Trailer Archives - Seattle Tiny Homes

Why You Should Have a Tiny House on Wheels

April 19, 2017 2 Comments

For many, the choice to live in a tiny house built on a mobile trailer is the beginning of an exciting adventure. Many choose to live this way to enjoy more freedom, have less “stuff” and experience life in a more mindful way.

Why Live in a Mobile House?

There are many advantages to living in a tiny house on wheels (THOW), but the biggest one is probably the ability to travel with your home. If you have a truck or SUV, you can tow your tiny home around the country sightseeing, visiting family and friends or living in different places for extended periods of time. When your job moves you, you can take your home with you.

Just think how great it would be to be able to sleep in your own bed with your own belongings after a long day of travel! No hotels, no setting up a campsite, just crawling into bed after a day on the road exploring.

There are many tiny home communities around the country where you can park and stay, check them out here.

Is it an RV or a house?

Did you know that Seattle Tiny Homes is one of a few tiny house manufacturers that are RV certified? This means our tiny houses on wheels are built to exacting standards, and they are designed to be 100% road legal.

But if you are the do-it-yourself type, how do you build a tiny house on wheels? You start with the trailer, and it’s important to choose the right foundation for your tiny house. After you decide what design you want, you’ll need to get a customized trailer that will fit your tiny house needs. With a Seattle Tiny Homes trailer, your trailer will be personalized with just the right length and axle placement – giving you the ideal weight distribution for your tiny house (which makes towing safer and easier).

Additional Benefits of a Seattle Tiny Homes Trailer

A Foundation for Safety and Stability

Our heavy-duty trailers are engineered for one thing – tiny homes. Due to our special design, your home will sit low inside the framework, giving you optimum safety and stability. High-grade steel maximizes strength while minimizing weight.

Pre-Installed Floor Makes Your Job Easier

Your trailer comes with a pre-installed and insulated sub-floor that takes full advantage our unique design and is topped with high-grade plywood. This allows you to maximize your trailer’s extra space- and it’s a great head start on your build.

Resist Moisture

A solid metal floor can attract moisture, leading to mold and rust. That’s why we use an integrated steel framework coupled with a special moisture/rodent barrier and marine grade plywood for additional protection.

More Space

Because of its special engineering, you can build over the wheel wells of your trailer. This gives you 12-18 inches of extra width. Because the floor is dropped inside the trailer frame, you gain up to six inches of headroom. You will definitely notice the extra space!

Much More!

Your trailer comes with a warranty, an adjustable coupler, sidewinding jack and much more! Learn more about our custom trailers here.

Combining precision, extra space, and a two-year warranty, we believe a Seattle Tiny Homes trailer is truly the best foundation for a DIY tiny home of your dreams. Of course, if you want us to build your entire tiny house, we can do that too.

It’s time to make your tiny home dream a reality! Contact us today to get started!

Tiny Home Success Story: Chris Silva

March 1, 2017 Leave a Comment

Meet Chris Silva

As an advocate of sustainable living, the tiny home movement was quick to catch Chris’ eye. Chris believes that it is important to show the world how easy it is to live simple and that the amount of work put into building a tiny home may be a lot less than people realize. Here is his tiny home success story.

Although Chris was a recent UCSB graduate and crafty in the ways of woodwork- the skills needed to build and frame a tiny house were new to him. But with his DIY dream in sight, he wasn’t going to let anything stop him.

How He Did It

First, Chris did a lot of research. There are many different companies making tiny homes so he had a lot of options. By observing as much as he could, talking to other tiny home builders and learning from their mistakes, Chris worked to make his dream a reality.

Along with finding the right materials, Chris also had to find a temporary place to park the home while he was building. With his construction site secured and materials selected, it was time for Chris to find the right foundation for his tiny house.

Just like any other tiny home, Chris’ vision was specific and personalized. Based on certain design aspects, Chris’ trailer had to be specifically designed to make sure his house would sit securely. A foundation is vital to any house and a tiny home is no different.

Because Chris chose a Seattle Tiny Homes trailer, he was able to customize the trailer build. He ended up spacing the axles further apart than normal to give his home the maximum stability.

The End Result

With hard work and help from some friends, Chris successfully built a tiny home for a low cost.

A unique learning experience later and Chris was finally ready to unveil his idea to the world. He first showcased his DIY tiny home at the Santa Barbara Earth Day festival. The tiny house on wheels generated a lot of interest and excitement.

Displaying his tiny house at events is how Chris is able to communicate his message and promote his movement called “Sustainable Obtainable.” Chris has lived in his tiny house for the past eight months and plans on continuing to do so.

Ultimately, Chris hopes to continue to display the benefits and conveniences that living tiny can bring. He also has interest in creating a sort of community café based around tiny homes. Chris has found that living tiny is a great way to save money. And he has realized that choosing to build it himself saved even more.

If you’re ready to move forward with building your own tiny house like Chris did, we are here to help. We offer trailers that are completely customizable to meet your needs, as well as DIY plans. Of course, if you want us to build your tiny house, we’ll work with you to personalize your home and build it to the highest standards of quality. Contact us today to get started!

10 tips for buying the right tiny house trailer

February 23, 2016 4 Comments

For many people, the words “tiny home” create the picture of a cozy miniature home, often snuggled gently into the surrounding scenery, soaking in the simple life. However, when thinking about tiny homes it’s easy to forget one of their most important components: the trailer. Before you start planning every detail, there are a few things you need to know about buying the right tiny house trailer.

