If you love to read blogs and websites dedicated to all things home, you’ve no doubt come across the concept of a “tiny house.”
Tiny houses are embraced by those who follow the tiny house movement, which Wikipedia defines as “the architectural and social movement that advocates living simply in small homes.” Tiny houses are defined as being between 100 and 400 square feet. People who choose to live in tiny houses are another subset of those who are back from the increasing norm of ever bigger homes.
Wikipedia mentioned that the average size of single family homes has grown since 1978, from 1,780 square feet to 2,479 square feet in 2007, right around the time of the housing bubble. Newly built homes declined in overall square footage during the Great Recession, but appear to be coming back in favor, as the average new home built in 2013 was 2,662 square feet.
But many people are tired of the bling, the big, the shopping, the STUFF. They want less because they believe it will lead to having fuller lives, allowing them to pursue the things they really want in life. Or, as Joshua Becker says on his website BecomingMinimalist.com, “… we discovered more money, more time, more energy, more freedom, less stress, and more opportunity to pursue our greatest passions… .”
Becker himself doesn’t live in a tiny house, but many people do. They have either decided they want to have a much smaller mortgage (or no mortgage: tiny houses can cost between $23,000 $65,000 to build and many can be had used); they want to own a lot less stuff; and/or they want the freedom to travel in their tiny home (many tiny homes can be towed.)
A tiny house typically consists of a sleeping loft at the rear of the home (for a full-sized or even queen-sized bed), with a “great room” living area with a kitchen galley in the front of the house and a small bathroom (shower only, no tub) under the loft, with perhaps more living area or another bedroom also below the loft. Storage, of course, is pretty minimal.
Many tiny home builders exist today. Here’s one we found, and there are dozens more.
When it comes to the tiny house’s plumbing system, many are very similar to the plumbing system found in a more traditional recreational vehicle: they tend to come with standard RV hookups for electrical and water. Propane can be optional and many builders also can build in off-grid plumbing options for the homeowner, as well.
Plumbing options include having no plumbing at all (you’ll need to bring all water into and out of your home); putting a water tank and pump into your tiny house, using the pump to circulate/pressurize the water; and the aforementioned RV hookup. Many tiny house owners opt for the “hybrid” system of having the tank and pump for when they want to go off-grid, but still are able to connect to a septic or public sewage system.
If you own a tiny house and are in the Dallas area and need help with your home’s plumbing system, call upon the plumbing experts at Plumbing Dynamics. Give us a call at 214-929-3431 or send us a message via our online contact us form.
Image courtesy of Nocolas Boullosa, via Flickr
