Downsides of Tiny Home Living: Challenges and Considerations

Tiny home living can be appealing, but it comes with significant challenges like insurance and space limitations.

### Considerations Before Buying a Tiny Home
* 🏠 Insuring a tiny home can be challenging, as many insurance companies don't offer coverage for them. Those that do often require specific conditions, such as **removing the wheels and placing the home on blocks**.
* 🏗 Many tiny homes on wheels are not built to local building codes, as they are considered RVs rather than permanent dwellings. This can lead to **issues with legality and insurance coverage**.
* 🚚 Finding a place to park a tiny home can be difficult due to **zoning laws and minimum square footage requirements**. Many people end up **renting land**, as permanent placement can be **legally complex**.
* 🌲 "Cabin fever" is a common issue in tiny homes, as the limited space can feel **confining**. It's important to have access to **outdoor spaces** to combat this feeling.
* - Storage is a major challenge in tiny homes, as there is **limited space for belongings**. 
- Gift-giving and acquiring new items must be carefully considered due to **space constraints**.
* 💧 Moisture control is crucial in tiny homes, as the small space can lead to **rapid humidity buildup** and **mold growth**. Proper **ventilation** and **dehumidification** are essential to prevent this issue.

everything on the internet paints tiny home living in the most absolute and perfect light. I mean, of course, it's not. However, we've been living in our tiny home now for over 2 years here in Canada, and we love it. We haven't looked back since, and it's amazing. But that doesn't mean there aren't problems with it. And if you're interested in buying a tiny home or you're just curious about tiny homes in general, um, well, that's probably why you're here in the first place. But we made a list because we wanted to provide you with a list of reasons why you might want to reconsider buying a tiny home. So, this is six reasons why you should not buy a tiny home. One thing people don't generally consider when it comes to tiny homes is insurance. Insurance can be difficult. Now, this is mostly pertaining to tiny homes on wheels, also known as a TH, so keep that in mind. So, a lot of companies don't actually want to insure tiny homes. They don't even offer insurance at all for a

tiny home. When you go and get insurance for your house, it's pretty easy. You find an insurance company, you talk to a broker, they set you up with a cookie-cutter plan, you say, That's the one we want, you pay the money, boom, you are insured, good to go. But with tiny homes, it's a little bit different. Most places don't offer it at all, and when you do find someone who's going to offer it, it's generally someone who's not even in the area you're going with. So, you have to talk to a broker who has to go out and find someone specifically, so it takes a little bit of extra time. Now, that all being said, when you do find someone, there's going to be some specific requirements that they want. Generally, these tiny homes on wheels are not allowed to actually stay on wheels. Yeah, you know that whole dream of, Hey, you can just move your tiny home whenever you want. No, not the case. I mean, almost not the case. Companies will make you take your wheels off your tiny homes.

There might be some out there that don't, but generally speaking, it's the norm. You have to take your wheels off the tiny home and put your home up on blocks, so now you technically have a foundation and your home isn't going to move. The reason for this is they don't want you moving all over the place because that makes it complicated for them and their insurance company, and things can happen. They want stability, so a requirement you have to do this, take pictures, and provide it. If you do move your tiny home, you now have to put your wheels back on, move your tiny home, put it where you want it to be, take your wheels back off, block it up, and take pictures, send it to the insurance company again. If you don't, guess what? Your insurance is void. So yeah, insurance can definitely be a downside. Now, being built to code is a really common issue when it comes to tiny homes. The reason for this is not CU; they're not structurally sound. It's generally meeting certain requirements.

for example, a really common one is steep stairs in a tiny home. You're living in a small space; you need to fit stairs in here. And one way of accommodating that is making the stairs a lot steeper so it fits in a small space. But those steep stairs might not meet the building code of your area because certain measurements have to be met to meet that building code. But hold on, a lot of people say, Oh, my tiny home is certified; it's built properly. Yes, you're right, not as a home though; it's built as an RV, a recreational vehicle. Yes, tiny homes on wheels are generally considered RVs; they're not permanent dwellings, which also circles back to the insurance thing. But it's not a permanent dwelling; it's an RV, so it's built to RV standards, even if you get certifications. Now, this isn't, of course, all tiny homes; you can have a tiny home built to specific standards, but it's a lot more complicated, and I don't think that you technically can have a tiny home on wheels built to

building code standards. I think it has to be on a foundation technically, but the whole building aside, the insurance aside, all the technicality aside. Say you have your tiny home. The question is now, where are you going to park it? Well, being now that it's an RV and not a permanent dwelling, you can't just go buy some land and park your tiny home on it and call it a day. No, that's illegal because you're living in a recreational vehicle and not a permanent dwelling. So, that's kind of out of the picture. Even if you do have one that's on a foundation, you buy some land, build a tiny foundation, and put your house on it, there's going to be a lot of things that you have to watch out for. Zoning, minimum square footage, for example. Some say that a minimum square footage has to be 500 square ft. That's not a tiny home. Tiny homes are generally considered under 500 square ft. So, now you're just building a moderate house. So often when it comes to tiny homes, people are

resorting to renting land. The reason why this is legal is in certain areas. Certain areas are important; they allow a secondary dwelling, a secondary dwelling on the property, one that's not a permanent residence, where a tiny home can actually fall under the category. That's what we're doing; we're renting someone else's property. We have a couple of acres that we are sitting on, and we get to rent this area. But finding that is really hard. A lot of people actually buy a tiny home, and they're excited to live in it, and they can't find anywhere to park it. So, there's very few spots out there. Make sure that you look hard if you are searching, but this is a big hurdle that a lot of people have trouble getting over. Now, let's talk about Cabin Fever. This is something that's very real that affects a lot of people who live in tiny homes. It's very important to make sure that you find somewhere acceptable so you can get in this outdoor space. Now, I'm not saying you have to find

