I wanted to show the Tiny House community a recently finished farm worker housing unit. I have always been very much against living in RV type units. Sharon and I lived in a 26ft firth wheel while we built our recent home part time. It took 5 years. Older RVs weren’t sealed very well, were poorly built, and appliances are less efficient, of poorer quality, as compared to conventional homes.
As of this date, we have not offered these units to individuals, and in fact, to keep the price down, they have to be built in production runs of 6 units minimum.
My opinion, however, on living in RVs, is changing. Modern RVs are built much better than in the past. We have enclosed some pictures. Walls and floors are actually Structural Insulated Panels, utilizing aluminum tubing, foam insulation, and the one piece fiberglass shell and interior panels are glued and assembled under pressure.
The result is a one piece wall, in this case our side walls are 42 foot long, one piece. The one piece rubberized roof, is guaranteed for 10 years, and is easily replaced. About the same job as replacing shingles.
The finished units are pressurized, like an airplane cabin, and soap checked for any leaks that need additional sealing.
Appliances are regular house units, not smaller RV units. So they are less expensive and more efficient for the most part. The Hot Water Heater is a regular house unit, as is the entrance panel, washer dryer, refrigerator, and TVs 🙂 The toilet is an RV unit, but a ceramic RV unit, the shower is full size.
They are surprisingly roomy inside, 8ft wide x 42 ft long, but the two large slide outs, make the home feel really spacious. And it boasts approximately 400 square feet. And with a target price of $42,000, the cost per square foot is quite a bit lower than the average commercial built Tiny Home.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of quality built into the commercially available tiny homes. But we might be looking at Ferraris and Lamborginis, when most of us really would rather drive a Cadillac. And they are more affordable, and more easily financed!!
Anyway, wanted to run this buy your readership, and see what people think. The Tiny House movement spans a lot of ideas, as this blog has covered over the years. So maybe this is another viable option to consider. I would like to hear from you.
Thanks for reading. Bill Kastrinos, Tortoise Shell Home
