CHAPTER
7

Tiny Houses on the Move

In This Chapter

• Learning the rules of the road when towing a tiny house
• Designing with road restrictions in mind
• Knowing when to get a special permit
• Planning out a safe route

Road trips with tiny housers are unlike any other. Can’t you just hear one person asking the other, “Honey, did you finish packing up the tiny house?” Being mobile is one of the key perks that draw people into the tiny house movement. The freedom of the road and promise of beautiful sunsets in new destinations inspire people to choose a mobile lifestyle.

Understanding the rules of the towing world is something you’ll need to invest time in while designing your tiny house. There are restrictions for width and height, and sometimes for weight and length as well, and they all vary not only state by state but also road by road. Fortunately, there are some excellent resources to help you make informed decisions. Let’s take a look at various factors you’ll need to consider from size restrictions, to special travel permits, hiring out the move, and mapping out a safe journey.

Size Restrictions

Hopping into your car and driving into town is no big deal. You know your vehicle’s going to fit under bridges, be narrow enough for road widths, and be easy to maneuver. Hook a tiny house up to a trailer hitch though and suddenly, your driving experience is altered considerably.

Vehicle size restrictions are in place to keep drivers safe. They are also there to ensure that vehicles on public roads don’t hit low bridges or cause accidents because they’re too wide. Even though these limits vary state to state, there are some general guidelines to help you.

Maximum vehicle heights range from 13 feet, 6 inches to 14 feet, 6 inches depending on the state you’re traveling through. If you intend to tow your tiny house through more than just your home state at any point, we recommend you not exceed 13 feet, 6 inches on your design. That way, you won’t confine yourself to traveling only in states that allow vehicles with heights over 13 feet, 6 inches.

As is the case with vehicle height, vehicle width is also a big deal when designing your THOWs. The national limit is eight feet, 6 inches, so that’s a number you can commit to memory as you consider how wide to design your tiny house.

One often missed, but essential, point is that measurements are taken at the widest and tallest portions of a trailer. In other words, if your THOWs, from roof edge to roof edge, measures 8 feet, 6 inches wide, but you have an entry light or vent shroud that extends beyond that dimension, your house is now considered wider than 8 feet, 6 inches and will require a wide load permit.

TINY TIP

Average Road Restrictions Reference Guide:

• Height: 13 feet, 6 inches
• Width: 8 feet, 6 inches
• Length: Up to about 60 feet
• Weight: Varies with local road and bridge limits

If you want to extend venting or other features beyond the road limits, make sure to install them in such a way that you can easily remove them before hitting the road. Highway safety officers don’t often pull THOWs over, but when they do, they could choose to measure them from top to bottom, so it’s important to be within the legal limits.

Length isn’t quite as much of an issue for THOWs being towed on highways. You can haul a trailer up to nearly 60 feet long, which is much larger than a typical tiny house and as such we doubt you’ll run into a situation where your tiny house is too long from a highway restriction standpoint.

Where length does become a design consideration, though, is when you plan on towing your THOWs in areas with larger than normal grade changes and when you need to maneuver through small towns and roads. Hauling a long trailer is a lot more challenging than a short one when navigating highways and other roads. They are more prone to issues with sway, which can lead to fishtailing and loss of control. If you tow something 30 feet or longer, you should consider using a gooseneck trailer, fifth-wheel trailer, or a pintle hitch, all of which require a special hitch attachment on a pick-up truck (ideally a 1-ton dual-wheel truck).

Weight restrictions typically aren’t a significant issue for THOWs. Generally, those are established with much larger loads in mind. That said, if you need to cross a very small bridge or someplace with a strict weight limit, you’ll need to heed those warnings.

Weight restrictions are often described per vehicular axle. For example, rather than saying a 17,000-pound vehicle is not permitted, the sign could read, “Road restricted to vehicles over 17,000 pounds with less than three axles” or “Road restricted to vehicles carrying over 5,000 pounds per axle.” This is because spreading the weight over a series of axles lessens the individual impact of the load through each tire. In other words, the same load is spread out over more surface area, thus reducing the potential impact per square inch on the road surface.

Knowing how your trailer and tow vehicle’s weight is distributed is important. Just because your trailer has three axles and your truck has two doesn’t mean you can simply divide 17,000 pounds by five and get an accurate answer.

For example, a 17,000-pound home being hauled by a bumper pull trailer hitch, might only have 10 percent of the total weight on the tongue of the tow vehicle. This means that two of the five axles are only carrying 1,700 pounds. The remaining 15,300 pounds are distributed across the three trailer axles, or 5,100 pounds per axle. As you can see, you are thus restricted from the 5,000-pound-per-axle road, not because of your overall house weight, but because of the per-axle weight.

