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Original poster

Tiny house

11 replies

Jeni1709 · 28/12/2016 10:45

I'm hooked! I've been looking at tiny houses for the last few years, but always wanted to build one myself! The opportunity has arisen where a relative has offered some space on their land to build one. Now, I've been reading up mostly on the diy aspect, however I'm a bit sketchy on planning permission. My limited info ends at 'I'll probably need some'. Please help?

OP posts:
JT05 · 28/12/2016 16:25

If it's a permanent fixture you will definitely need planning permission and building regs. There may be issues with where the plot is, rural green belt, or conservation area, for example.

bearsnumberonefan · 28/12/2016 16:35

No advice to offer, just posting as I'm extremely jealous! I would love a tiny house! Because 7 people and a dog in a basic modern 3 bed house isn't squashed enough
Please keep me updated with pictures

NannyR · 28/12/2016 16:51

I was going to post on exactly the same subject!!! I've been looking at them and thinking about how I would live in one for years and have decided that 2017 is when I start seriously looking into things.

I love this one in New Zealand.

My problem is that I don't really have anywhere to put one - when you watch the tv programmes, the tiny house owners always seem to have a friend with a spare field or an acre or two of woodland. I live in a big city and need to stay nearby for work. There are several 'residential' mobile home sites in semi rural areas and my plan is to ask if I could rent a pitch there - it is a mobile home after all!

As far as I'm aware, as long as it is built on a wheel base and can be moved, it's not a permanent structure and therefore you don't need planning permission (but do check with the council to make sure)

Are you going to build it yourself? Do you have diy skills or are you going to learn as you go along, which is what I would be doing, I would probably get the structure built by someone who knows what they are doing and sort out the interior myself.

Badcat666 · 28/12/2016 16:59

Place marking because I have spent most of 2016 on youtube drooling over most of them and am SO JELLO you are planning to build one!

These peeps might be able to help you.

www.tinyoffice.co.uk/tiny-house-planning.html

HowardMoonsJazzTrumpet · 28/12/2016 17:15

What are you doing about drainage (toilets & waste water)?

HowardMoonsJazzTrumpet · 28/12/2016 17:24

Power? How will you get electricity to it? Will you have to lay a load of cable under fields (potentially not your land - expensive and/or potentially a legal nightmare). to connect?

Same with connecting to mains drainage (if you're doing it).

I think a tiny house is a great idea on the telly but would be a fucking cramped nightmare in reality. Where does stuff go? Even if you live alone and have pared down, you still have a degree of stuff. Smells? Ventilation? I think if it was a shared place, the novelty of having no private space would wear off very quickly indeed. It would need to be planned by someone with a lot of expertise and experience in making the best of space. I certainly wouldn't assume that I could 'do the interior' because I'd watched a few episodes of George Clarke and followed a few boards on Pinterest.

Badcat666 · 28/12/2016 18:42

Howard various ways, you can run them totally off grid (with waste collection) or hook them up like caravans for mains/ waste.

Most get built with ventilation, heating, hot and cold running water. You can have baths or showers...You know,,, like normal homes! They also have built in storage etc and use up a lot of wasted height space. Some of them are amazing.

And the reason those houses don't get filled up with crap is people par down and just take what they need. They don't fill it with rubbish they no longer need or use for. How much stuff in our houses don't get used every day or week.. loads of crap!

bearsnumberonefan · 28/12/2016 18:48

Are you going tiny for a permanent home or a home on wheels? Have you looked at the wee house company here? Not as tiny as some but seriously cute and very liveable.
How many bedrooms are you after? Sooo many questions

Original poster
Jeni1709 · 29/12/2016 00:40

Argh, sorry, totally haven't been checking since I posted. Thanks all. Ok, so the land has additional access to road, via a narrow piece of land. So the most practical thing to do would be to lay a 'road' down for access. It's a long stretch, so I've penned down that I want to get that done by July (cost; prepping land myself). With regards to how permanent it would be, I would keep my current house and use it as an art studio initially. How small - my partner and I have been doing up a small house, and we've been living in a bedroom and half a kitchen for 3 years. Due to living in a small space and bloody loving it in that time, we're due to finish in March and are petrified about living in a whole house and filling it. My partner is an electrician, who used to fit doors windows etc. Between him and our house I've learned lots. We've spoken to some of the farms in the local area and have put some offers on old flat beds, but they are in really bad condition (and they ask too much). Power, water, drainage... few ideas but no major concerns... there is always a way!

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 29/12/2016 19:38

I've only seen the American version of these houses and assumed they weren't viable in the UK because we have minimum room sizes etc. Is that not the case?

JT05 · 31/12/2016 08:34

Beware, there are loads of formal regulations regarding, water, water waste and energy use in any permanent liveable structure.

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