Edward Louie

...I grew up in an energy-inefficient home that was uncomfortable and needed constant repairs because the construction didn’t pay adequate attention to the hydrothermal principles of physics and building science leading to mold, radon, high indoor CO2 levels, pests, leaks, and rotting wood. I saw Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, in high school, and it left a lasting impact. My childhood home experience, coupled with the film, motivated me to learn through formal and informal education how to design and build a home that is better, healthier, more comfortable, energy-efficient, and more sustainable.

I built a tiny house on wheels because living small scale has a large impact on sustainability. Even if you built a home that is very efficient, if it is 10,000 sq. ft., its total energy use will still be high. It is more affordable than building a full-scale house in materials, and because they are not required to be connected to the electric grid, sewer, and municipal water. It isn’t constrained by building codes that may not be accepting of experimental electrical configurations such as using a PHEV’s battery pack and engine as a supplemental energy source for the home, DC lighting, and composting toilets. I want the option to move it to a more affordable location if the land value/rent surges or natural disasters force relocation. I can test out high-quality, high-performance construction products, materials, and assemblies that may not be affordable if expanded to full-scale.

My time is limited, and this is a construction project I work on during weekends, holidays, and evenings alongside a demanding, full-time job. I want to do each part of the design-build myself because I can’t find affordable, skilled helpers, I want to learn and experience how to do it myself so I can teach others, or I don’t trust someone to do something right because many of the materials are novel. I don’t want to write reports about products that I haven’t tried myself. I don’t want space to have a lot of stuff. Searching for, tidying, and taking care of stuff is stressful and annoying. A tiny house forces me to not have a lot of stuff.

After completing this tiny house, I would like to build small, multi-family, middle-density, zero-energy homes using each project as a test-bed for different products, materials, assemblies, and ideas. I think if you can’t afford to buy a home where other people put 100% of the skilled labor into making it a reality, you should have the option of building one yourself with help from friends, family, and the community. There should be systems to enable the average handy person to be able to build their own home. I’d like to identify the difficult parts in the construction of a home and figure out how to make that part easy. For land, I’d like to identify homeowners that are stuck in homes that are cost-prohibitive to repair and unable to move because of gentrification and help these people deconstruct and redevelop their property into small multi-family, middle-density developments, where they get to live in one of the units without any out-of-pocket costs. I’d love help, mentorship, investments, and ideas on how to turn this bigger idea into a reality.

...Outside of that is a Benjamin Obdyke HydroGap WRB. Outside of that is 1" of polyisocyanurate rigid insulation that ties in with the ThermalBuck that insulates all of the windows and doors. Outside of that is a 7/16" rainscreen mat made by Stuc-O-Flex called WaterWays. Outside of that is exposed fastener metal siding made by Metal Sales with a profile called Classic Rib. With this wall assembly, the walls are about R25 continuous.

The windows are tilt-turn triple panes imported by EuroClime from Poland. They feature Aluplast Ideal 4000 frames and triple-pane argon-filled IGUs for a whole while U-value of 0.18 to 0.21.

The house has a SIP roof with above sheathing ventilation (ASV). White double lock standing seam metal roofing was installed as the roof covering. Solar panels are clamped onto the standing seams. On the roof are 6 395w Canadian Solar BiHiKu Bi-facial solar panels on Tigo optimizers. The house also has an awning completely covered by solar panels. That awning features 3 330w mono-facial panels on Tigo optimizers.

The battery and power electronics side of the solar system features a MorningStar TriStar 600v to 48v MPPT charge controller. It charges a 48v 4.8 kWh DIY LiFePo4 battery made from 16 100A prismatic cells connected to a 100A BMS. The system has a 5kW 240v inverter that has custom firmware made by PlugOut Power so it can also be connected to a Prius. I have a Prius Prime which has 8.8 kWh battery. This inverter can take 3 sources of power, 48v DC from the battery, 350v DC from the Prius Prime, and 240v from a 50A AC RV Plug.

This inside is still under construction. It is roughed in for a Lunos E2 HRV for ventilation and a fully ducted 50 Gal Rheem Heat Pump Water Heater. I have the Lunos guts still in a box and the HPWH is inside awaiting install.

Tiny House on Wheels (THOW) is governed under RV codes but I am building mine as close to IRC as I can. Thus I am installing drywall for fire protection. The drywall has not yet been installed so people can see the taped SIP wall still.

All of the plumbing will be outside the walls hidden behind the kitchen cabinets. All of the electricals are either on interior walls or surface-mounted in conduit or wire molding. All of the lighting will be DC 12v or 24v LED actuated by wireless and battery-free kinetic switches. On the 12v DC fuse box will be the dual-zone refrigerator freezer, water pump, and composting toilet fan.