While the garages of many residences are installed with counterslopes, which encourages water flow and flooding during heavy rains, the City of Montreal now offers a subsidy for the installation of a waterproof garage door.
It is as part of the recent enhancement of the RénoPlex program, offered by the City of Montreal, that new financial assistance mechanisms have been added or modulated intended for owners wishing to carry out work to reduce the risks of flooding linked to to heavy precipitation. Buildings with one to five dwellings are affected. “This improvement facilitates access to the program, increases the subsidy amounts and adds new subsidizable work,” underlines Audrey Gauthier, spokesperson for the municipality.
Among the three new types of subsidized work, we find the installation of a waterproof garage door (aid of $9,380), a waterproof entrance door (a sum of $3,380) and a non-return valve ( from $80 to $560 depending on the type).
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Conclusive tests
Is installing a waterproof garage door, a relatively new concept in North America, worth it?
The Écohabitation NPO, initially skeptical of these systems, carried out tests earlier this year. After ordering four waterproof garage doors in Germany, the organization installed them on as many residences in the Latin Quarter in Montreal, fitted out with counterslopes, before simulating a situation of torrential rain. The verdict?
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Emmanuel Cosgrove, general director of Écohabitation
We had doubts about their proper functioning, but after carrying out the tests, we found that in two cases, only a few drops infiltrated, and in the other two cases, nothing got through. So it was quite conclusive.
Emmanuel Cosgrove, general director of Écohabitation
In Montreal, there are some 80,000 garages fitted out with a counter-slope, a type of installation widespread around the 1970s. Half a century later, it proves unsuitable in relation to the new climatic reality, with abundant rain being increasingly frequent and intense, saturating sewer systems more than ever.
In short, these developments today constitute a real open door for basement flooding.
In its pilot project, Écohabitation recorded the details of the costs of acquiring and installing a waterproof garage door by a professional. Total bill, including the door itself, delivery and labor: $21,580. The new subsidy offered by the City would therefore cover a little less than half.
For Écohabitation, which considers this system to be effective, this boost to owners is good news, highlighting the fact that insurers stop covering damage in the event of repeated disasters. Often, affected residents find themselves forced to sue municipalities to try to obtain compensation.
For the moment, owners attracted by waterproof garage doors will have to turn to imports from Europe, since this system has not yet really flourished on North American lands. “We invited Quebec manufacturers to come and see the technology. I imagine it is only a matter of time before models are made here and, overall, at a lower price,” concludes Emmanuel Cosgrove.