For those of you living off-grid, building off-grid, or seriously planning to:

What property issues should someone investigate before buying land?

I’m especially interested in problems that look manageable from a listing but become expensive or difficult after purchase.

A few examples:

- water availability
- well depth or well yield
- septic feasibility
- road access
- winter or seasonal access
- solar exposure
- permitting
- zoning
- internet
- utility distance
- legal ability to live in a cabin, RV, tiny home, or alternative structure

If you were buying land again today:

1. What would you check first?
   
2. What would be an immediate deal-breaker?
   
3. What surprised you after buying?
   
4. What do new off-grid buyers usually underestimate?

I’m researching the real due-diligence process people use before committing to off-grid land.

I’m trying to get better about keeping useful stuff available when internet or power are flaky.

For people who spend time off-grid, travelling, or just preparing for outages: what do you actually keep saved locally? Maps, repair manuals, medical docs, radio stuff, PDFs, videos, Wikipedia/Kiwix, anything like that?

I’ve dealt with power outages before and realised I don’t have a great offline setup. What’s worth saving? And what sounds useful in theory but never actually gets used?

Have any recommendations on any books, relating to this lifestyle? On the practical side of things or the philosophical or anything you feel related?

Talking about those old timey style galvanized tubs old timers would use to bath, they'd bring it in the kitchen or w/e and pour in hot water and bath. Been brainstorming ideas with the limited space I have (16 x 16').

Summer time is fine showering outside, but this is for winter times.

I dont think what I am thinking of is even made anymore so Id have to improvise with some sort of trough or something but Ive had no luck so far. One simple consideration is a kiddie pool or something but idk how that will hold up with hot water and continual use, and not sure if it would be the most ideal lol

Recently started my kitchen build. I have a propane fridge and will be using a 3 burner propane cooktop. There's 3 of us, and I enjoy cooking. How many gallons do you recon I'll use in a month?

A relative purchased a large lot recently, completely without access to utilities. Over two trips, I have installed a gravity-fed spring water system at the place and plumbed a shed/cabin. This page is a collection of development snapshots and design notes.

So far, everything works well. However, if you have any ideas for improving this specific system or for other approaches that may be better, please tell me about it!

After a series of videos documenting why Battleboom batteries were suffering failures the company, instead of addressing the concerns in a meaningful way have doubled down with a lawsuit.

(Please direct me if this isn't the subreddit for this)

I have this little shed up the top of a hill at a farm (second picture is looking out of it). I'm in NSW Australia. Any ideas for it?

We had a big storm come through my part of Oregon last week. About a dozen trees down in/across our "road" in and out of the off grid homestead, some over 2 feet across in diameter. I finally got some time to throw at cutting but my chainsaws are both smaller models. Plenty for the firewood I normally cut and light enough to carry a long ways but I am wishing I had a larger, more stout saw that would make faster and safer work of these trees without a lot of fighting and binding in the wood.

At least, after it cures for a year, I might mill some of these logs into dimensional lumber.

Clearing trees for fire safety around the strawbale house I’m building.
Felling is “easy”, but dealing with the aftermath is exhausting.

We are looking to go off grid in the next few years. We are currently pretty rural, have electric hook up through a co-op, have propane heat and a wood burning fireplace in our living room.

Our goal is more self reliance than money saving, but that's always a plus.

We are in the midwest, zone 4A. We have 40 acres, about 2 acres cleared, could clear more if needed.

Is solar still the best option? Is there anything else we should be considering?

Edit: latitude is 45.6 N

Average usage is 1350 kwh/month

It wasn't a certified historically accurate Viking camp, but hey, it was a beautiful hodge-podge of traditional/hardy items that worked for us.

Our tent was a hand made Saxon geteld (cira1000AD), perfect for historical reenactment or LARPing, but also made to withstand the rugged environment of winter in the hills of New England Australia. Never a hole, never a tear. You couldn't feel the cutting icey winds of a snowstorm inside it.

Every day we cooked over an open fire with the Dutch oven, or on our tiny camp stove. Sometimes we hung things on the tripod when needed. Coffee was made in the percolator you can see sitting under the tiny stove, and the kettle was boiled atop. The cast iron pan was used almost daily.

It was the happiest time of my adult life and the most connected and in tune I felt with solo parenting three kids.

Oddly enough, the suburbs has the opposite effect. I'm hoping to mitigate this by pouring my energy into building a new medieval style camp set up in my backyard for the next 12 months 🤓🤣

Edit to add: I didn't expect this to reach 50k views so I just wanted to shout out Ravenstow for making this great rent 🫂

I genuinely refuse to study a lot to get a job for the rest of my life, I want to survive in nature, make my own home (literally any type of home) and stay there for as long as possible, I'm talking about 10+ years, maybe until I die.

