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
I have a plan to make a little less than two square feet addition to Tiny House Ontario. 22 x 8 inches plus a 22x 5 inch space where there is currently wall will become part of the footprint. It is an absurd amount of work to add such a very tiny 242 square inch additional space, but I think that the outcome will be totally worth the work. The great thing is that this will not actually add anything to the square footage of the house because the addition is a “dog box” that will stick out from the house on the West wall and this dog box will eventually become an enclosed stone chimney. I understand that just like outhouses, chimneys do not count in the square footage in my township, so the “dog box” is a short term coverable solution which will be worked on weather permitting after the dog box goes in.
The fact is that I have to make an addition. I had not included a wood stove in my original plan, but after having used a propane stove to heat, one thing I can say for certain that in a cold climate with a tiny well insulated space like THO, it is a terrible heat source. I really hate the dampness of it and it really is time to upgrade. Once the “dog box” is in place, it will be home to the Mini 12 Grey Stove that I purchased a year ago in December. Too, because the best plan is not always the easiest, the only way I can see to do this and still have a comfortable room is to locate the stove to go in the location of existing cupboards on the West wall in the Southern corner.
I also have another good reason for burning wood. We live on ten acres of forest and my stove will give me viable repurpose for wood branch debris.
I have been at the house and I have already started the renovation. First, I had to remove all the stuff; I went through everything and purchased a few plastic containers and found that everything is essential, fits neatly in two thirds of the space that I had been using. Second, I removed and relocated the cupboard doors so that the new plastic storage bins are neatly hidden away. Third, I cut out and removed all the build in shelves. The nice thing is that the propane heater fits now neatly in the alcove and will stay here until I can do the rest of the job.
Relocated closed cupboard and new plastic tool bins
The truth is, there is still MUCH to be done. The wall boards have to be removed. Then the framing has to be cut out and reinforcements have to be put in place. Then the wall needs to have a 22x 60 inch hole cut through, straight to the great outdoors. After this a tiny 27 x 11 inch cement pad has to be poured and cured and the teeny tiny dog box addition has to be built. Then it will have to be roofed , then the entire thing will need to be sheathed, and steel has to be added to it in order to keep it dry.
After this is done there is insulation to add, and then a deck needs to be added for the stove to sit on. This tiny addition and the existing 9 inch deep alcove will then need to be covered in cement board and then this will need to be covered with something fireproof and attractive. I am thinking 1.5 inch thick marble remnants might be the option I go with, because I can get these for free from a counter top maker’s dumpster that is close to my house.
Planned “dog box” addition to THO
I had hoped to start removing the wall boards and get the reinforcement boards up this week, but a trip to the doctor yesterday brings me some less than stellar news. I need another operation. I will be cut hipbone to hipbone and up to my belly button in a big upside-down capitol T, so they can rid me of tumors. Too the doctor biopsied me again yesterday even though so far it has been nothing malignant. Tomorrow I go for a barium swallow test too, yum yum. The end result is doc says no work for me now, and nothing for 6 to 8 weeks afterward either. Sadly, despite the fact that I was feeling pretty good and getting things done again until my appointment yesterday, today I feel like I have been dragged through a grinder.
But, there is good news! They will be chopping me opened on December 2nd so it will be over with soon enough and Doc thinks I will sufficiently recovered by the end of January that I should be good to go.
The crummy news is that February in Canada is not a good time of year to cure cement, nor to cut a hole in a house, so still no stove.
You know folks, I am sick of being sick; however I am glad to have a plan and to have the space in the wall cleared for when I am ready to go. Too, I have to say, despite the fact that the house is not moving forward much this year, it is holding up really well and looking great.
The dog box addition is to go in on the wall between the window and the door to the cloth porch.
This dog box will eventually become enclosed by a stone chimney.
UPDATE: Please be aware that I am not happy with the stove and cannot endorse it.
My great Grandmother’s kitchen
I have been working on my family tree and going through old albums. I came across this photo of my great grandmother “Ma” in her kitchen. This is a room she spent a lot of time in.
The reason that I am sharing the photo is because I wanted to show the readers what a real kitchen of a real person looked like in 1958. This is the kitchen were she canned all the food that she, her husband and their ELEVEN children would need. As a matter of fact, she has so many children that her own children has some children of their own before her last little ones were born. Some, like my grandmother, moved her family in with Ma’s.
Every single thing that they ate came from their farm and the garden. Every vegetable that they would eat in the winter was prepared right there in that kitchen. She had to can everything that would not keep. Green beans, beets, tomatoes, asparagus, leeks, cucumbers, peaches, pears, apples, plums… everything from veg to preserves was all canned.
I am not sure if you see what I am driving at? Did you notice in the photo that there was not a little bit of counter top in that kitchen? No storage either? The food was kept in the cellar and that little shelf above the stove was for every day dishes and cutlery. It was also for keeping things warm, for those who were late. All food prep and eating were done on the same table, covered in oil cloth, all the cooking was done there on the stove unless in the middle of summer when the stove was moved out into the back kitchen. All the food prep would have to be put away and everything wiped before the table could be set and people could eat. It was not unusual for there to be 30 people eating in this kitchen.
I will think about this photo the next time I start thinking the 6 feet of counter at THO is small. Clearly this tiny houser has things pretty good.
I don’t mean to glorify those days. I know that times were hard and that there was so much work to be done. Poor Ma never stopped working! Her hands were like leather on bones. Truthfully, I think Ma must have been pretty happy by the time 1958 came around and they were sufficiently recovered from the great depression that times were easier and she could buy a jar of pickles instead of making everything.
The question is, do you think you could go without cupboards and countertops in your house?
I just heard some good news for tiny house wannabes in Ontario. This came from Tamara who is a tiny house fan. She says that Edwardsburg/Cardinal has a minimum house size of 400 square feet***. So, if you are considering the absolute maximum size of a tiny house or even a small house this area looks like this area could be a good and totally legal option. This is a nice area of Ontario, particularly down at the riverfront.
Since we are here at the border, I want to wish a happy fourth of July to friends and readers down in the USA. And, on the topic of celebrating America, I have been working on my family tree and have found that my ancestors were the White family (no pun intended) who arrived on the Mayflower. My direct branch were of course UEL, so this is how they wound up in Canada. None the less, they were clearly the first of my genetic background to come to North America, excepting the Native Delware Indian branch; however, this branch is impossible to trace.
***NOTE: I have not confirmed this so please be sure to check with the building department before purchasing land.
Edwardsburgh/Cardinal, Ontario screen shot from Google Maps
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!
Tiny House Ontario 