Off-Grid Living in Loudon, New Hampshire

I've been digging into what off-grid living actually looks like in Loudon, New Hampshire, and the short version is: this is a zoned town with a real Land Use Department, so "off-grid" here means "compliant off-grid," not "do whatever you want on your own land."

Zoning. Loudon is not one of those unzoned New Hampshire towns. The town's Zoning Ordinance, administered by the Land Use Department, sets up multiple use districts with lot size and dimensional standards, including "Contiguous Buildable Area" minimums that vary by district. The ordinance also leans into preserving the town's rural character and dark skies, so don't assume raw land automatically means unrestricted building. Before buying land, I'd call the Planning & Zoning Board office and ask which district a parcel sits in and what the buildable area requirement is.

Dwellings, tiny homes, and RVs. This is where Loudon gets specific. Double-wide manufactured homes are steered into manufactured housing parks, approved accessory uses, or seasonal agricultural worker housing, not just dropped anywhere. Campgrounds and camping parks are permitted, but only under additional ordinance requirements, which tells me RV living is meant to happen in those designated campgrounds rather than on a random residential lot. I found no clear provision for tiny houses on wheels as permanent dwellings, so that's a question to bring straight to the Land Use Department.

Building permits. Any building activity in Loudon needs a permit through the Code Enforcement & Building Department, which sits inside the Land Use Department alongside Planning and Zoning. That covers additions, renovations, accessory structures, demolition, driveways, electrical work, and more.

Septic and composting toilets. The town's own ordinance defers to the state here: no on-site discharge of waste except sanitary sewage is allowed, and on-site waste disposal systems need design approval that traces back to state authority (now NHDES). I did not find town-specific composting toilet rules, so that likely falls under NHDES's statewide subsurface system rules by default. Call NHDES's Subsurface Systems Bureau to confirm before installing anything alternative.

Greywater and rainwater. I couldn't find Loudon-specific ordinance language on either. That silence generally means the state's baseline plumbing and waste rules govern, but I'd treat this as unconfirmed and worth a direct question to the state.

Wells. No town-specific well ordinance turned up. Well construction in New Hampshire runs through the state Water Well Board, and that's the framework I'd expect Loudon to defer to as well.

Utility disconnection. Nothing in what I reviewed bans going off-grid from utilities outright. But building and septic compliance still apply regardless of whether you're tied to the grid, so disconnection itself isn't the issue, meeting code is.

Bottom line: Loudon isn't hostile to off-grid living, but it's a regulated town where the Land Use Department and state agencies both have a say. Confirm everything before you build.