Special Travel Permits

If your THOWs dimensions exceed the size restrictions mentioned previously, you can most likely still tow it, but you’ll need to obtain special permits. These permits aren’t issued at the national level but rather state by state. That means if you plan on cruising through 30 states in your wide-load tiny house, you’ll need to go through the application process in each state and pay all of the individual permit fees. You can research vehicle size restrictions state by state on USDOT’s website, transportation.gov.

Some roads are wider than others and do a better job accommodating wide loads.

Generally speaking, a vehicle wider than 8 feet 6 inches but narrower than 12 feet requires a simple wide-load permit. The fee usually costs less than $50 per state line crossed. Those over 12 feet and under 16 feet require a wide-load permit, Department of Transportation (DOT) number, and an escort/pilot car. Wide-load vehicles might also be subject to restrictions on hours of travel. A great resource for specifics is heavyhaul.net.

Hiring Out the Move

Regardless of whether you build wider than 8 feet, 6 inches or not, hiring a professional hauler can bring peace of mind when moving your house. Always make sure the hauler is licensed, bonded, and insured. If the unthinkable happens and something goes wrong during your house move, the burden of responsibility falls on them and their insurance company. In addition, haulers are responsible for acquiring all pertinent permits and planning out appropriate travel routes.

It can be relatively expensive to hire someone to haul your tiny house, but hiring a professional could start looking quite affordable in these situations:

• You don’t plan to move your tiny house often
• You don’t want to learn how to tow a large trailer
• You don’t want to deal with the white-knuckle drive
• You don’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a vehicle strong enough to tow your house

As is true with any contract, be sure to read your agreement carefully and identify what is and what is not covered. It’s quite unfortunate when a towing company doesn’t have comprehensive insurance or enough coverage to compensate their client.

Mapping Your Route

If you’ve ever driven into a parking garage or fast-food joint with those low-hanging yellow tubes and wondered if your car would clear it, you know the feeling of approaching a low clearance landmark. It’s an unsettling feeling, even as you approach it at just 2 mph. Imagine what hitting a low bridge while cruising at 50 mph is like! Unfortunately, this happens regularly, even in places with clearly marked signs and flashing warning lights.

If you decide to move the house yourself, it’s not just a good idea to map out your route, it’s imperative. Some roads have tight restrictions on width, height, length, and weight due to obstructions or special circumstances such as tunnels, narrow roads, tight corners, or bridges. Know your THOWs dimensions as you begin the trip-planning process and make the appropriate decisions regarding routing.

Be sure to pay special attention to signs that read “cars only,” “oversized vehicles,” or “truck routes,” especially on the east coast of the United States. Many of their overpasses were built long before trucks reached current sizes. Virtually every public road that restricts travel for certain vehicles will have clear signs marking the dangers.

TINY TIP

All of those road signs you’ve never paid attention to such as “cars only,” “no oversized vehicles,” “truck routes,” and so on, are now very important. Start training yourself to notice any road signs, especially those pertaining to larger vehicles.

A great (and free if you’re a member) resource for planning all your THOWs journeys is goodsamclub.com. Simply type in your point of origin, destination, and vehicle details, and it will calculate an appropriate route for your trailer based on its size. You can also contact the highway departments in the states you intend to travel through and ask for their guidance.

RV and trucking GPS units are also available and are probably the easiest travel solutions. However, be aware that they are not always accurate especially in rural areas. Always pay close attention to local signs and don’t trust GPS units 100 percent. Lastly, another excellent resource used by the pros is the Rand McNally Motor Carrier’s Road Atlas Deluxe Edition.

Learning to Drive Your House

Our guess is that you never expected to need lessons on how to tow a house. If you’re not a professional driver, you’ll definitely want to put in the time and learn how to haul a THOWs. It’s not the same thing as driving a car or pick-up truck. It’s not even the same thing as towing a large RV because THOWs are typically heavier than conventional RVs. Here are some important safety tips and considerations to keep in mind.

Backing Up

If you’ve never backed a trailer before, you’ll need to practice the skill before hauling your house around. Getting a trailer to respond to turns while reversing is backward compared to backing a car without a trailer. The steering wheel needs to be turned the opposite way from the direction you want the trailer to go. It may sound simple, but it’s counterintuitive, so takes some time to master.

I suggest you rent a moderately sized trailer, say a 4' × 8' box trailer, and practice in an empty parking lot for starters. Set up some cones as obstacles and practice backing until you’re very comfortable with the process. Every trailer backs up differently, so mastering one doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a pro with a THOWs. Luckily, the longer a trailer is, the easier it is to maneuver in reverse. If you’re skilled with an 8' trailer, you’ll be poised to do well with its 28' cousin.

