Thursday, September 10, 2009

Tiny Home Design -- Input Appreciated



See also: Materials



Posted by Erik at 10:26 PM  

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2 Comments, Post a Comment:

Lou Cheese said...

Hi Erik.

I really, really, really like the idea of having the entrance through the bathroom. That kind of thing would drive a feng shui person nuts (my mom too) but it makes perfect sense to the chemically sensitive. If anyone came over to visit they could wash off the chemicals and change into something non-toxic before entering the rest of the home.

A tiny home may necessitate additional consideration to vapors, something I never really thought about until now-in an area this small if someone is wearing a scented product and doesn't completely remove it, the vapors are going to be more concentrated and/or less avoidable. Also, if they take a shower, especially a hot one, the toxins may become airborne. So they aren't on the person anymore, but they are in the air of the bathroom which then drifts into the rest of the house or settles on bathroom surfaces. I am super sensitive to airborne particulates, that's my cross to bear, so I think about these things quite a bit. If you're more of a taste or light/sound/ELF type of guy, this might not be such an issue.

Same goes for the kitchen-you may benefit from exhaust ventilation. In a small home, any type of indoor cooking is really going to fill the place up. And with either the kitchen or bathroom, the ventilation is probably best at the source-no sense pulling it into another room before blowing it outside. That would mean two exhausts at the minimum. Some fans built for mobile use are made for low voltage, what are your plans for power?

Any plans for the south wall? I noticed there was no window there...

Did you use AutoCAD to mock this up? That's a clean looking set of designs.

Just throwing this out there-how about a mansard roof? Has anyone tried that? It would give you a little more headroom when in either bed, but wouldn't raise the overall roof height any. In large homes the mansard roof requires a little bit of additional interior support, but a structure this small and light might be able to get away without it.

And the bottom view shows a foundation. Is the house going to be in the ground or is that a frame on a trailer?

Hope you don't mind the questions. Even though I'm a network engineer and work largely with abstract issues more than the physical ones that a mechanical or structural engineer are involved with, I'm still an engineer. It's not just a job, it's a lifestyle.....and tiny homes are pretty darn interesting, too.

September 15, 2009 at 5:20 PM  
Erik said...

Lou,

Thanks for the comments ... will reply to you in a new post.

(I prefer to take extended conversations to the front page)

September 15, 2009 at 6:22 PM  

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