Winterize!

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 It’s the most wonderful tiiiime of the year…. Too soon? It’s also heading into the coldest time of the year for many parts of the country and when you’re living tiny- that matters. Time to button down the hatches and winterize your little house so you can stay toasty warm!

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So let's start with what winterizing means. Winterizing is when a tiny house is prepared for colder weather/climates. This includes protecting your hook ups, turning on your thermometer heater hose and ensuring you have insulated the base of your home to reduce cold and energy waste. 
First, your water hook ups. Just as with any type of faucet connection, if exposed to harsh cold climates these can freeze and bust. To avoid this, we have taken two preventative measures: a heated drinking water hose and an insulated outdoor faucet cover (links below to the ones I recommend).  

opThe hose is ideal for water line freezing protection down to -20 degrees! It has a sensor which activates when a certain temperature is reached outside and it will keep the hose warm enough to continue the flow of water. The insulated outdoor faucet cover is waterproof and reusable. Insulating your water spigot will help prevent bursting and blowouts. By implementing these two super simple solutions you’ll be saving yourself headaches and possibly expensive repairs. 

Now onto skirting your trailer! This step in winterizing is extremely important because it protects the undercarriage of your house. Skirting acts as a barrier to keep cold air out and contains the warm air inside. The following benefits are achieved through this preventive step:

• Protects pipes underneath house
• Saves energy (you won’t have to use your heater as much because warm air is contained underneath and cold air is blocked)
• Keeps critters out
• Gives your house a cleaner, completed look 

​There are some extremely innovative ideas out there for skirting a tiny home; I went pretty traditional and snagged some used trailer skirting online. We first used foam board insulation (yep that ugly pink stuff) and cut it to fit tightly around the base of the trailer. After securing it with strong double sided tape, we placed our siding over it and secured the panels with small carpenter nails. To give it a more polished look we capped the siding on the top.

Other options for siding include using billboard canvas! You can purchase used billboards (Yay upcycling) for a reasonable price and attach it to your trailer frame. Another look that I love is painting the board insulation a different color and then placing lattice on the outside.

While this does take a bit of investment and some elbow grease, it is well worth it to protect your house and keep you warmer!  Happy Winterizing- Who wants hot chocolate?!