Tiny Houses are Going Solar!

Tiny homes have made it big. They have reality shows, displays at Ikea, even their own tiny house movement! There’s just something inherently charming about downsizing to only a couple hundred feet, finding ways to fit all of your belongings into crafty nooks and corners and shelves, and making sure your small spaces stay stylish and edgy.

The tiny house movement began to get a lot of press after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when Katrina Cottages popped for people who had lost their homes. Starting at 308 square feet, these were some of the first tiny homes that were starting to be used by large groups of people. In the aftermath of Katrina’s catastrophe, these tiny homes were a pleasant solution to the disaster zone.

What’s This About A Movement?

Simply put, the tiny house movement is a social movement where people are choosing to downsize their houses. The typical American home is around 2,600 square feet--the average tiny home is between 100 and 400 square feet!

To make living in these small spaces work, residents need to utilize every inch of space. Common solutions are putting storage cabinets in stairs or having pull-out chairs, tables, and beds. However, roofs are one of the most under-utilized spaces on a tiny home. And in a tiny home, no space can afford to be ignored.

Indeed, many tiny homeowners want to utilize their roof space by going solar. Tiny homes have historically been economically and environmentally friendly and most new homes built today continue in that tradition. Going solar would significantly help with savings (not to mention the green benefits). However, adding solar to tiny homes can be intimidating because of the potential issues of access, snow load-bearing capacity, and safety. But for wife-and-husband engineers Tina and Luke, this was a challenge they readily accepted for their 383 square foot home. Their home (which is featured in this blog post) combines both a roof deck and solar on their roof.

Tina and Luke are just one of many other solar pioneers for the tiny house movement. Jenna Spesard, for instance, blogs about living in a tiny home. She gushes about her solar system, even though it's small, writing that it “can keep my computers, phones, and cameras charged, as well as my LED lights and water pump powered forever.”

Already, tiny homes are economically and environmentally friendly, so going solar just makes sense. If you want to add solar onto your tiny home (or regular sized home), contact us at 407.331.9077 today. No matter its size, every home deserves solar.