Your permit application should include a floor plan drawing on a scale of not less than 1:100 (no larger than 8 ½” x 14”). Your floor plan should be clearly labelled and include: 

• Door sizes: Bathroom doors should be a minimum of 30” wide and utility room doors 32” wide.
• Smoke alarm locations: Must be located in every bedroom and in the hallway serving the bedroom.
• If your renovation will include a bedroom, you must also indicate the location of the carbon monoxide alarm.
• Rooms and uses: Label the use for each room (e.g. bedroom, utility room, bathroom etc.).
• Room sizes and total square footage: Include the size of the room and total square footage of the developed space.
• Window sizes and types: Indicate window size, location and the type of window (e.g. casement, slider, awning, hopper, etc.).
• If your renovation will include a bedroom, you must indicate the openable area of the bedroom window. You should also include the depth of the window well serving any bedroom.
• Electrical locations and types: Indicate where outlets, lighting locations and switches will be. You must also include the location of the electrical panel.
• Bathroom fan: List the location and fan rating. Each bathroom must have a fan rated not less than 50cfm (25 L/S). Bathrooms must have GFI receptacles when located within 1 metre of a sink.
• Structural changes: Clearly indicate structural changes on your plans (e.g. adding or changing windows, removing or relocating load bearing walls or columns, etc.).

Example floor plan (reference only and should include electrical receptacles and panel locations)

• Every bedroom must have an openable window that provides egress when the window is in the open position.
• The required minimum clear openable area of not less than 0.35m² (3.77 ft²) with no dimension less than 380mm (15”).
• Bedroom egress windows must be able to be openable from the inside without the use of keys, tools or special knowledge and without the removal of sashes or hardware.
• Bedroom egress windows must be able to remain in an open position without the need for additional support.
• These requirements limit the style of windows that are acceptable for use as an egress window. Picture windows, hopper and many awning style windows are not acceptable as egress windows. Security bars are also likely not permitted.
  
  
• Egress windows opening into a window well require a minimum clearance of 760mm (30”) in front of the window.
• Egress windows below cantilevers shall have a minimum clearance of 760 mm (30”) between the underside of the projection and the top of the window well or adjacent grade.
• The cantilever should not project more than 610mm (24”) from the principal wall.
• Egress windows below decks are not permitted unless there is a minimum headroom clearance of 760mm (30”) between grade and the underside of the deck and the window opening is immediately adjacent to the edge of the deck above.
• All window wells must be drained to the footing level or another suitable location such as a dry well minimum 5m away from the building.

• Any door leading to a utility room (furnace, hot water tank or laundry room) must be a minimum of 32” x 78”. This 32” width applies to all doors leading to that utility room in the path of travel from the top of the basement stairs to the utility room.
• Minimum clearances are required to be maintained around your furnace room appliances. Check your appliance labels as these clearances will be checked at time of inspection.
• You must have a furnace disconnect switch, so in an emergency, you are able to shut it down without passing by the furnace. If the panel is behind the furnace, locate the furnace disconnect switch near the furnace room doorway.
• A clear walkway to gas appliances of 36” is required. A clear path of travel of 29.5” is required to reach the electrical panel.

• A warm air vent must be provided in each finished room that is located adjacent to an outside wall, including washrooms. Warm air vents must be located so at least one exterior wall or window is bathed by warm air.
• You cannot “tap off (Siamese)” an existing heat duct running to another area of the house, any new ducts must be connected to the main furnace plenum/duct.
• Warm air vents in finished areas must have heat registers with adjustable openings and cannot be located on a furnace plenum.
• The return air system must be designed to handle the entire air supply of the house. This may mean installing a cold air return in each room or leaving adequate gaps below doors.
• Do not locate return air openings within 10 ft (3m) horizontally from the furnace and not in an enclosed furnace room, bathroom or laundry room.
• Bathroom and clothes dryer exhaust shall be located at least 1800mm away from fresh air intakes and vented soffits.

• Bathrooms must have a fan which is vented to the exterior to remove odours and condensation and the switch must be located inside the bathroom. Newer homes may have an HRV ventilation system for the bathroom, and in this case there should be a ventilation duct rough-in already nearby for connection to the bathroom when it's developed.
• If bathroom is on exterior wall, it requires a source of heat. If an electric baseboard heater or floor heat is installed, there still must be provision for ventilation air.
• Bathroom doors needs to be a be minimum of 30” (760mm).

• Do not drill or notch beams or engineered joists unless allowed by the manufacturer in the specifications for the specific product.
• Removal or relocation of load bearing walls or teleposts is allowed only with supporting documentation from a structural engineer.

