Cedar Cabin that's mobile - what do you think?

[Homesick Gypsy]

Finally was able to get logged back in with Glenn's help.  Here's a design I've been working on that is a combination of John's Builder's Cottage and the H.E.L.P. House - on wheels.  I welcome any comments, suggestions, questions.

Can't seem to upload the drawing.  I have it in photobucket as a .jpg    I click on the image key above this message and then hit enter.  What am I doing wrong?   

[Homesick Gypsy]

Glad you made it Gypsy.

It needs to be pasted between the IMG brackets.  You can review this message to see how I did it.  Glenn

[cbc58]

I actually have been working on a portable cabin myself... and yours looks pretty good.  I can see that it is within DOT specs for width (that's a biggie).

What I have been playing with is an 18x8' plan with a sliding floor/room on rails so that it would ultimately be 15' wide for 12' of that length.   

glad to see others thinking of this also.

[MountainDon]

Interesting.

What's the basic method of construction? How thick are the walls, that sort of thing?

And how mobile do you intend it to be?

[Homesick Gypsy]

Thanks Glenn! 

Yes, cbc58, the DOT specs were the hardest thing to overcome.  I love John's Builder's Cottage and have the plans for it, but at 14' wide won't travel down the highway.   

Mountain Don, what I would love would be to have exterior cedar siding, bead board interior and a wood-look vinyl floor which comes in planks - Home Depot is the only place I've found them.  Regular stick built insulated construction with probably some modifications for road movement.  Perhaps some vintage windows or doors.  Think Housetruck or Housebus (without the engine).  What can I say, I'm an old hippie.    The interior will probably work out to be slightly less than 8' once the DOT specs are met.

I sort of combined John's Builder's Cottage with the H.E.L.P. House (Housing Every Last Person) which is another company that has come up with portable housing for the Hurricane Katrina situation.  Their web site is www.m-finity.com if you'd like to take a look.

I wouldn't plan on moving it daily or even weekly or monthly.  Perhaps 2 or 3 times a year, maximum, but would like to be able to hitch it up and move it without a lot of rearranging furniture, moving slider rooms, etc.   

Would like the option of being off-grid if I choose, with the capability of plugging in if utilities are available.  I would assume the shower/sink gray water would drain into a portable RV tank to be disposed of.  Or a dry sink if I park it on my land.

Thanks for your input.

[glenn kangiser]

Gypsy, Why not go ahead and build it on a bus chassis.  Cut it off behind the driver seat and build over the floor.  House car license is usually real cheap here.  Be a real hippy.

[cbc58]

you should think about a sliding room for this.   I was going to make mine with the roof going the length of the trailer and then figuring out a sliding floor room that would extend it out to a total of 15'.   Some furniture would have to be moved when you actually move it... but otherwise it would give you alot more room.

Now I don't know if it's actually feasible... but it should be based on some designs that I sketched out.   Something to think about....

[Homesick Gypsy]

I like the look of housetrucks and housebuses but don't want the engine attached.  Want to be able to unhitch and leave it parked but still have transportation.  Like a travel trailer but MUCH prettier.   

If you want to see some real hippies living the dream, check out www.enchantedgypsy.blogspot.com.  A young artist/musician couple living in a bus fueled by vegetable oil.  There are a couple of really good photos of the interior in their April 2007 blog.  I love what they've done.

Hey cbc58 - post your drawings!

[glenn kangiser]

Interesting, Thanks.

[williet]

There's some good looking bus conversions out there. Thanks for the links.

[cbc58]

i have a drawing on paper but don't know how to put that online... i'll work on it.... tks.

[glenn kangiser]

If you have a digital camera you can take a pix of it and put that on.

[Homesick Gypsy]

The more I look at Tumbleweed Tiny Houses and Julie Martin's House-to-Go which is licensed under Tumbleweed, that's what I'm wanting, but not quite as small.  Julie's personal house is 20 feet long, but that includes a small porch - 2' I think.  And it seems that the prices are so very high - $37,000 for a starter house with Julie and $46,000 or so with a small Tumbleweed house.  Jay's blueprints are almost a thousand dollars, just for that. 

There's another company down here called Texas Tiny Houses which will build just about anything you want out of vintage material, but their prices are very high as well.

Guess that's why I'm trying to come up with my own... 

[ScottA]

Tumbleweed house are expensive, no doubt. I could probly build one for half of what he's charging but I can't fault him for getting paid. I think Jay has started a good thing even if he is in it for a profit. Houses are way to big and wasteful IMO. A couple of things to consider...Built it strong so it can survive being moved. Use durable finnishes because they will get alot of use in a small place.

[jwv]

There's been a discussion of these on the Tiny Houses Yahoo group  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TinyHouses/

but don't forget your way home.

Judy

[Homesick Gypsy]

That's a good point, ScottA, about making the surfaces durable.  And I'll check out the Yahoo group Judy.

I spoke with Brad at Texas Tiny Houses and he said it's very do-able.  Their small house in the same square foot range is about $35,000.  He said a trailer to support the weight would probably be about $2,000 which puts me back up in the $40,000 range.  But I would save the cost of a permanent foundation and if I wanted to park it on someone else's land, my total housing cost would be $40,000.  Plus the utilities, when used, would be small.   

[Willy]

Tumbleweed house are expensive, no doubt. I could probly build one for half of what he's charging but I can't fault him for getting paid. I think Jay has started a good thing even if he is in it for a profit. Houses are way to big and wasteful IMO. A couple of things to consider...Built it strong so it can survive being moved. Use durable finnishes because they will get alot of use in a small place.

Yes building it strong is nessasary! Now it will be subject to 60+ MPH winds and cross winds, suction/uplift winds from Semi-Ttrucks passing. Along with that there is side forses from curves, flexing, vibration, dips and bumps that a normal home never sees. You will need to glue, bolt, screw things together and give have extra concideration to the roof due to driving rain going down the road, weird winds ect. A home normaly sits on a rigid foundation and this being on a trailer frame you will have some flexing and joints will move and tryn to seperate, sheetrock would crack seams and studs would work nails out/loose over time. If I was to build something like this since I weld I would probley build a light steel framework and screw/bolt the siding, roof and interior surfaces to it. There is a lot of weight using regular building products and the more weight the more flex and problems pulling it around. You could hide the steel to still make it look like a reg home but a travel trailer would be a lot cheaper and properly set up but the cool look of a home on wheels would be lost. Mark

[MountainDon]

I was in the middle of making the same points about wind and road speed when willy (Mark) finished first.

Ask anyone who's ever owned an RV for an extended period of time about flexing, wind and rain water leaks. The best are built on a welded aluminum frame for the best stiffness/weight ratio. Very few are really well insulated because of the weight and interior space loss factors.

Slide outs have been mentioned. They do provide extra interior space but are another potential source of air and water leakage. They also add a lot of weight and complexity. For extended stops some of the poorer made units develop sag, or need exterior supports. RV's use electric or hydraulic mechanisms to move the slide. I'm not sure how you'd home build something like that.

[Homesick Gypsy]

Good points, all.  I received a reply from Tumbleweed about my specific house plan and they said they don't like to do anything on a trailer over 20', so thinking about how to trim that down....

Maybe a bus would be better, except for the headroom.  Just not as pretty.  I've seen a couple of trolleys I'd like to turn into a home.   

[MountainDon]

Bus roofs can be raised as a part of the conversion. If using an old school bus for example, the vertical struts between windows are cut, the roof raised with new material welded in place. It gets a little more complicated with the rear quarter sections and windshield, but can be done and well worth the extra headroom.