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Biobâtir › Ontario

A timber frame tiny house you build yourself in Ontario

Biobâtir is a timber frame builder in Quebec. We help you build your own tiny house — or tiny home — ideally as a timber frame, and you choose how much you do yourself. Here is what that means in Ontario, with the source of every rule.

1. Draw your frame, free

Give the width, the length, the height and your town in Ontario: the designer shows the frame in 3D, piece by piece, and gives its wood volume and its value at Quebec market prices, sawn or in logs. It shows no member size: sizing a frame is the engineer's work.

Draw my structure

2. The frame itself: an engineer licensed in Ontario

In Ontario, a post-and-beam frame is outside the prescriptive tables of Part 9 of the Building Code: the building official has to be satisfied that it meets Part 4, which in practice means calculations sealed by an Ontario engineer. Plans filed for a permit must also come from a registered designer (BCIN), unless you prepare your own. We do not sell timber frame plans for Ontario. A frame we cut goes to an engineer first, and the shop drawings are made from the sealed plan; for Ontario, that engineer must be licensed there. Draw your structure, then use “Talk about my project” under the designer: I will tell you frankly what we can do for Ontario.

3. The rest of the house: free guides for Ontario

Where can I have a tiny home in Ontario?

Free guide: “6 rules to check in 30 minutes to make your building project a success”. Your tiny house in Ontario, before you buy land.

Get the free guide

How do you build a tiny house in Ontario, step by step?

Free guide: “Building your tiny house: the steps, in order”. From the land to move-in day, the eleven steps of a timber frame tiny house in Ontario, with what you must have decided before each one.

Get the free guide

How do you build an off-grid tiny home in Ontario?

Free guide: “Land with no water main or sewer: what to check before you buy”. The soil, the room, the setbacks and the well decide whether your tiny house can have its septic system: check them before you sign.

Get the free guide

Can you live in a tiny house year-round in Ontario?

Free guide: “Insulating your tiny house in Ontario: the required RSI and R values”. The minimums of Ontario's Building Code and its Supplementary Standard SB-12 for each assembly of your timber frame tiny house, with their R equivalent, and what to check before buying your materials.

Get the free guide

How to build a tiny house with no experience: start with a roof that does not leak

Free guide: “The roof of your tiny house: the mistakes that make it leak (and how to avoid them)”. Six mistakes that make a tiny house roof leak, what the Code asks for each one, and a checklist before you order your roofing.

Get the free guide

These guides are written for a timber frame tiny house: the envelope goes outside the frame. Our guide on cutting and raising a timber frame exists in French only for now.

The guides for the build, Ontario edition

Cut and raise a timber frame

$97

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

Level, square and form the slab of your tiny house

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

Insulating, air-sealing, ventilating and heating your tiny house

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

The stairs of your tiny house

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

Straw and lime

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

The furniture of your tiny house

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

Water and wastewater for your tiny house

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

The roof and roofing of your tiny house

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

Your land, your down payment, your financing

$47

PDF, in English — Ontario edition.

David Ménard, 1019, chemin du Lac-Kiamika, Rivière-Rouge (Québec) J0T 1T0 · [email protected] · PDF by download link, right after payment, and by email · If the guide is no use to you, write to [email protected] within 90 days of purchase: full refund, no reason needed, and you keep the PDF. The refund is issued within 15 days.

These guides explain laws, regulations and codes read at the source; they are not legal advice, not a sealed plan and not an engineer's opinion. Rules change: always call your municipality before you buy.