Small house and smaller trailer

[Wolffarmer]

I ran onto this this morning. The small trailer starts at about 9:30. Have not noticed if anyone else has posted it yet. The smaller trailer has my interest.

Youtube here, could not get it to embed


Link to some pictures.

Pikies

Randy

edit

A bit of googling and I found more about it.

Blog for Protostoga

[the other side]

I like the tiny house. Wonder what his tow vehicle is for the tiny house? Did you catch the weight of the tiny house?

[Wolffarmer]

I didn't for the house. but did see it is built on a trailer rated for 14,000 lbs. Or something like that. One thing I do not like about the tiny houses. Most of them use a loft for the main sleeping area. That just will not work for me.

Randy

[the other side]

Yeah... For kids it would be GREAT! I saw one that had a bedroom/space in the back for the master bedroom and a loft for their son. The loft was a very generous size for the boy, and a great private space for him (video games, television, and all).

[kudzu]

I like the tiny house. Wonder what his tow vehicle is for the tiny house? Did you catch the weight of the tiny house?

Pics on the website show a big Ram truck as tow vehicle.

[wincrasher]

Actually I kinda dig these tiny houses. His trailer is cool too.

What you never see, but I think is a great application in these things, is to use a murphy bed. It would solve the issue of a loft bed, that is for sure. You could use that space for storage or tankage or something.

They probably end up being weight limited on the trailer frame, but couldn't they actually build a full two story? Or make it a hi-low type of thing.

You rarely see any kind of innovative use of materials on these tiny houses. Usually heavy framing - 2x4 or 2x6 and plywood. Probably to keep it cheap. But think what you could do with a bigger budget - aluminum or galvanized steel, with spray foam insulation and maybe a metal skin. Could be a lot lighter.

[Wolffarmer]

And it also seems to me they build on top of the trailer frame. No attempt to lower the floor to lower the over all height. Or I could be wrong. I do like the small house movement, just do not like the idea of loft sleeping. At least for this fat old fart.

Randy

[mezmo]

Personally, I think the 'Tiny Houses' are an enthusiasm driven
phenomena. The idea of more compact living and simplification
of living arrangements has great validity, but most tiny houses
that you see are only a small replica of a house on a flatbed that's
not connected to realistic living. They appear to be more of a
playhouse for kids than an effective long term housing solution
to me.

Here's a link to the forum's "Tiny Houses on wheels" Section
viewforum.php?f=48

Here's a link in that that applies here:
"Floor plan for a seniors tiny house on wheels"
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=51813

And here's a post of mine in that thread that has some
info you might consider.
viewtopic.php?p=1009690#p1009690

There is also a builder in Oregon that builds something
similar in 8.5ft, 10ft and 12ft widths etc.

Rich's Portable Cabins
http://www.richsportablecabins.com/
He has loft models and non-loft models:
http://www.richsportablecabins.com/loftmodels.html
http://www.richsportablecabins.com/8widemodels.html

And on the other side of the country there is another
builder with a similar product line:
http://www.adirondackwhitepinecabins.com/

Their offerings are far more realistic for a downsized but
livable abode than most Tiny Houses. If self-portablity is
a requirement, then the 8.5ft max width and 13.5ft max
height and a max length of 35-40ft would be the sizing
parameters for transporting without needing permits.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

P.S. Randy - here's a link to some pics of the 8wide with loft
by 'Rich's Cabins' that has a construction pic. They're
incorporating the chassis/frame within the floor in it.
https://plus.google.com/photos/10431743 ... banner=pwa

[Wolffarmer]

I am not to crazy about the small house on wheels thing. But I do like the small house ideas. Our houses have gotten way to big. They take a lot to build, and a lot to keep warm/cool. Even if they are super insulated. But in my humble opinion there are two things that has caused large houses and they also cause a break down in society. Those two things are TV and air conditioning. Before these came along people lived outside on a porch, in the yard, in the park. People knew their neighbors. Knew the kids their kids hung out with. You can now replace TV with the Internet. I have.

Randy

[jseyfert3]

I like the tiny house. Wonder what his tow vehicle is for the tiny house? Did you catch the weight of the tiny house?

The house is 9500 lb, the trailer is under 1500 lb.

[the other side]

Well that excludes my TV! LOL I guess I'd have to keep it planted in the ground!

[Fenlason]

I am not to crazy about the small house on wheels thing. But I do like the small house ideas. Our houses have gotten way to big. They take a lot to build, and a lot to keep warm/cool. Even if they are super insulated. But in my humble opinion there are two things that has caused large houses and they also cause a break down in society. Those two things are TV and air conditioning. Before these came along people lived outside on a porch, in the yard, in the park. People knew their neighbors. Knew the kids their kids hung out with. You can now replace TV with the Internet. I have.

