The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Smallholding => Buildings & planning => Topic started by: HappyBarney on August 02, 2016, 05:52:35 pm

Title: Building my own mobile home
Post by: HappyBarney on August 02, 2016, 05:52:35 pm
Hello lovely internet people.

I have searched the internet high and low for information but have come up short.

I will give a little background information on my question.  I live on 13 acres of land with my husband and 2 teenage kids.  Earlier this year the council granted us a Lawful development certificate.  This means our mobile home and outbuildings cannot be put under an enforcement notice.

We would have liked to build a permanent dwelling but do not have the resources to fight the councils decision to not let us.  We can however replace our now 50 year old mobile home.

We want to build our own from scratch, not buy one flat pack.  We have the skills and materials but do not know if this would qualify with the council (we would of course keep it to the 66x22x10ft rule)

Does anyone have any experience with self building a mobile unit, or could point me in the direction of any advice.

Many thanks
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Black Sheep on August 02, 2016, 07:14:56 pm
Not sure of the veracity of all the information, but this looks quite in depth and does suggest that you can build your own:

http://www.selfbuildtimberframe.com/news/149-the-legal-definition-of-a-caravan-mobile-home-draft1 (http://www.selfbuildtimberframe.com/news/149-the-legal-definition-of-a-caravan-mobile-home-draft1)
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Ollyh on August 02, 2016, 07:24:34 pm
In theory as long as its moveable the planners can't have an issue with it. Moveable means that all the services are easily disconnectable and it can be put on the back of a flat bed and towed away. So again in theory if its built on a sled and can be winched or can be lifted by crane you should be fine, but you need to be able to prove that this is feasible.

However I would suggest that you put a call I to your planning g department, anonomously to confirm. If they play coy you might have to pay for a pre app and get them to describe specifically (on paper as well) what the requirements are, as every department is different. And then build to those exact specifications as they will come and check. Also are there any conditions attached to the cert?

Without this validation you're playing with fire.......

Ps although I'm not a planner I work in a planning department.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: pgkevet on August 02, 2016, 07:46:16 pm
Not sure of the veracity of all the information, but this looks quite in depth and does suggest that you can build your own:

http://www.selfbuildtimberframe.com/news/149-the-legal-definition-of-a-caravan-mobile-home-draft1 (http://www.selfbuildtimberframe.com/news/149-the-legal-definition-of-a-caravan-mobile-home-draft1)

If this is so then it's rather cool... gives me visions of galvanised bases on raised pads with reasonably standard construction timber walls..lots of sheets of insulation between internal palsterbard and external cladding (I'd use upvc since I'm a lazy modernist with upvc doors and windows) and pitch roof. Build both sections and then fit a sealing gland and bolts as a final completion followed by silicone.

There's an american tv series called tiny house nation - which irritated the heck out of me - but might well give some ideas for utilising space...
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Creagan on August 02, 2016, 11:12:40 pm
I'm currently doing this- building a 'portable building' which is, in theory, movable, although I am building it in situ.
I applied for full planning permission, but being a portable building exempts me from building control, so this made it much easier to do everything myself, and also saved some money.

It's a c. 32 x 16ft timber framed building, with a 45 degree pitched roof. The walls will be clad in larch boards, and the roof will be corrugated iron. It sits on eight concrete pillars and if I ever wanted to move it I could do so by jacking it up, backing a (very large) trailer underneath, and towing it off down the field with a tractor.

I got confirmation from my building control office that it needn't be road transportable, merely movable within the site.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: greenbeast on August 03, 2016, 10:21:50 am
Hmm if it has to conform to the legal definition of a caravan then it has to be made of no more than two pieces. You can build these two sections on site, and then the final step of assembly would be to join them (with no permanent fixings).
It would depend i guess on what your lawful cert says

Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: HappyBarney on August 03, 2016, 11:34:14 am
Thank you all so much.  The Certificate is for permanent residential use.  I am meeting on site with the planning officer today to establish what they consider the exact boundary of the Lawful use area is.  The map is not very clear and it does not cover the entire site.  The building information is brilliant.  My husband used to build agricultural buildings so this is well within his scope.

Just a shame the planners won't allow us to build a house, no idea why as there is one on the land next door!  Don't have the time, energy or patience to fight them though.

Again thanks for the info.  :)
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: AndynJ on August 15, 2016, 11:41:45 am
What I am typing is exact, its not opinion.

A mobile home cannot be built on site, it has to be built by a British Standard registered manufacturer and has to be built "inside" there are 2 BS that you are allowed to build too one is holiday standard the other being residential standard.
A mobile home must be on a towable chassis whilst a temporary building does not, they are very different items.

You cannot extend a caravan yourself but you can refit it both internally and externally onsite (but not all in one go)

Personally I would buy 2 cheap caravans 10' wide join them by way of a central walkway and cover it, this will give you a great boot room, drying area, utility room. Then externally clad the vans with Timber, replace windows for double glazed, buy a log burner with back boiler then refit them out completely how you want them.
Having a wood burner with rads is brilliant and it doesn't matter that we lose some heat from the roof because the wood is free. Insulate underneath, then try and make airtight skirting.
Our 2 vans cost 1500 log burner 250 rads 160 walkway I made from pallets roofing 200, timber cladding 670, insulation 200ish we have now been in ours 4 years, my son wants a bigger room so we are going to do a small reconfiguration this autumn.


