/r/TinyHouses
A place for people interested in small or tiny houses.
A resource for living large in small spaces. Links to blogs and sites that promote the tiny or small house movement. While not for everyone, interest in small and tiny houses is growing.
Tiny House links and resources:
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All for sale postings will be removed and may result in ban
To help us deal with the rise in spammers:
Submitting links to personal sites (in comments or as post) need to be offset by being an engaged member of the sub.
If you aren't having meaningful conversations outside your own threads, we will pull your self promotion posts.
Reddit requires a 10:1 ratio of posts vs. your own stuff. Read More
The above rules apply even if you aren't the "owner" of a site/channel/etc. If you're constantly making links to a site Ex: links to a buddy's or favorite tiny house co.
If your post history shows you've posted identical/similar content in multiple subs, we'll be deleting it. Common with people promoting their blogs or youtube videos.
Ban = break rules + do some of these:
Note: Bans aren't up for debate or discussion, it takes a lot to get banned, so they're permanent. If you have concerns or questions, contact us before posting. The best prevention is to be an awesome member of the community and contribute to conversations (mainly outside your own posts) and consider the optics of the links you post.
/r/TinyHouses
Hi everyone. Hoping for some hive mind help. I’m looking to build a kit home around 500-750 sq feet. I’m in an area that will require architectural plans and has building codes so I can’t just do what I want. I’m looking for a nice, quality, simple kit home that I can assemble. I’m hoping to avoid fully prefabricated unless it’s nice quality like real wood and doesn’t look like a trailer or shipping container.
Best thing I’ve found so far is this one for example. 79k for a 730 sq ft a-frame: www.7dayaframes.com. Wish it came with the flooring and siding but it comes with everything else. About $100/sq ft or less for a kit is a good price point for me. Any ideas?
was wondering what people use to model there tiny homes. I'm trying to build the most cost effective tiny home for my girlfriend, future kid & I to live in was wondering if yall had any recommendations on programs to design it on
Hello, I've been looking into the idea of getting a tiny home, have some land I could place it on, which seems like the best way to productively make use of it. Ideally i'd like to get something insulated and with electric wiring. I see quite the variance in the market, so that's why I wanted to post here, for example, I've seen some companies list them for 150-200 k, while also seeing amazon and boxable list them more like 20-50 k. That price variance makes me think something is up, as far as perhaps ones bad quality or ones a scam (marked up). Is there any solid websites/companies anybody has had luck with? There seems to be so much information out there, and it can be quite challenging to filter through. Thank you for the advice! :)
I have plans to make a THOW that is not only a size of a 20-25ft travel trailer, but also light enough to be towed by Tesla Model X
I also wanted to be insulated and sturdy to be protected against the elements
Any suggestions?
So, I've had more than a few people in my life discuss tiny houses (and some distant family members getting into the business of selling tiny houses), and I'd love all of you guys' opinions, because I'm genuinely curious.
Basically, I don't get the hype. I feel tiny houses are a glorified version of trailer homes and come with the issue of renting land and potentially getting stuck someplace when the landlord raises the rent (the same trailer park rent trap). Even if the down payment is more expensive, I feel it's better to save up and buy a "traditional home" or maybe even move someplace where I can afford a "traditional home," especially with the rise of online work. Also, I'm kind of sad to see the rise of tiny houses, because I feel it means my generation (I'm a millennial) truly will never reach home ownership.
Basically, economically, I get the plus, but besides that, is there something I'm missing? What do you guys like about your tiny homes? How long do you intend to stay in them? Do you think they're a good way to save money on rent or have a good resale value? Are there any restrictions or things to keep in mind? I'm very ignorant of the tiny house market and am looking to get educated on the subject, especially because home ownership sounds like a pipe dream, but at the same time, I'm very suspicious of tiny homes.
Hello. I’m interested to know if anyone has bought plans for a tiny home through www.australianfloorplans.com or another similar company.
They have some pretty cool designs that look like they would check a lot of boxes for me. I’m at the initial stages of planning and wondering what plan you chose? What was the cost to build? Were the drawings complete and easy? What would you change?
Hi! I have some question about insulation. I'm building on a trailer, so max outside width is 255cm.
What would be the target U value for floors, walls, roofs? I see conflicting information about this. I live in EU, temps go as high as 40C and as low as -10C. It's a tricky balance between wall thickness and insulation value to maximize the space inside. For the wall i got an U value of 0,232w/m2k with 200mm thickness(this includes the drywall, studs, insulation, battens, cladding), that would leave me 2150mm useful width inside. Does this sound good, or i can go away with something thinner?
My trailer's metal frame is flat, so no wheel wells. My plan is to build a subfloor on this and then the walls. Should i put insulation between the metal frame too, like XPS? Or it won't do much because of all the metal nearby(or even cause issues). My layers would be: metal frame, plywood, diffusion open membrane, studs with insulation between, osb, vapor control layer, laminate flooring. Should i put anything between the metal frame and the plywood? I've seen people do foam sill seal for example, but i don't think thats doing anything helpful.
Not sure if these are labeled differently. Thinking of building for my son a living space that's seperate from our house so he can grow a sense of independence. I don't know if this is called something different, building wise.
Honest question here. I have a tiny house. I travel for work. And I hate going home, because I know it will still be a half-finished shed with no A/C or heat when I get there.
