tiny homes

[snowball]

watched the show hunting for tiny homes
this gal is a traveling nurse wants a tiny home that she can move
with some car..so she doesn't have to move every so often ....my question was
why not an rv? what makes the tiny home so much better??? and the person she talked
to about towing the tiny house with her 'car' didn't once mention the weight and what her
car will tow...I was stumped actually...these tiny homes are very small one was 64 sq feet I think
it was. still wonder about the towable factor
sheila

[Colliemom]

I certainly would look into an RV. Maybe she doesn't want the hassle of a trailer, but wonder how long that tiny home will hold together with the stress of road travel, plus width wise, is it highway legal, not to mention being able to get into campsite. Maybe the layout inside is better than an RV or maybe one was never considered. Interestig.

[retiredhappy]

Maybe its the "real" house building that sets it apart from the sometimes flimsy building on many RVs. None of these tiny house builders seem to consider what's going to be towing it down the road. I've often wondered why they don't look at RVs myself.

[Bethers]

I think the tiny houses are cute... for setting up permanently or very rarely moving. Most aren't made for the moving we do, imho. And I'm not convinced they are all made better.

[Acadianmom]

I would think these tiny homes would weigh a lot more than a camper. Most cities would not let you park one just anywhere because of building codes. I don't know about mobile home parks. Mobile homes have to have a Manufactured Home Performance Verification Certificate. I wonder who is regulating the tiny homes. I don't think she is going to find one she can tow with a car. I think cities should create places these can be parked because they would be an answer to some of the homeless people.

Martha

[MelissaD]

The problem with the "tiny house" is code enforcement. The structure is often to small to be considered habitable. Many states and city have zoning laws to prevent "slum loads" from renting a closet as an apartment. The tiny house often runs a foul of these laws. They throw wheels on it to get around this code and now find themselves in conflict with the "camping' codes of may cities. I've often wondered why they just don't get a camper which is designed to be moved and has the tanks to support that. I can understand moving it like a manufactured house but then putting it on a site. But to travel with it, it makes no sense to me.

[Queen]

I toured a couple of tiny homes, they were really cute and well built... but they were in NO way ready to be hauled down the road. I asked the rep about things like the LP tank only sitting in a small holder but not really secured and was told "well, they CAN be towed, but really only to a final destination, once they're set up they should stay in place".

Seems like they have a niche, just not an RV one.

[JudyJB]

I think the people who buy these are biased against "trailer trash" and RVs in general. So they like the idea of building with plywood and 2x4s. There are important reasons why RV manufacturers do NOT build with wood and that, of course, is weight. Tiny as they are, those tiny houses weigh a ton. In addition, they have almost no storage underneath, like the basements we have on motorhomes, so there is a lot of wasted space.

And what is worse, almost none of them are self-contained with fresh water, black water, and grey water tanks, which is why most campgrounds will not let them in. They are not built to any code--building or RV. There are good reasons those certificate tags are on the sides of our vehicles--they assure the campground that we have a place to store sewage, for example.

And I have never seen any of them with tail lights, brakes, or anything other than a very flimsy-looking axle with a couple of tiny tires. I can't imagine someone trying them to tow them on a freeway at 60 MPH. I hope those "final destinations" are not very far away. And some of the ones with lofts look really top heavy, so that would make towing even worse.

I suspect a lot of people buy them for the "cute" factor and have no idea how limited they are.

[AlmostThere]

On the shows I have watched, and there are 3 or 4 of them now, they mostly are towed to a plot of land somewhere in which they pretty much stay permanently. Some do travel infrequently and they do then go by all hauling requirements (tow vehicle, width, length, weight, and the trailer they are built on also has to meet the finished weight. Generally the people are wanting something uniquely of their own design with more substantial and/or,reusable materials whereas RVs are all pretty basic and truly have flimsier/lightweight materials to keep the weight down. And yes, don't think they were made for constant hauling and backroad travels.

[snowball]

the one that she choose was the larger of the three above her budget at 18000 something she wanted it more in the neighborhood of 15
the estimated towing was 2500 from SC I think to Colorado still the one that they said could be towed was a box a high box and looked very top heavy to me
then only 64 square feet that is smaller I bet than some of the 24 ft motor homes
oh well guess to each there own
Sheila

[MelissaD]

only 64 square feet that is smaller I bet than some of the 24 ft motor homes
Sheila

Just to give you a better idea or mental picture, Since the average vehicle is 8' wide (some are 8.5') a 8'x8' box is 64 sqft or about the size of a semi cab with a sleeper unit. 24' mobile home is around 192 sqft.