for your main trailer how did you guys figure out how to make it legal and what not. Did you just go to an architect and they helped you with the plan and making it legal or did you do it all yourself? Also I don't know how cold it gets where you are but have you found the stock insulation to be sufficient or do you wish you added more
hey there! First off, when you say "legal" what you inferring? There is no criminality with living in a tiny house anywhere in the world from what I know of, so that is not an issue. If you meant making it to building code to satisfy local planning councils, then we built ours as close as possible to local code even though building code didn't apply to THOWs (tiny houses on wheels) at the time of our construction. Given that the trailer was already structurally sound to survive driving down the road at high speed with dozens of tons of goods inside it, we were satisfied with it being a strong enough envelope to build within. Given that you don't have to consider the outer structure, the inner space could use more of an interior designer than an architect if someone wanted help in the design. We just went off our own research and design instincts. Re: insulation, you can always use more insulation! lol We are satisfied with the insulation amount already in the walls and what we added, but I would add a floating roof for both rainwater capture and as a way to dissipate heat hitting the roof better. As we live in Australia, the sun can be intense here plus we get our fair-share of days over 35-40ºC which can heat the space up over consecutive days. Also, the trouble with old trailers is that the closed-cell foam in the walls can get brittle or diminish over time. Hope that helps!
@@bigtinyadventure thanks for the reply im planning on building one in a couple of years and decided might as well start planning now. I am kind of tempted to hire an architect so they can design it to meet code and give me plans to build off. Although I do plan on copying your kitchen layout as its perfect. Planning on framing out the inside with 2x4s so I can add more insulation as where I plan on moving to it gets to -20 F (-28 C) might as well be on the safe side. One more question I have is regarding ventilation as the walls are airtight from the closed cell foam and the windows/door will barley let any air in have you installed a hrv or anything like that? I figured you might not have to worry about it because of the ducted ac yall use but Im planning on using a ductless minisplit so no air exchange. However, it might be easier to just go with the ducted ac instead of installing a hrv and a ductless minisplit. Could you provide a link to the one you used( also how has it held up to the Australian summers) Also any useful books or resources that helped you through the build?
Given the temperatures you get, I can understand wanting to add more insulation. I would suggest some type of thinner insulation board that is more dense and can just be tacked to the walls. As soon as you start adding 2x4s inside, you reduce the interior width quite substantially. But of course that is your call. If the trailer is not too old, the interior insulation actually does a really good job. Also make sure to add high-quality double or triple-glazed windows. I personally would be more inclined to not bother with wall insulation but put more insulation in the floor to keep cold from rising up from under the van, and then more in the roof as heat rises. I read about air exchange systems and I think that is an excellent (and imperative) idea for you. Where we live, it rarely gets below 0ºC (32ºF) so we didn't bother as we can always leave a window cracked open. We love our ducted A/C as it freed up wall-space so we didn't need big split systems hogging the space. It has worked very well though when it gets up past 40ºC it starts to struggle inside a bit (although that is as much to do with our roof heating up as anything). Ours is a Truma Saphir but it is designed to have the main compressor unit inside a vehicle, so make sure you don't install it outside (we put ours in one of the metal storage boxes outside) as the unit won't start heating up if the outside air temp is below about 4ºC.
No doubt the learnings of the last few years are really helping you.
Good work Mike!
Thank you!
you inspire me so much , enjoy your journey
Thank you so much!
for your main trailer how did you guys figure out how to make it legal and what not. Did you just go to an architect and they helped you with the plan and making it legal or did you do it all yourself?
Also I don't know how cold it gets where you are but have you found the stock insulation to be sufficient or do you wish you added more
hey there! First off, when you say "legal" what you inferring? There is no criminality with living in a tiny house anywhere in the world from what I know of, so that is not an issue. If you meant making it to building code to satisfy local planning councils, then we built ours as close as possible to local code even though building code didn't apply to THOWs (tiny houses on wheels) at the time of our construction.
Given that the trailer was already structurally sound to survive driving down the road at high speed with dozens of tons of goods inside it, we were satisfied with it being a strong enough envelope to build within. Given that you don't have to consider the outer structure, the inner space could use more of an interior designer than an architect if someone wanted help in the design. We just went off our own research and design instincts.
Re: insulation, you can always use more insulation! lol We are satisfied with the insulation amount already in the walls and what we added, but I would add a floating roof for both rainwater capture and as a way to dissipate heat hitting the roof better. As we live in Australia, the sun can be intense here plus we get our fair-share of days over 35-40ºC which can heat the space up over consecutive days. Also, the trouble with old trailers is that the closed-cell foam in the walls can get brittle or diminish over time.
Hope that helps!
@@bigtinyadventure thanks for the reply im planning on building one in a couple of years and decided might as well start planning now. I am kind of tempted to hire an architect so they can design it to meet code and give me plans to build off. Although I do plan on copying your kitchen layout as its perfect. Planning on framing out the inside with 2x4s so I can add more insulation as where I plan on moving to it gets to -20 F (-28 C) might as well be on the safe side. One more question I have is regarding ventilation as the walls are airtight from the closed cell foam and the windows/door will barley let any air in have you installed a hrv or anything like that? I figured you might not have to worry about it because of the ducted ac yall use but Im planning on using a ductless minisplit so no air exchange. However, it might be easier to just go with the ducted ac instead of installing a hrv and a ductless minisplit. Could you provide a link to the one you used( also how has it held up to the Australian summers)
Also any useful books or resources that helped you through the build?
Given the temperatures you get, I can understand wanting to add more insulation. I would suggest some type of thinner insulation board that is more dense and can just be tacked to the walls. As soon as you start adding 2x4s inside, you reduce the interior width quite substantially. But of course that is your call.
If the trailer is not too old, the interior insulation actually does a really good job. Also make sure to add high-quality double or triple-glazed windows. I personally would be more inclined to not bother with wall insulation but put more insulation in the floor to keep cold from rising up from under the van, and then more in the roof as heat rises.
I read about air exchange systems and I think that is an excellent (and imperative) idea for you. Where we live, it rarely gets below 0ºC (32ºF) so we didn't bother as we can always leave a window cracked open.
We love our ducted A/C as it freed up wall-space so we didn't need big split systems hogging the space. It has worked very well though when it gets up past 40ºC it starts to struggle inside a bit (although that is as much to do with our roof heating up as anything). Ours is a Truma Saphir but it is designed to have the main compressor unit inside a vehicle, so make sure you don't install it outside (we put ours in one of the metal storage boxes outside) as the unit won't start heating up if the outside air temp is below about 4ºC.