• A carbon monoxide (CO) alarm is required either within each bedroom or in the hallway serving the bedroom within 5m of all bedroom doors.
• The CO alarm can be 120V or battery-powered. Plug-in alarms are not acceptable.
• 120V CO alarms are to be connected to a lighting circuit and must not be on a circuit protected by an AFCI or GFCI.
• CO alarms are to be installed in accordance with the manufacturers’ installation instructions (on or near the ceiling).
• A smoke alarm shall be installed so that there is at least one smoke alarm on each storey, including basements. This alarm is most likely already in place in your basement, but may need to be relocated to the hallway between each sleeping room(s) and the remainder of the storey and in close proximity to the stairs leading to the level above. Smoke alarms in the vicinity of a doorway to a bathroom or laundry room are to be placed not less than 1m from the centre of the doorway header.
• There must be an additional smoke alarm inside each sleeping room.
• Smoke alarms are to be installed in accordance with the manufacturers’ installation instructions. A smoke alarm can be installed on the ceiling (at least 100mm away from any wall or obstruction) or it can be mounted on a wall with the top edge of the alarm 100 - 300mm from the ceiling.
• Smoke alarms shall be installed by permanent connections to a 120V electrical circuit and have built-in battery backup.
• Smoke alarms are to be connected to a lighting circuit and must not be on a circuit protected by an AFCI or GFCI.
• Smoke alarms are required to be interconnected. Smoke alarms shall be wired so that the activation of one alarm will cause all the alarms within the dwelling unit to sound. Because of this interconnection requirement, all alarms must be compatible. They are to be of the same type from the same manufacturer.

• The electrical panel requires 1m clearance in front at all times and cannot be inside a clothes closet or bathroom.
• One circuit may have a maximum of 12 outlets (combination of lights and receptacles).
• Boxes installed on an insulated outside wall must have a vapour barrier hat installed around the box before it is nailed to the stud.
• All junction boxes must remain accessible (do not cover a box with drywall or build it into an inaccessible location).
• Three-way switches are required to control the basement stairway lighting in finished basements and are to be located at the head and foot of the stairway.
• Audio cables must be FT1 or FT4 flame spread rated for in-wall use. All communications cables must be separated from power cables by 2” (50mm) throughout (drill separate holes through the studs as well as install separate boxes). T.V., telephone and speaker cables must also be installed prior to inspection.
• Light switches must always be located inside the room in which the light is located. In a bathroom, they are to be at least 500mm horizontally from the edge of the tub or shower. Switches in a bathroom must be on a GFCI protected circuit when located less than 1m from the tub or shower.
• All receptacles with 1.5m of any sink requires GFCI protection unless they are located behind an appliance such as a bar fridge.
• Branch circuits that supply 15 and 20 amp receptacles shall be protected by a combination arc-fault circuit interrupter breaker or an outlet type AFCI device (an outlet type device requires a specific wiring method from the panel to the device). Bathroom GFCI’s are excluded.
• All receptacles located less than 2m from finished floor to be tamper resistant type.

How to determine the layout of receptacles in finished walls

1. Identify any unusable wall spaces around the perimeter of the room or area. 
2. Measure the first 1.8m from the start of a finished wall at the floor line along the perimeter of the usable wall space to determine where the first receptacle should be. It can be located anywhere within the first 1.8m. Usable wall space is a wall space 900mm or more in width but does not include doorways, areas occupied by a door when fully opened, windows that extend to the floor, fireplaces, or other permanent installations that would limit the use of the wall space. 
3. From the location of the first receptacle, measure 3.6m along the floor line of the wall perimeter. The second receptacle can be located anywhere within the 3.6m distance from the first receptacle. 
4. Repeat step 3 until the end of the perimeter of the finished wall has been reached. 
5. The last receptacle in the series must be within 1.8m of the end of the finished wall. 

Reference diagrams

• All clean-outs require an access cover. Wall and floor access covers must be permanently accessible.
• Hose bibb shut-offs require access covers.
• Water lines and/or drainage piping cannot be located in exterior walls unless an insulation value of R12 can be achieved behind. Drainage and waterlines to be on the warm side of the insulation/vapour barrier.
• All plumbing fixtures are required to be “low flow” design. Toilets to be max. 6.1L per flush as per the Waterworks Bylaw (pdf).
• All shower valves must be pressure-balanced or thermostatically protected.
• All fixtures located below grade (basements) require protection from backwater.

• A secondary suite is a second self-contained dwelling unit that is located with a primary dwelling unit, where both units are registered under the same land title.
• Secondary suites are only allowed when the City of Airdrie’s land use zoning allows for this use and the construction of the suite has been properly permitted and constructed to conform as a secondary suite. 
• When this approval is not in place your dwelling must be occupied as a single tenancy.

Learn more about secondary suites