<story><title>One Year Alone in Forest of Sweden Building a Log Cabin</title><url>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBX5qh09OIE</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>burlesona</author><text>Just FWIW in much of the rural US you are largely exempt from building codes if you are building your own primary residence. The logic being that if you built it and you live in it and it kills you, well, you only have yourself to blame. This doesn’t apply for many town and city locations, though, as there are often local zoning controls that make you build cookie cutter garbage. But the smaller and and less regulated the area, the more likely you’re allowed to build what you want so long as you do it yourself and don’t sell it to anyone else.</text></item><item><author>hnarn</author><text>One thing that always seems to be missing from these videos (in general, because there are many of them) is step 0: how do you go about acquiring the land and the permission to build a log cabin on this land? I can&amp;#x27;t imagine that there&amp;#x27;s many countries in the world where there is no build code or other legislation regarding how or where buildings can be built. The last thing I&amp;#x27;d want to do is spend an entire year building something that I would then be legally obliged to tear down.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re felling a large amount of trees in a forest, at the bare minimum you need the blessing of the land owner (if that isn&amp;#x27;t you). Most likely, you&amp;#x27;ll also need in addition to this a permit to fell trees to begin with, because land owners in most countries aren&amp;#x27;t free to simply fell any amount of trees they wish just because they own the land.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s obviously an impressive feat to build a log cabin from scratch, but since this step is so often completely omitted, I have to ask myself whether this is because it&amp;#x27;s considered too boring, or because there are people out there who think that as long as you go far enough into the woods, you can do whatever you want because no one will notice.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dwiel</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve found that places exempt from building codes are much more common than places exempt from health code. Be sure to read up on local plumbing, waste water, septic, etc. code. They will often dictate things like how big the septic system needs to be, how big pipes need to be etc. Generally good rules to follow if you want such a system. If you want a legal outhouse or composting toilet and&amp;#x2F;or grey water setup, there are very few places in the US which allow it so be sure to read up first.</text></comment>
<story><title>One Year Alone in Forest of Sweden Building a Log Cabin</title><url>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBX5qh09OIE</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>burlesona</author><text>Just FWIW in much of the rural US you are largely exempt from building codes if you are building your own primary residence. The logic being that if you built it and you live in it and it kills you, well, you only have yourself to blame. This doesn’t apply for many town and city locations, though, as there are often local zoning controls that make you build cookie cutter garbage. But the smaller and and less regulated the area, the more likely you’re allowed to build what you want so long as you do it yourself and don’t sell it to anyone else.</text></item><item><author>hnarn</author><text>One thing that always seems to be missing from these videos (in general, because there are many of them) is step 0: how do you go about acquiring the land and the permission to build a log cabin on this land? I can&amp;#x27;t imagine that there&amp;#x27;s many countries in the world where there is no build code or other legislation regarding how or where buildings can be built. The last thing I&amp;#x27;d want to do is spend an entire year building something that I would then be legally obliged to tear down.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re felling a large amount of trees in a forest, at the bare minimum you need the blessing of the land owner (if that isn&amp;#x27;t you). Most likely, you&amp;#x27;ll also need in addition to this a permit to fell trees to begin with, because land owners in most countries aren&amp;#x27;t free to simply fell any amount of trees they wish just because they own the land.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s obviously an impressive feat to build a log cabin from scratch, but since this step is so often completely omitted, I have to ask myself whether this is because it&amp;#x27;s considered too boring, or because there are people out there who think that as long as you go far enough into the woods, you can do whatever you want because no one will notice.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hnarn</author><text>Ok, but does being exempt from building codes mean you have the freedom to fell trees in the forest and build a house with them? What if you sell the lumber? Presumably the land is owned by someone, regardless of how remote it is. If you own the land and you&amp;#x27;re exempt from building codes, are you allowed to fell any amount of tress without regulation? How do you know that the area you&amp;#x27;re in is not protected?</text></comment>