What Is a Tiny House?
In This Chapter
- Defining tiny houses
- Learning what the different tiny house types are
- Investigating how the tiny house movement was born
- Looking at where tiny houses go from here
The tiny house movement is a large, diverse, and vibrant collective of people coming from all walks of life. It’s growing by leaps and bounds and shows no sign of slowing down. But where did it come from and what events launched it to where it is today? Further, what even is a tiny house? Are you tiny curious? If so, pour your favorite hot beverage, make yourself comfortable, and let’s go down the rabbit hole together.
In this chapter, we define what a tiny house is, as well as the different kinds of tiny houses. Next, we look into the history of tiny homes and the leaders who shaped today’s tiny house movement. Finally, we glimpse into the future and take a look at where it all goes from here.
Until recently, there’s been some debate about how small a home must be in order to qualify as a tiny house. Some argued that anything over 200 square feet was frivolous, while others felt that anything under 1,000 square feet must surely be considered tiny. The definition we use—and the most widely accepted—is “a dwelling that’s 400 square feet or less in floor area, excluding any lofts.”
In terms of the minimum square footage, well, that has yet to be determined. Just when we think a tiny house can’t get any smaller, someone builds one that’s even more petite. For example, our friend Dee Williams, a well-known tiny houser, teacher, and author, is currently downsizing from her 84-square-foot tiny house into a 56-square-foot home. The reason? She felt her original tiny house, her home of more than 12 years, was just a tad bit too large.
The average Tiny House On Wheels measures in at 186-square feet. This includes enough space for a bathroom, kitchen, sleeping loft, eating area, and adequate storage for basic personal items such as clothing, books, and food. Because these houses are smaller than some people’s walk-in closets, it’s hard for many to even imagine that so many things can fit in that kind of square footage.
Our own tiny house, affectionately named “hOMe,” is 207 square feet plus 110 square feet in lofts. Because it was meticulously designed, it contains everything we need: a full-size kitchen, comfortable stairs leading up to the main loft, space for a home office for both of us, a seating area for four, a comfortably sized bathroom, an abundance of storage, and two lofts complete with queen size beds.
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We came up with the name “hOMe” for our tiny house when we were relaxing in our wood-fired hot tub looking at our newly built abode. Our tiny house represented a departure from living outside of our means and an opportunity to step into a more peaceful existence. As we were pondering name ideas, we repeated “home” a few times and realized that we were pronouncing it like “hOMe” with the stress on “OM” (rhymes with “Tom”). Om is considered to be one of the most sacred mantras and is used as a tool for inducing deep calm and relaxation, and that’s exactly what our home and tiny lifestyle do for us.
hOMe, our Tiny House On Wheels, is 28' long by 8'6" wide by 13'6" tall and contains everything we need to live a happy, peaceful, and productive life.
Tiny House Types
A tiny house can be mobile, known as Tiny House On Wheels (THOWs), stationary, known as a Tiny House On Foundation (THOFs), or a hybrid of the two, Tiny House On Skids (THOSs). A tiny house is not considered to be a manufactured home, park model, or RV. Rather, it’s considered to be a mini-scale house built with traditional residential construction materials.
Which option you choose depends on your needs and how often you’ll be moving with your tiny home. A THOWs is ideal for those with plans of towing it with relative frequency. A THOFs is perfect for those who want the simplest path to legalization for their tiny homes. It’s also a great fit for those who already know the long-term spot for their dream tiny homes. A THOSs is well-suited for those who want the flexibility and potential for moving their tiny homes in the future, but don’t have immediate plans to move it.
DEFINITION
There are three basic approaches to tiny houses:
- Tiny House on Wheels (THOWs): A mobile house built on a trailer.
- Tiny House on Foundation (THOFs): A tiny house built onto a permanent foundation.
- Tiny House on Skids (THOSs): A tiny house built on a skid system which can be hauled on a trailer or attached to a permanent foundation.
The Story of the Tiny House Movement
The tiny house movement is a social collective comprised of tens of thousands of people who are redefining their relationships with house size, material consumption, and their impact on the planet. Those who live in tiny houses, referred to as tiny housers, come from all walks of life. We are a diverse group of professionals, parents, singles, couples, artists, active duty servicemen and women, health-care providers, musicians, teenagers, newlyweds, college students, retirees, gamers, clerics, educators, athletes, DIYers, contractors, and everything in between.
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Nobody knows exactly how many people currently live in tiny houses. Some estimate that it’s in the hundreds, while others believe it’s in the thousands. Whatever the actual figure is, it’s certainly growing exponentially, and there are no signs of it slowing down at any point soon.
Let’s explore who inspired this exciting movement, what economic events fueled it, and where it’s going next.