Every home has a foundation and a tiny home is no exception. You want your home to last a lifetime. So why should your trailer be any different? If you’re planning to build a tiny house, it just makes sense to start with the right trailer. Choosing well at the beginning can add decades of enjoyment to your home.

With the summer do-it-yourself building season just around the corner, now is the time to get the foundation in place for your building project.

10 tips to help you find the trailer that’s right for you and your home

Don’t build on a flatbed. The most common type of trailer is a flatbed. But they’re not designed for tiny houses. Look for a trailer specifically engineered for two things. One – to provide an optimal foundation to safely secure your tiny home. The lower your home sits in the trailer, the more stable it will be. Two – to provide the maximum amount of building space – both for height and width. That means more elbowroom for you.

Grab a tape measure. Unlike in a regular house, every inch counts when you’re living tiny. Do some pre-planning to know exactly how much room you need. Make sure your trailer can provide the space you need to live comfortably and accommodate your lifestyle. If possible, work with a trailer manufacturer that can customize your trailer down to the quarter inch.

Adjust your coupler. Transportation should be easy. Look for a trailer with an adjustable coupler so you quickly hitch up and tow away. This feature allows you to use any hitch to pull your home, regardless of the hitch’s height. This also means you don’t need to purchase a special hitch to make your load even.

Don’t buy new tools. Normally you would need new tools and special drill bits for drilling through your metal trailer. Save yourself some time and money. Look for a trailer with the holes pre-drilled for hurricane ties and other reinforcements used to secure your home to the trailer.

Look for a forward-facing side-winding jack. The right jack helps to ease the hitching and unhitching process. The handle should be on the front of the side-winding jack so you gain extra building space. (If the handle is on the top of the jack or on the side, its turning radius takes up valuable building space.) You can use the extra space to extend your house up to the jack or build an exterior storage box.

Get the right axles. Options for trailer axles include drop axles, straight axles, and off-road axles. Each option has benefits along with corresponding tradeoffs. Look for a trailer that offers the axles that works best for your tiny house. You’ll also gain a longer lifespan for your trailer by choosing commercial-rated axles designed to withstand extensive wear and tear.

Roll with tires that can handle the miles. Trailers can come with two types of tires: bias or radial. Bias tires are typically less expensive, but they don’t last as nearly as long as radial tires. Radial tires are also less likely to develop flat spots when they are parked in the same position for a lengthy period of time, and they run cooler on longer trips.

License and registration, please. In some states, trailers don’t automatically come with paperwork needed to license them. Make your life simpler by buying a trailer that includes a title of ownership as well as a VIN number so you can easily register and license it.

Say no to rust. Better quality trailers come with an industrial paint designed to inhibit rust. For maximum rust resistance, you may wish to galvanize your trailer (submerging it in molten zinc for a complete protective coating). This is good for people doing a lot of travel in the winter on salty roads or for people who live near saltwater.

Do your research. With the tiny house movement growing rapidly, you’ll find many companies offering to sell you a tiny house trailer. Look for one that will listen and work with you to provide a trailer for building the tiny home of your dreams. If buying your trailer from tiny home manufacturer, ask to speak with their construction supervisor for tips on safely securing your tiny home to the trailer.

If you’re planning to build this summer, make your do-it-yourself experience the best it can be. Choose the right trailer for your tiny house project and eliminate unforeseen headaches and complications. The right foundation makes all the difference.

If you’d like to speak with someone about selecting the right tiny house trailer, feel free to get in touch with Sharon Read of Seattle Tiny Homes. She’ll be glad to chat with you for no cost or obligation.

The trailer: a sturdy foundation

September 5, 2011 1 Comment

11-08-Trailer1-300x225 — The foundation for our Ballard model home.

Just recently we took delivery of a trailer that will be the foundation for the Ballard model home we are currently constructing. Our team custom designed this trailer with several important traits:

It’s rated to hold up to 10,000 pounds.
The angle iron braces extending out from the trailer can hold nearly 1,000 pounds each. The studs of the home will rest on these extensions.
The angle iron cross members are specifically placed to fall directly under the floor joists.

Each element of the trailer is precisely planned to provide a solid foundation for our tiny home. The next step was seting up the trailer to be perfectly level to build upon, not even off by a few degrees. Construction can begin!

Not just any old trailer.

June 22, 2011 Leave a Comment

We’re getting ready to launch construction of a Ballard model home, and the first big step is selecting the right trailer.

After all, the trailer is the “foundation” for a tiny house on wheels. Pick the wrong trailer and you risk the long-term structural integrity of your home.

To get it right, Sharon (founder of Seattle Tiny Homes) teamed up with a structural engineer and two contractors to brainstorm the best solution. Together they designed a trailer with several goals in mind:

1 – Use every possible inch of the trailer to allow for maximum square footage while still providing complete support for the structure.

2 – Integrate the trailer fully into the home’s construction, so the home plus the trailer become one complete unit, rather than a structure tacked on to a trailer.

3 – Use the best quality materials to provide a lifetime of service, while still keeping the trailer as light as possible.

After multiple conversations and scribbled drawings, we’ve come up with an excellent solution. It’s a custom designed trailer with steel brackets that allow key studs of the home to be firmly secured to the trailer with TimberLocks®. We’ll also use Simpson strong ties at each corner. These and other extra steps make the tiny home and the trailer a completely integrated unit.

The end result is a home built for a lifetime of safety, stability, and longevity. In a strong headwind while driving, hurricane force winds, or an earthquake – this home should stand straight and true. In fact, it exceeds international hurricane standards.

We’ve ordered the trailer and expect it soon. We’ll post pictures when it arrives!