Tiny Houses

Tiny Houses

Last edit:  7/8/24

Tiny houses come in many forms.  These days "tiny house" has come to primarily mean a tiny house on wheels (THOW), but there are many possibilities: 

•  Tents - including yurts & yomes (yurt/dome hybrid).  Tents can be legal in places when tiny houses are not.

•  Living in a vehicle.  There is a whole movement of its own related to "van lifers".  There are often issues with where to park.  Bathing and toilet facilities can be challenging.  Cooking and food storage?  It still may be a viable temporary solution, and for some it becomes a rewarding lifestyle.  Potentially it could be done in smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles?

•  RV's/ Travel Trailers.  They have an advantage of being lighter weight (than tiny stick built tiny homes), but because of this tend to not be as durable.  Roof leaks are very common.  They can be considerably less expensive and less expensive to move than THOW's.

•  Park models (tiny mobile homes - less than 400SF)

• Towable tiny house on wheels (THOW)

• Tiny Houses on Foundations (THOF)

•  Other: boats, treehouses, overpasses, park benches,...

All of these options seem to have something to offer different circumstances - there is not a single "best" solution for everyone.  Tiny houses may still be out of reach for many - including many who are moving into them anyway - not aware that there may be other options that may work for them.  If you've maxed out every penny you can possibly earn, what happens when there is a repair needed?  Lot rent increases?  Cost of relocating?

Although less than the current cost of housing in the conventional housing market, tiny houses still can represent a significant investment.  In today's crazy housing market tiny houses represent a viable option for people to be able to afford a place to live at all.  Especially here in the Asheville area which has one of the highest ratios in the nation for cost of housing/ income earning potential, partly because we have a large number of affluent people who don't need to work.  "Real estate investors" are becoming and epidemic everywhere - driving up the cost of housing everywhere.  Often these investors are backed by wealthy people in foreign countries - somewhere its has been said that the Chinese own a very large percentage of the ownable property in the US (housing, industry, and corporations).  Maybe its unfortunate that affordable housing is probably the biggest driving force behind the current tiny house movement.  Some are choosing it because they just can't afford anything more, not because its what they really want.  And then cost becomes the primary driving force, rather than  - will it meet my needs, or what do I really need to actually "live".  (directing focus to the "Life" part rather than just survival.)   Potentially, some who pursue tiny houses basically because there don't seem to be other options, then learn through experience that there are some significant benefits that they weren't expecting.

Tiny houses actually have a whole lot more potential to offer.  "Healthy home" features cost more than conventional home features - often based on the cost of materials. Less material used, means we can choose materials that are more healthy.  Potentially, life partners could each have adjoining tiny houses - their own kingdom, and yet proximity to their mate (better for some relationships).  Community format seems to offer a big bonus - a small private space/ and otherwise largely live outdoors and in community with your neighbors.  We're often trying to do this within our over sized homes - building them big enough for the occupants to have private spaces within the structure - far from the other occupants.

What if there was some sort of a "modular" system?  (It could require having to go outside to get from one space to the next, or there could be an actual attachment.)  Someone has a child and adds a bedroom module. When the child goes off to college or otherwise leaves home, their module could go with them. or be sold, or moved and rented or repurposed - no need to sell the house to downsize when emptying the nest. Maybe a bathing/ sauna module? Maybe a summer kitchen - keep the heat and cooking odors out of the sleeping space. Separate outhouse? (Several of these are air quality issues that can make an "all in one" tiny house a less than ideal space.)  Smaller "modules" would be easier to move?

Multi use building?  An up front plan to convert the tiny house to another use, or convert another use to a tiny house... (storage space, craft space, guest space, kid's space...)

So, what about building a THOF (or even a THOW) the size of a park model, with the intention that it "can be" moved, but don't intend to move it very often?  Build it with a built in structure that can be jacked up and moved to a new location?  And a size that can be moved down the highway with a special permit.  It can still be legally towed down a highway for extra permit fees when it is moved.  Again, tiny houses don't get moved very often, and you likely will already have to hire a mover with a big enough tow vehicle to be able to handle the weight anyway.  There are pictures of full sized Victorian houses being moved down the highway. Its quite an ordeal, but it can be done. What if the house is designed so that it can be done without the ordeal part.  As a builder, I often see people move onto a piece of property and start building structures - typically right in the middle of the space.  Then later after living on the property in that structure determine that the property could be better utilized if this structure were in a different location.  This idea of building buildings so that they can be more easily moved has potential benefits without even needing to move them on the highway (and don't need special permits.)

Converting a tiny house to a rental seems to be a widely accepted plan.  Some purchase a tiny house, live in it briefly/ for a while, and then turn it into a rental (or start as a rental up front - intending to move there themselves at a future time).  If it doesn't really work very well as a living space, they can collect a rental income (even if it doesn't really work for the renter either, but its all the the renter can can afford...). The objectives can become low cost outlay, and highest income possible - return on investment.  (Back to the rat race...)  In general, the concept of a tiny house is sound, including as a rental. These comments are not about negating the idea of renting inexpensive tiny homes... It can even be that basic box with a bed and a micro fridge for beer and coffee creamer.  And there is nothing wrong with that concept - basically a free standing motel room - and that can even work just fine for many.