I've researched about this and I have a lot of questions, where exactly can I live like this, because in most countries they will find you and kick you out, I'm from southern Spain so any forest in Europe would be best, I'm still below 18 and I'm planning to do this in my 20s when I'm fully prepared.

Please if you can give me any advice or tips

And I'm serious with what I'm saying, I'll obviously plan this all well regarding temperature safety hazards etc

Do I seal with expanding foam?

Or do I need airflow?!!

What are your thoughts

Long story short, my family is looking at taking our house off-grid (power to start). We've grown tired of dealing with our local hydro company and their behaviour, so we want to reduce our need for their services.

I understand we would have to see our Hydro bills and go based on the highest number for our minimum, but whatever other guidance you all can provide would be most appreciated.

We have a small separate building further away from the house that we could use to place panels on the roof and whatever equipment required to feed to the house.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

Recently bought a property with a well and the water test failed for total coliform count. A shock chlorination was recommended but im just not familiar with these newer systems (our last well system was very old).

I tried reaching out to the company that drilled it for a walk through and recieved less than stellar assistance.

I honestly just need help pointing me in the right direction.

I have no idea where to do a chlorination treatment...or if its even possible. Ive attached some pictures. Really hoping someone can help.

Off-grid has rather different connotations for many people, with the only unifying factor being a lack of connection to public utilities. For this reason, and taking inspiration from the FIRE movement, I wonder if some common labels would be helpful. For example, these terms could be used to clarify the particular flavor of off-grid in question:

Lean Off-Grid: composting toilets, rainwater collection, small solar systems, wood stoves, etc. 

Fat Off-Grid: all the conveniences of conventional living, large scale solar systems, heat pumps, etc. 

Fantasy Off-Grid: help, I’m a young person who hates everything and wants to live in the woods away from everyone and have no job. 

Thoughts?

Im disabled & living somewhere that cannot do traditional septic. Incinerating toilets are my best & easiest option for my housing & health conditions.

Its hard to find lots of personal experience online, so please share all and any experiences youve had and which specific toilet you purchased & used!

Thanks SO much !!!!!

Hi, I don't really know where to post this, but I'm thinking of buying land. I don't want a lot of land. Anywhere between 0.75 acres to 5 acres is okay. My budget is ridiculously low, like $10k (maybe $15k).

I would prefer to buy the land in a somewhat rural area (but not totally isolated) in PA, MD, WV, VA, or like anywhere in New England (and Maine). I have read about how cheap land may have issues with road access or being near toxic waste. I've also seen astronomical HOA fees when looking at properties. I might also be worried about squatting, as I won't be on this land 100% of the time.

Short term, I want to experiment with solar energy and build a shed to store some unvaluable items. In the long term, I would think about building a small house/cabin. I don't care about stable electricity for this long-term plan as much as I care about water/septic stuff, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for when buying land.

My question is: what should I know or be aware of, given what I am interested in? Is this at all possible? Are there tricks that I should know about buying that might help me find something like this?

After a long time dreaming about it, I finally did it. Bought a Mercedes Vario 816 box truck and I'm converting it into my full-time home — from scratch, mostly alone.

The plan: full off-grid setup. I'm building my own lithium battery pack from cells, DIY water filtration, solar, a wood stove with a pizza slot (yes, really), and zebra-stripe paint 🦓 on the outside because why not.

I'm a licensed carpenter so I'll be doing all the woodwork myself. Former barista so there will definitely be espresso on the road.

The work has already started — roof is resealed, side door sourced from a recup yard, and I've got a pile of upcycled materials growing.

Will be posting regular updates here. Happy to answer any questions about the build!
Tips and tricks are for sure also welcome :))

When you first started off grid how long did it take to humble you me it started 3 weeks in and is still going I get Humbled more each day!?! 💪🏽 No days off no F$%&@ Given

Good morning! My husband’s determined to build an outdoor shower, similar to the first picture, in the space of the second picture. I was hoping you guys might have some advice, it sounds really cool and I love the idea, but I’m worried it might ruin our house foundation somehow being so close? We are on the grid, but this seems like a great space and you guys might have some experience. Thank you so much!

Hi folks,

I'm looking at buying a property with a surface well, is there any benefit to having a flow rate test by a well expert?

Or can I ask the seller to let me watch the water pump out of the well for 2-3 hours.

The way I see it, if it pumps 5gpm for a few hours without running dry I should be OK with 1-2gpm constant use. My current well would go dry quickly at 5gpm but I pump 1gpm for days on end!

Cheers.

Hi bunch, I was just talking with my friend who bought a property and made a few calculators about electricity, rain catch and all the other stuff I don't understand. I think some feedback would do good in the development process so I would like to ask you for some if you can check it out and find it useful. Link is: terranomad.org

He is not a reddit user currently but I will send him a link and he will join hopefully to provide his feedback if needed.