Genevieve Bourdon plants petunias in her window boxes on the Southeast Hill on Tuesday. Hatters are increasingly taking on outdoor projects and gardening to shake off cabin fever that's built up during calls to remain physically separated.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Hatters who are generally staying at home this spring to battle the spread of COVID-19 are apparently battling boredom with home improvement projects.
“Everyone’s a gardener this year,” said Rob Craats, the owner of Redcliff Home Hardware, who has fielded calls from as far away as Calgary inquiring about seed potatoes.
“We sold out weeks ago.”
But, he’s still seeing a lot of demand for plants, landscaping ornaments, barbecues and general hardware as residents look to spruce up yards where they plan to spend most of their outdoor time this summer.
A rush to take on backyard projects has led to bustling trade in the city’s hardware stores and garden centres, but has also led to more line strikes with underground utility infrastructure, the city says.
Businesses across the region that supply construction material, paint and garden supplies are reporting heavy sales as green thumbs and do-it-yourselfers take on home improvement projects.
So much so that city officials addressed the trend in a weekly update of emergency protocols, and especially one unexpected consequence.
“I think we’ve all been to a hardware store,” said city director of emergency management Merrick Brown during his standing update to city council on Monday night.
“We’ve seen an increase in underground infrastructure damage … In the past week alone, we had four incidents of underground line strikes,” he said.
He recommends that people get in touch with the city or Alberta One Call, (typically known as “Call before you dig!”), but also said that in a typical year, 80 per cent of line strikes occur in situations where lines are marked, but improper excavation takes place.
Residents should avail themselves of safety procedures when digging near lines.
Fencepost holes, anchoring playhouses or landscaping are not the only activities being taken up by Hatters who are looking to improve the spaces they are increasingly occupying during the pandemic.
Ralph Currie, the general manager of AltaWide TimberMart, said that walk-in traffic is up at least 25 per cent over a typical spring, and that’s helping to make up for a slower season in larger renovation or new construction projects by contractors.
“We discussed it early on and figured we’d be seeing a lot more decks and fences this season,” Currie told the News on Tuesday.
Spring is always a busy time of year, said Craats, but with more people focused on spending time at home and in yards, they are also taking on projects to spruce things up.
“It’s definitely been busy for a couple weeks and that’s coupled with the fact that everything takes a little bit longer,” said Craats, who says gate latches, angle brackets, screws, are flying off the shelves, along with lots and lots of paint.
“People are home, staining their deck of fences, and there’s a lot of general hardware as people are getting around to fixing those things that they’d been putting off.”
