So You Want To Live Non Traditional Home

Started by Halfapint, December 11, 2022, 06:47:13 PM

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Halfapint

This is just some of my thoughts on living in a 5th wheel (caravan). The wife and I (and now the CG) have been living in a RV for 3 years today. This isn't a lifestyle for everyone, it's not easy. To go along with not easy there are a lot of issues that come up. The whole vanlife/tiny home scene is awash in a lot of fakery to sell you something.

What's the biggest downside? Space obviously. Bur more over that especially if you live with someone there is literally no room. Two people can't really be in the kitchen together, or passing through without one person thinking skinny thoughts and both turning sideways. Need to have some space because that's the way you are. Too bad.

Next up storage. Needless to say you can't have a lot of shit. Depending on the type of RV you have storage may vary. Ours has a slide through that's under the bedroom in the front. And lots of cabinets. But when you try to move all your stuff from a 3500sq/ft house into a sub 400... you run out of room quickly. And yes, you have to downsize or get a storage unit. We opted for downsizing. The wife got rid of 7/8th of her clothes, but even then she still takes up the closet and half the dresser drawers.

Not a downside but thinking outside the box. RVs are usually very space efficient because they have to be. But they also need to have amities to keep up with other manufacturers. Case in point, the rapid fake fireplace. Behind that is a MASSIVE storage area. The fireplace works but it's a tiny 120v space heater that is about as efficient as a v12. We pulled ours out and now have 3 milk crates of CGs toys and other misc stuff. Why do they put it in if it's a waste of space? Well RVs that are comparable that don't have it, sell 75% less quickly as ones that do. The other is the couch. Sure if you're traveling or need a bed for another person it works, but it's a huge Space taker upper. We took it out and put in our larger wood stove and have an area for the cats stuff and make shift photobooth for when the wife does her pictures. You have to be comfortable doing DIY stuff to make it work.

How are you going to pay for it? Hope you have cash! I'd you are buying used and neeed to finance the #1 question to the loan for an RV or tiny home on wheels is "will this be your primary residence" If yes then it's an auto decline. They don't even talk to you. Id you buy new or through a dealer they have some creative liberty when filling the paperwork out. Our loan guy basically said "not that I am aware of" when calling to get financing. So is buying private then have cash.

Last one for now is the biggest problem, maintenance. No major RV dealer does remote work, so I'd you have a warranty issue come up, you have to drive it in and wait 3-4 months for them to fix it. Well what are you suppose to do when this is your home? Better figure it out. Some of the issues we've had were water pump seal failed and flooded our storage area. The hot water heater sprung a leak on the hot side and flooded the storage area, and now we are having one gray tank and our black tank leak. I've been trying to fix the gray tank for 6 months but somehow it is STILL leaking after having no water run into it for 6 months. How have we not had water into it? Well it's the kitchen sink tank and only for the kitchen sink. In disconnected the drop p trap and have a bucket under the sink to catch the water then dump the bucket. Super fun when you have to hand wash all dishes. The black tank just started leaking in the last few days. And it's less fun than it sounds. Oh and the warranty is up so no work even if we drive it in.

Do you have questions? Thought about moving into a tiny home or RV? What do you want to know?
The original Half gettin sum land thread
https://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=111413

Quote from: SpazzyTell ya what... If Zombies attack and the world ends I'll hook tandem toddlers to a plow if it means I'll be able to eat...

RoneKiln

I lived in a 36ft 5th wheel in Seattle for about a year after the housing crash. I got lucky and found one with the "pantry" upgrade. Most 5th wheels have a built in table with bench seats. The pantry upgrade replaced that with cabinetry and more open floor space. That extra floor space did allow for two of us in the kitchen at a time.

I pulled the couch out and put in a daybed with a curtain in front of it. That doubled as the "guest room." It also opened more space under it for storage. Yes, I hosted a lot of people in that "guest room" over that year, including many friends from Europe.

It helped that I never have filled a 3500 sq/ft house with stuff to begin with. Even my current house is only 430 sq/ft. But I do have a garage for the wood shop and a large shed for the construction and yard tools.
"Seriously the most dangerous thing you are likely to do is to put salt on a Big Mac right before you eat it and to climb into your car."
--Raptor

Halfapint

Quote from: RoneKiln on December 18, 2022, 12:20:55 AMI lived in a 36ft 5th wheel in Seattle for about a year after the housing crash. I got lucky and found one with the "pantry" upgrade. Most 5th wheels have a built in table with bench seats. The pantry upgrade replaced that with cabinetry and more open floor space. That extra floor space did allow for two of us in the kitchen at a time.

I pulled the couch out and put in a daybed with a curtain in front of it. That doubled as the "guest room." It also opened more space under it for storage. Yes, I hosted a lot of people in that "guest room" over that year, including many friends from Europe.

It helped that I never have filled a 3500 sq/ft house with stuff to begin with. Even my current house is only 430 sq/ft. But I do have a garage for the wood shop and a large shed for the construction and yard tools.

