Tiny house crossover to RV?

I find a tiny house sort of functional, and is a nice thing for someone to build or have built, just because of all the customizations once can do to it (like adding a ton of insulation, building LED lights directly into the frame for indirect lighting, having most everything run from a solar circuit except the air conditioner, etc.) However, even though a loft is acceptable for me in my 40s while my knees are OK, this may get painful in 10-20 years time.

I'd rather have a conventional house that is well laid out, and the attic be able to be used for storage. The square footage would be more than a tiny house, but I mainly am focusing on livability rather than the smallest size possible.

I agree with you Davydd....though I think they do have a place in society. Recently saw an article about In-Law homes that people would have built in backyard, rather than having Seniors sent off to a Nursing Home. The house was 240 sq-ft (10x24) and basically a efficiency apartment with a bathroom. Cost was about $50K, and the article said that a lot of communities were now changing their zoning to allow these places. It is still a Tiny House, but it looked as if it was a very nice place for Grandma...who could then come into themain house for socializing.

Sorry Ingrid, I'm going off track....

Many of the tiny houses are long and narrow because they build them on wheels. So many are really nothing but trailers or park homes which by regulation are under 400 sf. Because of the trailer like constraints, surprisingly, innovation, creativity, that square design mentioned, are mostly lacking.

As an architect I have always had a curiosity about tiny homes. It is in my mind pretty much a boutique experience for a short term period. They really don't solve much in regard to housing since they are cost inefficient and material heavy use compared to multi-housing solutions. Other than the occasional backyard "mother-in-law" shelter they waste a lot of space when you find them pictured in the countryside 5 acre plus land plots. The tiniest of homes seem to always have loft sleeping. That narrows the market to young people for the most part.

Do we have much to learn from them for an RV? I dunno. They are as I originally said mostly RVs themselves. They could learn a lot from the Class B motorhome market.

I'm generally a little more interested in real solutions for families similar to the post WWII 832 sf. home I grew up in as a kid. We quickly, as a nation grew away from that with 1,200 sf the average size home in 1950 to about 2,400 sf today.

Yes! I have watched it on a few occasions, and see how many of the space saving ideas would work just as well in an RV.
I sometimes wonder about the projects on that show....and how they seem to try and make the places as small as possible, without really building practically. A square house is more efficient use of space than a rectangular one, as far as cost of construction, and yet they always make them long and narrow. Same goes for the lofts...they have the property and area to make a complete second floor, yet never do. Still, I think it's a good show, and I've picked up a few neat ideas from it along the way.
Another good show is that one with the guy building tree-houses. :B

It's nice to see the picture of the van and trailer. We had talked about it on PapFriends a few times, and I think you had posted pictures of them separately, but this is the first I've seen them together. A sweet ride!

Bill & Claudia