somewhere with acreage and just massive amounts of area to roam. You still have to make sure you get a place where you can go outside, whether it's to go for a walk in a nearby park, go work at a coffee shop down the street, whatever the case. Making sure you get outside of your home because all that cabin fever is going to keep you nice and cramped. You don't have a lot of space inside, moving around inside is not a lot. The roof is usually low, the walls are right there on either end, probably not going to be able to do yoga very well. So find a nice yoga studio that you can get to and have a life outside your home because a lot of people who do tiny home living, they bring the outside, whatever that outside means, to their lifestyle because of that cramped. For example, we have this nice little covered deck that we made ourselves. It's got a little propane fire because hey, we live in British Columbia, wildfires are a real situation, so there's no ash or anything coming from

that a lot safer, but anyways, we can get outside work here on our laptops, just enjoy the outdoor space if we're feeling cramped inside and kind of cooped up that Cabin Fever. This gets us a chance to get away from it. Now, it's no surprise when you talk about the small space in a tiny home, but that's literally what it is. It's the amount of stuff that you are going to have in your life. You're not going to have all those things that you had before, the guitar that's collecting dust, or the video game system you played when you were a kid, and you just got that Nostalgia to keep with you, or that giant closet of clothes where, hey, one day you might fit into that sweatshirt again. I'm guilty of that one, but you can't hold on to all those things. Unfortunately, for example, this is our cat closet. We can't exactly fit a whole lot in this one small space, so between my wife and I, we can't buy an abundance amount of coats.

one or two coats each, and that's about it. This is our pantry. We can't go in here and go shopping at Costco and fill it with 12 of the same item over and over. We have to make do with what we have as far as space goes. I talked about this one before in gift-giving because, I mean, Christmas was just not too long ago, and you got to be careful when you're receiving and giving gifts within a tiny home. If you work at an office, you take place in a secret Santa, and you get a mug for Christmas, you might only be able to fit a certain amount of mugs in your home, and you might already have your favorite mugs taking up that space. So, if you get a mug to keep it, you might have to get rid of a mug rather than just adding it to your collection because that's the reality of a tiny home. There's not a lot of space, and you're not going to be able to fit a lot of things in here, so you're going to have

to get rid of a vast amount of your possessions most likely now this last one is mind-blowing to me that it never gets talked about rarely have I ever seen anyone actually even mention the idea of this and it's a massive consideration when you're talking about a tiny home and one of the biggest problems they have at all it's moisture and the moisture inside can lead to mold not good now the reason for this is you're living in a small space and humidity can build up really fast in here for example if I make a coffee it can create more moisture in the air and actually make the humidity Jump Up 3 to 5% just for making a coffee if you're not careful that's going to build up create moisture condensation even and mold's going to thrive in that environment so you have to really be careful for us we have two dehumidifiers going at all times we have an exhaust fan in our bathroom right beside the

shower. So, when we have the shower that is exhausting all that steam out, we have another fan, and often we are opening windows. We actually track our humidity levels in here, and if it gets too high, even in -30° temperatures out here in Canada, we're cracking and opening our windows to ensure efficient airflow through to get rid of all that moisture. Now, at the very beginning, we didn't know about this, and we found out about it pretty quick, and we learned, and we were actually able to circumvent the whole mold and moisture issue, so we're doing pretty well. But I know a lot of people aren't so lucky, and they get into it, and it's too late by the time they realize there is mold ridden throughout their home. With all that being said, we do not regret buying our tiny home. It's been incredible. We've been here, like I said, over 2 and a half years. It's been an adventure. It's been a new lifestyle change. It's been an experience, to say the least, and we love it. We haven't

looked back since, but it's not perfect. So, if you're thinking about getting a tiny home or you're contemplating it, whatever the case, we want to make it fair so you understand the reality of the situation. It's not perfect; there's negative and there's positive. So, this has been a video on all those negative things, but we've also made a video on all the amazing things about it as well. So, don't forget to like, subscribe, comment down below, and click this video right here to check it out right now. We appreciate you being here. Thank you; we'll talk to you later.

6 Reasons You SHOULDN'T Buy A Tiny Home

Wicked Life

Tiny home insurance can be difficult to obtain, with many companies unwilling to offer coverage.

Most insurance providers require homeowners to take off the wheels and put the tiny home on blocks for stability, complicating the moving process.

Additionally, tiny homes often struggle to meet building codes, leading to potential legal and structural issues.

Tiny homes often have steep stairs to fit in small spaces, which may not meet building code standards.

These homes are typically classified as RVs, complicating issues like insurance and parking.

Finding a legal spot to park a tiny home can be challenging, leading many people to rent land, but suitable locations are scarce.

Living in a Tiny Home: Embracing the Outdoors and Minimalism

Tiny home living requires finding a place with outdoor access to combat cabin fever.

Creating an outdoor space, like a covered deck, can provide a getaway from the cramped interior.

The limited space in a tiny home means letting go of excess belongings and minimizing possessions.

Tiny homes have limited space, making it difficult to accumulate possessions and requiring careful consideration when receiving gifts.

The need to downsize belongings is common, as there is not enough room to keep everything.

Moisture and humidity can quickly build up in a small space, leading to mold growth, so it's important to use dehumidifiers and exhaust fans to manage moisture levels.

The speaker shares their experience of living in a tiny home for over two and a half years, emphasizing the importance of managing humidity to prevent mold.

They use a shower fan, open windows, and track humidity levels to maintain efficient airflow.

Despite the challenges, they love their tiny home and encourage others to consider the reality of the lifestyle.