Considering a new semi-detached home near Lorraine when you live in a detached house means changing formats first, well before changing towns.

In Lorraine, on Montreal's North Shore, semi-detached houses are few and far between, so the comparison is worth making in detail. This article goes through what changes, point by point, between a detached or semi-detached home near Lorraine: the shared wall, the lot, winter, floor space, and what, at heart, stays the same.

Lorraine, a town of detached houses

Statistics Canada's 2021 Census leaves no doubt: of the 3,390 occupied dwellings in Lorraine, 2,990 are detached houses, or 88.2%. The share is 80.6% in neighbouring Rosemère and 64.2% in Blainville. Semi-detached houses number just 85, barely 2.5% of the stock, compared with 5.8% in Sainte-Julie.

In-between formats are just as scarce: 155 row houses, 160 apartments and 190 condo units. And 97.6% of households own their home. In other words, anyone who wants a house that's simpler to live in, while still owning a house, finds few options in Lorraine itself.

The shared wall: what it changes, and what it leaves

A semi-detached home shares a single wall with its neighbour. The other three sides stay open, leaving room for windows: in BÉAcité's homes, every room has large windows, and several lots have no neighbours behind them. The project puts generous glazing and a private garden for each home front and centre.

When you visit, take time to find the shared wall on the plans, then in the house: which rooms run along it, which face the yard, where the bedrooms are. Those are layout questions best settled before you buy, plan in hand, rather than after you move in.

The lot: from Lorraine's rules to a garden handed over finished

Lorraine protects its wooded character, and its rules show it. According to the town, every lot must have at least one tree per 100 m², and a house other than a semi-detached or row house must have two large ones. Vegetation must cover at least 40% of the open part of the lot, artificial turf is banned, and a certificate of authorization is required for any landscaping work. Cutting down a tree whose trunk is over 5 cm in diameter at 1.4 m above the ground also takes a certificate, and replacement planting may be required. Watering follows a schedule based on the last digit of the address, and the emerald ash borer was detected in Lorraine in the summer of 2015.

Those rules give the town its tree cover; they also call for an attentive owner, season after season. At BÉAcité, in Sainte-Julie, the lot arrives differently: grading is included, landscaping is complete on delivery, and upkeep is then fully taken care of by an all-inclusive program, with details from the sales director. You keep a garden-level backyard and a private garden, where a pool or spa is possible.

Winter, the car and the garage

In Lorraine, the town clears public roads but not driveways or private accesses. Temporary winter car shelters are also banned throughout the territory.

Every BÉAcité home has a single garage and a double driveway, and an outlet in the garage is ready for charging an electric car. As for the driveway in winter, ask the sales director: the maintenance program's document spells out what's covered.

Detached or semi-detached home near Lorraine: how much floor space?

Lorraine's houses are big: 8.5 rooms on average, and 46.5% of dwellings have four or more bedrooms (2021 Census). A BÉAcité semi-detached home comes in three models with known floor areas:

the semi-detached bungalow, all on one level: 1,006 sq ft on the ground floor, a basement of the same size and a 294 sq ft garage, for 2,306 sq ft in total;
the Duo cottage: 2,018 sq ft of living space on two levels, plus an 858 sq ft basement and a 292 sq ft garage, or 3,168 sq ft; with the optional mezzanine, living space rises to 2,356 sq ft;
the Urbain model: 1,622 sq ft of living space, a 652 sq ft basement and a 260 sq ft garage, for 2,534 sq ft.

One more point sets the two formats apart in Lorraine: an intergenerational unit is only allowed inside a detached single-family house, for no more than two related people, with no separate front entrance and no civic number of its own. BÉAcité, for its part, presents itself as a fine alternative to intergenerational living; the sales director can explain what that means for your family.

Among the turnkey homes, 405 and 423 each have three bedrooms. If one of the rooms is going to be a workspace, our article on setting up a home office near Lorraine shows how BÉAcité's homes lend themselves to it, from a closed room to the mezzanine.

What the format doesn't change

Moving to a semi-detached home doesn't mean giving up a house. You keep your own entrance, garage, basement, backyard and garden. Inside, the standard features are those of a full-fledged house: a quartz kitchen countertop, 9-foot ceilings and central air conditioning. The neighbourhood stays residential: Vilamo, in Sainte-Julie, is governed by architectural guidelines and has 600,000 sq ft of green space, and the BÉAcité project, with its 50 semi-detached homes on Geoffrion and Bissonnette streets, includes two parks. As in Lorraine, there's a golf course next door: the Club de golf La Vallée-du-Richelieu.

If what's holding you back is the age of your current house, our article on buying a turnkey new home near Lorraine compares renovating a house in Lorraine with buying one that's finished.

Conclusion

Detached or semi-detached home near Lorraine: the difference comes down to one shared wall, a lot that arrives landscaped and looked after, and floor space more compact than in Lorraine's big houses. The rest — the entrance, the garage, the yard, the garden — remains yours. To get a real feel for it, tour a semi-detached home: the sales office at 435 Geoffrion Street welcomes you on weekdays, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and by appointment in the evening or on Saturday and Sunday, at 514-812-9633.

Detached or semi-detached home near Lorraine: what you keep, what you share