Tag: Appendix Q

Last updated on April 2, 2025.

The tiny house movement is a concept about intentional living. It looks different for everyone and encompasses many sizes, types, and forms of housing. The notion of “right-sized housing” refers to housing that is the ‘right size’ for an individual or family. The tiny house movement was once believed to be “just a fad” or a quick trend. But when viewed against soaring housing costs, oversized homes, and housing shortages with environmental problems, it is easy to see why the concept of tiny home living is continually growing and here to stay. Macy Miller of minimotives.com says that this movement is highest in countries with the largest carbon footprints because it is a response to high costs and a housing shortage. Not because of a trend.¹

“Tiny houses solve more problems than they create,” -Macy Miller²

Tiny Houses Take Many Forms

According to the International Residential Code, Appendix Q: Tiny Houses, a tiny house is a “dwelling unit with a maximum of 37 square meters (400 sq ft) of floor area, excluding lofts.”³ But the concept includes the small house movement, generally defined as under 1,000 square feet, because they are both about intentional, affordable, and sustainable living. Here are some of the forms tiny and small homes can take:

• RVs or travel trailers
• Converted airstreams or buses
• THOWs (tiny house on wheels)
• Tiny houses or small houses on foundations
• Prefab houses (manufactured, mobile, modular)
• Houseboats, yachts, and even sailboats
• Yurts
• Converted carriage houses, garages, or sheds
• Converted barns and silos
• Container homes
• Barge homes or Floating homes (houses built on a barge)
• Granny Pods (actually an Accessory Dwelling Unit created for aging parents)
• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs, aka mother-in-law apartments)

Tiny House TV shows

I enjoy watching many of the tiny house TV shows. Initially, I watched them out of curiosity, thinking, why would anyone want to live in such a small space? But then I started to understand living intentionally and sustainably, and the idea of living mortgage-free took hold. So those shows are what inspired me from the start. But they manufacture misconceptions about tiny house living and leave out a lot of details, such as zoning and building laws. For example, tiny houses are not free. They can cost significantly less than a traditional-sized home but can still be pricey. Only some are off-grid; many have electrical and plumbing systems. While some people build their own tiny homes, many purchase them from tiny house-building companies.

Living Legally

“It is illegal to inhabit a tiny home in most populated areas of the U.S.” -Jay Shafer⁴

It is sometimes quite difficult to live legally in tiny homes. Many laws disallow tiny or small houses. In some situations, municipalities only allow them for short-term rentals, not permanent or full-time residences. The laws are sometimes even discriminatory. Jay Shafer described that the minimum size standards and building codes (read more below) grew from the housing industry and banks pushing for profits. “By aiming to eliminate all but the most extravagant housing, size standards have effectively eliminated housing for everyone but the most affluent Americans…The actual results of the limits are a greater number of unsightly large houses, inordinate construction waste, higher emissions, sprawl and deforestation, and, for those who cannot afford these larger houses, homelessness.” Shafer also considers these standards to be perhaps the leading cause of homelessness.⁵

Generally, small houses are more affordable for lower-income families, but new subdivisions rarely allow them. Mobile homes, long associated with poor people, are not desirable in typical neighborhoods because of that stigma. Typically, most subdivisions require house sizes to be slightly larger than a mobile home. Many subdivisions, or even whole communities, require minimum square footage for new home construction on empty or open lots. These often range from 1200 square feet to 2500 square feet. Some also require all the walls to be equal lengths to make a square, instead of a rectangle like a mobile home. This supposedly protects property values, but Jay Shafer argues that smaller homes can sometimes increase property, value often because “the budget saved on square footage has been invested in quality materials and design.”⁶

“You can’t just buy a piece of property and set a house on it; none of those things are legal. You can’t just live in your tiny house full-time; those things aren’t legal.” -Hannah Crabtree, tiny house designer⁷

“The biggest challenge to the building of smaller houses in North America continues to be prohibitions against it. These restrictions are created primarily by America’s housing, lumber, and insurance industries. Once established, they’re adopted by states as code and handed off to local governments for fine-tuning and enforcement. All parties involved benefit by ensuring that no American is allowed to live in a house that’s too small.” -Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed DIY Book of Backyard Sheds & Tiny Houses⁸

Zoning

“Essentially, zoning laws have been determining the form of our neighborhoods since the 1940s…Since its inception, zoning has brought us immense, treeless streets, mandatory car ownership, and densities so low that the cost of infrastructures has become nothing short of exorbitant.” -Jay Shafer⁹

Zoning laws outline what type of structure you can put on specific land. These determine minimum square footage, property restrictions, and allowances. They vary by municipality and are often antiquated. They must allow for small structures if you want to build small.

Zoning laws are municipal or local laws that govern how property can and cannot be used in certain areas. For example, zoning laws can limit commercial or industrial use of land to prevent oil, manufacturing, or other types of businesses from building in residential neighborhoods. Examples of zoning classifications include industrial, light industrial, commercial, light commercial, agricultural, single-family residential, multiunit residential, and schools.¹⁰

“It can be tricky to navigate both codes and zoning.” -Tracey Harris¹¹

Building Codes

Building codes dictate how a structure is built. They indicate requirements for ceiling heights, foundations, emergency escape access, sleeping lofts, loft access by stairs and ladders, etc. The most important distinction is whether you plan to travel, meaning using your house as an RV, or if you plan to live in your home full-time in one place. The laws and rules are different for both. If you plan to both live in your home full-time and travel, most of the time your house will be classified as an RV.