Randy

A well designed house does not have to cost a lot to heat or cool. Regardless of it's size. Our house is not one of the Mc Mansions that are out there now, but it is far from being small. 2500+ for 2 people. We heat our house with less than 1/2 of a cord of wood a year. I produce more wood in a year, cleaning up the yard etc, than I burn. If I was to build it again today, I could easily reduce that. Our house isn't it's size, because of tv, and we have no "artificial" air conditioning, and we are outdoors a lot. We have a screen porch.. and a covered open porch beyond that. We also have some decks, one that I put a shade cloth over in the summer.

[Wolffarmer]

I am not to crazy about the small house on wheels thing. But I do like the small house ideas. Our houses have gotten way to big. They take a lot to build, and a lot to keep warm/cool. Even if they are super insulated. But in my humble opinion there are two things that has caused large houses and they also cause a break down in society. Those two things are TV and air conditioning. Before these came along people lived outside on a porch, in the yard, in the park. People knew their neighbors. Knew the kids their kids hung out with. You can now replace TV with the Internet. I have.

Randy

A well designed house does not have to cost a lot to heat or cool. Regardless of it's size. Our house is not one of the Mc Mansions that are out there now, but it is far from being small. 2500+ for 2 people. We heat our house with less than 1/2 of a cord of wood a year. I produce more wood in a year, cleaning up the yard etc, than I burn. If I was to build it again today, I could easily reduce that. Our house isn't it's size, because of tv, and we have no "artificial" air conditioning, and we are outdoors a lot. We have a screen porch.. and a covered open porch beyond that. We also have some decks, one that I put a shade cloth over in the summer.

All true, but a well designed large house takes more materials to build than a well designed small house. It will also still need more energy to heat and cool than a small house. All built to the same standards. This all places more load on the system.

[Fenlason]

I am not to crazy about the small house on wheels thing. But I do like the small house ideas. Our houses have gotten way to big. They take a lot to build, and a lot to keep warm/cool. Even if they are super insulated. But in my humble opinion there are two things that has caused large houses and they also cause a break down in society. Those two things are TV and air conditioning. Before these came along people lived outside on a porch, in the yard, in the park. People knew their neighbors. Knew the kids their kids hung out with. You can now replace TV with the Internet. I have.

Randy

A well designed house does not have to cost a lot to heat or cool. Regardless of it's size. Our house is not one of the Mc Mansions that are out there now, but it is far from being small. 2500+ for 2 people. We heat our house with less than 1/2 of a cord of wood a year. I produce more wood in a year, cleaning up the yard etc, than I burn. If I was to build it again today, I could easily reduce that. Our house isn't it's size, because of tv, and we have no "artificial" air conditioning, and we are outdoors a lot. We have a screen porch.. and a covered open porch beyond that. We also have some decks, one that I put a shade cloth over in the summer.

All true, but a well designed large house takes more materials to build than a well designed small house. It will also still need more energy to heat and cool than a small house. All built to the same standards. This all places more load on the system.

While I can't argue much about using more materials for building our house compared to something like a 500 square foot dwelling. We have done things to minimize waste. The majority of our house is dome shaped. This shape allows you to enclose more area, while using less materials. [simple math] I see a lot of small house plans that us a lot of little corners and bump outs, all sort of wasteful. With much of place underground, I don't have roofing that will need to be periodically replaced, or siding to be repainted or stained. Our house has minimal plumbing. The laundry/ utility room is back to back with the bathroom, the plumbing fixtures share that one wall, and the kitchen is directly above this.
Do you realize how little heat, less than 1/2 a cord is? I am suggesting I could build another [from what I know now] that would take a fraction of that, and while you say I could build the same thing smaller, and use even less, I would be willing to bet that many of the small houses out there use more heat than we do. Yes on paper it is easy to say if a place was build like mine, but was smaller it would take less to heat it, but in reality, how many of them do?

[Wolffarmer]

Yes, I know how much a cord of wood is. I lived in an early 70's trailer house for over 20 years and heated with wood. next to no insulation and drafty. Those where some cold winters. Yes Dooms are best for outside surface area to inside volume. And I also rant about these fine new "Green" homes with bump outs, corners, completely above ground.

To really wonder about people just dive up to Sun Valley Idaho ( mountain sky resort area ) and look at all the stupid houses the 2 percenters build. Many of them also have heated drive ways so they don't have to shovel snow. That place is a museum of stupid architecture. IMHO once again.

Randy