Before You

Build

30 Questions You Must Ask

When Planning Your Tiny House

Ethan Waldman
Let me guess.
You've been spending more time than you'd like to admit looking at
gorgeous pictures of tiny houses on Facebook and Pinterest. Tiny houses
infiltrate your news feed. Tiny house newsletters stuff your inbox. You
actually dream of tiny houses.

Trust me, I’ve been there.

However, there’s a big problem with just dreaming: It doesn’t

prepare you for the very real challenge of building a tiny house.

I started building my house in

June of 2012, when I thought I
had already absorbed all of the
wisdom that the internet had
to offer.

Boy, was I wrong.

By August of 2012, when I had

expected to be over halfway
done with the entire house, I
barely even had my walls
framed. I hadn’t factored in
how many choices I would face
throughout the process that
would affect the whole project
going forward.  

Fast forward to now...

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Looking back on my tiny house project, I can now see that being
organized about your decisions is crucial. Had I done more planning and
less daydreaming, I have no doubt I’d have been able to cut my
construction time and costs by at least 15%. That may not sound like a
lot, but when your timeline is measured in months or years and your
budget in the tens of thousands, 15% really adds up.

I want to help you start on your tiny house right away.

Building a tiny house means asking and answering hundreds of
questions. You’d never build a traditional house without doing a ton of
planning, would you? Though smaller, a tiny house contains many of the
same systems and requires its fair share of forethought to build.

I made the mistake of “figuring out” a lot of these questions as I went

along. If I’d had a guide like this one before building my house, I know I

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would have been able to get my house done faster and with a smaller
budget.

There’s no getting around it: You must make these decisions in order to
complete your house. You do not want to leave them up to chance. And
as I learned the hard way, the more questions you can address up front,
the more smoothly your build will go.

So without further ado, I'd like to present the 30 questions you must ask
and answer before you build your tiny house.

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30

Crucial

Questions

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30 Crucial Questions You Must Ask and
Answer Before You Build Your Tiny House
Now we’re on to the good stuff! Each system you add to your tiny house
adds time to install and materials to purchase. However, each system
also adds comfort and convenience, making your tiny house more
liveable. I’ll break the questions into three sections that cover the most
basic systems every tiny house has.

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Heating
and

Cooling

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Heating and Cooling

Depending on where you live, it’s highly likely that your tiny house will
require some source of heat, cooling, or both. In my house, I opted for
the popular Dickinson Newport P-12000 stove, but I have not been happy
with its performance. I hope the questions below help guide you to a
better decision than I made.

1. Will you include heat?

If you plan to live in a
warmer climate, a more
permanent heating solution
(like a wood stove or
propane heater) may not be
required. For example,
Tammy Strobel and Logan
Smith use a small electric
radiator to take the chill off
in their northern California
tiny house.

2. Will you include air conditioning?

Conversely, if you’re in a hot climate, a small air conditioning unit will
go a long way toward making your tiny house more comfortable. In
Vermont, where I live, my tiny house stays cool all year long, so I didn’t
bother incorporating a cooling system.

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3. What fuel will you use for heating?
Whether you choose wood, propane, natural gas, electricity, or
something else depends mostly on what’s available to you and how much
heating you plan to do. Propane and natural gas are much more efficient
dollar for dollar when compared with electricity, but the heating units
themselves tend to be much more expensive.

4. What type of heater or

cooling unit will you buy?
Your choices include radiant,
forced air, and wood burning
and will depend on the fuel
you choose. Not all brands
are created equal, so make
sure you read reviews before
committing to a purchase.

5. Where will you install

the heater in your tiny
house?
This is a really important decision, because space is at a premium in a
tiny house! Some heaters mount on the wall, others through the floor,
and they all have different clearance requirements (how much space is
needed on either side and above them for safety purposes).

6. Will you do the installation yourself or hire a professional?

Depending on your skills and what you choose to go with, you may be
able to install the heater or cooling unit yourself. If you’re working with

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wood, propane, or natural gas, I’d recommend having a professional
handle the installation (or at least verify your work). 


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Water

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Water
Tiny houses range from water-free to full grid-tied systems complete
with dishwashers and laundry facilities. Your setup (and what's even
possible for your house) will depend on how you plan your water system.

For example, in my tiny

house I opted for a “hybrid”
system. I have a 40-gallon
water tank with an electric
pump, but I also have the
ability to hook up to the
“city” water pressure if I am
in a location that has such
utility. My system may not
be right (or feasible) for
everyone, but I love the
flexibility it gives me.
Without some advance
planning, though, I wouldn't have been able to build my house with the
water system I wanted in mind.

7. Will you have plumbing?

Yes, it’s possible to build a tiny house with no plumbing at all! Plumbing
is something that some tiny housers (like Dee Williams) live without due
to how difficult it is to maintain, but the decision isn’t for everyone.  

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8. Will you have hot water?
Hot water heaters for tiny houses range from $200 to 1,200, but the
decision isn’t just about money. Some people choose to go hot water free
to simplify their plumbing setup or reduce their energy usage.

