Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Lets talk tiny houses, tumbleweeds etc on wheels

Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby loaderman » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:56 am

Anyone want to help me to design a Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels.
All the ideas I see are for young able bodied single people.

Need/want a double bed (54") and also a single bed on the main floor. (some older couples need seperate beds)
Storage/grand kids sleeping area in loft. (kids grandkids could help get at this area if needed)

No necessary to have wheelchair access, but would be bonus points.
Trying to keep it as short as possible. Would love 24' but realize that is probably really really difficult.
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby bobhenry » Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:36 am

I to, am designing to avoid ladders. At 62 I know those days will very shortly be behind me (however I have been spending a lot of time on one building this thing). I to am designing for the inevitable. My caboose thread has 12+ pages of design ideas.

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=47804

The loft bed has been replaced with a let down bed powered with a small electric winch or gear reduction motor.(still working on that one)
The basic idea is here.....
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=46728.

With it up and away there is no square footage wasted during the day.

I have a 36" side entry that can later accomidate a ramp if needed. The 32"rear entry door empties onto a 4x8 porch (observation platform) and could also be made handicapped accessable if needed. The toilet stool is set in the corner at a 45 degree angle to the wall to add shoulder room and additional manuvering room for handicapped equipment and grab bars.

It seemed to me that the wheelwells were best addressed by being hidden by the kitchenette or perhaps a small 6' love seat type sofa.

I went looking for Deek Diedricksen's pull out sofa to bed idea. To me it was genuious.
Seems it was on" tiny house blog" web site.

Flip up this, and fold out that, and fold away furniture seem to me, to be the key to these small spaces being user friendly and spacious by using the limited floor space in very creative ways.
Growing older but not up !
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby loaderman » Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:16 pm

I like the murphy bed over the couch idea, gives you a real bed.
Could do the bed sideways then only come out the 54"
Never thought of it on a small powered motor. That way no lifting.
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby loaderman » Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:40 pm

Doin more thinking.
Building for one is a lot easier/less space then two.
As two can be in any two places at once, where as one person can only be in one place at a time.

With two -
One can be in their bed while the other is in the living room, or kitchen, or bathroom or where ever.

With one -
They are only in one space so the space can change as they remain in it.
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby Cathy P. » Thu May 02, 2013 12:10 pm

I love the tiny houses but now that we are almost just two of us, navigating one as the years go by would probably be impossible. I guess what we would be looking for in a tiny house is very similar to what we are looking for in a new camper, giving up the folding camper. I was here in the forum 2 or 3 years ago but lost touch coming back after I checked the "Design Resources" and came across "The Wanderer" which is the combination of two of the vintage trailers I am very fond of. For a senior tiny house, either separate beds or a bed that doesn't climb over, the refrigerator elevated and make the most used items higher up saving storage at floor level for rarely used items. The loft would be nice for storage or visitors but I would want to be able to get the ladder out of the way. I have looked at all the available models on the internet and actually like the Tortoise Shell better than Tumbleweed because Tumbleweed seems tight, crowded. I would be concerned that if I stooped down in such limited space that it might be difficult to get back up especially if I had something in one hand. Because older people seem to become more claustrophobic, I just learned this but I have always leaned toward it, openness anyway that you can get it would help and that is where the open loft would probably be beneficial. I would have to say that I do like the one flat roof house that Tumbleweed has and I think I got a free copy of the plans when we ordered the book they sell. The bed, only one, is just too small. I would probably prefer setting it up on a foundation eventually.
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby luneywan » Thu May 02, 2013 4:28 pm

loaderman wrote:Doin more thinking.
Building for one is a lot easier/less space then two.
As two can be in any two places at once, where as one person can only be in one place at a time.

With two -
One can be in their bed while the other is in the living room, or kitchen, or bathroom or where ever.

With one -
They are only in one space so the space can change as they remain in it.


When designing for two.
You wan't to make sure that "critical" spaces like the bathroom are always available. Sure its a pain in the neck having to sit on the end of the bed because your bed takes up the livingroom, but it's a lot worse if you can't get to the toilet. :lol:

Also it helps if there is always a way to move around the house. One of the reasons tiny houses use loft beds is that you can still walk through the house with the bed out. This becomes a lot more challenging if you wish to maintain wheelchair access.

On of the ways you can still use the loft space, with out having a loft is by using it as storage. Shelves that slide down out of the ceiling (counterbalanced or electrically winched). :thinking:

Pip
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby luneywan » Thu May 02, 2013 4:34 pm

Cathy P. wrote:Because older people seem to become more claustrophobic, I just learned this but I have always leaned toward it, openness anyway that you can get it would help and that is where the open loft would probably be beneficial. I would have to say that I do like the one flat roof house that Tumbleweed has and I think I got a free copy of the plans when we ordered the book they sell. The bed, only one, is just too small. I would probably prefer setting it up on a foundation eventually.


I did not know that we become more claustrophobic as we age.

Painting the inside in light colors would help, as would the instalation on many windows. The problem with windows is that they are two way see'rs. Plan for a privacy maker, like curtains. :thinking:

If you leave the top open you could install skylights for even more openess. :)

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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby mezmo » Fri May 03, 2013 1:18 am

Tiny Houses with their ladder access sleeping lofts aren't very
user friendly for the 'unlimber' in my view.

I think the approach to take for a "Seniors" oriented Tiny House design
should have two specific goals, which would be - ensure that there is/are
a 'real person sized' bathroom/facilities and a real easily accessable
comfortable bed. The Murphy Bed is probably the best candidate for that,
although I can see an upper level bed if there is a safe stairway type
access to it.

