Building Permit Approved. Finally!!!

Just checked with city’s building permit status web site and I see the status has been updated again. Two status updates on the same day, this must been a record for our city.

It has been a very LONG process. The permit application was submitted on July 31, 2013 when we are still soaked under hot summer sun. We had to do a lot of miscellaneous revisions mostly just to clarify things. We had fun tearing down a tree house and building a tree protection barrier to satisfy the forestry department. We had to cut off 6″ from a shade that is treated as a roof. We had to dig up more documents on cladding and spray form even though they all have CCMC report. We had to repeatedly point out to the inspector that balcony on this house uses structural steel. And we had to fight with the city inspectors all the way to the upper management on how unprotected openings should be calculated. Finally, on October 21, 2013, with autumn’s chilly rain drizzling upon us, my building permit is finally approved. I can finally move forward with my dream house.

Finally some good news. Apparently the city inspectors still cannot agree on how to calculate the unprotected opening on my south wall. And so it was escalated to upper management. On Tuesday October 16th, 2013 decision came back from upper management review. And yes upper management agreed with us that our unprotected opening conforms to Ontario Building Code requirement. So now the final hurdle has cleared and my building code review has passed.

The bad news is that apparently we are still missing some paperwork on the zoning side. But the person handling the zoning review has gone on vacation. So now I have to wait until next Monday after she came back from her vacation to try to clear whatever that’s left with zoning to get the permit going. I am half guessing that the forestry department’s letter of clearance was not sent to the building review department. And that’s why the zoning still haven’t cleared us yet.

The city inspector is still not happy with what we have revised and resent to them. And here’s what we have:

Clearance from the city’s forestry department on the tree protection zone.

We have satisfied forestry department and obtained the letter of clearance.

Rear deck must specify pressure treated stair-stringers spaced every 3′.

Read deck needs to be secured on ledger board.

Front concrete steps needs to be provided with footings and foundation walls.

We have marked up our drawing on all these items.

Wanted more engineering information on my green roof.

We figure the city inspector just did not want the liability. Since green roof is not needed as part of the building permit and that I have already engineered the roof to be able to support the green roof, we took it out of the building permit application so that we can move forward.

Front shade cannot project beyond the side of building.

Oddly enough city inspector regarded my shade in the front of the house as a roof and roof cannot project more than 1.5′ beyond the wall. Now this is clearly not a roof since there’s nothing under it. But since I wanted to get the application moving, and that my shade is only projecting beyond the walls by 2′. So I decided that we will mark the shade 6″ less and move forward. But really, it’s a shade, not a roof!

The north wall that’s only 1′ away from the property needs to be non-combustible clad and fire rated.

Areas of opening on the side wall needs to provide compliance to Ontario Building Code.

We have talked to Dryvit System and decided that we will go with Dryvit Exolation 5000 system on the north wall and Dryvit Statum Guard II system for the rest of the walls. The Dryvit Exolation 5000 system is fire rated and satisfies the necessary codes. We have included the technical specification for both Dryvit system with our building permit.

Closed cell foam insulation on the underside of the roof needs to conform to standard.

We enclosed PolarFoam PF-7300-0 SOYA technical specifications and CCMC report with the building permit.

Some clarification on the structure steel.

This is really odd. Apparently the city inspector does not understand the structural steel to the east of the bedroom. It’s for the balcony. Yes I know balcony supported by structural steel is not common, but it is clearly marked on the architectural drawing that there’s a balcony after the bedroom. And yes my balcony is cantilevered and therefore it is supported by structural steel.

It’s August 15th. Checked my building permit application status and it says it’s under review. Which is good news for me. I am really counting on trying to get started sometime in September. It saying under Zoning Review “Notice Sent”. Not sure what it means, since I didn’t receive anything as of yet. I’m not sure if they are sending the notice to my architect or to me. But at least there’s progress on it. Now only if I get through the new house code review quickly.