This Pop Up Trailer to Teardrop Camper Project is a guest post by Ryan Parks
Alex,
After following your site and much pressure from my wife and friends I thought I would go ahead and send you pictures of our tear drop camper build.
It was built on top of a salvaged pop up camper trailer that I was able to acquire from a friend (his wife was grateful to see it gone). We cleaned up the old trailer and painted it up nice.
We opted to draw out our own plans after looking at multiple drawings on line and looking at different types of tear drops.
Almost all materials were acquired from RV salvage yards (door, side window and roof vent). We initially wired it up and installed a breaker panel for use in camping facilities that provide electricity but after more thought we went ahead and bit the bullet and set it up to use solar power as well if we decide to park it in a primitive camp site.
The interior was finished using cedar from a sauna that I had removed from a house.
We also have it set up for water. Again we tried to use as much salvaged and recycled materials as possible. We used an old stainless mixing bowl for a sink!
Your site is an excellent source of ideas and information. I almost wish I hadn’t built this one because my wife and I would love to build a “bigger” tiny house!
Again, thank you for having this site available for all of us that enjoy the smaller things in life.
Ryan and Debbie Parks
Davenport, IA
Images © Ryan and Debbie Parks
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This is the story of how a daughter and her husband designed and built a custom tiny home for her dad.
My husband and I wanted to build a house for my Father to live in on our property in Colorado. We decided to buy a pre-built shed and turn it into a home. The house is 12×32 with an 8×4 covered porch. The house sits on a permanent foundation with a crawl space underneath. The 20 gal. water heater is under the house. It’s a one bedroom one bathroom home with a living/kitchen area.
Don’t miss other stories like this – join our FREE Tiny House Newsletter for more!
They Built The Perfect Tiny Home For Dad…
Images © Kim Mendenhall
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This $2k tiny home story (part 2) is a guest post by Winston W. Johnson
Here’s four more pictures of the progress on my $2k off grid tiny shelter. You can see the new heat shields and cathedral ceiling box that I built and painted with high temp black paint in the photos below.
You can also see my ‘shower’ setup, I purchased one of those old-fashioned galvanized round tubs and use it as my shower base. I installed eye hooks on the ceiling and hang a shower curtain from them. When I’m ready to take my shower I bring the tub in from outside, set it on the floor under where I’ve installed the eye hooks, hang the shower curtain and I’m good to go. When I’m done with my shower I empty the water in the tub, let the shower curtains dry over night, fold them up and take the tub back outside. It only takes a few minutes setting the shower up and/or taking it down so it’s no big deal. I use one of those pump up garden sprayers for the pressurized water to take my shower.
You can also see my newly completed front door, it’s one of those double Dutch barn door types, the picture shows the top door open. And there’s another photo of my new door with both top and bottom doors closed. Quite a lot of work went into making my new front door. Each door, top and bottom, had 18 pieces of wood that I had to cut, glue and screw in order to complete the build.
After the first of the new year I plan on adding a 4ft x 8ft deck on the front of my tiny shelter. I’ll probably install the new wood floating floor next. If you missed my original article you can click here to check it out. Please enjoy the updates and re-share below. Thank you.
An Update on My $2k Off-Grid Tiny Home
Images © Winston W. Johnson
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This $3k DIY Teardrop Camper Project is a guest post by Nathan Pizzo
I started this teardrop camper about three point five months ago… from a 5×8 trailer… I was trying to build it in 30 days, but I soon found it was a little tougher than I thought. However… it’s all ready to go now, besides some further refinements that are best done at a slower pace. I spent my first night in it last night… in the garage, where the weather would not be a factor, just to get the feel.
My wife was very pleased with the result and said it was cozy, comfortable, and nice. I think it’s pretty sharp too. I am not exactly sure what it cost me to build but if I exclude new tools, and other special things I purchased to help me build it… I believe it’s something close to $3000 in materials alone. I think my labor would factor in to make it a higher price also. I built it in my garage.
Now to find some good places to use it!!
He Built A $3K Teardrop Camper in 3.5 Months (2014)
Images © Nathan Pizzo
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This man with a family of 4 (and 5th on the way) started his tiny house project in August of 2012 and finished it August 2013 while working part-time. He did all of the work himself and found much of the materials he used for the build on Craigslist.
By using salvaged materials, including a free travel trailer that he stripped down completely, he was able to finish the entire tiny home for less than $5,000. But it did take a lot of work in terms of labor.
Recently the family has given away their tiny house to a minister in New York and they are now preparing to buy a large 5th wheel travel trailer so they can travel the country together as a family. Please enjoy the videos below to learn more.
Man Builds Tiny House for Family for less than $5k
Images © marrieddragoon/youtube
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She built her tiny house on wheels for about $10,000 in only 10 months and she did it without the help of a builder.
Her tiny home has a solar panel, rain gutters for water collection, and is built right onto an 8×16 trailer so she can legally tow it and move it if she wanted to. It has a 12V LED porch light on the covered front porch. When you go inside you’ll see she has a kitchen, bathroom, living area, closet, and upstairs sleeping loft. She built her tiny house on a 8×16 trailer. It has a custom built 2′ wide screen door she created with a decorative sun on it (see below). She also made her own door mat from a rope. And she even harvests her own spring water from a nearby spring whose water originates underground.
Young lady’s $10k tiny house! She built it herself in 10 months time without the help of a builder.
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This tiny house on a truck for sale is built on the back of a 1991 F-250 7.3L diesel truck with a custom flatbed frame for $4200. If you’re looking to explore the world in a custom built motorhome, this might be the right one for you.
It’s fully insulated, has a Tiny Tot wood stove, and is partially set up to run on vegetable oil. The truck just needs a little more work to be completely finished but so far inside you’ll find a cooking area, custom furniture, LED lighting, speakers, and more (see below).
Tiny House on a Truck in Bozeman, Montana
Images © Duncan McGovern
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This stealth tiny house cargo trailer project is a guest post by Jesslyn Wolff
We have a 100 sq. ft. stealth tiny home project that we will not be able to finish. We just bought it and were so excited to get going on the renovation. But no sooner did we buy it, I ran into some personal issues which requiring us to sell our first road worthy tiny house project.
Please post this as soon as you can. It will make a great tiny home for someone as it’s already well on it’s way with the following features.
Related story: Woman Converts Cargo Trailer into Stealthy and Cozy Off-Grid RV
16′ Stealth Cargo Trailer to Tiny House Project (Sold)
Images © Jesslyn Wolff
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Yoga Teacher Building his own Tiny Home – A guest post by John Cole
Hey Alex,
I love your website! It’s helped me dive deeper into the tiny house community and expand my knowledge so much to help with my own build. Here’s a little about me and my story:
I’m 24 years old and teach yoga at the Mt. Washington Resort in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. My apartment lease ran out at the end of August so I’ve been camping in the beautiful fall foliage while I work four days out of the week and the other three days I drive 2 hours down to Dover where I’m building the house.
I first heard of tiny houses about a year and a half ago. I really fell in love with them when I was in the middle of a cleanse and at a loss of what to do with myself, so I started researching them; the seed had been planted. From there my passion grew more and more gathering all the info I could about plans, layouts, building practices, etc… I started teaching myself how to use sketch up and design everything. I would scour craigslist every day looking for a suitable trailer until one-day last summer I finally found the one. Its about 7.5′ x 20′. I got it for $400 from a guy in Maine. My friend Seth helped tow it to my parent’s house where I proceeded to spend the summer greasing the bearings, rewiring brakes/lights, and the labor-intensive process of grinding all the rust off. I covered the trailer in POR and Seth welded reinforcements all over.
Images © John Cole
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