Thank you so much!

Nice! We knew someone who went the uninsulated route. He basically did a timber frame within the body in order to give it rigidity and to make it easier for electrical wiring and a place to put the insulation. Your main challenge will be how to affix the frame to the outer shell...he had to screw from the outside so you could see those connections, but if you plan to clad the exterior in something, you can hide all that. Good luck!

hey there, thanks for the message. Tyres seem fine so far. I try to protect them, keep them inflated properly and check for cracks, etc. The only other solution would be to permanently remove the chassis and place onto a concrete slab (or on pilings to maintain the height) but as councils are still funny about allowing tiny houses to be considered permanent dwellings, I need to keep the house on wheels in case of needing to move and to abide by residential land rules. As for the toilet, we use a composting toilet. See our Composting Toilet video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-beX_KJmllhk.htmlsi=MVDhhEUcXY8D_I7N for more on that.

@@bigtinyadventure Thanks for sharing. Does the house shake when placed on a trailer like that? Have you tried researching hydraulic lifting systems to reduce the load on the wheels?

@@ducminh.29 from the research I’ve done, it seems like the worst that will happen to the tyres is “flat spotting” if the tyres aren’t used or rotated much. But considering the beating they take doing thousands of kms on the roads, being stationery should be easy for them. The one support that we have on the main house are trusses under the chassis (as seen in the video) that might help as a backup though not sure how much it relieves the day-to-day pressure of the load on the tyres. Re: shaking, the house it very stable, even in broadside wind storms. Almost indiscernible movement Are you concerned because you are considering this type of thing or because you drive trucks, etc?

@@bigtinyadventure We want to live like your family. I've been longing for this for a long time and am looking for solutions to make it happen. No one in Vietnam has done this yet, and on RU-vid, you're the only one I found doing something similar. I might make it the size of a container, but I'll go for a prefabricated house, integrating solar power, with the ability to expand with a balcony and a rooftop terrace...

@@ducminh.29 technically, this is the size of a container (well, a 40-foot container!) but certainly the same principles apply if you are building a tiny house on wheels or any other compact home. I hope that whatever you choose ends of going well for you!

Thank you so much!

We were old enough when we built it that neither of us were interested in climbing ladders, so yes you’re right as well; def future-proofing it for older age!

Thanks so much for the generous comments 😍 Are you a tiny builder/owner as well or an aficionado?

Thanks for the comments! We are about to go "live" with the duo-toilet setup, so it will be interesting to see how it compares to the original design. I agree that it really depends on anyone's individual set-ups, but I'd love to see more composting toilets used and approved by councils

Thanks for the comments! Yes, I didn't see too much on RU-vid about design principles, especially for small spaces. Please share and that will help getting more people seeing it ☺️ Hopefully some of my suggestions were useful!

Hey Amber, thanks for your message. I don't sell blueprints (if you can call a "blueprint" what I worked off of! lol) as they aren't architectural at all, plus I'm not a builder so I feel funny about sharing anything that someone might follow including my mistakes 😛 Probably most importantly, we designed ours to our own personal needs, so I'm not sure if it is helpful as everyone has their own preferences I suspect! That all said, if there was enough interest that I could justify making the blueprints up properly, including getting someone to check them, I could sell them I suppose

Hey Dani, I haven't read that but it is probably something I need to read lol I'm not good at being idle. Funny, I always think of you two as being anything but idle with so many interests and projects on the go! Thanks for watching ☺️

Oh wow, how cool! I'm happy that our build had some influence but how amazing that you are mostly finished and living in it! Photos? Video? Would love to see your take on the reefer fit-out. 😁

I've heard that before but as I have mentioned to others previously, I was focused on the build and not on filming. I had never built a house before so the fact that I was documenting it at all was mostly for my own personal benefit and it was never intended on being a tutorial series. I recorded where I could (or remembered to do so) and make no apologies for having to explain parts of it instead! 😄 I tried to make the videos entertaining anyway. Sorry if you felt overwhelmed by too much ME ME ME 😅 Thanks for watching anyway ✌🏼

People separate the chassis from the body but you’d need something very strong to support it for sure. The trouble is, until councils are saying THOWs are “legal”, then there is a chance they might have to be moved on. It’s easier to keep the wheels on for now. Fixing it to the ground also changes its status as a dwelling.

Thanks so much for watching and your questions. How exciting to be embarking on this journey! I definitely recommend watching some of my videos from the original build (check out that playlist on my channel) as it helps you truly understand the ins and outs of building in a refrigerated semi-trailer. My personal opinion is that the insulated walls are definitely the way to go. Not only are the walls more rigid, but the insulation saves you money and the thicker walls (usually 50mm) are very easy to work with. And it’s not just the walls; the roof is 150mm thick and the floor is also usually about 100mm thick of insulation. A standard trailer has none of this. I’ve witnessed someone build inside a standard trailer so it absolutely can be done, but even as a professional builder, there were a lot of concessions that he had to make. I’m not sure who talked about condensation issues, but that has never been a problem for us. Perhaps they were referring to when the trailer was actually operating as a refrigerator trailer? We have double glazing windows so have never had a problem, though we also live in a fairly dry part of the world, so I can only speak from my own set-up!