The plumbing was done by a family friend and it was awful. The electric was done by actual family and it was worse.
I don't have 100k to drop, but I'm tired of the feeling of dread whenever I have to return home. I just want to hire an Actual Professional to make it right.
What Google keywords do I use? "Contractor" doesn't do it. What do I look for? How do I find someone to just... make my tiny house a tiny home?
This is for a tiny house built before it was cool, aka a sub 600 sq ft stick built house I bought my mom. Pending an electrician’s opinion I believe it doesn’t have a ton of electrical power to go around (60A service maybe). That said, what do you use for heating and cooking? I’ve been considering propane but while it’s efficient and doesn’t use up much power it runs more expensive than electricity and I don’t feel confident doing the work myself. Also looking for recs on a good heater for a space like ours.
Looking for advice on an accumulator/pressure tank for my cabin. Size and brands will be helpful. It'll need to fit in the space shown with my pump. (~16 inches out from the wall by about 30 inches long) I plan to enclose it in a cabinet when done.
I have a shower and washing machine along with two sinks. I'm primarily looking to smooth out the flow and keep the pump from running hard when a sink is running with the shower or washer. Guessing we use 3 to 5 gallons per shower. Not sure what the water usage is for the washer, but it is a mid size over and under.
We are looking at buying some land by a popular lake as a summer retreat but when not staying there would like to rent it out in Airbnb. About 100k for the land and 80-100k for the tiny home. Thoughts? Who has tried this? Experience? Is 100k enough to budget for?
I am looking into a floating house in New England. My mortgage broker said I’d never get a conventional mortgage from a big bank, but from my research online it seems there may be small banks or credit unions out there willing to do it. Is anyone familiar with any?
Is there a best option for a pumpable black water tank? I was thinking something rectangular that could fit under the tiny house. But I’m struggling to find info on what tanks are best. This would only be fed from the toilet.
Maybe there’s an alternative that’s better?
I know others with a similar situation who use a buried ibc tote and pump it monthly. That seems to work OK.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks
What kind of foundation is needed for a tiny house on wheels? I am getting a steel trailer base (8.5' by 16') and am starting with grassy, undeveloped land.
Do I need to compact the ground? Do I need a full size concrete slab or can I get away with just going under the wheels? The trailer manufacturer says that it's meant to bear weight on the wheels only, so only the middle needs to be supported
I have a LOT of time to DIY and find scrap materials, and would prefer to do something along the lines of dig a shallow pit under where the wheels then go and fill it with rocks, gravel, and broken up sidewalks pieces etc. However, I worry about it sinking and movement.
I do plan to dig a french drain all the way around a foot or two from the trailer, we get a lot of rainfall and I'm on a slight slope.
I know its unwise to go cheap on the foundation, but I think with a THOW I can play around and find out, and at worst it'll end up unlevel and I'll have to move it to the driveway while I do a slab properly. Like my steel frame is my foundation, and the ground under it just needs to not sink too far, right? Am I crazy or is it okay to park it on a big pile of rocks buried in the ground?
"Where are ADUs (tiny houses) allowed on residential property?"
That's all I want to know. There are varying degrees of ADU-friendliness. My research keeps pointing me to call each zoning office of each county one by one in a game of beaurocratic pinball. Figured I'd try this first. Maybe I can rule out a whole state. Idk. For anyone who wants a guest house, private neighbor, or caretaking residence in the backyard, there should be a map for where this is allowed, right? I like my privacy and my space but I don't want to live alone! I've called some orgs but no one seems to have a map of where this simple desire is allowed.
Each state here has no statewide policy. ADUs are regulated by county (or sometimes even township). Can yall provide insight on this please? If someone already has a map useful to me, I'll venmo ten dollars. If no one does, I'll make the first map and share it of counties colored on a scale of ADU-friendliness. Am I weird for wanting tiny homes around my home?
Georgia
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
North Carolina (supposedly very ADU-friendly)
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Virginia
If you've lived in any of these, please specify county and share your experience. <3
Hi everyone, I’m sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I didn’t know where else to post it. Me and my family are planning on moving states here very soon and we are planning to build a tiny house for our pets. I recently found out I’m allergic to cats and dogs so we want to give them their own space so we don’t have fur all over our own home, but this will be a frequently visited place for our family since we love our pets. We have dogs and cats so we want to make it a two bedroom house, a cat room and a dog room and a common living area for all of them to hang out.. we don’t plan on adding closets, bathrooms, or kitchen obviously. I am curious if anyone has an idea of the price we would be looking at and if anyone has any design ideas I would be open. Thanks for your time. I look forward to seeing your suggestions.
Built by wild'in cabins
So I've got a tiny house in South West Montana that we moved into this summer. We're tip-toeing into winter months and I'm thinking our current heating set-up is not ideal.
The house is about 376 sq ft, something like 13' wide, 27' or so long with pretty tall ceilings (I've never measured the height). We also have 2 dogs and 2 cats.
Currently there's an Avenger propane wall heater as the main source of heat and we have one of those little plug in electric fire places.
From the research I've done it's not a good idea to leave that walla heater running a lot and especially when we aren't here. The little electric heater seems to spike our power bill more than we expected.
My question is what would be my best option? Should I look into a small pellet or wood stove? I'm thinking of outright replacing the wall heater with something I can run longer and when we're away.