The International Residential Code (IRC) governs structures that you’re able to live in. Officially, it is a comprehensive code that comprises all building, plumbing, mechanical, fuel gas, and electrical requirements for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses up to three stories.¹² IRC sets a national standard but local jurisdictions must adopt appendices and they’re able to make their own amendments.

Appendix Q was approved for inclusion in the 2018 International Residential Code (IRC) building code to provide regulations and standards for tiny houses on foundations that are 400 square feet or less. Appendix Q relaxes various requirements in the body of the code as they apply to tiny houses, and addresses specific tiny house challenges such as compact stairs, including handrails and headroom, ladders, reduced ceiling heights in lofts, and guard and emergency egress, and rescue opening requirements of lofts.¹³

Unfortunately, not every jurisdiction or municipality has adopted Appendix Q, so check where you want to build first.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) governs vehicles and RVs , and tiny homes on wheels (THOWs) often fall under this code. Some tiny home builders use their own version of the ANSI code (sometimes called ANSI Plus). RVIA, or the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, developed the standards. Some RVs and tiny homes have an RVIA certification, a set of safety standards specifically for RVs. Note that RVIA does not allow owner-built tiny homes. Zoning codes for where the land where RVs and THOWs are usually different than other types of homes and must also be followed.

Mobile homes must be built to certain federal construction standards determined by HUD, or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.¹⁴ Note that HUD does not govern tiny houses.

“Rather than fighting these entrenced regulations directly, it seems the most expedient means to sustainability may be found in the code’s generous loopholes. Most notably, one can often legally build oneself a simple little structure by classifying it as a ‘vehicle’, a ‘shed’ or as ‘temporary’. The question of whether or not you can ‘live’ in your ‘shed’ or ‘trailer’ on your particular piece of land is then left up to the local zoning department who will most likely tell you that you can’t, but that you’re welcome to ‘camp out’ there as much as you’d like.” -Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed DIY Book of Backyard Sheds & Tiny Houses¹⁵

Financing

Financing is difficult for tiny living. Some companies offer financing for tiny homes, but do your research. Jay Shafer explained that the problem is that the dominant market trend is what financiers consider a sound investment. “Oversized houses are more readily financed because they are what most Americans are looking for…Sometimes a bank will simply refuse to finance a small home because the cost per square foot is too high or the land upon which the house sits is too expensive in proportion to the structure. The design, construction or purchase of a small house has thus been further discouraged.”¹⁶ Some tiny house-building companies offer financing, but the interest is much higher than conventional mortgage interest. It’s difficult to get a mortgage for a tiny house on wheels, especially, because there’s no property to tie the loan to. You often have to have your own money to buy a tiny house. 

Financial institutions sometimes consider an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as a remodel to an original home, and therefore may qualify for a mortgage or home improvement loan (which is essentially a second mortgage since it puts a lien on your main property).

1. Podcast, “Why Tiny Homes are Important + A Big Announcement with Macy Miller – #233,” Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast, accessed December 3, 2022. ↩︎
2. Page, Tiny House Summit, tinyhousesummit.co, accessed December 3, 2022. ↩︎
3. Page, 2018 International Residential Code, updated February 2022. ↩︎
4. Book, The Small House Book, by Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Boyes Hot Springs, CA, 2009. ↩︎
5. Book, The Small House Book, by Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Boyes Hot Springs, CA, 2009. ↩︎
6. Book, The Small House Book, by Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Boyes Hot Springs, CA, 2009. ↩︎
7. Book, The Tiny House Movement: Challenging Our Consumer Culture, by Tracey Harris, Lexington Books, Washington, D.C., 2018. ↩︎
8. Book, Tumbleweed DIY Book of Backyard Sheds & Tiny Houses, by Jay Shafer, Skills Institute Press LLC and Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, 2012. ↩︎
9. Book, The Small House Book, by Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Boyes Hot Springs, CA, 2009. ↩︎
10. Page, “Zoning: What It Is, How It Works, Classification Examples,” Investopedia, updated February 24, 2022. ↩︎
11. Book, The Tiny House Movement: Challenging Our Consumer Culture, by Tracey Harris, Lexington Books, Washington, D.C., 2018. ↩︎
12. Page, 2018 International Residential Code (IRC), International Code Council, accessed December 11, 2022. ↩︎
13. Page, APPENDIX Q: Tiny Houses on a Foundation, Tiny Home Industry Association, accessed December 11, 2022. Also: Book, The Giant Book of Tiny Homes: Living Large in Small Spaces, by John Riha, Centennial Books, New York, NY, 2021. ↩︎
14. Book, The Giant Book of Tiny Homes: Living Large in Small Spaces, by John Riha, Centennial Books, New York, NY, 2021. ↩︎
15. Book, Tumbleweed DIY Book of Backyard Sheds & Tiny Houses, by Jay Shafer, Skills Institute Press LLC and Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, 2012. ↩︎
16. Book, The Small House Book, by Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Boyes Hot Springs, CA, 2009. ↩︎