Living off the grid
There’s quite a lot to think about when considering living off grid in New Zealand. We hope this article helps.
It’s simple really. Move to the woods, take your tiny home, throw on some solar panels and maybe even a wind turbine for power, drill a well, plant your gardens, raise chickens, cows, and pigs, and sit on your front porch while sipping coffee and staring out at the beautiful natural wilderness around you. Easy right? Not really.
Where to start?
It all goes back to the basics and living a sustainable life while being self-sufficient. So, start planning and do your research.
Let’s start with understanding your location. We are assuming you are totally off the grid. It will matter where in New Zealand you are as each location offers challenges and may provide a valuable resource. You may also need to take into consideration what building materials you use especially if you are living next to or near the ocean.
Living Near the Ocean or Tasman Sea
Cladding - I recommend Vinyl
The price you pay for your cladding is the last price. No sanding, prepping or painting are required once it is installed leaving you more time and money to spend on other things. Each board is thermally insulated with a choice of 20mm or 30mm foam which boosts energy efficiency and r-value and keeps the heat in your home where it belongs while keeping it cool in summer.
Cost effective
50 year warranty
No Painting - EVER
Virtually maintenance free (even in coastal areas)
Windows and Doors - I recommend uPVC
thermal efficiency: perfect for use in the New Zealand climate especially in the south where there are cold temperatures
an affordable investment to create a warmer, healthier home
offers very good levels of noise reduction
can withstand New Zealand's harshest sunlight without discolouring or degrading, due to the fact it is made of highly durable uPVC.
Now for many people these solutions are not their first choice but if you want your tiny home to last the products above should be a serious contender. Of course if you are not living close to salt air and the sea then you are free to look at the hundreds of other options for your tiny home.
Your Trailer
If you are permanently by the ocean I would also look at taking your Tiny Home off the trailer unless you have some serious hot dippped galvanised product quaranteed to last for 20+ years? So even then, again I would be placing my Tiny Home of some very well treated timber piles or skids. Even if they need replacing you will not be breaking the bank when you do so.
Powering your Tiny Home
In New Zealand we are lucky to have an abundance of sunshine hours and wind. Many of you may only need Solar panels with a Petrol Inverter (or similar) as a backup, However, for those using more power you may want to consider investing in your own wind turbine. We have a number of providers for all these products here in New Zealand.
My recommendation is to try to decrease your need for electricity and use Gas and/or Wood fire options for cooking, heating water for showers etc. The less electricty you need the more likely your solar will provide all your electrical needs for lighting, laptop/tv, charging your phone etc. Cooking with gas or fire is much more exciting anyway.
Again in New Zealand there are a bunch of options for small wood burners, gas hobs etc. Do your research as new products seem to be popping up all the time and there are some really cost effective options for those on a budget.
Water Storage
If you are truly living off grid you will need a decent storage tank. If you are lucky enough to live close to a stream of river (make sure the water is clean) you can draw supply from here into your tank. However, if you a reliant solely on rainwater then you may need to think about bigger storage tanks. A 5000 litre tank will give you aboout 100 10+min showers or 70+ washes in the washing machine. This should be enough for most people or couples. If you live in a drought area (Why did you choose there?) sorry, you will need a big storage tank 20,000 or 25,000 and possibly will be buying water through the driest months. But hey if you are mortgage free maybe getting a water truck in once or twice a month is doable.
Another option is to drill a water borehole but you will need to check this is an option and it will hurt your bank account initially but all depends on what needs to happen. For some people a borehole maybe a sound option.
Think about the old days where early settlers found creeks, streams and rivers to live by. There was a very good reason for this.
Services
The Toilet
One of the big things you can do when building your new Tiny Home is to select your toilet. Some people have to have a flushing system and there are a number of portable solutions available to you.
I personally recommend you seriously look at a composting toilet. Better for the planet, and will save you a load of water.
According to Learnz the average Kiwi household can uses up to 86 litres of water a day at the toilet. Thats a whole lot of water. So, please think about trying a composting toilet and be kind to the planet.
There is one final option - Incinerating Toilet. I leave you to do the research on this one.
Grey Water
You will need some sort of Grey water tank to take care of water from showers, sinks, washing machine. You cannot release this water back into a water way, however if you are using eco-friendly cleaning products you may find a solution that enables you to use your grey water for your garden. Do your research.
Grow your own
Finally. If you are living off the grid start to grow your own vegetables, fruit and maybe setup a chicken coop. Now you really are self sustainable!
Hope you found this helpful
Tony Cutting
For Kiwi Tiny Home
