I want to be sure that you all don’t miss the story that I wrote for Tiny House Listings regarding the ecological tiny house building program in Peterborough.
Too, they have in the last couple of days announced a number of the new programs for 2015.
We are so very fortunate to have such a great program in Ontario! I hope a few of you will be there this year. Let me now what you think.
Photo: Courtesy of Chris Magwood
Here are some stats on why tiny houses are fantastic energy savers. What this does not take into account is the HUGE reduction in additional building materials (outside of lumber) and the huge reduction in STUFF needed to fill the house.
I don’t cool THO and will being next year in burning wood scraps in my mini 12. Because I was not there this year I cannot do the carbon footprint for 2014, but in 2013 it was 1.1 carbon tons – however with 10 acres of untouched forest we contribute back far more than we could ever use even with having two houses. Our forest, I estimate covers the foot print for 10 normal homes plus our own footprint.
Thanks to Tiny House Build for creating this info graphic www.TinyHouseBuild.com
Update: Monday May 16, 2016
I am sorry to say that the tip that came to me about the Municipality of Highlands East was not correct. I don’t think that the tipper meant any malice but they were simply misinformed and I passed on this misinformation to you. I am very sorry about this.
I know it must have been a sad disappointment for at least one of the people who read it, because Dan wrote to the the Municipality of Highlands East and here is the note that he got back.
“Our zoning by-law has not changed and the minimum size of a dwelling is 65 square meters or 700 square feet.”
I am sorry Dan and others who hoped to make this community their home.
_____________________________________________
There are two bits of news that I find promising when it comes to the legality of tiny houses in Ontario.
1. Garden Suites
2. UPDATE: the Municipality of Highlands East has lowered its footprint size to 500 feet. Which is a perfectly reasonable house size and right sized for a lot of people. (News of this came to me on November 19, 2015) One tiny step forward!
Tiny house hopeful Anthony shared a bunch of research that he has been doing in his area. He discovered that Garden Suites are allowed to be built in the area outlined in black in the below map of Ontario.
Each of these areas has rules unique to its own area. But essentially what holds true to all of them is that if you can get someone to agree to allow you on their land, if you hook up your services to the main house and if you pay a nice hefty fee, you can park a tiny house in these areas. Yes I said PARK! These buildings must be supplementary and they must be mobile.
With this said, please before you jump check the specific area, there are a lot of restrictions and you will need to know these. You can’t fill too much of the green space in a lot for example and wouldn’t it be a pity to build a house 1 square foot too big after paying for all the hookups.
Also doing this will NOT be cheap. These houses MUST be hooked in on the existing infrastructure. No off grid toilets, there must be running water and electricity. In other words, if you are considering building you have to add all of these infrastructural costs to your build. Further to this, you better have a LONG term lease with the land owner, even if this is someone you trust. Once you spend the money for hooking your house to sewage, water and electricity you want to be sure that a fight over a cup of sugar won’t find you and your house without a place to live.
I want to note that while I am excited about the potential of this, there is a lot of leg work and money to make this happen.
If you decide to go ahead with doing this, please do so with your building inspector as well as a lawyer to draw up a lease agreement. Remember I know something about tiny houses, but I am not willing to take any responsibility if you fail to do your own homework for your own house. I can’t possibly know all the individual codes for every township.
The second point, and this is REALLY great news, just last night I heard from a counsellor from a very nice area in Ontario. This person said that they are considering removing the minimum house size in the area that they are representing. I sent back SO much information that they will have to spend quite some time reading the information I sent. This said, it is totally worth my time to donate my time to this cause, because I want to ensure that tiny and small sustainable homes are available to anyone who wants to live this lifestyle.
When I know more, I will certainly share more.
We are getting closer every single day folks!
Here is a sweet little business set up in an alley in the arts district in Saskatoon. An absolutely right sized spot isn’t it?
After a recent trip to Saskatoon, a community filled with tiny and little houses, I called the City of Saskatoon, Planning and Building Department. I asked if there was a minimum size requirement in Saskatoon. Apparently there is not because they said they did not think that there was a minimum size restriction in the National Building code. This is the code that Saskatoon uses.
After speaking with three people on the phone, I wrote to the Canadian Code Centre (a couple of times before I got the straight to this question):
____________________________________
Dear Ms. Moreland
The National Building Code (NBC) does not regulate a minimum size for buildings in the body of the code. Whether a permit is required or not for a building is an administrative requirement, for which each province and territory has detailed requirements (and – which may differ from province to province).
The National Building Code only contains a few (model) administrative requirements for provinces or territories, should they wish to use them in enforcing and administering their code. Within these model requirements (located in Division C of the NBC) is a reference to a document “Administrative Requirements for Use with the NBC 1985”, which in turn suggests that an exemption for permits would be appropriate if buildings are smaller than 10m² (108 ft²).
This exemption is based on the assumption that such small buildings would be accessory buildings and that there is only 1 such accessory building per primary building. In addition, the 1985 document states that the exemption for small buildings is not intended to waive the safety and health requirements for a series or group of such buildings. This likely means that an authority having jurisdiction (city or municipality) would not use this exemption where people intended to live in such small houses.
In addition, staff at the Canadian Codes Centre are not aware of a study or research report that contains a clear-cut, definitive answer as to whether there is a legal or safe minimum size for a permanent dwelling.
The views expressed in this letter are those of the staff of the Canadian Codes Centre of the National Research Council who assist the Committees which are responsible for the preparation of the National Building, Plumbing and Fire Codes. These views should not be considered as official interpretations of legislated requirements based on the National Building and Fire Codes of Canada because the final responsibility for an official interpretation rests with the authority having jurisdiction.
Kind Regards
Frank Lohmann,
Senior Technical Advisor, Housing and Small Buildings (NBC Part 9)
NRC Construction
Canadian Codes Centre
1200 Montreal Road Building M23a
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R6
http://www.nationalcodes.ca
_________________________________________
What I get from this letter is that it is as I previously understood. There is NO minimum house size in Canadian code!
So, it is therefore up to we Tiny Housers and Tiny House enthusiasts to educate our municipalities and local government to the benefits of tiny living so that we can have these changes in code made to all locals. We must lobby, speak to elected officials, educate those who are on the election trail and keep making our voices heard if we want to see tiny houses available in communities across this nation.
What I am asking is that anyone who is interested in this lifestyle please take a few moments and write letters to the elected officials in your community. Copy the building department as well. If we all lobby together there will be change, community by community.
ALSO, FYI… Here is a story on the awesome community that opened my eyes a little more; Saskatoon.
The view from my loft is certainly changing. The canopy is moving into its final stage before falling.
Photographing from inside the loft to outside, the photo does not capture how bright and orange it is out there. But it does show that there is change.
Out on a walk I found some interesting species of mushrooms growing all over one of the living but old and gnarled trees. Another thing now to make this trees one of my favourites. It is always an interesting one!
Anyone know what variety these are and are the edible?
The farm that is part of the original 50 acres, of which my land is a part, took off its soybeans. The field lay nearly empty now showing itself like skin below a freshly shaved head.
I have never been on a farm that produced soy before. What was surprising to me is that so many beans are left behind by the harvesting machines. In about a square foot of this field I was able to pick up this many beans.
Can you believe the waste?
I could not have imagined that so many would simply lay in the field. Is this now seeded for the following year? Or food for the turkeys, deer, squirrels and and migrating birds? I wish I knew more about this.
Tiny House Ontario 