How To Convert A Camper Into A Tiny House

With housing costs soaring, it is no surprise that many people, especially millennials but also baby boomers, are turning to the tiny house movement. By downsizing, there is a lot of money to be saved. Both in terms of upfront costs and ongoing expenses that make it a very attractive way to enter the housing market.

To save money even further, transforming an existing space into a tiny house is a good way to go for those on a tight budget. Building from scratch may cost less than a traditional house, but it still won’t exactly be cheap.

Because of these reasons, many people are looking to convert a camper or RV into a tiny house so they can have all the modern conveniences of a traditional home in a smaller setting.

In this article, I will give you some ideas on how to make this happen.

1 – Power it up

Many RV’s and campers are all set to plug into a camping pitch electrical hookup. This might be enough for some short trips on vacation, but for home use, you’ll need to make sure that you have enough power for all of your modern appliances and gadgets.

Do an evaluation of the electrical system and determine if you need to upgrade to something more powerful before you connect to the city power.

You may want to take advantage of the small space and think about mounting RV solar panels so you can either boost your available electricity or to simply be more ecofriendly and use less coal-based electricity.

2 – Make a blueprint

The layout of the camper is suited for short time periods and is designed with that in mind. For everyday living, you may need to make some changes. For tiny house living to work, you have to make sure that your flow of the house is easy and there are no bottlenecks that will cause frustration.

Make a diagram of how the RV is currently laid out with all the storage marked and what is where clearly visible. Then take the same rough dimensions and on a blank piece of paper, make a diagram of how you would lay out your ideal home using the same space. 

After that, you can compare the two designs and see where you can keep the current set up and where things need to be eliminated or moved.

Once you have this vision, you can then set about doing a renovation to make it more livable full time.

3 – Make storage space

The biggest issue with tiny house living is finding space for all of your stuff. You can do yourself a big favor by getting rid of a lot of it or renting a storage unit to stow stuff you don’t need on a regular basis. But, you will still need to be very creative with your storage regardless.

There is going to be some negative space around so make sure to transform that area into storage. If there is any space underneath your bed, for example, then this should be filled with containers. Likewise under the bench at the dining table.

You should also be taking advantage of the walls. In the kitchen area, you can put a magnet up at the wall behind the stove and put your knives there. And a small shelf can hold your spices. This may not seem like much, but all of these little things will add up to having less clutter around your home. And lots of clutter can lead to depression, so make sure that you keep your home tidy by using storage space wisely.

4 – Get a tankless water heater

Many RVs use a small six or eight-gallon water heater which is not nearly enough for full time living. If you need to take a shower after doing the dishes, then get used to a three-minute shower. 

Since there isn’t much space, a conventional tank water heater can only be so big. Your best bet is to use a tankless water heater for an RV that will give you endless hot water. It heats water as it enters the heat exchange so it always gives you hot water. 

You’ll be limited as to how many fixtures you can use at once, but it is better than taking cold showers. 

Conclusion

If you are planning to retire early or simply have more financial freedom, then having no mortgage due to converting a camper into a tiny house is an ideal way to do that. It will be a challenge but the payoff is more than worth it.