Murphy beds are a great idea. It's hard to beat a made-up
real bed for sleeping in, for which you don't need to be an acrobat
to access. A desk, couch or dinette can be attached to the
front [the underside of the bed platform] for day-time use that
then fold out of the way under the Murphy bed when that is opened.

Also check out the 8 and 10 wide house trailers of the 1950s for
design ideas. They were built to be compact portable homes -
hmmm sounds like a Tiny House eh ? There does seem to be an
unspoken bias against housetrailers in the Tiny House movement in
my 'sense' of it. Building a shrunken house using traditional house
building technology on a flatbed trailer isn't necessarily the best
approach for the most efficient layout and use, other than the general
aspect of a smaller size. Borrow ideas and techniques from the old
housetrailers and also the live-on boats/small yachts when you build.
Those were built specifically with many space-saving ideas necessitated
by their smaller sizes. If you want the result to look more "House-like",
then go for that on the exterior. SIPs would be a good approach to use
too I think. [Ray-Core SIPs would be my choice if they were obtainable
in my locale: http://www.raycore.com/ ]

There is a house trailer from the early 1950s, called the Lighthouse DuPlex,
that would be the perfect one to emulate, with some modifications, for
a seniors tiny house. It is one of the specialized type of housetrailer
called a 'Double Decker' or a "two story" house trailer. It is ~ 8ft wide x
28ft long [body length I think] and ~ 11ft6in high, in size. It has a living
room and very compact bath and an eat-in kitchen on the main level and
two full-size-bed "bedrooms" with standing height aisles on the second level.
It is an ingenious over-n-under design that can be easily modified for modern
times by just putting in a larger bath [The original bath design is too cramped
for easy use in my view.] across the rear or on one rear side and then have the
kitchen and dining area go from that up to the steps that lead up to the full
height aisles in each upper 'bedroom'. And build this new version 8ft6in wide,
for some extra inches in width [In a small unit even a couple extra inches count/help.].
Put the roof ridge crosswise across the width of the body, not lengthwise. Better
yet, do a low arching bow style roof front to back.

Here's a link to an earlier post of mine on it:
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?p=871972#p871972
Here's a link to one that was found and brought back:
http://www.cannedhamtrailers.com/lighthouse.htm
Here is a fast Paint drawing I did for another post showing my updated
profile that I called the "Lighthouse Redux":
[Click for larger view.]
102181
Here is a fast Paint drawing I did for new example floorplans for
the "Lighthouse Redux".
105794
This is not to strict scale. Hopefully they are self-explainatory.

Besides the upper beds, you could also have a Murphy Bed up against
the front wall of the living room if desired, for either owner or guest
use. It'd only take ~ 8-12in of depth of space for the folded up bed.

So there's my take on it. To me this would be a much preferable
approach to the 'Senior Tiny House' than the 'typical' Tiny House
design out there. It is a little larger than most of them, but not by much,
and a smaller, one bedroom, version could easily be done if that was
more to one's liking.

BTW, a guy in the 1950s actually built his own clone of the Lighthouse Duplex,
so if it was done once already, it could also be done again !

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo
If you have a house - you have a hobby.
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby bobhenry » Fri May 03, 2013 6:24 am

BEWARE THE ZONING GESTAPO

Flag this messageSmall homeThursday, May 2, 2013 2:00 PMFrom: "Ken Brown" <[email protected]>Add sender to ContactsTo: "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]>Mr. Henry



The Unified Zoning Ordinance does not allow citizens of our County to live full time in RVs or travel trailers, unless they are located in RV parks that have been allowed to have full time residents. To my knowledge there is only one of these in our County.

Mobile homes or trailers as they were called are allowed only in mobile home parks or areas that they are zoned for, but they must have a State tag identifying them as a mobile home that can be used as a residence.

Back to your structure, it is neither a RV or a travel trailer or a mobile home nor does it meet the minimum requirements set by the State for single family residences which is 750 sq. ft.

Those Counties that do not follow the State mandated building regulations are subject to having their charter dissolved and are subject to suite by the State. I for one do not want my department dissolved as my position along with 5 other hard working professional County employee would no doubt be eliminated. And most important, the State mandated jobs of permitting and inspection that protect the citizens of our County in all areas of the building process would also go by the wayside. Loosing 17 years as a devoted County employee for allowing someone to live in a space not recognized as adequate by State law is not a path I would choose to take.

You are welcome to your own opinion, just as I am, but my position and responsibility dictate I follow the State and local Ordinances.

If I were you, I would continue to pursue a place somewhere outside of Tippecanoe County for your structure,



Ken Brown

Tippecanoe County Building Commissioner

20 North 3rd Street

Lafayette, IN 47901

765-423-9225

[email protected]
Growing older but not up !
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby bobhenry » Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:31 am

Found this sweet litle senior guest house today. Lots of nice pics.


http://tinyhouseblog.com/yourstory/our-guest-cabin/#more-28164
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby mikeschn » Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:07 pm

The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten, so build your teardrop with the best materials...
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby loaderman » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:59 pm

Love the flip down murphy bed over the couch.
The 2 zones in that plan do not make sense to me.
If one zone had the bed and another had say a chair. then one could sleep while another read, was on ipad or computer etc.
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Re: Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels

Postby newlifestyle » Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:08 pm

Here is a plan I found.

Image


Here is an article about tiny houses on wheels without lofts.

http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-house-con ... out-lofts/

More ideas here.

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=58754

Image

Image
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