Summer

Stopping a tiny house overheating in summer.

A small, well-insulated, heavily glazed building heats up fast and has almost no mass to absorb it. Three measures fix it and all three are decided before production.

Summer

A small, well-insulated, heavily glazed building heats up fast and has almost no mass to absorb it. Three measures fix it and all three are decided before production.

Shade the glass from outside

Once the sun is through the pane the heat is inside. An external overhang, shutter or screen intercepts it; an internal blind converts it to radiant heat and warms the room anyway. The difference in effect is roughly threefold.

A fixed overhang sized to the summer sun angle blocks the high July sun and lets the low December sun through. That is a drawing dimension, not a product.

Give the roof some mass

The roof takes the most radiation and a lightweight build-up passes it straight through by mid-afternoon. A denser insulation — wood fibre rather than mineral wool — delays that transfer by hours, which is enough to move the peak past bedtime.

This is why the loft is always the hottest place in a compact house and why it is the element worth upgrading if the budget only allows one.

Purge at night, close during the day

The Mediterranean habit works everywhere: open up when the outside air is cooler than the inside, close and shade when it is not. In a small volume the air changes quickly, so a two-hour evening purge genuinely resets the house.

This needs an openable window at each end and a rooflight over the loft. A house with only fixed glazing cannot do it at all.

Cooling, if you need it

An air-to-air heat pump reverses in summer, and in a compact house the smallest unit is more than enough. It costs electricity at exactly the time solar is producing most, which makes it the natural pairing with a roof array.

Size it against the shaded, purged house rather than the unshaded one. Cooling a badly shaded building is the expensive way to solve a drawing problem.

Where the appliances are

A fridge in a sunlit corner, a router in a closed cupboard and an inverter in an unventilated void all add heat and all shorten their own life. In a small volume the sum is noticeable.

Give each a ventilated position. It costs nothing at the plan stage and it is one of the reasons some compact houses feel warm with no obvious cause.

Questions

Summer

A small, well-insulated, heavily glazed building heats up fast and has almost no mass to absorb it. Three measures fix it and all three are decided before production.

Usually a lightweight roof build-up plus unshaded glazing. Both are fixed at design stage, and internal blinds do not substitute for external shading.

Rarely, if the glass is shaded externally and the roof has some mass. Where you do, a reversible heat pump is the smallest and pairs well with solar.

In a small volume, yes — the air changes fast enough that a two-hour evening purge resets the house. It needs openable windows at both ends.

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.

Start your project in two minutes.

Send your country, intended use and preferred model via WhatsApp and we will structure the next step.

WhatsApp enquiry →