Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Discussion of all things technological and/or gadgety
User avatar
blackeagle603
Posts: 9770
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:13 am

Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by blackeagle603 »

All the buzz and posts on the interwebz about tiny houses built on trailer frames got me thinking about my shop build plans.

Any mobile workshop trailer experience here? Thinking like a race car or motorcycle shop trailer, or desert toy hauler. I'm trying to resist the temptation to consider an old Semi trailer.

I've made a couple false starts on plans for a shop on our lower lot. The SoCal permitting costs and everlasting tax hit from a reassessment after completion are big part of what's slowed me down. Part of the appeal of a Tiny House on a trailer is all you need is a legal parking spot and you can effectively add a cabin to your property w/out any permitting or property tax hit. Why not do the same for a shop then?

I know what you're thinking, "Why not shipping boxes?" Nevermind we have the space, boxes are out of the question in our zoning.


I could pave the spot I leveled for shop, put a shop trailer, or two and a lift on the pad alongside and be good to go. It would be more constrained in terms of space and machine tool weights of course. Per our zoning I could even cover it and enclose it with a portable RV structure.
"The Guncounter: More fun than a barrel of tattooed knife-fighting chain-smoking monkey butlers with drinking problems and excessive gambling debts!"

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic;" Justice Story
User avatar
Weetabix
Posts: 6106
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:04 pm

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by Weetabix »

Lock and key companies make some pretty interesting things out of vehicles that look like FedEx trucks.
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
Old Grafton
Posts: 1576
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 4:07 am

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by Old Grafton »

I built a 20' container into my shop building as a walk-in vault w/safe door etc. so I've got a little experience. The way they're built you could stick two or three mobile home axles under one and a towing tongue and "Bob's yer Uncle". Electric brakes and a license plate to be legal. Park it and plug it into a power supply. It's a little cramped, but as much room as Armorer's Truck or more. You could put some fairly big machines in one. And definitely you'd need an A/C unit in the summer and a heater for cold weather. Heavy-amperage use would be your biggest problem. I've seen two installed side-by side, interconnected, sided over with a hip roof over 'em and they made a nice small shop. Admittedly, not set up as trailers.

Another idea-just buy a used lowboy dozer-type trailer and set a box on it.
I'm not old--It's too early to be this late.
User avatar
Denis
Posts: 6570
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:29 am

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by Denis »

Mobile military machine shops come up at surplus auctions fairly regularly. I was outbid on a German one in a Unimog 4x4 truck not so long ago. I had intended to put the lathe, mill, grinder etc. in my garage, and use the Unimog as my "hunting brake" :-(
Greg
Posts: 8486
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:15 pm

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by Greg »

Denis wrote:Mobile military machine shops come up at surplus auctions fairly regularly. I was outbid on a German one in a Unimog 4x4 truck not so long ago. I had intended to put the lathe, mill, grinder etc. in my garage, and use the Unimog as my "hunting brake" :-(
6 weeks until closing, and I can start looking at this stuff.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
Aesop
Posts: 6149
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:17 am

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by Aesop »

FWIW, code enforcement frequently relies on nothing more complicated than successive Google Earth overhead imagery to detect shenanigans and get the camel's nose under the tent.

Year one, build an oversize and overheight sturdy patio cover over the selected dead space, permitted and everything.
Once it's up, plant a wide perimeter hedge on 3 or 3 &1/2 sides. Doesn't have to be more than 1' high, on aerial pics, it'll look the same as a tall hedge unless they're going to get USAF photo interpreters, and better quality pics than Google contracts for.

Afterwards, when you feel like it, add a concrete pad with wall foundation perimeter. Then brick it in at your leisure.