Wow so great to hear what you’re considering for your tiny home journey 😊 If you document the process, do send me a link. As I mentioned in the video, let me know if you have any questions! Thanks so much for watching and your kind words 💚

Hi Simon, I thought I answered this one but it doesn’t seem to be here - my apologies! How great that you are doing a similar project! I wish you well and thanks for watching. In my opinion the benefits of an insulated trailer go beyond just the insulation but include ease of construction. Since it is made of a sandwiched fibreglass wall, it is easy to cut holes for windows and doors with the whole wall providing a lot more rigidity. If the trailer is very old, the insulation will be starting to degrade a bit but it is easier to add some modest insulation to the existing setup (in the floor and ceiling) rather than have to build a frame construction plus insulation inside of a non-insulated trailer. You’ll find the cost savings show up not only in insulation costs but moreso in the cost of labour and materials for constructing rigid walls as a typical trailer wall is not rigid enough for a house nor is there any way to install windows or interior walls otherwise. Hope that helps!

Sorry for the delay! I responded on your other comment 😎

Thanks for watching! Yes, sorry about that...the build videos don't happen very fast as I can only afford to do this project in my spare time. Some personal things and money things of late!

Not sure what you’re referring to?

that sounds amazing! Tropical paradise and outdoor shower...no better combo 😄

Thank you so much! Also from my neck of the woods...did my mum put you onto the video? 😅

Yeah in P1 (the main house build) there are large racking braces that have metal strips going vertically around them for extra support. Cutting through these was more difficult and were not as great for placing window points at. In our other trailer (P2), there are no heavy racking points so it is all just cutting through fibreglass straps that run vertically along the length of the trailer. Are you doing some building now?

Hey Kelvin, thanks for the question. The floors of these vans have been used for decades and have had forklifts and heavy pallets on them and as such have become warped and damaged. In neither of our trailers were they at all very even and were pulling up allowing all sorts of crud underneath. We basically just wanted to start with a clean slate and have a more effective building surface! 😊

that's cool that you have a semi-trailer to make a house from. I wish you a lot of good luck and hope you can find some helpful advice in our videos. I don't share plans, etc but to be honest, our build was very specific to our needs, so you should be looking at what suits you and your life when it comes to the design. Go well 👌🏼

Thanks for your generous words 😊 I am so glad you enjoyed the video and our little abode. Thanks for watching and enjoy the evolving journey to come!

Yes, amazing. Please keep posting!

Epic journey if you include tents 😛 But hopefully an inspiring journey for those uncertain of being able to try something a bit different than the mainstream ☺️

Thanks for the kind comment! I am a silly fool so that just comes out naturally! 😝

Thanks so much! There’s heaps more to talk about, build and discover on this journey so I hope folks will get some value, info and enjoyment from the journey 😊

thanks so much for watching! We're continuing the journey so please subscribe if you're ken on more related content 🙂

Canadian through and through (right down to my hockey-loving hats) but Aussie now for 20 years so definitely a foot in each camp 😝

Hope you're enjoying the series!

I think if there is an EMP strike, my smart lights will be the least of anyone's concerns 😅 The A/C unit works great (we're using it right now as it is 35ºC here today). You'll see in the video that we did all the cut-outs for the A/C. Bear in mind that this unit was built to be stuffed under the floor in a camper van, so it is designed for boxed-in spaces

This was partially my inexperience but also partially the fact that the roof was damaged and so it slumps in the middle, allowing some movement and water pooling. I have since fibreglassed all around the skylights to bond with the original roof so that should be a long-term solution now. I’ll do a final roof video on the channel soon

I think truck bodies are different to box containers. I can’t wait to see the rest of the build.

@@daniellee414 That could very well be. I would have framed them out. Where I live, we can get a lot of snow, so a flat roof has to be able to take the snow load, like the rest of the build.

Hi there, yes as the other commenter mentioned, these are fibreglass-covered structurally insulated walls so they are very strong. We were careful not to put too many holes in it mind you 😝 When you replace the hole with a door or window frame, you return all the strength to the space

thanks for that! We were hoping the garbage chute woulds would be a dream answer for someone (me) who hates taking out the trash. It was! So good...one of my favourite things 😛 Thanks for watching. Yes, the kitchen has been great...a lovely bright space to cook! Stay tuned for some deeper-dive video shorts on the channel about the kitchen and other areas we tried to innovate with our design 😄