Living in RV while building home/barn? (Durango, Trinidad: apartment, to rent)

[michinmich]

Hey, has anyone lived in an RV while building their home? Just wondering if this is possible for the entire length of time it takes to build a home (a year or more?) Weather wise-my lot is a few miles from the La Plata Airport south east of Durango. It would be myself, my 2 indoor cats, 1 old dog, 1 black silkie bantam, 2 ponies, and probably a bunch of tarantulas, scorpions, mule deer and a few drooling pumas.

[sunsprit]

It depends upon your tolerance to the space/confinement and how well your equipment and site are winterized.

I "lived" in a Thermos Pop-Tent (8' model) while building a stick built house in Nederland for about 8 months, until I got a closed in shell completed. Then I could toss my air matress on the floor inside out of the weather. I still cooked on a coleman stove and used the outhouse until the utilities were in and I had a functional kitchen. Could I do this again, 42 years later? I might survive the experience, but I can't say I'd look forward to doing it again. Taking a shower was a project ... this project was before they made "solar showers".

I have friends building a new home by Trinidad, in the mountains, now. They were going to "live" in their self-contained & winterized 35' 5th wheel trailer (with two slide-outs) while building the new site for a factory built house to be installed. The first couple of snowstorms last fall "buried" the place. Their only access to the trailer for several months was by snowshoe about 1 mile, and they couldn't get into the trailer itself because it was drifted in so badly. They finally got into it two weeks ago and got their road plowed out so they can drive in. The've learned that their "dream" homesite in the woods is not suitable for year-round access, even with having a large snowplow and bulldozer available to get the road cleared (the county doesn't maintain the nearby roads during the winter months, they need to plow out almost 4 miles of road ....). The mud is still so bad they can't get the trailer out to go snowbird for the few remaining winter months. So, be very careful where you choose to site your project and be sure your camper is winterized for very cold temperatures. They've already found some frozen and damaged water pipes which need to be fixed to return the trailer to service. Oh, and the mice got into a lot of it, too, so there's a lot of clean-up to be done.

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by michinmich

Hey, has anyone lived in an RV while building their home? Just wondering if this is possible for the entire length of time it takes to build a home (a year or more?) Weather wise-my lot is a few miles from the La Plata Airport south east of Durango. It would be myself, my 2 indoor cats, 1 old dog, 1 black silkie bantam, 2 ponies, and probably a bunch of tarantulas, scorpions, mule deer and a few drooling pumas.

No pumas in Colorado LOL Just mountain lions. Yes it is possible to do. Just prepare yourself for cold. Bank up around bottom Electric tapes on pipes are also a good idea. RVs are not made for the most part for cold weather. A couple that were our neighbors did it by stacking hay around the RV for insulation, which they needed for feed anyway. They did end up buying one of those new type electric heaters that heats copper inside and shuts off, we see advertized, not in stores, I don't think. No fire danger from being to near to things or burning the oxygen. They said that was a life saver and was a great deal cheaper than propane. They did have to pull out quite often and fill and dump tanks. Depends what your set up is. If an outside toilet is allowed and if you have water to pipe or hose in. But it can be done. You will have to have water for your animal anyway and I would suggest you have some protection for them also.

[michinmich]

Thank you both. At least I have an idea what I might be getting into.

[StealthRabbit]

I'd suggest building a shop with a place on the side for an RV, or better yet an apartment inside (away from tax assesor)

several of my friends have done that, and I started one, but got carried away till it was a really nice chalet over top of a garage.

I takes about a week to build a nice pole barn, then you and your animals are out of the wind and weather + tools and material is dry and less likely to be carted off, AND you can collect ALOT of cheap building supplies to put in your new house. Ask at window dealers for 'mis-orders'. (that is huge savings) We got all our fixtures for one house because we happened into a lighting store that was changing displays.

+ with the shop + apartment, you have a nice 'guest' home for friends, or a place to rent to 'boarders' (not renters, no kitchen range allowed) It is also nice to have a shower and laundry tub in your shop / barn.

[michinmich]

Originally Posted by janb

I'd suggest building a shop with a place on the side for an RV, or better yet an apartment inside (away from tax assesor)

several of my friends have done that, and I started one, but got carried away till it was a really nice chalet over top of a garage.

I takes about a week to build a nice pole barn, then you and your animals are out of the wind and weather + tools and material is dry and less likely to be carted off, AND you can collect ALOT of cheap building supplies to put in your new house. Ask at window dealers for 'mis-orders'. (that is huge savings) We got all our fixtures for one house because we happened into a lighting store that was changing displays.

+ with the shop + apartment, you have a nice 'guest' home for friends, or a place to rent to 'boarders' (not renters, no kitchen range allowed) It is also nice to have a shower and laundry tub in your shop / barn.

That does sound more appealing in the long run! Thanks!

[Nadine]

Janb--That sounds like a good solution to me too. These friends I spoke of had built a large steel building for garage/workshop. But they did not pull the RV in when living in it. It was not insulted and was colder inside in winter when no sun and hotter than----when it was. Also they were worried about exhausts from heaters etc in a closed building. At least that was the reason they said they did not live in there with the RV Why they did not use it as an wind break ????? First hand,I know a couple things about uninsulated steel buildings. My barn/garage/shop steel building has insulated roof, my hubby insulated the garage/shop part, not the barn end. The barn is really cold when cold and hot when hot would be worse if we had not had the roof insulated when built. Also it is a good idea if building a 3 sided shed, you leave a opening on the backside under the eaves for wind to escape out. Otherwise you get a swirl effect inside and should a hard wind hit from the open side it will take out the whole building. At least this has been our experience and advise from long time ranchers who use lean-to type protection on the flats where the wind can be notorious.

[Phazed-Coug]

Its a very popular method of building in SW colorado. take a look around when you get there you'll see it.

I would also suggest a pole building, it could double as your barn as well. Probably wouldn't run you more than 10k for a pole barn that could hold your RV. Even cheaper if you only pay someone to lay concrete, and set the poles. Then you can finish the roof, and walls on your own.

I knew a rancher/horseman who built I think 6-7000 sq foot barn and inside one corner was his house, he could park all his cars inside had basketball hoops as well.

[michinmich]

Ha! How clever that is! Wouldn't the barn smell stay in the house area too?

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I was thinking of building a log home but I found a wide range of opinions on the energy efficiency of logs.

This may seem silly but has anyone ever seen a log barn? I thought it could go with the house. Thanks for the info about the 3 sided barn wind issue too. My ponies are outside all year here in Michigan and rarely go inside so I thought they might like the 3 sides more.

One is a large pony (Icelandic) and the other a mini. Got to thinking, would a mountain lion mess with the little guy? Maybe I should be able to close him in at night (4 walls).

We had a mountain lion in our woods here in Michigan for a couple of months but there were 4 other large horses with my ponies and the mountain lion never came out of the woods.

[Phazed-Coug]

Originally Posted by michinmich

Ha! How clever that is! Wouldn't the barn smell stay in the house area too?

I don't know, but I guess if your a rancher/farmer... the smell is nothing new...