Frontenac ResilienceSustainable community and more

Tiny House work bee meeting today!

Thirteen people, and agreements to build five structures under 108 sq. ft. Three hours, getting to know new neighbors, a sense that people are there to help each other do it!

One pre-party, five dates picked, one for a “focus day” actually building the houses. Those wanting “houses” (actually small legal structures with a variety of purposes) agreed to aim for helping three others build. Some other folks along as volunteers for this time round.

One excellent building resource person – thanks Eric for the early thinking and being solidly there.

I think it’s safe to say, we’re on our way. Great energy in the room and a sense that, not only can we do this, we want to do this.

Thanks to Rosie, who brought the gift of youth to us. She’ll be working as a gardening intern this summer. Here’s to her and many young people like her moving here . . . immigrating to Frontenac County, especially the wild northern region (yes, I just happen to live there!).

Not so long ago there used to be barn-raisings around here as the community rallied to do together what would be hard for one pair of hands to do. There was no set of instructions and certainly none downloaded from the Internet. However there were plenty of resourceful people in the community and together they figured out how to get a good barn built with the resources they had.

No doubt there are many Frontenac News readers who would benefit from, and enjoy, helping build small buildings in a team this year, with others’ help. Parents with their children for example, codgers needing a project (I know you’re out there), teenagers wanting some healthy first independence from the family. Or a separate place for granny or grandpa that’s just away from the family, meditation hut, a guest place for family members to visit, a place for interns or hired hands to sleep, a shed. Or something you build just because!

Here’s how it works. We (Eric Joss who’s built a few, Lynn Shwadchuck and myself) are inviting everybody who’d like to help with building a number of new tiny houses this summer to come together with others and pool our resources to get these mini-mansions built. You could be in for a day, or if you’re having a house built, in for more. Whether there are four or forty-four people, we’ll take an inventory of our resources and interest levels and figure out how to proceed. Taking inventory means identifying who has what: building experience, a truck, existing materials, time, youthful strength, organizational ability, tunes and food for the downtime after a work day.

A group is able to take advantage of economies of scale, buying things in common and making one trip instead of many. Bowing to the spirit of the old barn-raisings, some individuals will doubtless give more than they get, paying it forward.

Tiny houses can range from the very simple (and very inexpensive, for example, built with scrounged materials), to elaborate and grand. For today’s purposes, we’re really talking about a 10×10 structure that fits under the building code requirement for inspection. But really other small structures could be “tiny.” (I’ve posted some pictures and resources at www.FrontenacResilience.org.) Eric is committed to this project as advisor and helper and I am on as organizer and Lynn as support. Speaking of commitment, since participants will depend on each other, success will depend on our accountability for what we say we’re going to do. This is a bottom-line real cost of participating.

The planning meeting will be March 6th at 1:30 at Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake. If there are a large number of us it may take a while to figure out how to proceed so the hall is booked till 4:30. With a lot of people showing up, we may need to break into separate teams. We’ll see how we stack up against those barn-raisers of old, and perhaps there will be a few out who can remember that far back.

Although I’d like people to let me know in advance if they’re coming (it helps with initial planning), no one will be turned away. To reply, add a comment below, you can email Andrew at countryknowhow (at) frontenac (dot) net, or phone 613.279.1966

If you’re starting to think about a tiny house in your family’s future – for the teen reaching for some independence, the getaway room in back, guest sleeping cabin, meditation shack – a great place to start is tinyhouseblog.com. There you’ll find a gallery of tiny houses, access to plans, more imaginative concepts and possibilities than you can shake a 2X4 at. Here are a few examples.

Click the pictures to see inside.

Yer basic hermitage cabin

This one's on wheels

This one has everything.

These “French cubes” are rented out to tourists, complete with the telescopes. These could be great with the grand telescope they’re looking at building in North Frontenac. Little wilderness getaways for folks coming to visit.

I’ve heard so many variations about what could and couldn’t be built I went to the source, Central Frontenac Township’s gentle but efficient Chief Building Inspector, Ian Trickett. Ian doesn’t make the rules by the way (the provincial government does);he just helps you work with them and ensures that they’re followed.

My own question was this: I wanted to build a “Tiny House” or “bunkie,” a structure that fits under the 10 square metre (108 sq. ft.) floor space limit after which a permit is required. I wanted to build it largely with used and scrap wood that I’ve been accumulating. What features could I have and what couldn’t I.

The 10 square metre limit refers to the total area covered by the foundation – the outside in other words, not the inside. Your Tiny House must be just one story so no lofts on top; that would add to the area. No inspection is necessary though if you want a fireplace or stove, you’ll have to have that inspected. A deck would count as part of your area too. Nor can there be be a cantilevered section that juts out past the 108 sq. ft. to get around the size limit. The 108 sq. ft. goes all the way up, in other words, though a normal roof overhang doesn’t count.

But you don’t have to stop at 108 sq. ft. You can build a sleeping cabin on your property that can be up to 400 sq. ft. as long as it doesn’t have kitchen facilities, which would make it like a second house. This much larger sleeping cabin would require a building permit ($80) and wood that’s been stamped as being of sufficient grade. If you use wood from your own property or other wood that’s been milled for you, you can have it evaluated by local people who are empowered give it the necessary stamp of approval if everything’s OK. And a toilet in the sleeping cabin may need to be tied into your septic system. This is true for a composting toilet too if it releases liquid into the ground as some do.

While you need approved lumber, old or new, for joists and studs in your sleeping cabin, you don’t need approval on siding, sheathing, trim or strapping. So it could be that you can build a much bigger space than 108 sq. ft. without spending too much on wood. Some of your used wood, if you have any, might be fine.

The next Country Know-how will be about a plan for a number of us to collectively plan, scrounge and buy materials, and build our own “Tiny House.” You’re welcome to join us and build a small structure on your property, with recycled materials if you like, this summer.

Ian Trickett will answer your questions about buildings, tiny or not, on Friday, February 19th at 1:00 pm at the Township Office. (613) 279-2935 Ext 226.

Bunkies, tiny houses, 10′ x 10′ structures, by whatever name received a lot of attention at the “Futures Conversation” last night. Although we were exploring possibilities that grasped our imagination during the evening, it wasn’t until we’d officially quit doing that that Tiny Houses strode onto the scene. They made a boisterous entrance and stayed a while.

We tended to see different advantages which suggested there were indeed a number of advantages from having Tiny Houses in our collective future. Lynn and I brainstormed a bunch of others after folks left. Must have been the coffee and home-made cheese from Suzanne’s cheese workshop!

I am dreaming in technicolour but let me count the ways Tiny Houses are cool:

• They could be the focus for a weekend course on building . . . Tiny Houses next summer. Folks could come from far and wide for cheap and learn how to build one . . . for one of us
• Local people have the skill to do the building, design the plans, provide the lumber
• They were deemed beautiful, like shipboard dwellings
• Folks who want a Tiny House could provide a mix of labour and money, with some elements of a community “bee” thrown in too with others who want a TH participating
• WOOFERS (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), or interns for doing farm work or land development could stay in the Tiny Houses while they help us with our work
• Folks who like non-conformist housing could build as wacky as they like, long as it’s tiny
• Tiny Houses would be natural resting perches for family or refugees from the city thinking of moving to Frontenac

This idea sprang from us collectively and we’ll explore it at the next Futures Conversation December 13th. If I were a betting man I’d bet Tiny Houses will have a role in our collective future.