Post

our houses are Made in Canada

Starting a construction products wish list for 🇨🇦gov (will probably be a thread): Get us a better pipeline for Knauf batt insulation (German) vs Owens Corning or Johnson-Manville. We can’t get Knauf Eco-Batt anymore.

But it would be great to have a list of made-in-canada building products...

We use a lot of James Hardie fire cement siding. CanCon options? klad.ca/portfolio/fi...

“Fibre cement” Other options include Nichiha (Japan) or Woodtone (Chilliwack BC), Finex (Kelwona BC)

Another challenge is Soprema (Ohio) maker of blue skin membranes and insulation. Euro Alternatives we use: Siga and Proclima

Many Canadian window manufacturers use glazing units from Cardinal Glass (MN). Euro windows often use Saint Gobain. Lite-Zone is Canadian. Other IGU mfr?

Rheem heat pump hot water tanks are based in Georgia. Sanden and Daikin are Japanese, though the complex mech stuff (like cars etc) will be too tangled to look at its origins simplistically.

A lot of our high performance ventilation equipment is from Zehnder (Euro) but imported by Small Planet. We can get Alnor HRVs direct from Europe. Lower cost Venmar is based in Saskatoon (I don’t know that)

Our framing lumber and plywood is domestic. Not sure about finish lumber like White Oak. Reclaimed material will be a small - but great - source that the province could support scaling.

Concrete is locally made. We’ll still have Sechelt Sand. Not sure where our rebar comes from, but assume most is US origin.

A lot of copper wire is coming from the US but there is also domestic production, and material from abroad. I’m not sure at what relative scale.

Many product certifications are US centric (like NAFS for windows). @cityofvancouver.bsky.social recognizes some alternatives like Passive House certified windows - which opens up alternative products. The province could adopt similar alt certifications to ease substitution.

Many of our hand, power tools are made by US companies, but there are alternatives

On the design side, both Google (Docs), Trimble (Sketchup) and Autodesk (autocad) are based in the US. No easy subs there. (Typing on my iPhone)

Looks like we're sourcing Candian solar panels from SilFab (though they're likely reeling from the pendulum swing in US investment in renewables).

PFG glass is a local alternative to Cardinal Glass, and they can produce euro spec thicker glazing units (at least thats what I hear from Euroline windows) www.pfgglass.com

Plumbing fixtures: Riobel (Quebec) Grohe and Hansgrohe (Germany) Toto (Japan) vs Delta Faucets, Kohler, Moen, American Standard (USA).

On tariff day - let’s finally break up with the US elevator cartel and allow lower cost Euro/global elevators and parts into Canada. First step: Our govs can recognize alt product and safety standards that are used almost everywhere >> except the US and Canada.

@stephenjacobsmith.com and @sightline.org light the way. It’s a dark, nerdy, and winding path - but breaking the US regulatory monopoly on elevators is the next key action needed to scale up walkable/accessible/affordable/sustainable cities.

It’s time bsky.app/profile/thes...