increases by 16 per cent per 100 Bq/m3 increase in radon concentration.

Nicol thinks that in comparison to the action other countries have taken against radon, Canada needs to adopt more stringent policies. 

"Things like requiring to test homes. The real estate transaction seems to be a very rich potential, and they've tried it in different countries. And in the U.K. there's issues around getting a mortgage. You can't get a mortgage in some places unless you've actually shown that your house is habitable. So there's other mechanisms that other countries have tried that seem to be effective that just haven't, we haven't gotten there yet as a country. So I think there's still lots that we can do."

Widower takes up the radon battle

Dana Schmidt would like to see more being done to prevent Canadians from being exposed to radon. Schmidt lost his wife Donna to lung cancer in 2009. She died within three months of her diagnosis. She had been a smoker, but quit 20 years prior to contracting the disease. She had been active and healthy, so when Schmidt found out she had lung cancer it took him by surprise. He began to look for other answers.

"I was looking through the literature and the word lung cancer and radon popped up."

Schmidt tested their home in Castlegar, B.C., and found that it had radon levels almost double the guideline set by Health Canada. He and his wife had been living there for 15 years.  

After his wife's passing, Schmidt became active in making sure as many people as possible know of the risks associated with radon. He set up the Donna Schmidt Memorial Lung Cancer Prevention Society and began sending out radon test kits to people in the surrounding area.  

"It's about saving lives. It's also saving suffering?. We all can die sometime from something, but no one should have to die from what I saw. It's a terrible way to die."

Of the thousands of results he has received, almost half of the homes have radon levels above Health Canada's guidelines.  
Schmidt thinks that introducing mandatory testing during real estate transactions could be one way to ensure more Canadians are living insafe homes.

In 2007, Health Canada considered making testing during real estate transactions mandatory, but decided otherwise.  According to a 2007Canadian Real Estate Association document, Health Canada "has abandoned this approach at the present time due to concerns raised by industry groups, including CREA."

Health Canada says that such requirements would have to be adopted at local level. "It's not going to be a requirement at least from our perspective. It may very well happen that provinces or some municipalities that know that they have high levels of radon in their area may decide to be more proactive on radon and require it. And if that happens that's fine ? but it's not something that we're going to require," says Kelley Bush, head of radon education and awareness with Health Canada.