Basement renovations for Ajax homes

From a wartime plant town to 126,666 people

Ajax has an unusual history for a Durham town. The Town's heritage page explains that Defence Industries Limited built a large shell filling plant here in 1941. Workers were later given the chance to buy the wartime houses, and Ajax became a town on January 1, 1955. The Town's housing needs assessment adds that CMHC built new post-war subdivisions on the plant lands, and that the town grew quickly again in the 1980s and early 2000s.

The 2021 census counted 126,666 residents and 39,490 occupied dwellings. Only about 7% of those homes date from 1960 or earlier. The biggest single wave, about 8,530 homes, went up between 1981 and 1990, and more than half the housing was built after 1990. For basements, a newer house often gives us poured walls and a plumbing rough-in to work from. Those are good starting points, but a basement that is 35 years old still needs its sump, drains and walls checked before we finish it.

Where we work in Ajax

We take projects across town. Pickering Village is the Town's only heritage conservation district, designated in 2013 with 58 commercial and residential properties. Exterior changes there can need heritage review, while interior basement work usually does not.

The Town's housing plans also name the Downtown and Uptown regional centres, the Village Centre, the Midtown Corridor and the area around the Ajax GO station as places for growth. Duffins Creek meets the lake at Rotary Park, and Carruthers Creek runs into Carruthers Marsh at the east end of the waterfront.

The Town's waterfront runs about 7 km, with 70 hectares of public land, and Ajax reports more than 65 languages spoken in town. A lower level can serve many purposes here, from space for relatives or guests to a home office, and the planning questions change with each use.

What the Finished Basement Guide asks for

Ajax lists finished basements among its most common permit guides, and each guide comes with a form, a checklist and sample drawings. The Finished Basement Guide asks for plans drawn to scale that show:

Who draws the plans is flexible in Ajax. Depending on the work, drawings can come from the owner, a qualified designer, an architect, an engineer or a combination. Structural changes, like a new opening in a foundation wall, usually need an engineer. The Town also has a separate guide for below-grade entrances, which is its own application.

• Room dimensions, uses and the total finished floor area
• Ceiling heights, including any low headroom areas
• Exterior wall construction with the insulation R-value
• Stairs, doors, windows and lintel sizes for new or enlarged openings
• Plumbing fixtures, ventilation fans, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

Doors, egress windows and alarms in an Ajax basement

The guide goes further than most towns on details. Doors on the route into the basement and at the stairs need a 32 by 78 inch opening, bedroom and other finished-area doors 30 by 78 inches, and bathroom doors 24 by 78 inches. A basement bedroom with no door to the outside needs a window that opens without tools, with at least 3.8 square feet of opening and no side under 15 inches. If it opens into a window well, the well needs 21 5/8 inches of clearance in front of the window.

Smoke alarms are required in finished basements, and they must be interconnected so one sets off the rest. Carbon monoxide alarms go next to each sleeping area wherever there is a bedroom. We draw these into the plan from the start, which saves a round of comments from plan review. Our egress window guide explains what cutting a larger opening involves.

Applying online, and the TRCA step

Residential permits in Ajax go through the Town's Online Application Portal or by email. Once issued, the Town expects work to start within six months and finish within a year.

Ajax sits in Toronto and Region Conservation Authority territory. Where a lot falls inside a TRCA regulated area, TRCA says its permit is required before the municipality issues a building permit. TRCA also maps a flood-vulnerable cluster along lower Carruthers Creek, between Pickering Beach Road and Shoal Point Road south of Bayly Street. If you are near either creek, we check early.

Durham Region's basement flooding page also reminds homeowners that repairs to the sanitary connection within one metre of the foundation, or inside the house, are the owner's job. If your floor drain has backed up before, we inspect the cleanout and discuss a backwater valve as part of the plan.

Basement apartments in Ajax

An accessory apartment is a separate permit from a finished basement. The Town's application checklist asks for the entrance location, fire separation ratings and construction, alarm locations and the kitchen layout, plus TRCA clearance where it applies.

Ajax ran an additional dwelling unit grant through its Housing Accelerator Fund work, but the Town's housing site now says the intake is closed. The same site offers a property mapping tool that shows whether your lot qualifies for an internal unit. We have not confirmed Ajax's current registration and parking rules for units, so we check those with the Town for your address.

Costs, and our nearest finished work

We have not published an Ajax project yet. Our completed basement renovations are in Lindsay and Port Hope, and you can read both clients' words on our basements page. In Ajax, the biggest cost swings come from bathroom drain locations, egress windows and whether the plan is a family space or a separate unit. See our pricing page and the cost guide for how we build a budget.

Every estimate is written for your house after a site visit, and anything added once work starts is approved in writing first.