9. What kind of hot water heater will you have?

Traditional hot water heaters with tanks are typically less expensive, but
at just three to ten gallons, that means you won’t  be able to take a nice
long shower in your tiny house. On the other hand, tankless hot water
heaters warm your water as you use it but are often more expensive.

10. What fuel will you use to heat your water?

Like heating, electric water heaters are less expensive to buy but more
expensive to operate. Propane units are more efficient but require a
higher upfront investment.

11. Will you have water storage (a tank) on board?

Having some capacity to hold water on board your tiny house will enable
you to park the house in places where there isn’t a “city” water hookup.
However, the tank will add weight and take up valuable space in your
house.

12. How big will your water tank be?

Having a larger tank means filling it less often, but it also means giving
up more of your precious interior space for water.

13. Where in the house will you place your tank?

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A water tank doesn’t have to
go underneath the kitchen
sink. I considered placing my
tank within the floor of the
house but ultimately decided
against it because it would be
susceptible to Vermont cold.

14. Will your house

include a shower or just a
sink?
Many tiny houses have
showers, but there are
notable exceptions. Neither Dee Williams nor Tammy Strobel and Logan
Smith have showers in their tiny houses. They opted to save the cost,skip
the complexity, and utilize showers elsewhere.

15. What material will you use to finish your shower?

There’s a range of options when it comes to finishing your shower, from
pre-made plastic inserts to custom metal or even wood. It all depends on
what kind of aesthetic you want.

16. Will your house have grey water (drain water) storage?
Grey water is how RV-ers refer to the water that comes from their sinks
and showers. In other words, it’s waste water, but isn’t contaminated
with human waste (that’s called black water). If you plan to live on the
road, you’ll want to consider having some kind of holding tank for grey
water, since you’ll need to collect it until you can empty the tank at a
dump station.

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17. Will you connect your house to a septic system or use a grey
water catchment system?
If you plan to stay put for a while, you’ll need to figure out where your
grey water will go. Depending on where you live, you may be legally
required to hook up to the city sewer system or a septic system. Other
tiny house dwellers like Laura Lavoie have created alternative grey water
catchment systems that filter and ultimately allow the water to run onto
the ground.

18. How big will your grey water tank be?

The larger the capacity, the longer you’ll be able to go between
emptyings (or “dumps”), but the full tank will add weight and take up
valuable storage space inside your house.

19. Where in the house will you place your grey water tank?
I’ve seen many creative applications. Most notably, the Protohaus has a
custom shower pan fabricated from stainless steel that doubles as a grey
water storage tank.

20. Will you use a flush toilet or a composting toilet?

It might be tempting to go with a flush toilet, since that’s probably what
you’re used to. But the key factor to consider when making your decision
is this: Opting for a flush toilet sets off a cascade of other requirements.
You essentially mandate that your house either be hooked up to some
kind of sewer or septic system or have a black water storage tank. That’s
one reason why composting toilets are such a popular choice for tiny
houses: They don’t require either of those components.


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21. Will you use a commercial composting toilet or a humanure-
style toilet?
If you opt for a composting toilet, you'll have a range of choices, from a
homemade humanure-style toilet that costs under $50 to build all the
way up to a complex commercial composting unit that can cost over
$1,000.


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Electricity

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Electricity
Most tiny houses have some form of electricity, but that’s where the
similarities end. In my own house, I opted to do AC wiring like a standard
house but selected mostly propane appliances so that my electricity
needs are minimal. If and when I want to live off-grid in my tiny house,
it will be an easy conversion. Depending on where you live, I recommend
you consider the following questions:

22. Will your tiny house be on-grid or off?

In other words, do you envision your tiny house on a mountain in the
woods or behind another home in an urban or suburban area? If you
choose the former, you’ll likely need to be off-grid.

23. If your house is off-grid, how will you generate electricity?

There are tiny houses that run on solar, wind, generator, and other
sources of power. You’ll have to determine what resources are most
readily available in the area where you plan to park your house.

24. How will you store the electricity you generate?

So that your generator doesn’t run all the time and/or you don’t waste a
drop of energy from those sunny days, you’ll need some kind of battery
bank to store that energy.

25. Where will you store the electricity you generate?

Batteries are large, heavy, and potentially hazardous to your interior air
quality, so it’s not recommended that they share a space with you inside
of the house. However, they need to be kept from freezing and will

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require maintenance. You’ll
need to find a place for them
that works with both sets of
constraints.

26. How much electrical

capacity will you need?
The amount of electricity
you'll need will depend on
the appliances you choose
(more on those in a
moment). Before you set up
your electrical system, you'll
have to determine how much electricity you'll require on a daily basis.

27. Will you wire the house for AC, DC, or both?
If you opt for an off-grid house, many of the lowest-energy appliances
run on DC electricity rather than AC. However, running your house on DC
will present wiring challenges and require specialized knowledge from
your electrician.

