Tiny Homes With Lofts … Ideas, Insight From an Expert

Tiny Home Lofts – Your Questions Answered by Tiny Solar Homes 

Tiny home living is all about doing more with less, and one of the smartest ways to increase your tiny home functionality is to build up. Tiny homes with lofts can add more storage or sleeping spaces without expanding the footprint of your mini home.

We chatted with Blake from Tiny Solar Homes to find out more.

Hi Blake. So, many of your tiny homes now have lofts. It’s something a lot of people have been asking questions about. So let’s start at the beginning, what is a loft in a tiny house?

Without Googling it, my version of a loft is just like a mezzanine. They’re somewhere to either sleep or have extra storage that’s above the standard living space.

Are tiny home lofts pretty common?

Yes. They are becoming quite popular.

In the past, tiny homes were typically single-storey, very small homes. However, as more people are turning to tiny-home living, the demand for more storage and space has grown.

Extending upwards is essentially doubling the size of your tiny home. If you choose to have either storage or sleeping arrangements upstairs, you will be getting more space to live in.

How tall does a tiny home have to be to fit a loft?

I would say the bigger the better, but it really depends on what you want to do with the loft and how low you want your ceiling to be. But we’re at the max height of 4.3 metres as a caravan.

We’ve had to design it so that there is a walkway upstairs, especially in a tiny home double loft, so it gives you the impression you’re standing. But it’s not full height standing if you’re a taller person, or in a tiny home loft bedroom, where the base of the bed would go.

The minimum I would say a tiny house should stand is 4.3 metres to fit a loft, but I’ve seen a lot smaller.

Have you ever done custom loft builds? If people are a little shorter, they don’t need as high a ceiling in their living area…

No, we haven’t done that because even shorter people might still have some taller friends. We try to keep it to 2.1 metres downstairs, which, if you’re living in a tiny home, is still the minimum for areas such as a bathroom and laundry area. We try to stick around that 2.1-metre mark.

So, most people understand you can’t really stand up in the loft, they’re more for storage spaces or sleeping areas. Can the upstairs be bigger in some tiny homes?

Yeah, some people are building tiny homes up to 4.6 metres. If you don’t need your tiny home classed as a caravan and are happy for it to be a mobile dwelling, then you can get full height standing upstairs, but you may still need to have a lower height ceiling downstairs.

Have you got any tips for making your tiny home loft feel bigger?

We’ve found the best things to help are adding extra windows for more light and ventilation, having access by stairs, as ladders can feel quite claustrophobic, and including walkways upstairs. Although walkways can create bulkheads downstairs.

Because we have full-height walls for safety, we put shutters in the bedrooms so they connect the loft with the main living area. When in the bedroom, you can open the shutters so it doesn’t feel too enclosed.

What’s the best way to access a tiny home loft?

Stairs. Ladders can often limit the use of a loft in a tiny home, especially if you have kids or pets, whereas stairs can help the loft feel like part of the home.

Are tiny home lofts safe for kids?

Yeah, kids love them. At every show we go to, we seem to attract thousands of kids, and we haven’t had a single accident yet. We have handrails and balustrades on the walkway. The only place you can fall is down the stairs, which are never too high. It’s a lot safer than just having an open loft.

What about older people? How do they go with the tiny home lofts?

It pretty much depends on their age group – much older people don’t want any stairs, and ultimately that means just a single-storey mini home. But the handrail is a must for having stairs in a tiny home, with the stairs usually a bit steeper.

Some people may have ladders in their tiny homes, but are there any steepness stairs can be, or they can’t go past a certain limit?

No, there are no building codes for tiny homes. There should be, but there isn’t. We’d be very interested in receiving the building codes of tiny homes if they’re ever made.

And hence the ladders option. You can have either ladders or stairs, but it would certainly be much harder having ladders for older people, and even people like myself would much prefer stairs.

Having a ladder can make it so much more effort, more of a mission to go up to the loft, that it effectively becomes almost a dead space.

What about pets? How do you make a tiny house loft pet-friendly?

We’ve had lots of clients ask us about pets. To be honest, most pets are better at getting up and down stairs than we are! Depending on the type of pet, you could always customise the entrance to the loft or the walkways with a mesh of some type, or a door.

Do lofts get too hot or too cold in tiny homes?

As hot air rises, lofts are obviously going to be a bit hotter, we’ve definitely found that. But we can combat that with air con, fans, and good ventilation. There’s nothing like natural airflow, but on hot days we’ve got air con, which will take care of the entire home.

How do you ventilate a tiny house loft?

Usually with windows, which are also good for more natural light. However, you can also add skylights and venting.

So you have the tiny homes with lofts, which are on wheels, even the double-storey ones, and they all fit under that important height restriction of 4.3 metres. But how do you build a loft in a tiny home?

When building a loft in a tiny home on wheels, it’s not just about putting something in that’s lightweight, it has to have a solid floor. You can’t just make it out of paddle pop sticks, you need it to be pretty solid.

The floor joists need to be structurally designed to withstand live loads and extra weight to eliminate floor bouncing, cracking, and creaking. I’ve been in some homes where you can feel the bounce, which is the last thing you want upstairs.

We install aluminium joists as a framework to support the upstairs loft, which are solid and lightweight.
Then, we sheet the walls and install carpet on the floors, and finish lofts with the same quality as every other part of the home.

The tiny home double loft is obviously a two-storey tiny home, but do you offer a one-bedroom with a loft?

We currently have three standard models of Tiny Solar Homes, which people can see, but we can adapt each of these. We’ve had people ask about adding lofts to the single-storey tiny homes, but it can be difficult with just an internal height of 2.6 metres.

Anything is possible though, it’s whatever the client wants. It’s just not something we do as standard. But everyone has their own ideas.

Thanks Blake, for taking time out to tell us about the lofts in your Tiny Solar Homes. If you’re interested in finding out more, you can get in touch with Blake at www.tinysolarhomes.com.au or give them a call on 0418 411 099 to book a Tiny Solar Homes tour.