My friend and I were having a similar fantasy of putting places like that all over the western US so we started with a one-off project to build a tiny house so that it can just be “plopped” down (or rather rolled in).
How big were you thinking? Something like 400 SF? Or a proper house?
As I said in another comment on this thread I think it’s possible to build something totally custom for a similar budget (200-250 psf) as long as it’s on a trailer because you avoid most of the code and inspection issues in several western states by putting it on wheels.
Still working on the interior but this house is built better than my actual house in a high-cost market in California. It is super tiny though (200 sf and that includes the loft).
That's pretty epic to have a fully functional human nest for 49k.
Is there a place where I can try them out. I will be visiting SF and definitely want to experience staying in a container home before deciding to make a call.
A dream of mine is to buy some land in a remote place with a gorgeous view and place a container home there.
"In the last few years, some US cities made a surprising break with the mobile-exclusionary tradition by legalizing residence in RVs or tiny houses on wheels on residential lots. First Fresno, then Los Angeles and San Jose, and various cities & states now allow mobile Accessory Dwelling Units. Portland allowed one movable home per residential lot in the 2021 Shelter to Housing Continuum zoning reforms, and Oakland created a new residential type, “Vehicular Residential Facilities,” which allows multiple vehicle dwellings on sites with sufficient area."
Yeah, what I have heard is that it’s technically not a “tiny house” if it’s not built on a trailer. Which I’m okay with but I guess it also means there might be other housing regulations from whatever city I setup in.
I was thinking something literally floating, as opposed to an infilled island. Like a carrier or cargo ship sized apartment complex. Multi family houseboat :)
I have no experience living in one, but my understanding is they can be hooked up to services if you desire. The reason they are on trailers is because the person who invented the first tiny house (now runs Tumbleweed Tiny House Company http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) was looking for a way to get around zoning laws. These houses are so small they are not allowable under most zoning laws. But if you put them on wheels, they qualify as "trailer homes" and, voila!, now you are legal.
From what I gather, the fact that they are too small to be legal in most (urban/within city bounds) areas creates all kinds of challenges. I have long been interested in the subject, and I sometimes fantasize about living in a tiny house, but I have not yet in earnest tried to make it happen.
Have there been any recent attempts at providing this? Seattle has had some success creating tiny house communities, I just saw one the other day and it was really cool!
Yep, that's one of the main reasons I moved from Austin to SF. I have some ideas to cool the RV reasonably, so I may work on that next summer. It's a bit of a mission for me to make the most deluxe tiny rolling home ever.
Tiny home dream for me died once I found out I couldn't park it as primary residence on residential zoned land in my city. Any big cities where you can do this and own the property? Paying rent for a house you own in the clear is a non-starter.
My city has an area of town that's got a bunch of semi-permanent floating houses attached to three or four boardwalks. Essentially house boats but far more house than boat. They are a good tourist attraction and cute cozy houses but from what I understand they cost a small fortune in upkeep and insurance compared to a regular house.
Tiny Houser here. Could be insane. Mz called me eccentric recently. Sounds like a prelude to the full thing!
> There's nothing wrong with downsizing, but just call it what it is: a mobile home or a trailer.
You can call it whatever you like. There is a certain amount of class warfare between Tiny Housers and people living in RV parks which I won't try to justify.
> Companies have been engineering mobile homes for decades to be highly efficient, long lasting, and fuel efficient for towing.
This is not true at all.
1. It is not legal to live in trailers.
2. Most mobile phones are not capable of being 4 season dwellings because they don't meet air tightness and insulation levels of traditional houses.
3. Mobile homes were originally not supposed to be for permanent trailer parks. RV living is a hack like THs are. I think it started after the Great Depression, which would be analogous to the Great Stagnation we're in that produced the popularity of Tiny Houses.
4. The most important thing is the use case for a TH is totally different to an RV or mobile home. A TH is supposed to be lived in full time and quite rarely traveled around with. 90% of tiny housers would only move their house once a year and many of them never will. The people who have them light enough for frequent travel are the exceptions.
5. A properly constructed Tiny House will last > 60 years like a traditional house. RVs don't have that longevity.
> Slapping a bunch of heavy wooden shingles on one and calling it a "tiny home" is just feel-good hipster nonsense.
Traditional housing has identical materials and procedures to Tiny Houses. I suppose a house is just a bunch of material slapped together as well.
I think if you stepped inside a well built and designed Tiny House, your skepticism would fade away. They really are different to mobile homes. The sills are thicker, the furnishings are more homely, the walls aren't plastic. There are some really nice mobile homes out there but they just don't have the same use case.
One negative thing I shall say about Tiny Housers is that some of them think they 'chose' this lifestyle being they're superior beings. A minimalist lifestyle is fine but it is primarily about economics.
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