28. What type of appliances will you buy?

Electric appliances (range hood, ventilation system, oven, etc.) tend to
be cheaper, while propane appliances tend to be more efficient (and use
next to no electricity). You’ll also have to choose between more
expensive RV and marine appliances, which are usually DC or propane,
and cheaper home appliances which run on common AC power.

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 29. Will your refrigerator
run on electricity or
propane?
Refrigerators draw a lot of
power—more than any of
your other appliances.
Depending on where you’ll
park your house and whether
you’re on-grid or off, you
may need a propane fridge to
keep your electricity use to a
minimum.

30. What additional components will your setup need?

When it comes to wiring, you’ll be much happier if you wire your house
during construction, not afterwards. You can add things like speakers,
television, phone, and internet. It’s all up to you!

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Research

Tips
Research Tips
As you now know, there are plenty of questions you need to answer
before you can go from dream to finished tiny house. I encourage you to
use these questions as your guide as you move forward with your
research. Here are my favorite tips for keeping that research organized
and easy to access when you need it.

Don’t forget to document!

Simply opening 48 browser tabs with potential answers doesn’t help—
you need to be systematic about the way you save information. While
there are many programs out there, I highly recommend the free
program Evernote. It’s available for all platforms and integrates directly
with your web browser so you can literally highlight information on a
webpage and “clip” it right into your Tiny House Research Evernote
notebook.

Here are a few more tricks in case you go the Evernote route. (Can you
tell I like Evernote?) Each time you clip something, it becomes a “note.”
You can file each note in a specific “notebook.” While I’d suggest having
just one notebook for your tiny house project, you can further organize
your tiny house notes with tags. I’d recommend tagging each note as you
clip it with one to three short tags.

By way of example, here's an excerpt from my own Tiny House Research

notebook. As you can see, when I clip something about stoves, I tag it as
“stove.” When I clip something about solar, I tag it as “solar” and
“wiring.”

If you’d like to find out more about digital curation, definitely check out
Experience Curating by my friend Joel Zaslofsky (but be prepared to
rethink how you capture information across your entire life experience!).



Research

Sources
Choose your sources wisely, and don’t be afraid to
ask questions.
Facebook and YouTube are awash with commenters who will provide you
with a diatribe about what they think is the best thing and why, but I’d
be wary. I’ve seen (and received) some really great advice via Facebook
comments—and also some terrible advice.

A great place to start is with other people who have built and/or live in
tiny houses. These people (such as myself) have firsthand knowledge of
almost everything related to tiny houses, and we’re a really friendly,
approachable bunch to boot.

For example, when I was building my tiny house, I personally reached out
to:

Andrew Odom

Dee Williams

Brittany Yunker

Malissa Tack

Tammy Strobel

Zboatman

Also, when you’re

researching materials, don’t
be afraid to actually call the
company that makes the
product to ask them
questions. These
construction materials
companies (surprisingly) have some of the best and most personable
customer service professionals I have ever interacted with. I received
extra awesome phone support from:

Blum (cabinet hinges and hardware)


PrecisionTemp (hot water heater)

American Clay (potential for interior wall finish that I didn’t end up
going with)

Marvin (windows)

One final tip: Many non tiny house professionals will sometimes balk at
first when you tell them what you’re thinking about using their product
for. I found it helpful to sometimes refer to my house as a “small cabin”
rather than a tiny house on wheels. 




Getting

Attached
Don’t get attached.
When you think you’ve
found the perfect solution to
your problem, don’t get too
attached. Tiny houses are
still on the fringe, so you
may find a heater that you
think is great only to find
out that the company will
refuse to install it in a
mobile structure. That’s just
a random example, but I’d
encourage you to come up
with at least one additional
alternative in case your first choice doesn’t work out.



What’s

Next?
What’s Next?
I know you’re not going to be
able to answer all of these
questions right away, but I
feel much better knowing
that you have them in your
awareness. I hope you do,
too.

But what if you don’t want to

do this alone?

I know from plenty of

personal experience that
planning and building a tiny
house can be overwhelming.
There was no comprehensive
guide when I started, no
single resource to help me
through the process. When I
finished my own house, I
decided to pull together my countless hours of research and the lessons
I’d learned along the way to help other tiny house builders (like you).

If you want more context, more information, and a detailed look at my

own decision-making process, delivered in the same helpful style as
what you just finished reading, then I wrote Tiny House Decisions for
you.

 Tiny House Decisions takes you from the

big questions (such as “How tiny is too
tiny?” and “Should I build my house on
wheels or not?”) through the systems
(like heat and hot water) and
construction decisions (like what kind of
insulation is best), all the way through
moving into your completed tiny house.
It includes interviews with other tiny
house owners and a list of my favorite
resources, too. It’s the guide I wish I’d
had when I built my house.

Learn more, read a sample chapter, and get your copy here.

I wish you a smooth and fulfilling journey into tiny house ownership!

Thank you to Susan Teare for the photos on pages 3 and 19. All other
photos were taken by Ethan Waldman.

The photographers hold the rights to their respective photos.

Thank you to Bridgette Blanton for the illustrations.

This eBook contains affiliate links. I have not recommended any

products that I did not use or research myself.