Early Leaders Set the Stage
In truth, the concept of humans living in tiny houses dates back to our earliest ancestors. Up until the last 100 years or so, the average house was small, modest, and didn’t require a lot of resources to build and maintain. However, with the advent of new construction technologies and the ability to heat and cool a space with ease, house sizes began to burst at the seams.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average size of a home in the United States has increased 61 percent since 1973. Meanwhile, the average household size has decreased in that same time period. This means that the average amount of square footage each person uses has nearly doubled since 1973. This is a significant increase in how many resources it takes to build a conventional residence, how much money one must pay to buy one, and how much energy it takes to condition it.
In 1999, a visionary named Jay Shafer designed and built his first Tiny House On Wheels (named “Tumbleweed”) as a solution to his challenges and frustrations of living through two winters in a poorly insulated Airstream. He wanted the flexibility of mobility, yet longed for the benefits of living in something that was better constructed and felt more like a home. The world’s gaze landed upon his 96-square-foot cutie and many people instantly fell in love with it. And with that, the modern tiny house movement was born.
Although Jay would argue that he’s not the father of the movement, there’s no doubt that his actions inspired countless individuals to follow suit and jump into this lifestyle. Jay suggests that the true visionaries were those who inspired him through their books written in the 1970s such as Tiny Houses: Or How to Get Away From It All by Lester Walker, Rolling Homes: Handmade Houses on Wheels by Jane Lidz, the Not So Big series by Sarah Susanka, and Shelter by Lloyd Kahn.
Housing Crash Builds a Tiny Community
The cost of housing increased at the same rate of inflation for more than 100 years in the United States until 1995. Between 1995 and 2007, home values, adjusted for inflation, jumped a whopping 70 percent. There was so much equity built up in real estate values that homeowners found themselves sitting on gold mines. People began to shift their loans around to liquidate this newfound wealth. Many took themselves on the shopping spree of the lives, forgetting to save money for a rainy day.
At the same time, banks jumped on the bandwagon and started handing out three-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) loans with ultra-low interest rates like they were candy. The future looked so bright in real estate that millions of what should have been unqualified homeowners were approved for these seductive loans. However, trouble loomed on the horizon, and after the real estate bubble burst, millions of middle- to lower-class homeowners ended up in deep financial water with no life preserver.
In fact, more than 9.3 million people lost their homes to foreclosure or distress sales over an eight-year period. Today, the economy is improving and the real estate market seems to be on the mend. However, industry experts project less than one-third of those who lost their homes will re-enter the mortgage market. For some, damaged credit will prevent them from receiving loans, while for others, the psychological trauma associated with the foreclosure is not something they want to risk again.
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It can take 10 years for a foreclosure to disappear from public record, and it can lower one’s credit score by 200+ points. The best course with housing is the most obvious: live in a house that’s well within your means. That way, if anything unexpected happens, you’ll be able to handle the financial hit and not lose your home.
It’s no wonder that fascination in tiny houses is at an all-time high. They offer comfortable, safe, beautiful housing at a fraction of the cost of a conventionally sized residence. The possibility of homeownership, which previously had been ripped away from many, is now within reach again.
Tiny Houses Gain Popularity
Over the last 15 years, interest in tiny houses has risen significantly with a noteworthy spike starting in 2013, according to Google Trends. Every month, dozens of new tiny houses are built, builders are shifting their focus to micro-housing, and new people are starting on their tiny house journeys.
This graph from Google Trends highlights the sharp increase in interest for search term “Tiny House” on Google since 2004.
Tiny houses have become big business and the housing sector and media have also joined in on the fun. Currently, television shows such as Tiny House Nation, Tiny House Hunters, Tiny House Builders, and Tiny House: Big Living are among some of the most popular programs on air. Scores of tiny house video tours can be found on YouTube and thousands of images populate search engine pages. There truly is no shortage of tiny house inspiration out there.
The number of tiny house jamborees, expos, and fairs is also increasing exponentially. The biggest of them all, the Tiny House Jamboree hosted by EcoCabins, Inc., drew in 40,000 participants in its first year and more than 50,000 the second. Whereas finding a tiny house to visit even just three years ago was a challenge, today there’s a good chance you’ll see one in your community simply by driving around.
All of this begs the question, “Is the tiny house movement just a fad?” Only time will tell. However, we feel confident that as long as there are people who want to save on housing costs and are passionate about the environment, the tiny house movement will remain strong. In fact, we firmly believe it will increase in popularity as the legalities of tiny houses become easier to navigate.
- Tiny houses are defined as a dwelling 400 square feet or less, excluding lofts, that can be built on wheels, a foundation, or skids.
- The average tiny home is 186 square feet, fully self-contained, and houses a kitchen, bathroom, eating area, sitting area, sleeping area, and storage space for basic items such as clothing, food, and personal belongings.
- Tiny houses create the possibility of homeownership for many individuals who would not otherwise be afforded the opportunity.