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Parking
Where Do I Park My Tiny Home on Wheels?
Since every city, county and state in the US currently has different rules, regulations, and definitions concerning tiny homes on wheels, we cannot possibly know them all. But we can recommend what to look for and who to talk to.
You will first want to check with your city, county, and state zoning and planning boards concerning local laws.
You may look for willing landowners, farms, RV parks, tiny home villages, or consider purchasing real estate. Real estate often might involve running new utilities to the property in order to accomodate the tiny home, if they are legal. Sometimes they are considered as ADU’s, or accessory dwelling units on properties that already have housing on them.
We have heard of people having some success looking in the parking/storage section of Craigslist, or looking for RV spots on Hipcamp. On Facebook there is a group called Tiny House Hosting, and often each state will have some kind of facebook group related to tiny homes.
Generally speaking, work your network. Often our clients know someone who connected them to a parking spot.
A note on the new CO state bill HB22-1242:
This bill is oriented toward people who own land and who are willing to permanently attach a tiny home to a foundation. It favors mobile home manufacturers and treats the sale, production, and installation of a tiny home on wheels much the same as a mobile home.
It does not in any way force tiny home legality on any jurisdiction in the state of CO. Currently it is set up to be a guideline. It is still up to local jurisdictions to choose to change their laws and statues to allow Tiny Homes on Wheels.
Parking Spot Considerations
When considering a parking spot for your Tiny Home on Wheels, it would be good to look into the following:
1. Can the road approaching your site accommodate a tractor trailer driving up its grade and turning into the property where the home will be parked?
2. Does the approach, or driveway leading to your parking spot allow for 12′ wide and 14′ high clearance from any obstructions or branches?
3. Can a tractor trailer turn around in order to drop your house onto its parking pad? Do you have access to a forklift or other machinery that you can use to safely maneuver the home onto the parking pad?
1. Does the site have a 50amp or 220 outlet available or able to be run within 100 feet of the parking site?
2. Does the site have some kind of spigot hookup for a heated potable water hose within 100 feet of the parking site?
3. Does the site have some kind of septic system cleanout pipe or access within 50 feet of the parking site?
1. Will the site or your situation better accommodate a ground mount or roof mount solar setup? Will you have to maximize your solar gain by moving the entire house, or just with the panels on the ground? How will you maintain the solar panels in the event of snow, ash, etc. ?
2. How will you get water to your water tanks? Delivery, or occasional top off with a potable hose?
3. How will you safely dispose of your compost solids from your composting toilet? How will you deal with the gray water coming from your house?
All of our Tiny Homes are built to last whether on the road more often or not.
We recommend that only experienced heavy load drivers commit to towing their tiny homes if they plan to move them more than 1 or 2 times a year.
You can have your Tiny Home shipped for the cost of about $7/mile if it is being moved less frequently.
An average tiny house weight (these days!) is around 18,000 pounds.
The truck you would tow with would be a minimum of a 1 ton with the appropriate tow package included.
Even smaller THOW’s that are closer to 16′ in length will weigh around 10,000 pounds and need a truck with the appropriate tow package. SUV’s generally are not able to tow anything over 5,000 pounds.