Families

A tiny house with a child: what changes and what does not.

Two adults and a child is a different brief from two adults. Storage, sound and a second door carry most of the difference.

Families

Two adults and a child is a different brief from two adults. Storage, sound and a second door carry most of the difference.

A second closable space is not optional

A child needs somewhere to sleep that is not the room the adults are sitting in at nine in the evening. That is a door, not a curtain, and it means MD 3 or larger. Everything else in the brief follows from that one requirement.

The room does not need to be large. Two by two and a half metres with a window and storage is a genuine bedroom for a child; the constraint is that it closes.

Storage roughly doubles

Two adults need six to eight cubic metres. Add a child and the figure climbs by half again: clothes that change size annually, a pram or a bike, toys, school things and the seasonal equipment a family accumulates.

Plan an external store from the start. A weatherproof box on the terrace takes bikes and garden equipment out of a house that cannot spare the volume.

Sound between the two rooms

The partition between the child's room and the living space is the wall that decides whether the evening works. A filled cavity, a solid door and a threshold seal make it a room; a hollow stud with a hollow door makes it a screen.

The same applies to the bathroom, which in a compact plan is usually next to the bedroom.

Safety details worth specifying

Stair going and rise, a handrail a child can reach, restrictors on the upper windows and a guard at the loft edge. All are cheaper as a specification than as a retrofit, and the loft guard in particular cannot be added convincingly afterwards.

Thermostatic mixing on the hot water is a five-minute item at production and prevents the one scald that everybody remembers.

Outdoor space does the heavy lifting

A family in a compact house lives outdoors more than a couple does, so the terrace, the shelter over it and the route from the door matter as much as any internal dimension. A covered deck extends the usable season by months.

Plan the outdoor space at the same time as the plan, not as landscaping afterwards. Where the door faces decides how the house is used.

Questions

Families

Two adults and a child is a different brief from two adults. Storage, sound and a second door carry most of the difference.

Yes, with a second closable room — MD 3 or larger. A curtained alcove is not a bedroom once a child is old enough to go to bed before the adults.

Roughly half again on top of the six to eight cubic metres two adults need, plus an external store for a pram, bikes and seasonal equipment.

Loft edge guard, window restrictors, a reachable handrail and thermostatic mixing on the hot water. All are cheap at production and awkward afterwards.

Five destination markets

What has to be settled in each country.

The same question is answered differently in Copenhagen than in Zurich. These five points belong in every project check, whatever detail you are researching right now.

Germany

Responsible: the lower building authority of the district or independent city.

Governing plan: the Bebauungsplan, or an assessment under §34 or §35 BauGB where there is none.

Permanent living is possible where the plot lies within a built-up area or a Bebauungsplan permits residential use and the project is approved. In the outer area under §35 BauGB, living is privileged only in narrowly defined cases — the most common reason German projects fail.

Germany →

Netherlands

Responsible: the municipality, through the Omgevingsloket.

Governing plan: the municipal omgevingsplan under the Environment and Planning Act.

Permanent living requires a residential function in the omgevingsplan. Many attractive sites are designated for recreation, where permanent residence is not allowed — even where it happens in practice.

Netherlands →

Denmark

Responsible: the kommune.

Governing plan: the lokalplan together with the zone status (byzone, sommerhusområde or landzone).

Permanent living requires a site in byzone or an equivalent designation. In sommerhusområder year-round residence is restricted in principle, and exceptions are tied to personal conditions.

Denmark →

Luxembourg

Responsible: the commune.

Governing plan: the plan d'aménagement général (PAG) and the associated plan d'aménagement particulier (PAP).

Permanent living is possible where the PAG zone permits residential use and the autorisation de construire is granted. Because municipalities are small, practice differs noticeably from place to place.

Luxembourg →

Switzerland

Responsible: the municipality together with the canton.

Governing plan: the municipal land-use plan and the zoning ordinance.

Permanent living is possible inside the building zone where the zone permits residential use and the Baubewilligung is granted. Outside the building zone, living is admissible only in narrowly defined exceptions — the most common reason Swiss projects fail.

Switzerland →
All questions and answers per destination →
Models

Which models come into question.

Eight plans on one technical basis, 2.55 metres wide. What differs is length, layout and specification depth.

ModelLayoutLengthEx works
MD 1Panorama and loft8.00 m or 9.70 m44,900 €
MD 2Two lofts for families9.00 m52,900 €
MD 3Loft plus extra room8.00 m or 9.70 m47,900 €
MD 4Loft, room and veranda8.00 m or 9.00 m50,900 €
MD 5Compact with extra room8.00 m or 9.00 m46,900 €
MD 6Chalet with pitched roof8.00 m or 9.00 m54,900 €
MD 7Entry model8.00 m42,900 €
MD 8Compact, upgraded line8.00 m45,900 €
See MD 1 to MD 8
Checklist

Five points before ordering.

  • A written answer from the responsible authority on admissibility at the specific plot — verbal assurances do not carry a project.
  • Access and unloading point, with photographs and dimensions. In practice the last hundred metres cause more trouble than the long haul.
  • Servicing: the distance to power, drinking water and sewer. That distance sets one of the largest secondary items.
  • Type of use and number of people. Permanent living, holidays and letting lead to different specifications of the same model.
  • Budget range including foundation, connections, unloading, planning, fees and insurance — not just the ex-works price.

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