We had a table that mounted on the wall with 2 permanent (non folding chairs) and 2 folding chairs. We took it out and that's now where my desk is (WFH set up) and baby jail along with the KitterKat's vertical tree and the 2 perches attached via suction cup to the window are.

We have 2 "theater" chairs that lay completely flat have massage and heat built in we've hosted quite a few people to sleep there no way to make it private but it's comfy.


A bit of an update. We've had the bottom dropped on this for the last few months while the never ending tanks still drains. But this last week we were below freezing for well over 8 days. With the coldest being 10° or slightly colder. Well I had to think of a way to lift the bottom up without reattaching it. So used ratchet straps to lift it up and give us our under insulation back.

I only got conserved when we were trying to use our water (onboard 12v pump) and it stopped. Well the lines started to freeze. So that was an emergency. I got the little buddy heater I use in the golf cart put it next to the pump. Added an extra fan along with the 4 high CFM 120mm computer fans that suck air from the living room to under the stairs where the water heater, air heater, pump, and all the water lines are. Ran it for a full 1lb propane tank and got the wood stove cooking (was 89° inside at one point) and it thawed everything.

So at night I set the heater down there and stoked the fire and didn't have a problem for the next 3 nights.

Ugh. I'm kinda over living in this thing.
The original Half gettin sum land thread
https://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=111413

Quote from: SpazzyTell ya what... If Zombies attack and the world ends I'll hook tandem toddlers to a plow if it means I'll be able to eat...

Raptor

My first house after I graduated university was a 41 foot sail boat. It likely had a lot less space than your 35 foot 5th due to the shape of the boat.

I went to the office every day and due to the need for wearing a suit & tie every day the biggest issue for me was closet space and keeping my clothes read for work. 

Humidity played hell with the closets even with a dehumidifyer and a "central" HVAC system 

I also had no work space and no storage space. It gets tight after a while. 

At least with a 5th wheel you do not have to worry about your home sinking while you are away. :smiley_blink:


Folks you are on your own...Plan and act accordingly!

I will never claim to have all the answers. Depending upon the subject; I am also aware that I may not have all the questions much less the answers. As a result I am always willing to listen to others and work with them to arrive at the right answers to the applicable questions.

flybynight

Quote from: Raptor on December 27, 2022, 06:35:07 PMMy first house after I graduated university was a 41 foot sail boat. It likely had a lot less space than your 35 foot 5th due to the shape of the boat.

I went to the office every day and due to the need for wearing a suit & tie every day the biggest issue for me was closet space and keeping my clothes read for work.

Humidity played hell with the closets even with a dehumidifyer and a "central" HVAC system

I also had no work space and no storage space. It gets tight after a while.

At least with a 5th wheel you do not have to worry about your home sinking while you are away. :smiley_blink:




Never say Never  :icon_crazy:
"Hey idiot, you should feel your pulse, not see it."  Echo 83

Moab

My senior year of high school my father bought 25 acres in Colville. Near the Canadian border in north central Washington. It had a corral, a shed and an old garage type building with no insulation and alot of gaps between the boards.

His steel plant went on strike. He moved one load of atuff into an old Alaskan mobile home that was on the property. The next night it burned to the ground. 

So we had a mobile home moved in that winter. But the frost line had the ground frozen to about two feet. No preplanning had been done. And my father and I spent the winter cutting trenches under the mobile home with hatchets. For water, electric, and sewer. Cutting thru the frozen soil. It was painful, slow work. 

So the mobile home had no heat, no water and no plumbing. My father, step mother, little brother (4 yrs old?) and I, all slept in one room. With an oil heater. And all of us in sleeping bags. 

We had a small pot belly stove in the garage building. If you could call it that. More like a shack. I don't evem think it had a front door. We spent our days there. Living out of coolers. And eating our meals. I think there was a well by the shed iirc. 

I had to switch schools. And we were 13 miles outside of Colville where the HS was. I had signed up for the Marine Corps the year prior. And was scheduled for bootcamp the next summer. So I walked to school everyday. To prepare for bootcamp. I only had two classes. So I had time. 

We had no place to shower. So eventually my father got me a gym membership in town. So I could shower before class. He and my stepmother would shower about once a week at a friends house about 20 miles away.

It was a bleak winter living in the one room in that mobile home. But it was also the last time I got to live and work with my father. And bond with my little brother. We had a great time. I shot my first deer with a bow there. For awhile we had a horse. But like just about every other horse I've ever ridden it bucked me off. Regularly. 

I really had a great time living so close with my family. I will never forget it. And really prepared me for the Marine Corps. I had been living in the cold and walking long distances. And working my ass off in the property.

I don't know how old your son is. But your family is going to have fond memories of this time. Frozen pipes and all. ;)
"Ideas are more dangerous than guns. We don't let our people have guns. Why would we let them have ideas?" Josef Stalin

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