Funds permitting, spec the original roof with the proper E-W orientation, and pre-stressed for edge-to-edge solar panels. If you crank them at 30-35 degrees, the dead space on the north side is an excellent place for a few strategic double-pane skylight windows, for instant neutral lighting every day. Include or add an adjoining battery shack and genny shed at any point. (Digging in an underground fuel supply is on you, but it's a 1-2 weekend project, and it goes away forever once you plant a bag of wildflower seed over it. Or just contract for a propane tank nearby.)

Down the road WP the outside walls, and berm the whole thing in on three sides.
Plant a durable drought resistant cover on the berm sides.
Better yet thorny berry bushes (instant security), with a drip system. Add citrus trees at original grade level.

You've now added a shop, permanent power, largely eliminated or severely mitigated 4-deason climate control needs, added a food source, the whole thing is "green", and the tax man is largely uninvited from the proceedings in perpetuity.

Anytime in the interim, you've merely added some "boat and RV parking".
QED

If you want to get cute, on one berm corner outside the roof plan, take it up to roof grade, flat it out, and put in a small patio and outdoor brick BBQ.
Now you have a reason/explanation for the path to the spot, and steps or a ramp to the roof level garden oasis.
It's all also bulletproof, and largely fire- and earthquake-proof. And with a proper shop entry, nigh on impenetrable for anyone without heavy equipment.

And BTW, if you capture the annual rain runoff from the patio roof to a cistern, for watering the greenery, that's completely legal.
If, at some point, "somebody" decides to sink a self-dug just-in-case well without asking for Jerry Brown's permission, that'd just be too bad, wouldn't it?
It would/could fit pretty neatly in the end of the battery shack/genny shed, with convenient power supply right handy. 8-)

And while you're working on that, it would be a secure and sun-shaded place to park a tiny house shop.
The downside is the weight on the trailer, and the potential shake, between tires, suspension, frame-flex, and the ground.
Fine for rough projects, but sub-optimal for heavy or precise work, and nigh worthless for working on anything larger than hand-sized projects.
So it would depend on what you're thinking of doing.


And for the most part, code enforcement weenies should be open season, with no bag limit.
"There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy." -Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
User avatar
Dinochrome One
Posts: 162
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:01 pm

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by Dinochrome One »

Aesop wrote:FWIW, code enforcement frequently relies on nothing more complicated than successive Google Earth overhead imagery to detect shenanigans and get the camel's nose under the tent.

(snip)
This is why I love living in Missouri; code enforcement is nonexistent outside city limits. I could live in a teepee if I want to, as long as there are no minor dependents involved. You wouldn't believe some of the shacks and huts you can find people living in, in the backwoods. :mrgreen:
Maxim 34: If you're only leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
User avatar
blackeagle603
Posts: 9770
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:13 am

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by blackeagle603 »

Speaking of permits...

Pulled plug on a PV system for the house. Sized it for 114% of my annual usage. 28 panels. 7.something KW.

With it oversize a bit we should be able to actually run the A/C for a change and not freak out . when friends/family come with RV's and want to run their A/C. Also I can put a little electric combo heat/ac in the granny flat. We have boarders and guests in that converted garage (external entrance only, attached by a cover over breezeway). Currently they sweat in summer and run a little space heater in winter.

$1000 down and a 12 year loan (1.89% + points added to the loan).
Monthly payment will be about 75% of my average electric.
"The Guncounter: More fun than a barrel of tattooed knife-fighting chain-smoking monkey butlers with drinking problems and excessive gambling debts!"

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic;" Justice Story
BDK
Posts: 1698
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:14 pm

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by BDK »

We will be installing some pre-fab shops at the new creamery. We thought we'd have to delay more, until we got some pricing from one of the local manufacturers. (3.75/ft for the slab, $7300 installed for a 24'x41' hurricane rated metal building.)
User avatar
HTRN
Posts: 12397
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:05 am

Re: Tiny Houses, errr Shops

Post by HTRN »

Old Grafton wrote:I built a 20' container into my shop building as a walk-in vault w/safe door etc. so I've got a little experience.
Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. :ugeek:
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
Post Reply