Not so fun side of tiny living...

Tiny house living was such a big dream for thousands of people when it came out. And I am not at all dissing it, for the most part I love it! What they don't tell you that, especially if your building one, it is not at all easy OR cheap. We went tiny house living mainly cause we had no choice. It was starting from here or no home. But the idea of it was so wonderful! We could downsize, get rid of clutter, live smaller and closer and happier and cheaper and la de da. Well, if we didn't have to live in it while building it, it could have been the dream. The summers are hot, even worse the winters are cold. The first winter we did have insulation and we stayed really warm. BUT... our inexperience kicked our butts for sure with this one. If you have a gable roof with two lofts and you put windows upstairs cause you know, you made them into bedrooms, you still have to have ventilation... we blocked all breathing room off and didn't realize it. When the spring came and our first warm day hit, through the entire length of the house down the middle there was a long line of water on the floor. The moisture had gathered up and ruined every bit of insulation we had, not counting the mold we had to fight because of that. Oops.. So, to this day, we still don't have insulation in the ceiling cause we are living in it while building in it. We now have the rafter vents needed and the heat shield needed but we don't have the insulation yet. Can't really put the vents up till we get insulation because we will have to drill to the outside to create the airflow that is needed. Its hard to explain but its a must before we can move on. But if we do that with no insulation, we then have holes... in the roof... only covered by rafter vents... which are relatively thin... so its at a standstill. So there is that part. If you don't have the money up front to do these things, you'll end up eating bills in the end. Without the proper insulation, we fight freezing temps and along with that you fight freezing pipes. So every time a pipe burst because you have poor insulation you have to replace it which is more money out of pocket, but twice when it should of been once. We also have no proper flooring down yet because of one, we don't have the funds right in hand to do so, gotta have the time and skill to do it, and the house is still leveling. The house is still leveling? Ah yes it is. We have been here three years and its still getting comfortable. We live in a deep valley next to a creek. We lose about 2-3 hours of sunshine cause of how the valley is laid out. So it gets wet... very wet for a long time. It hardly dries out here which is also a problem cause of the moisture it creates which gets into the house and makes everything wet and oh boy that could go on. See where I'm getting to? If you don't have the funds to get it built and built right at the start, you can run into problems over and over again. These problems will cost you money every time they come up and it comes up multiple times. So instead of spending the money we get for the home for the new projects we haven't got to, the money goes back to fixing something that was already done but needs redone cause we didn't have something else done to keep the previously thing done in conditions where it wouldn't be a problem. Do I regret tiny living? No, its been a great learning experience, we hang out more as a family, we have more outside time, and we have less clutter. Do I wish I could do it different? Absolutely do I wish that! But it is what it is and we always figure a way, no matter the problem, we find a way.