Hope this helps


If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.
 
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: SallyintNorth on August 15, 2016, 11:48:46 am
What I am typing is exact, its not opinion.

A mobile home cannot be built on site, it has to be built by a British Standard registered manufacturer and has to be built "inside" there are 2 BS that you are allowed to build too one is holiday standard the other being residential standard.
A mobile home must be on a towable chassis whilst a temporary building does not, they are very different items.

You cannot extend a caravan yourself but you can refit it both internally and externally onsite (but not all in one go)

Personally I would buy 2 cheap caravans 10' wide join them by way of a central walkway and cover it, this will give you a great boot room, drying area, utility room. Then externally clad the vans with Timber, replace windows for double glazed, buy a log burner with back boiler then refit them out completely how you want them.
Having a wood burner with rads is brilliant and it doesn't matter that we lose some heat from the roof because the wood is free. Insulate underneath, then try and make airtight skirting.
Our 2 vans cost 1500 log burner 250 rads 160 walkway I made from pallets roofing 200, timber cladding 670, insulation 200ish we have now been in ours 4 years, my son wants a bigger room so we are going to do a small reconfiguration this autumn.


Hope this helps


If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Great info, AndynJ.  :thumbsup:


:bookmark: mobile vs temporary planning permission
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: greenbeast on August 15, 2016, 08:57:24 pm


Personally I would buy 2 cheap caravans 10' wide join them by way of a central walkway and cover it, this will give you a great boot room, drying area, utility room. Then externally clad the vans with Timber,


Hope this helps


If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask.

We almost did that, but bought a double wide mobile home instead.
Opened up the central wall to give open plan lounge/kitchen/diner
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Creagan on August 15, 2016, 10:11:38 pm
Andy- what is your source for stating that a mobile home must adhere to a BS no.?
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: greenbeast on August 16, 2016, 11:13:18 am
Indeed if there is a need to adhere to the Caravans Act (and it's amendments) there isn't any mention of such a requirement as far as planning law goes.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Jukes Mum on August 16, 2016, 11:36:45 am
http://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail?pid=000000000030253830 (http://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail?pid=000000000030253830)
It is frustrating trying to identify which standards are used to demonstrate compliance to a legal requirement, and which are 'voluntary'. This is the link to the standard, but this leaves one none-the-wiser.

This http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/14/contents (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/14/contents) is the Statutory Instrument for Mobile Homes, which may (or indeed may not!) be relevant if the structure is to be classed as a mobile home, rather than temporary building.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: AndynJ on August 16, 2016, 07:17:01 pm
I can dig the relevant British Standard numbers out if you need them, as for my source 35 years of being involved with holiday parks and trying to squeeze every last thing past the planners.

The legislation states in brief "A caravan is a unit built to BS **** built on a towable chassis of a size no greater than 63x22 and made up of no more than 2 separate pieces.
A Mobile home or Park home is built to BS**** built on a towable chassis etc etc
The issue arises if the planners come after you, If you have permission for a caravan and it is in fact a park home they can tell you to remove it. Also it is for you to demonstrate that it is infact a caravan and towable.
When you dig very deeply into this industry you find very small print that stipulates lots of things that help avoid someone just building a timber house.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Creagan on August 16, 2016, 07:34:51 pm
Thanks, I'm aware of the two BS numbers but I've not come across anything that states that you *must* build to one or the other, unless you are specifically building with planning permission for either a mobile home or a caravan. But if you have planning for a 'dwelling' (which is what I called mine) then I don't see why these standards should apply.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: HappyBarney on August 16, 2016, 11:28:41 pm
Thanks for the info.  I am going to look into this further as I have have been given some conflicting advice.  I was told by the planners that a caravan only has to meet the caravan act requirements.  We plan to build almost to building regs so exceeding the BS for caravans.  The only thing I was told was that the two halves have to be joined on site with roof walls and windows in place, everything else is secondary.  Also that as long as the structure can be moved by splitting it and loading onto a truck it counts as a mobile home.  We already have 2 old mobile homes joined together but they are very old and two small for our family hence wanting to replace.  Still looking into fighting the planners on permission for a house as cannot understand why they say no when others have been given permission.

Either way our old mobile home is fast being outgrown and has seen better days.
Title: Re: Building my own mobile home
Post by: Creagan on August 17, 2016, 07:54:37 am
My experience has been that the planners aren't interested in *how* the building is constructed. As far as they are concerned, in my case, it is a dwelling, it will look like it does on the approved plans, and I will be able to live in it without restrictions. I could have chosen to build a proper house but have decided to build a portable building instead. This is a building control issue, nothing to do with planning whatsoever.

If your permission is specifically for something other than a house, then things may be different.