TINY WARNING

Backing up can be dangerous since you can’t see what’s directly behind you unless you have a camera on your THOWs. Always have a person outside the vehicle to assist you and let you know if there is a hazard behind. That is the best way to safely back up.

You’ll also want to practice backing up while using just your mirrors as guides. If you turn your head and body to reverse, you’re locked into seeing just one side of the trailer, whereas with mirrors, you can see both sides with a quick swivel of your head. This is an important skill that’ll allow you to adjust the path of your trailer quickly if needed.

Know the Road

Understanding the significance of the size and weight of your THOWs is important. Even though it’s called tiny, the reality is that it’s most likely the biggest thing you’ll ever have towed. This will take some getting used to.

You may be surprised to see just how big your house is once you complete the build, so don’t plan on taking a cross-country road trip right after it’s done. Instead, drive your house locally for a few weeks. Perhaps set up a mini road trip and go to a couple RV parks to get used to driving, parking, hooking up, unhooking, and so on.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to swing out to the left when turning right so that you don’t clip the curb or anything on the road edge. There are a lot of things to get used to when pulling a THOWs, but stick with it and you’ll be a pro in little time.

TINY WARNING

A runaway truck ramp is not something you want to experience first-hand for several reasons. First of all, it would be terrifying to be so out of control that you actually have to use one to save your life. Secondly, if you use a runaway truck ramp you’ll be required to pay for the towing vehicle that pulls you out. Thirdly, you’ll likely incur an expensive reckless driving ticket to top it all off.

Speed is always a factor when discussing braking, so be sure to reduce your velocity. We suggest drivers not exceed 45 mph when traveling with their tiny house, even on highways. Patience may just be the virtue that gets you to your destination without incident. We also recommend that you triple (at least) your normal braking distance while towing a THOWs.

Trailer brakes are a non-negotiable requirement for all THOWs. They’re installed on the trailer itself and hooked up to the tow vehicle electronically. When the brakes are applied in the tow vehicle, a signal is sent to the trailer brakes to engage, placing a stopping force at the trailer instead of relying on the towing vehicle’s brakes to do all the work.

Most trailer brakes are adjustable based on the weight of the trailer. Be sure to read the installation instructions and adjust them accordingly. Setting them too aggressively or too weakly can have unpleasant consequences when you need them most.

Weighing In

The best way to determine the exact weight of your THOWs is by taking it to a public or private weigh station. They’re relatively easy to use and provide a lot of useful information including the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and the Gross Trailer Weight Rating (GTWR), tongue weight, trailer weight per axle, and tow vehicle weight per axle.

DEFINITION

The term Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) is used to identify the total weight of a vehicle when loaded to capacity and as specified by the vehicle manufacturer. The GVWR includes the weight of the vehicle (engine, fuel and other fluids, and chassis), plus any loads carried upon it such as people and cargo. It does not include anything related to trailers or their cargo.

The term Gross Trailer Weight Rating (GTWR) is used to identify the total weight of a trailer when loaded to capacity. This includes the weight of the trailer, cargo, and fluids carried onboard. It does not include anything related to the tow vehicle or its cargo.

The general guidelines for knowing when it’s required to stop at a weigh station are as follows:

• Your vehicle is a commercial vehicle
• Your GVWR exceeds posted weight limits for the specific road you’re traveling on

You’re most likely not a commercial vehicle (you would know if you were), so that part’s easy. The second guideline refers to both your GVWR and GTWR numbers. If either exceeds the stated limits, you’ll need to stop.

Depending on the station location and requirements, you might not be able to avoid stopping at weigh stations along your route. You can visit AAA’s website (aaa.com) to learn more about these laws across the United States and Canada.

In some states, a commercial driver’s license is required if the weight of your towing vehicle and THOWs exceeds a certain number. In most cases, the weight threshold is 26,000 pounds, which is more than most tiny houses and tow vehicles weigh combined. As THOWs become larger, however, this is a factor that could come into play with greater frequency. You can find out what your state requirements are by visiting your local DOT as well as by contacting the DOTs in the states you plan on towing through.

Commercial drivers are subject to stricter regulations. They must pass yearly physicals and drug tests, stop at all weigh stations (unless specifically told otherwise), and keep daily travel logs. Whether you’re a commercial driver or not, we recommend daily inspections on your tow vehicle and THOWs before hitting the road. By making sure all lights are working properly and fluids are topped off, you’ll reduce a lot of risks while towing your beloved tiny house.

Some states and specific routes might require recreational vehicles to stop. In the eyes of weigh station authorities, your THOWs is an RV, even if it’s your primary residence. Be sure to pay attention to these directional signs.