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Tumbleweed Tiny House Company > Home / Houses / Epu

Epu

89 square feet - click here for more dimensions
House width: 8′ Porch: 7 ½’ x 3′
House length: 15′ Main Room: 6′ x 6 ½’
Trailer Size: 7′ x 14′ Kitchen: 4 ½’ x 4′
Road Height: 13′ 5″ Bathroom: 4′ x 2′
Dry Weight: 4700 lbs Ceiling height: 6′ 3″
all measurements are approximate Loft height: 3′ 8″
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The EPU is the house that Jay Shafer lives in. You can watch the video of Jay in his house and see him and his house on Oprah. The EPU comes with a desk and fireplace in the main room; a kitchen; wet bath; and a loft upstairs. For its small size, the EPU has a large amount of storage space.

Buy this house Buy the plans Buy the book

Comments

25 Responses to “Epu”

  1. Nancy Leonardini on May 26th, 2008 3:54 pm

    Just a few questions: you addressed building codes but what about zoning laws? Where can you park this home? What type of roof does it have? Also, does the little church window on your home come with the model when built?

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on May 26, 2008 5:05 pm:

    Zoning and building codes vary in almost every city in this country. It makes it nearly impossible for us to answer questions specific to your area. Most county websites have a great deal of information about zoning codes. For instance, in our county of Sonoma, this home can be parked in an RV park (of course) or anywhere else you can legally park an RV. Whether or not you can park an RV on your property is usually governed by the CCR’s that were created when the developer subdivided the land that your house is now on. I’m digressing, as you can see, you’ll need to do your own research to find what applies to your area.
    The roof is made from metal, and can withstand the wear and tear of driving down the road. The little window on this house is a custom window. Jay actually made it himself. However, if you’re not that crafty, I suggest looking for a local glass maker to do it for you.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Craig reply on May 28, 2008 9:19 pm:

    Hi Jay,

    Cool houses. Can you discuss the trailer (and wheels) a bit? Is it (are they) a permanent fixture to the house or can it (they) be removed? Seems like if it was not on a trailer or wheels, the house could be located in more places (zones) because it would not be considered an RV anymore(?)

    Thanks,
    Craig

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on May 28, 2008 9:56 pm:

    The houses can be built different ways:
    1. On a permanent foundation
    2. Attached to a trailer
    3. As a portable unit that can be placed on a trailer or on a foundation.

    The type of trailer used in option 2 and option 3 are different. The type of trailer used in option 3 will have the entire trailer bed above the wheels. For that reason, you will not be able to drive it under low bridges. The trailer with the house in option 2 will fit under any bridge. The XS-House is the only small house we have that can fit on the trailer mentioned in option 2 and still be easily removable.

  2. Bill on June 8th, 2008 9:17 pm

    Can the Lusby be built on trailer type 3. Then moved to a location, then placed on a foundation? In other words could it be left on the trailer for many years and then at some time be put on a more permanent foundation.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on June 9, 2008 7:33 pm:

    Any of our small homes can be removed from the trailer if desired. Some are designed with the trailer integral to the design, others are not. Obviously, if you’re planning on removing it from the trailer, you’d want to be sure to use the appropriate trailer to do so. I’m not familiar with a type 3 trailer. Basically, you would need a trailer where the entire bed is above the wheels. Our homes are designed for a typical flat bed trailer where the wheels peak above the bed. The considertaion with a bed above the wheels is the road height. If you do put it on a trailer with the bed above the wheels, you will not be able to drive under low bridges.

    [Reply to this comment]

  3. Tessa Walker on July 6th, 2008 11:32 pm

    Can the Epu be built with running water, or does its smaller size mean that it’s confined to the jug above the sink and the gravity-pressure shower shown in the video?

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on July 7, 2008 5:19 pm:

    Yes, normally are homes are built with running water from an RV hose.

    [Reply to this comment]

  4. Ronnie Zukas on July 9th, 2008 2:06 pm

    I see you have a video tour of the Epu model on youtube, but no other video tour of your other house models. Is there anyway you can make video tours of your other houses?

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on July 9, 2008 6:18 pm:

    Thanks for the suggestion. We’ll do that in the future as we build more homes.

