Can you recommend consultant for hire to optimize tiny home build?
Hi, we want to build a tiny home and make it as efficient as possible. So we'd like to hire a consultant to optimize passive solar, ventilation, and other aspects. Do you have a list of recommendations?
If you want to learn how to build the best tiny house I would start on this page here , its the best tiny house we have seen -
How to build tiny houses on Wheels for cold climates
And on the other side of the coin… we aren’t really big fans of tiny houses for a number of reasons, all of which you can read about here –
The problems with tiny houses in cold climates
Please don’t take this as a criticism, it’s the reality of tiny houses should realize from the get-go. There is an inherent design flaw when trying to categorize tiny houses as eco-friendly and sustainable, and that is that they are usually on wheels. We think the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of a tiny house is to put it on a slab on grade or at least helical piers instead of wheels, and keep your home at home!
The other problems with the wheels, is that by having a house bounce down a highway it puts a lot of stress on the air barrier as well as joints and junctions that you rely on to keep water out.
But assuming you are planning to put wheels on it, there are a few ways you can greatly improve the performance. First I would avoid using any insulation or air barrier products that aren’t flexible, and another really important feature for any tiny house in a cold climate would be to increase the insulation levels. Too often walls are built thin to maximise space, and without enough insulation they instantly become among the lower performing homes. Read here about choosing the best insulation.
Have a look over those pages first and we can help you here with a bit of design ideas to maximize the performance of your build. And a couple of questions – will it be used in a cold climate? Will it have wheels and do you plan to mostly be mobile or stationary?
Thanks! We plan to build on wheels so we can avoid the laborious permitting processes required for stationary homes. It will be used in a cold climate in the upper midwest.
Yes, permitting can be a problem depending on location as a lot of cities and municipalities have minimum size requirements for new builds that can be far beyond the square footage of tiny houses. Be sure to find out locally if there are restrictions about parking them as well, that's the other issue with tiny houses on wheels. Best of luck!