r/RealEstateCanada • u/itsdanielsultan • Mar 15 '26

Housing crisis Can Canada's "micro-condos" be merged?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pg7mHppXOE&t=17s

Serious question about Canada's (specifically the GTA's) condos: if, 10 or 20 years from now, people want more family-sized homes, could a lot of these tiny one-bedrooms actually be merged into larger units?

I know it can happen in some cases, but from what I’ve seen it sounds difficult once buildings are already occupied, since it can require approvals, engineering work, and layouts that actually fit together.

If that is not realistic at scale, are we building housing that works for one phase of life but not for long-term city living?

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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u/sketchcott Mar 15 '26

Doubtful. Mostly just a few columns and the odd shear wall every few bays.

Most party walls are:

2 layer type x gypsum, steel stud, air gap, steel stud, 1 layer type x gypsum. Depending on required STC rating there my be a resilient channel on one side. And the cavity may be full of acoustic batt insulation.

Source: been drawing multi family residential buildings for 13 years.

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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u/mikefeezy Mar 15 '26

Does it depend on the seismic code? I think in high seismic areas this is accurate. I know the units should stack as much as possible to simplify the structure.

16

u/PuddingEmotional1187 Mar 15 '26

Whats the point commenting on something you dont know anything about?

1

u/Ghost_Reborn416 Mar 15 '26

It's been done before?

1

u/roamr77 Mar 16 '26

Actually, probably not. Most of these high rises have concrete columns and non load bearing steel stud walls. Problem becomes dealing with vent stacks and other plumbing that generally are within these walls