    [Reply to this comment]

  5. Cullen on July 10th, 2008 8:31 am

    Hello,

    I had just a quick question. Can I see a basic layout of the house? I don’t need intricate details or plans, just a basic layout of the rooms. I’m building my own tiny house that I am designing and building myself.

    I don’t know what to do about rooms, and I needed ideas. I have a couple already, but I’m lost.

    I can understand if you don’t want to. I just hope you can help me out.

    Thank you.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on July 10, 2008 7:18 pm:

    We have pictures of floorplans on all our homes. They are usually the last picture in the set … just scroll through all the pictures.

    Also, our portfolio of homes has flooplans of our homes.

    [Reply to this comment]

  6. Matt on July 13th, 2008 9:20 pm

    I’ve got quite a few questions;

    First, you said that your home was 96 square feet but the epu is listed as being 89 square feet. Is yours modified from the standard epu floor plan? If so, how?

    Second, do you have a generator for electricity?

    Third, if you had an RV hose, where would you get your water? (I can’t believe you shower so fast)

    Finally, do all of the homes come with compost toilets or can they be hooked up to city sewage?

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on July 14, 2008 12:21 am:

    The difference in square footage is because Jay had previously listed approximate square footage on the website. While the dimensions are aproximately 8 x 12 feet (which equals 96), the house isn’t exactly 8 feet wide. I used the actual dimensions for the square footage listed.

    Some houses are on solar, others are on conventional electricty.

    The RV hose would be connected to a water spout. The difference between an RV hose and a garden hose is that an RV hose wont give you that funny taste in the water when the hose sits out in the sun too long.

    The house can come with your choice of a compost toilet or can be hooked up to city sewer.

    [Reply to this comment]

  7. Bonnie Lehigh on July 14th, 2008 12:48 am

    Hi
    I cant get the pictures to come up on your website. Can you send me a brochure so I can see the insides of the houses? Thanks Bonnie Lehigh, Renton Washington

    [Reply to this comment]

    Steve with Tumbleweed reply on July 14, 2008 12:55 am:

    Hi, I’m sorry the pictures aren’t working for you. Which type of web browser do you have? Try looking at http://flickr.com/photos/13664360@N08/
    We don’t have a brochure to mail (our website is our brochure), but our portfolio of homes has many picutres of our homes.

    [Reply to this comment]

  8. Joe on July 14th, 2008 5:14 am

    Does Jay’s spiget, mentioned in the Oprah segment, just filter water from a stream or something?

    [Reply to this comment]

  9. Julie on July 22nd, 2008 4:58 pm

    Thanks Jay, for showing the world that there’s another way, and that you don’t have to spend your whole life working to pay off a mortgage. I hope lots of people take your work to heart. You rock!

    [Reply to this comment]

  10. Val on July 30th, 2008 7:06 pm

    I’m interested in the vendor of the small propane fireplace in the Epu shown on the web site. I am in need of a small fireplace in my own home and this would fit the bill. Can you give me a name, web site, e-mail address, phone #, any leads?
    Thanks!

    [Reply to this comment]

    Mike reply on August 8, 2008 6:23 pm:

    The propane ‘fireplace’ shown is from Dickinson. It’s a marine heater. They also sell a ’sleeve’ for the piping, as it gets hot when in use. I’ve included the link.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Jay Shafer reply on August 20, 2008 3:17 am:

    dickinsonmarine.com

    [Reply to this comment]

  11. lynn on August 2nd, 2008 2:54 am

    Does anyone know what sort of property taxes one has to pay when living on land with an R.V.? How much better is it than with a home, homeowners taxes, etc.?

    [Reply to this comment]

  12. Kresimir Kos on August 8th, 2008 7:19 am

    When I received your package with the books, at first I was dissapointed with the content - three little brochure-like books and one bigger. “Maybe they sent out just the brochures and books will arrive later” went through my head. But no, those were the books themself.

    Luckily, the books proved the idea of the Thumbleweed houses - great things don’t have to come in big packages.

    Thank you for the really excellent books and ideas in there!

    [Reply to this comment]

    Jay Shafer reply on August 20, 2008 1:45 am:

    Thank you so much. I kept them as small as I could w/out cutting substance.

    [Reply to this comment]

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