Well prefab and modular home builders, have have ever considered building a tiny house that’s just a second floor? That’s what these guys did here, and it’s actually a somewhat common practice when it comes to certain building locations. Not only that, it has a few interesting benefits.
One is, especially if you’re building a tiny house — whether its a prefab or modular house or not — it’s not difficult to do. The foundation is just simple blocking but it’s posts, and the house is set up higher. Also, these elevated houses get good ventilation because of the wind they are exposed to. Then there’s the safety from flooding. And finally, they have the benefit of leaving room below the small house for storage, a social area in shade, or parking (like the picture). This can be a good benefit for those who have a small space to build on, but don’t want to miss out on having a certain amount of parking area.
Some of you out there might be wondering about the stairs, though. Not everyone wants to walk up and down stairs every time they enter or exit their prefab home or tiny house, right?
Actually, a read a woman writing about just this issue a while ago. She had a friend who had pets that were getting old (and the friend also planned to age in the house), and she had a house on stilts like the one in the photo. So she installed an electric stair lift. Her advice was that we don’t need to worry too much about limitations because we have ways of getting around them. That sounds quite a bit like the prefab house movement philosophy, too.
If you’re thinking of building a tiny house like this on a beach, make sure to check the local building inspector’s office (or whatever its called where you happen to live). In order to get insurance for a small house — even a prefab house in some cases — not all prefabs are set on wheels and classified as mobile homes — builders need to find out the guidelines for new constructions.
Also, some of you might have noticed, this picture shows what can be considered a tiny house in the same frame as, parked below it … a hummer, one of the more famous expensive gas-guzzling vehicles going. That’s because this house design is actually from Koa Campgrounds. They have beach house rentals, tent campgrounds, RV parks and other places (you can see what they have to offer and their locations by clicking here).
They actually built this design — not as a prefab but you can see how it would easily translate into a prefab or even a shipping container house design.
