This is a meticulously crafted tiny house on wheels that was built by a family of builders (2 brothers and a father). It was finished on June 7th 2012. The interior is approximately 136 square feet.
The trailer is a 7000 pound tandem axle with practically new tires. They have only about 2500 miles on them. The trailer is equipped with a Reese weight distributing hitch complete with dual cam sway control. The tiny house has been towed with a 1/2 ton Suburban and it tows very nicely. The length is 24 feet including the tongue and is 8 feet wide. The length without the tongue is 20 feet; this includes a 2 foot porch. The outside height is 13 feet 4 inches (2 inches below the legal limit). The ceiling in the living room is almost 11 feet. The ceiling in the kitchen area is 6 feet 7 inches. The lofts have 4 feet of head room at the peak. The weight is approximately 6000 pounds fully loaded and closer to 5500 empty. The roof is a heavy gauge steel roof that will last forever! The outside is trimmed in cedar and has been painted with 4 coats of Behr premium exterior paint. There are also several stainless steel hooks on the outside to hang swimsuits, towels, etc. There is an outside storage locker on the back of the Tiny House and two tanks of LP gas with a storage cover. There is a diamond plate rock guard on the back of the house where the tow hookup is to protect the Tiny House when being towed down the road.
It has all of the systems of a high end RV including hot water heater, furnace, city water connection, fresh water tank, sewage holding tank, 110 volt hook up as well as a complete 12 volt system with converter. Full sized bathroom with full sized shower and toilet. It is designed to be set up permanently or to be towed as a travel trailer, your choice.
The entire structure was built using the balloon framing method which is the standard for home building in hurricane prone areas. This was done because pulling it down the road creates wind loads similar to a hurricane. The sheathing was nailed along all four sides (as opposed to the traditional method of two sided nailing) and all seams were glued and then caulked. The result is a very strong, tight structure.
The floor is built of 3/4 inch marine grade plywood and the walls are 1/2 inch plywood. Floor framing is of treated lumber. The wall framing is all 2X4 and the insulation is Owens Corning Eco foam (a low VOC environmentally friendly product). OSB was not used in the construction. The walls, floors and ceiling are all insulated. Closed cell foam was used on the entire under structure. This foam has extremely high R-values and is very eco-friendly as well.
The kitchen cabinets are bead board as are the closet doors. Both are painted in a funky turquoise color which gives the interior a cottage look. The walls are covered with knotty pine painted in cottage white. The trim is designer white. The ceiling is knotty pine and has been finished with 3 coats of clear water based poly. Water base was used because of the eco-friendly nature of the finish and the lack of odor. The floor is covered with distressed looking oak vinyl flooring which is extremely durable. The light fixtures are all top of the line and there is a ceiling fan as well.
There is plenty of storage. When you come through the front door there is a closet on each side. One is set up with removable shelves and a hanging bar while the other has 6 deep drawers and a top shelf. There is storage in the kitchen as well. There are 2 large kitchen drawers and several cabinets. There are two lofts. The main loft fits a king sized mattress and the front loft a twin or as storage area. Both lofts have 110v outlets, 12v outlets and light fixtures. There are 6 windows with screens (three on each side for excellent cross ventilation and natural lighting) of the main room. The windows are single hung vinyl and have mini blinds. There is also a window in the front loft.
There is a smoke detector, and the electrical panel is wired with arc-fault breakers. Arc fault breakers will automatically shut off the power if there is any arc in the line, nearly eliminating the chance of an electrical fire. The outlets in the kitchen have the added safety feature of being ground fault interrupt devices.
The bathroom is quite roomy and has a full sized shower; a 32inch Mustee DuraStall. There is an exhaust fan which has a tight seal and will not need to be covered in the winter. The cover opens and closes from the inside. The toilet is a Sealand Porcelain commode and is equipped with a sprayer to keep everything clean.
The plumbing is done with PEX tubing and includes city water hook up as well as a 29 gallon fresh water tank complete with a Sureflo pump. There is also an outdoor shower! Hot water is provided from a Suburban LP gas hot water heater with electronic ignition. The hot water heater is fired by propane and makes 6.5 gallons of hot water every 10 minutes.
The refrigerator is a 110 volt apartment size with a small freezer (it has a small dent on the front from the door knob to the bathroom door hitting it which I covered with a magnet ). The tiny house comes with a brand new double burner electric cook top that stores under the sink. It also comes with a brand new red retro styled microwave.
There are both 12 volt and 110 volt systems. The 110 volt runs through a 100 amp service panel and the 12 volt service is provided by an on board converter. The entire house is wired in #12 and #14 romex. Cooling is provided by a 9000 Btu Pelonis air conditioner with digital thermostat controls. Heating is provided by a Suburban furnace which runs on LP gas. An RV furnace was installed for several reasons. First and most importantly they are extremely safe and are designed for safe operation in a small space. Second, they are ducted, which allows for direct heat into the bathroom. Third, they are controlled by a wall mounted thermostat. Lastly, they draw their combustion air from outside which is important in a small space. There are three vents; two next to the couch and one in the bathroom. The furnace is 25000 Btu input and 20000 Btu output. The heating system operates like a traditional house, just set the thermostat to the desired temperature and the furnace will automatically keep the house at that temperature.
The house is designed and wired to run completely off a 12 volt system. With a solar panel you could go indefinitely off the grid. All of the systems are 12 volt. If you plug into 110 the converter changes the voltage to 12 for everything except the 110 wall outlets.
The freshwater tank is under the sink adjacent to the furnace so that it will not freeze in the winter as long as you keep the heat on above 32 degrees.There is a 39 gallon black/gray water holding tank as well as the fittings to hook up to a permanent sewer. In this tiny house both black and gray water empty through the same holding tank. The reason for this is that the gray water to help flush the solids from the tank. It keeps the system much cleaner. However, I have only drained gray water through the tank since I have owned since November.
There are 2-20lb. propane tanks connected to an automatic valve that senses the propane pressure, which ensures that there is adequate pressure to appliances. There is an indicator on the valve that tells you when a tank is getting low. The gas connection is also configured to hook up to a larger 100 pound tank. You wouldn’t need the larger tank but it would require re-filling less often.
This Tiny House passed a Michigan State Inspection in October and has a title so that it can be insured before being towed.