Design/ layout:  There are many creative ideas in tiny house design elements.  It would be great if there was some sort of central data base of examples, but I don't know of one yet.  When designing living quarters in a tiny space, creativity can be a major asset.  Cubic space, not just ttwo  dimensional space is at a premium - there is potential for 3D usage of space. However, stairs take up space, and ladders can be challenging, and 3D utilization of space can complicate the build.  (There is merit to the simple, two dimensional floor plan).  Yachts have been around for a while and may have many creative solutions to draw from.  Do we want a bed that you have to crawl into from a ladder?  (This is not a likely plan for aging.)  An actual bath tub to soak in?  Laundry?  Real food storage (freezer?/ pantry...)

Tiny houses have the potential to have even worse indoor air quality than a conventional house - based solely on cubic footage of indoor air.  There is less air volume to dilute the toxins.  People breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide.  People also exhale a significant amount of moisture and moisture causes mold (and the condensation on windows that is often an issue in tiny houses.) More on "Healthy Homes" below.

THOWs

• They are heavy, and not really intended to be moved very often if at all (other than the "really" tiny models - basic hard shell tent). Most are designed with an 8 1/2 ft max width for traveling down the highway without a special permit as a primary design factor (and 13 1/2 ft max height for the same reason) - but they are prohibitive to move for other reasons.  The special permits to move a wider load are not very expensive and well worth considering a slightly wider design considering the lack of likelyhood it will be moved very often.  Special requirements for highway travel increase as the width thresholds increase:  8 1/2', 10', 12', 14'.

• They have more limitations on where they are allowed to be located than THOFs.  They can represent a considerable investment and can become a burden with these siting issues.

• Most have "composting" toilets which are not actually composting toilets, but rather short term transfer bins that need to be transferred to some other location with mass in order to actually "compost".  They also produce "grey water" and typically have no real disposal system to treat it and dispose of it - often dumped on the ground through a hose.  Very few THOWs have on board wastewater or water storage (like an RV does) and need to be hooked up to these amenities to be functional.  It is possible to design these structures with onboard tanks to make them function more like an actual RV or travel trailer (the wastewater can be stored and dumped in a dump station or transferred to a septic system).  This of course costs considerably more, and takes up space in the design.  So designing with the intention that they need to be hooked up to these utilities where they are sited is the typical plan, and it significantly limits where they can be located.

THOFs:

• These can be (should be?) actual code compliant structures.  That would require inspections through some form of inspection department, which can increase the cost, but also make them "legal" in most situations, provided the property is not restricted w/ minimum square footage requirements.  There is some inherent peace of mind that can come with being totally legal.  Unfortunately there are minimum square footage requirements of code compliant "residences" that really should not be a part of the code, or there should be a designation of something with lesser requirements for affordability reasons, but we're not there yet.  There was something fairly recently approved in Asheville with "micro apartments" which likely had some sort of waver of the minimum square footage requirements?   (They likely had access to municipal sewer system - otherwise septic requirements for tiny homes are exorbitant.)  

• A small structure can legally be built without a permit (not inspected by codes officials) if it is 12' x 12' x 12' or less in any of those dimensions.  Officially, its not allowed to be a "residence", but an "accessory building".  If it has electrical or plumbing then an electrical or plumbing permit are required (and septic if there is plumbing...).  There can be issues with building an accessory building on a lot that does not have a primary residence.

• One of the disadvantages of building on a foundation is the "permanence" of the location.  Just because a house is built on a foundation does not mean it cannot be moved.  Possibly even with not much more effort than moving a THOW if the THOF is built with the intention of being able to move it... (Again, it will add some cost, but without the cost of the trailer frame of the THOW).  Often times, after a structure is built (often plopped down in the middle of the lot) it is later determined that the land can be used more effectively if the house were "over there" instead.  Most people only attend to short term ease and not long term potential use of the property. Or maybe someone wants to sell and the property and its more valuable to the seller for building a McMansion, but they've put this little house right where it needs to sit... so just tear it down.  Even more valuable for the "movable" feature: The owner needs to relocate geographically, but they love their little house - they don't need to sell at a loss and repurchase somewhere else at an additional loss - their home can be moved...

Park Models

• This is more of a "size" of a mobile home (under 400sf - 12x32?), typically built in mobile home manufacturing facilities.  Its bigger than most THOWs -  its big enough to actually have a fully functional home including a full size bathroom, fully functional kitchen with food storage, as well as a washer & dryer - amenities that often have to be sacrificed in a THOW.  Typical park models which are built in mobile home manufacturing facilities (to lesser mobile home industry codes) are not built as well as conventional homes.