“A tour of our tiny house. Built on Tumbleweed principles, we bought this 272sq ft house already built, then hauled it across the state and parked it in a garden. We bought it fully functional but very bare bones. We did major remodels to suit our personalities and needs. We have enjoyed living in our home for the last year and a half but the recent fourth edition to our family is making it feel more cramped. We will be moving soon. Hope you enjoy!”
Oh HO! This just sparked my interest — anyone out there with info on making a mobile home energy efficient? I am about to leave a simple but almost extravagantly large mud/straw/dung (no smell) house-setup in Ethiopia for a mobile home in south Texas. Possibly I’ll build something else over time, but for now ….
PS — the spark came from the comment about mobile homes (in New England — where I grew up).
You can use typical energy efficient building methods used on conventional houses. This info is free on the Internet. Search keywords like energy efficient homes, energy efficient buildings, energy conservation, etc.
Here’s the list I put together years ago: http://www.grisb.org/publications/pub4.doc
There’s an updated version floating around somewhere on the web that’s more carefully written, but this one gets the basic facts across.
I’ve always considered that the key to living in a tiny house was, don’t live INSIDE the house.
To make a Tiny house practical and enjoyable, one should spend as much time as possible outside, or out sharing your time with the rest of the world. A Tiny house is best utilized simply be a place to sleep and a place to eat a morning and evening meal.
Feeling cramped is most often more of a lifestyle choice instead of a housing choice.
Also, I noticed one potentially important design flaw. The RV style gas “fireplace” is mounted to high up. It will have a very difficult time heating the floor and the seating areas, where people tend to spend the most time, and where the heat is needed the most. It will be very difficult to feel warm until the entire upper portion of the house is overheated and the warmth finally migrates downward. That will make the heating system very inefficient. I’m not surprised that the electric heater on the floor works better for her. Of course, it is also possible that the structure needs better insulation. Insulated window treatments would probably the be least expensive and most effective improvement in that area. Something as simple as using bubble wrap or even thick blankets or comforter segments as window treatments can be extremely effective.
Build it solar has many other good ideas too.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/conservation.htm#WindowTreatments
I really like tiny homes :)
However, I see mobile homes for as low as $2,000
Sometimes free.
It surprises me that tiny homes get so much attention and mobile homes are seemingly overlooked.
Maybe it’s a New England phenomenon, but I see them for low prices up here LOL
Cheers,
Craig in Maine
They’re a good, quick, convenient option. But since we’re a natural building blog we focus on building topics. Also keep in mind that mobile homes have a lot of toxic materials that offgas poison fumes, are poorly insulated, have skimpy electrical wiring, etc. and so it’s best to go with a permanent home for long term living (in my opinion).