I had a request to know more about the trials and tribulations, not just the fun and successes, of the tiny house planning and build. Although I tried to at least touch on some of our frustrations as we’ve gone through this process in other posts I’ve written, I do want to express, perhaps more specifically, that this process has definitely not all been smooth sailing and simple decisions. The fact that many of the other blogs I’ve read on building a tiny house do seem to often leave out what’s difficult and what they had to compromise on has frustrated me as I’ve been researching, planning, and moving through my own tiny house creation.

So, a few more details on what’s not so fun or easily decided or certain about building a tiny house.

When you build a tiny house you’re weighing a lot of pros and cons of different options that have seen pretty limited applied testing on tiny houses – particularly long term – as there have been comparatively few tiny houses built and even fewer around and lived in for long periods of time to see how they – and the decisions made in their build – withstand the test of time.

Some issues can be so deceptively summarized so simply: e.g. screws vs. nails?  But, when you try to get information to make the decision, you see that there are arguments for both, i.e. pros and cons to using each.  Screws will more securely hold elements of your house together, but are not as strong as nails when dealing with shearing forces that occur regularly when moving a tiny house.  Nails are quite strong when things are rocking and rolling, but they may not hold parts of your house as tightly together, and may have a tendency to “back out” with a lot of movement.  We ended up going with screws in certain locations, nails in others, and putting both screws and nails at some points.  You make an educated decision, but it can’t be known for sure what the future outcome will be.

It’s impossible to go into every little detail, as we’ve already made a ton of decisions along the way, and have many more to come, so I’ll stick with some of the bigger issues we’ve come up against.

For me, windows were significant. I love well-lit spaces with a lot of natural light and felt in a tiny house windows were particularly important because they will make the small space seem much more open. But, there are a number of complications that windows create.  For starters, we found navigating the purchase of windows to be a nightmare.  You can learn more about that joy from some of my past posts here and here.  Basically, comparing differences between manufacturers and styles is no simple feat – and how the cost is determined is a total black box, so it’s almost impossible to cost compare different options.  Specific to the build, however, windows are difficult for a structure in that they are a hole in the structural integrity that the framing and sheathing are providing for the house. So, they require additional framing in headers (wood above the window to distribute the weight of anything above around the window) and potentially jack studs (though we used header hangers instead of jack studs – another decision we had to research and of which we had to weigh the pros and cons). This creates more weight and more complexity in your house. And, the windows themselves are much heavier than the wood that would be there if there was no window and hole in your wall.  Weight is a major concern when building a house on a trailer.

Ah yes, that weight concern.  Every decision that you make on what to use to build your tiny house and what to include inside of it has to factor in the weight of the item.  We’ve been researching weights – luckily some manufacturers publish the weight of their wares – and weighing what items we can.  Many of the decisions you make along the way when building a tiny house are cost/benefit comparisons between weight and structural strength.  For example, when deciding whether to put studs in your wall at 16 inches on center (each stud’s center is 16 inches apart) versus at 24 inches on center, you consider that 16 inches on center means more studs – this provides more structural strength (because there are more studs supporting your walls and roof), but also more weight.  Concerns like these are why we recommend anyone considering building a tiny house look into purchasing pre-made plans from a reputable seller or consulting with a structural engineer.  But, know either of these options will most likely not be a minor expense.

So, with all these concerns about weight you might ask, why do some people not forego the trailer when building a tiny house and just build it on a foundation like a standard house?  That would be because on almost every inch of land in the United States, building a small house does not meet minimum size requirements for an “inhabited” structure (i.e. a building someone lives in full-time).  By building the tiny house on a trailer, you end up in a gray area.  Is it a normal house or an RV or a mobile home?  Where does it fall?  What codes apply?  It’s not really exactly like any of those.  At least if it’s built on a trailer and you’re told it can’t be lived in at the space it’s parked, you can hook it up to a truck and drive it to a new spot where – hopefully – it won’t get complaints.    Yes, I know, this is all something that is never mentioned in all those cute little tiny house television shows.

So, this is the big unknown that hangs over our heads throughout this entire process: Will this all be for naught because we will not be able to find a place to park the tiny house? And, even if we do find a place to put it, will we be told by officials that we can’t live in it there?  Like I said, tiny houses don’t fit neatly into the codes and laws of most places, so they are in a gray zone and you, as a tiny house owner, are susceptible to the whim of the feelings of your neighbors and local officials in the location where you park it. A woman who lives in a tiny house has a post on her blog about the eviction notice she and her boyfriend got at one of the locations they parked their house.

But, we have hope and a lot of faith that it will work out for us and we’ll find an accepting spot for living our days in the Hygge Hale tiny house.  We do our best to research decisions thoroughly to make those decisions sound, well-educated, and as forward-thinking as possible.  We’re confident we’re building our house to be strong and problem-free – and acceptable – for many years to come – we just hope that all the people we interact with in the future agree.