Need some ideas

[Martin Krippenstapel]

Hi to all you Tiny House pioneers! My name is Martin Krippenstapel and I am working on my thesis for my masters in construction management at Eastern Kentucky University. I have chosen tiny houses as my topic...obviously. However, the thesis must address a major problem within tiny house construction (not lack of space etc). Ive searched far and wide but still cannot find any major problems other than zoning, pricing, taxes etc. i am a huge supporter of tiny home building and living and helped my sister build her home just 2 years ago. If anyone out there has any recommendations for LARGE tiny house problems please share. Thankyou

[Tiny House Community]

Maybe moisture build up in humid climates?

On Apr 4, 2016, at 7:38 PM, Martin Krippenstapel <amkr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi to all you Tiny House pioneers! My name is Martin Krippenstapel and I am working on my thesis for my masters in construction management at Eastern Kentucky University. I have chosen tiny houses as my topic...obviously. However, the thesis must address a major problem within tiny house construction (not lack of space etc). Ive searched far and wide but still cannot find any major problems other than zoning, pricing, taxes etc. i am a huge supporter of tiny home building and living and helped my sister build her home just 2 years ago. If anyone out there has any recommendations for LARGE tiny house problems please share. Thankyou

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[Todd Fahrner]

That's the only problem I've hit that's tougher than expected: indoor air quality, specifically high humidity, with condensation and mold as consequences. 

I think many people building tiny have heat efficiency high on their lists, so tend to go for tight, well-insulated structures. I did. Add in moisture from breathing, cooking, and bathing, and indoor RH stays pretty high without surprisingly intensive abatement methods. Cracking windows or running simple fans is not appealing from a heat efficiency POV in the cooler months; my heaters aren't sized to cope with that. I live in the wet cool PNW, where cracking a window in cold months hardly lowers RH anyway. Most mornings October-May my windows are wet on the inside, where water collects on the wooden sills, and mold control is an ongoing battle.

A lot of tiny housers heat with wood stoves. Even the smallest stoves though are usually way overkill in a tiny well-insulated space. I think I understand now: you need overkill if you need to keep a window open to control humidity, and that raging radiant heat helps dry things out. 

I have a Lunos eGo heat-recovery ventilator. It's on constantly. I'm sure it helps, but it's not enough. I also have a great range hood that I use every time I cook anything: even worked in an air supply to balance the exhaust. Not enough. I bought 5 extra-large rechargeable desiccant packs. Not enough. A large peltier-type dehumidifier. Not enough, and broke after a month anyway. The single best thing I've done is gotten a rotary desiccant dehumidifier (EDV-4000, Eva-Dry). It's a fairly new type, quieter and more energy efficient than compressor types. It also continues to work well in low temperatures, which compressor types don't. It pulls a few quarts out every day, also ionizing the exhaust to keep down particulates that could contribute to odors. It makes more noise than I prefer, but it's a pretty unobjectionable white noise. I don't know what I'd do without it. Install a wood stove?

I've supposed that this issue is part of why minimum square footages exist in building codes: combination of good insulation/tight construction and small space makes for potential health issues. But then, most historical construction methods aren't so tight or heat efficient. If tiny-specific building codes emerge, I'd expect them to mandate humidity control systems, at least in some climates.

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todd

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[Dee Williams]

Hi!  I agree with the other comments you've gotten.  Moisture control is a big issue... makes sense!  I wrote a blog post about how I think tiny houses are different than a 'normal' house here:  https://padtinyhouses.com/how-to-choose-a-tiny-house-builder/

This is lumped inside a discussion of how to choose a contractor, mostly because I've seen a lot of tiny house built by very experienced carpenters who use too much wood because they're using traditional framing techniques, and too many houses fail because moisture control and energy efficiency (which go hand in hand with regard to creating thermal breaks, etc) are not considered.

Hope this helps and I wish you the best!  I'd love to see a post of your finished project, what ever that may be!  Cheers.  Dee

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 4:38 PM, Martin Krippenstapel <amkr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi to all you Tiny House pioneers! My name is Martin Krippenstapel and I am working on my thesis for my masters in construction management at Eastern Kentucky University. I have chosen tiny houses as my topic...obviously. However, the thesis must address a major problem within tiny house construction (not lack of space etc). Ive searched far and wide but still cannot find any major problems other than zoning, pricing, taxes etc. i am a huge supporter of tiny home building and living and helped my sister build her home just 2 years ago. If anyone out there has any recommendations for LARGE tiny house problems please share. Thankyou

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[Derin Williams]

Cats..... Not a construction related one, but still a tiny house problem in my book;) 

Ya indoor humidity seems to be an issue in a few tiny houses I know of, we fixed that issue after our first tiny house.

Proper thermal breaks between floor framing and the trailer, cold floor and condensation buildup.

Build to your climate, a tiny house built in Colorado may not work so well in Florida for instance. Think vapor barriers and heating degree climate versus a cooling degree climate, different pressure working on the building envelope.

I have been seeing a lot of slide outs of sorts in tiny homes, I assume those might become an issue.

Lastly weight distribution 

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 4, 2016, at 4:38 PM, Martin Krippenstapel <amkr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi to all you Tiny House pioneers! My name is Martin Krippenstapel and I am working on my thesis for my masters in construction management at Eastern Kentucky University. I have chosen tiny houses as my topic...obviously. However, the thesis must address a major problem within tiny house construction (not lack of space etc). Ive searched far and wide but still cannot find any major problems other than zoning, pricing, taxes etc. i am a huge supporter of tiny home building and living and helped my sister build her home just 2 years ago. If anyone out there has any recommendations for LARGE tiny house problems please share. Thankyou

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[Tatiana]

I second the idea of moisture management for tiny houses! I am currently constructing a tiny house and this is one of the biggest challenges I am facing! "MAJOR". And intersecting with so many critical decisions in design and materials choices...