Tiny Home foundation "issues"

Bad foundation ---->

Foundation is easy to screw up; mainly because it's difficult if you don't have any prior building experience! Whatever you do, don't build your foundation on these bad examples!




























Good foundation -----> 












Hello again everyone!

At this moment, Kiah and I are attempting to level the trailer out and create a solid foundation for our tiny home.

We have 4 wheels in the back and two metal structures called the "landing gear". If we were to leave the trailer on it's wheels and the landing gear on the ground, we risk having the tires go flat (and therefore our trailer becoming UNleveled), the landing gear sinking into the ground, and just general tiny-house-chaos.

Oh, and BTW, the ground the trailer is on currently has an incline worth worrying about. Otherwise we would've dug the area and flattened it out before hand.

What we are planning on instead is:
1. Lift the back end of the trailer enough so the tires are off the ground
2. Remove tires
3. Get the landing gear on some kind of concrete
4. Support the middle of the trailer with some concrete
5. Level the entire thing.


Some issues we've run into with this (so far):
1. You can just use any jack stands to keep this baby off the ground. We have to assume the trailer is more than 1 ton unloaded and might be around 20-50 tons (we honestly have no idea what to expect). Better safe than sorry. With that kind of weight, you can't use; wood (if you use the wood with the grain going parallel with the ground, it'll bend and warp), cinder blocks (they are meant to hold a maximum of 2,000 psi (pounds per square inch), or dirt.

2. Paying for someone to come out all the way to Morrison and lay concrete slabs, THEN move them underneath the trailer is way too expensive.

3. The trailer needs to have solid foundation. We can't have it moving on us one day with us living in it.
4. How does one get the trailer off the ground in the first place?

Possible Solutions:
1. If we use enough concrete blocks in specific places, we may be able to disperse the weight so that it all isn't on the axles of the trailer and therefore will be able to get it off the ground and leveled.

2. We won't pay for that kind of service. It just isn't feasible.

3. We won't continue building until we have confidence in our foundation

4. We bought a 30-ton jack. Hopefully the trailer won't be more than that when we are done. If it is, we'll buy a heavier duty jack and send this one back.

This is the kind of concrete block we will be doing more research on -->

Fortunately for us (perhaps unfortunately for the next Tiny House builders), we have to learn the basics of engineering to calculate whether or not several of these grey beauties will hold up our frankenstein. Honestly, that just excites me :)


--October 3--

The jack has arrived! Again, it was about $95 and is a 30-ton jack, should be more than enough. 

Word to the wise; if you're gonna use a jack, make sure the ground you have the jack on is solid or the weight is dispersed with wood or something else. You don't want the jack going straight into the ground, it could sink! We'll put it on a couple of wood boards to disperse the weight.