Moving in in the Spring!

[helloimnolan]

Heya!

I'm currently renovating a 67 Overlander 26 (The Studio), and a 71 Sovereign 31 (The Residence). I'm planning on using the former as my design studio, and the latter as my home. I'm buying a piece of land near where I currently live in Cleveland and the plan is to connect them with a porch and pergola.

I was wondering if you have any advice or pointers for things that I should be considering and thinking about while designing. They're basically gut jobs since both of them need extensive work.

The pink floor is the Studio, the red is the Residence.

Any thoughts would be helpful!

n

[Airtandem]

INSULATION !!!!
Airstreams are NOT noted for being insulated; ths is walls, ceilings and floor. Also you should considering skirting both. A large propane tank for both. These are just two suggestions, there will be several more from other members.
MJ

[OTRA15]

Welcome to the forum!

Does the zoning for your land allow this use, and do you need a building permit? Complying with all rules and regulations will make or break this project IMO. An unexpected Stop-Work Order would not be fun.

Living in an Airstream, even with new insulation, will be very challenging in the winter in Ohio IMO. With such thin exterior walls [with no thermal breaks for the ribs], and single glazed windows, the R-value is simply not there. Also the supply and waste plumbing freeze-up issues will be very challenging. Same for condensation. As Airtandem suggests, propane consumption will be extreme [not to mention ecologically wasteful IMO.]

The new search function above with the blue border works great, so I would encourage lots of R&D on the various issues such as:

"Winter living" -- https://www.google.com/search?q=wint...=airforums.com

"R value" -- https://www.google.com/search?ei=C-P....0.-avi0KX0Ixs

"Zoning" -- https://www.google.com/search?ei=I-P....0.cE7h13EirfQ

. . . and so forth.

Good luck!

Peter

[helloimnolan]

Originally Posted by Airtandem

INSULATION !!!!
Airstreams are NOT noted for being insulated; ths is walls, ceilings and floor. Also you should considering skirting both. A large propane tank for both. These are just two suggestions, there will be several more from other members.
MJ

Yes! Good advice. When we removed all of the interior walls to redo the frame, we used a thick spray-in insulation on the inside of every surface and under the floor. Cleveland winters are harsh!

Also I'm ditching the propane. The trailer will be plugged into the grid and have electric appliances and HVAC.

[helloimnolan]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Welcome to the forum!

Does the zoning for your land allow this use, and do you need a building permit? Complying with all rules and regulations will make or break this project IMO. An unexpected Stop-Work Order would not be fun.

Living in an Airstream, even with new insulation, will be very challenging in the winter in Ohio IMO. With such thin exterior walls [with no thermal breaks for the ribs], and single glazed windows, the R-value is simply not there. Also the supply and waste plumbing freeze-up issues will be very challenging. Same for condensation. As Airtandem suggests, propane consumption will be extreme [not to mention ecologically wasteful IMO.]

The new search function above with the blue border works great, so I would encourage lots of R&D on the various issues such as:

"Winter living" -- https://www.google.com/search?q=wint...=airforums.com

"R value" -- https://www.google.com/search?ei=C-P....0.-avi0KX0Ixs

"Zoning" -- https://www.google.com/search?ei=I-P....0.cE7h13EirfQ

. . . and so forth.

Good luck!

Peter

Thanks!! I've actually been working with my city council and zoning board since before I bought the second trailer. I really didn't want to get started on this and then have it stopped. The interesting thing is that by plumbing the trailer into the ground, and building a semi-permanent structure (the deck/pergola), technically the trailers move from trailer territory into modular home territory. There are a few other requirements as far as the building code but I'm expecting to meet all of them. Luckily Cleveland is trying to increase density, and they were saying that projects like this could end up allowing for inexpensive residential structures to be put up to increase density in areas where people want to live but can't afford to build a house from scratch. It's be a fascinating process. I've learned a lot about building codes. Ha

[OTRA15]

Great update thanks! The insulation issue still remains IMO -- aren't there minimum R-values required in the code? The "R value" search results [in the earlier post] will lead to some estimates for the typical AS -- maybe on the order of R-6 or so at the most?

Have fun with the project, which makes so much sense for a host of reasons. Municipalities would be well advised to allow more housing options, including smaller houses than most codes now allow.

Peter

[kdickinson]

This looks like a fun and visionary project! And you are doing your homework which is good. Town Councils and Planning Commissions can be the whole equation or part of the equation depending on how your town is governed - proceed with caution and ask a lot of questions. I would personally check in with a local builder and bounce this off him or her and take good notes. Ideally I would (and have) paid a property use lawyer who knows the property laws in your locale for advice. A town may very well say they have a vision and plan to have more affordable housing in their comprehensive plan. But - saying they have a plan in place to add more affordable housing and they support your vision may be far different from conducting an end to end permitted construction project for a home to be granted a certificate of occupation to be lived in. Check with them also on property line setbacks in terms of how far your structures need to be from a property line front, back, and sides.

I second the input from the other posters about building code and zoning. I can tell you from watching a few similar projects in my local area (none included Airstreams but one was a re-purposed construction office trailer) that you need to talk directly to the entity that actually approves your building plans, issues your building permits, and does the on-site code inspections as you proceed. We did have one local project get a stop work order and it delayed them about 6 months - but now they have a safe building. An hour invested talking with them - our local entity is specialized into departments that focus on overall plan review, engineering & structure, electrical, plumbing, etc. could save you time and cost at most and at least give you peace of mind. It may be different where you live but, for example, most of the towns in our county adopt a standard building code and share the cost of the central services of a regional building entity. The regional building entity enforces the building code through review of plans, issuance of permits and inspections including a final certificate of occupancy. I do know that a structure that is eventually approved to be lived in can, for the most part, be born as anything including shipping containers and construction trailers as long as they conform with local building & zoning codes.

[OTRA15]

Well said kd, as finding the correct needle in the approval process haystack can make or break a project like this.