Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house? | Page 387 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

In Waterloo you can resurface a deck with no permit , you do need a permit to change or alter or even repair railings .
But I’m not a permit guy anyway so ….


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OK, the board at my buddy's cottage may have been on a railing. A Swiss friend said he had to be careful what he did to the house. It sounded like they had annual inspections.
 
OK, the board at my buddy's cottage may have been on a railing. A Swiss friend said he had to be careful what he did to the house. It sounded like they had annual inspections.
Haliburton area just caught on to this game. They instituted mandatory septic tank inspections this year. You think that is no big deal and probably a good idea. As part of the inspection, they also walked every square foot of the cottages. Almost every owner got a letter telling them to decommission beds and/or baths or to install a new septic tank. No signs of septic tank being overloaded but letter of the law is being enforced. Random inspections will occur in the future to ensure compliance.
 
Haliburton area just caught on to this game. They instituted mandatory septic tank inspections this year. You think that is no big deal and probably a good idea. As part of the inspection, they also walked every square foot of the cottages. Almost every owner got a letter telling them to decommission beds and/or baths or to install a new septic tank. No signs of septic tank being overloaded but letter of the law is being enforced. Random inspections will occur in the future to ensure compliance.
A friend with a cottage on Lake Haliburton was notified about his holding tank last year. I thought it was just the older places. They also want a monitoring system.

The cost to replace the tank will be huge. The tank itself is relatively cheap but it went in many decades ago and who knows what has grown over and around it. I'm guessing it is concrete while the new ones are plastic.

If the septic system isn't up to par they someway hold up the sale of a property.
 
Haliburton area just caught on to this game. They instituted mandatory septic tank inspections this year. You think that is no big deal and probably a good idea. As part of the inspection, they also walked every square foot of the cottages. Almost every owner got a letter telling them to decommission beds and/or baths or to install a new septic tank. No signs of septic tank being overloaded but letter of the law is being enforced. Random inspections will occur in the future to ensure compliance.
I don't really mind this. There are a lot of people that reno'd old cottages without permits and now rent them out as seasonal short-term rentals.

When you stuff 10 beds into a cottage with a septic system designed for 4 beds, it's not going to handle the load as designed.
 
I don't really mind this. There are a lot of people that reno'd old cottages without permits and now rent them out as seasonal short-term rentals.

When you stuff 10 beds into a cottage with a septic system designed for 4 beds, it's not going to handle the load as designed.
Yes but for every one of those, there are 10 that have zero people 300 days a year, two people 50 days a year and 10 people 15 days a year (spread out, not in a row). Letter of the law septic tank sizing assumes continuous full-occupancy. I don't know how to adequately account for partial occupancy. A signed document with the municipality limiting occupancy to a certain number of person-days per year (with owner required to keep a log) could be a potential solution. I have no problem for huge fines for people that overload a system and contaminate soil.
 
Yes but for every one of those, there are 10 that have zero people 300 days a year, two people 50 days a year and 10 people 15 days a year (spread out, not in a row). Letter of the law septic tank sizing assumes continuous full-occupancy. I don't know how to adequately account for partial occupancy. A signed document with the municipality limiting occupancy to a certain number of person-days per year (with owner required to keep a log) could be a potential solution. I have no problem for huge fines for people that overload a system and contaminate soil.
Septics are designed for near real-time operation - flow in l/day - go over the daily capacity for more than a day and the sewage can overflow the tank and bed. They don't have a lot of built-in elasticity, so when a system designed for 4 people gets a party of 10, it's overwhelmed in a couple of days - sewage doesn't get properly digested so the system starts polluting

Not nice if you're lakeside or draw your drinking water from a nearby well.
 
There is talk in cottage country about making proper septic part of the transfer sale , unfit for occupancy without proper septic, which can be very hard to do on small lots sitting on CDN shield . I’m not opposed to it , but it can be $50-70k in many places . Or a holding tank you pay to pump 4-5 times a season .


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There is talk in cottage country about making proper septic part of the transfer sale , unfit for occupancy without proper septic, which can be very hard to do on small lots sitting on CDN shield . I’m not opposed to it , but it can be $50-70k in many places . Or a holding tank you pay to pump 4-5 times a season .


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As much as they are a pain, holding tanks with alarms are probably a better fit. As MM pointed out, septic doesn't love bust and boom usage. A holding tank doesn't care if there are no people or 30 people using the facilities. That just changes the time between pumps.

Inlaws are looking at adding another chamber to their tank for 20K. Full replacement is closer to 80K. Weeping bed is bigger than required for current tank/approved occupancy. We'll see what happens.
 
I grew up on septic , dont miss it . My pal finally did his own in parry sound district, bought a mini excavator and it worked out well . In Halton you now need to be a certified installer to dig the bed apparently.


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I grew up on septic , dont miss it . My pal finally did his own in parry sound district, bought a mini excavator and it worked out well . In Halton you now need to be a certified installer to dig the bed apparently.


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I wouldn't be surprised if someone associated with Haliburton council is in the septic game. Make up for slow times during covid by requiring most cottages to replace septic tanks even if they have no signs of issues.
 
I grew up on septic , dont miss it . My pal finally did his own in parry sound district, bought a mini excavator and it worked out well . In Halton you now need to be a certified installer to dig the bed apparently.


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Economy doesn’t like people doing DIY. Need to hire people to spread the wealth.
 

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