Garden Playhouse: Sizing, Base and the 2.5m Planning Rule

A garden playhouse is usually the cheapest garden building you will ever buy and the one children remember longest, but it is easy to get wrong: too small to stand up in by the second summer, sited where it rots, or raised on a platform that quietly puts it outside the planning rules. This page covers the choices that decide whether a kids’ garden playhouse lasts: the main types, how to size one for the ages it will see, timber and treatment, the base, safety, and the permitted development limits that apply to a playhouse just as they do to a shed or garden room.

Types of garden playhouse

Ground-level wooden playhouse (the Wendy house)

A small timber house with a door, windows and a pitched roof, sitting on a floor of its own. This is the classic childs garden playhouse and the easiest to site and maintain. Kits are commonly sold in spruce or pine, often planed, sometimes delivered untreated so you can paint them. One retailer’s Snow White playhouse, for example, is listed as Scandinavian spruce with 16mm cladding, floor and roof, a footprint of 1.52m by 1.5m, an overall height of 1.7m, and is delivered untreated.

Raised playhouse on a platform

The house sits on a deck or legs, usually with a ladder, climbing wall or slide. Children love the height, and it keeps the floor dry. It also brings two extra things to think about: fall height and safety surfacing under it, and the planning limit on raised platforms explained below.

Two-storey playhouse

A ground-floor room with a loft or upper level reached by a ladder. These are the tallest of the group, which matters if you plan to put one close to a fence.

Plastic playhouse

Moulded plastic houses are light, need no treatment, and wipe clean, which suits toddlers. They fade and become brittle in sun over the years and most are outgrown sooner than a timber house.

Sizing a playhouse for the ages it will see

The mistake is buying for the child you have now. A playhouse sized for a three-year-old is cramped for a seven-year-old, and that is when they would use it most.

Measure your children and the door. Check the door height and the eaves height (the lowest point of the ceiling at the walls) on the product listing, not just the ridge. A ridge of 1.6 to 1.7m often means eaves well under that, which an older child will stoop under.
Think about the floor area, not just the outside size. Wall thickness, a porch or veranda and roof overhangs are often counted in the footprint. A 1.5m square house gives a small room inside once walls are subtracted.
Allow for furniture. A small table and two chairs or a play kitchen take more space than you expect. If friends will visit, size up.
Plan the second life. A larger timber playhouse can later become a garden store, potting shed or den for teenagers. A very small one usually ends up in the skip.

Planning permission for a garden playhouse

A playhouse is an outbuilding in planning terms, so the same permitted development rules apply as for a shed or summerhouse. In England, the Planning Portal’s outbuilding rules allow you to put one up without an application if, among other conditions:

it is not forward of the wall forming the principal elevation of the house (usually the front);
it is single storey, with eaves no higher than 2.5m and an overall height no more than 4m with a dual pitched roof, or 3m with any other roof;
it is no more than 2.5m high overall if any part of it is within 2m of a boundary;
it has no veranda, balcony or raised platform, and a platform must not exceed 0.3m in height;
it and all other additions and outbuildings cover no more than half the land around the original house.

Two of those catch playhouses more than any other garden building. First, the 0.3m platform limit: a raised playhouse with a deck higher than 30cm off the ground falls outside permitted development. Second, the 2.5m height limit within 2m of a boundary: most gardens put the playhouse against a back or side fence, and a two-storey or raised model can exceed 2.5m once it sits on its base. Councils do act on this. In Havering, for example, a garden structure measured at 2.9m needed permission, with officers noting it would not have needed it at 2.5m or lower.

Other limits apply on designated land (conservation areas, National Parks, National Landscapes and the Broads, where buildings at the side of a house need permission), within the curtilage of a listed building (any outbuilding needs permission), and for flats and maisonettes, which have no permitted development rights for outbuildings. Rules in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. If you are close to a limit, ask your council for a Lawful Development Certificate before you buy, or pick a ground-level model.

Building regulations rarely affect playhouses: small detached outbuildings with no sleeping accommodation are generally exempt. Our page on garden rooms and outbuildings covers the larger buildings where they do start to apply.

Where to put a playhouse in the garden

In sight of the house. You want to see the door from the kitchen or living room window, especially for younger children.
Away from the boundary if it is tall. Keeping it more than 2m from every boundary lifts the height limit from 2.5m to the general one, and gives you space to treat and maintain the back wall.
Not under trees that drip. Constant shade and leaf litter keep the roof and walls damp, and timber rots from the bottom and the roof first.
On level, well-drained ground. Avoid the bottom of a slope where water collects.
With a clear zone round raised models. Leave open space round platforms, ladders and slides free of paving edges, walls and hard objects, with an impact-absorbing surface such as bark chippings or rubber mulch underneath.

Base and treatment: what makes a playhouse last

A timber playhouse placed straight on soil or grass will rot. Give it a proper base, as you would a shed:

White painted children's playhouse with a steep roof behind a hedge and fence — A painted children’s playhouse set behind low hedging in a fenced garden. | Children’s playhouse (3561671410) by Andrea_44 (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Children%27s_playhouse_(3561671410).jpg

Paving slabs or a concrete pad laid level and slightly larger than the floor, so rain runs off rather than under.
A plastic grid base filled with gravel: quick, free-draining and easy for a small building.
Pressure-treated bearers under the floor, if the kit does not include them, to lift the floor off the base and let air circulate.

Check how the timber is treated before you buy. Some kits are pressure-treated, some dip-treated and some, like the spruce example above, arrive untreated. An untreated house needs a coat of exterior paint or stain before it goes outside and every couple of years after. Use a water-based product that the maker says is suitable for children’s play equipment once dry, and keep the roof felt or shingles in good repair: the roof is where most playhouses fail first.

Safety checks before children use it

Look for EN 71-8 on raised and climbing models. BS EN 71-8 is the European toy safety standard for activity toys for domestic use, covering home climbing frames, slides and similar play equipment for children under 14. A raised playhouse with a slide or climbing wall should state compliance.
Doors and windows: no finger traps in hinges, and windows of styrene or polycarbonate rather than glass.
Fixings: no protruding screw points or nails inside, and bolt heads covered with caps.
Anchoring: raised and tall playhouses should be fixed to the base or ground anchors so they cannot tip.
Regular checks: after winter, look for loose boards, splinters, rot at the floor and roof leaks.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need planning permission for a garden playhouse?

Usually not in England, because it is an outbuilding under permitted development. You will need permission if it is forward of the front of the house, over 2.5m high within 2m of a boundary, on a platform higher than 0.3m, in the grounds of a listed building, or at the side of the house on designated land.

Can a raised playhouse need planning permission?

Yes. Permitted development for outbuildings does not allow verandas, balconies or raised platforms over 0.3m high, so a playhouse on a deck above that height can need an application. Check the platform height on the listing before you buy.

What base does a wooden playhouse need?

A level, free-draining base: paving slabs, a concrete pad or a gravel-filled plastic grid, slightly larger than the floor, with treated bearers lifting the floor clear. Never stand a timber playhouse directly on grass or soil.

Should I treat a new wooden playhouse?

If it is sold untreated, yes, before it goes outside, with an exterior paint or stain the maker says is safe for children’s play equipment once dry. Even pressure-treated houses benefit from a decorative coat every couple of years.

What is the difference between a playhouse and a Wendy house?

Nothing in practice. Wendy house is the traditional British name for a small children’s playhouse, after the house the Lost Boys build for Wendy in Peter Pan.