Water is a necessity! Have you been wondering how water will run in your tiny home or how tiny house plumbing is done? Tiny house plumbing may seem difficult at first but getting to know more about it will help you understand what it entails. Keep reading to know more about tiny house plumbing.
What Is Tiny House Plumbing All About?
Do you plan on living in an off-grid or on-grid tiny home? Water is vital! So you may have to get water supplied by a hose or store a lot of water in the tank.
Tiny house Plumbing is all about connecting your tiny house to a water source, so you can have water in your tiny house. Through plumbing, your tiny house water can be used or can run in various sections of the house. It also involves the distribution of water in hot and cold lines to the endpoints where you intend to use the water.
Plumbing tiny houses on wheels don’t take a lot of time. It only takes a day or two to finish. You can easily learn the skills to plumb this tiny house in hours.
Tiny House Plumbing Cost
Plumbing a tiny house doesn’t cost much except if you want to hire a plumber. Plumbing could cost between $3,000-$7,000 or less depending on the equipment you use. This cost doesn’t include labor, just the cost of plumbing supplies like pipes, sinks, toilets, and other fixtures. If you don’t hire a plumber, then you will be able to save more but if you do, you may pay about $75 to $200 per hour. This will increase the total cost of plumbing your tiny house.
ALSO READ: Tiny House Bathroom Plumbing: Everything You Need To Know
Tiny House Plumbing Diagram
Tiny house plumbing is not as difficult as it may seem. Following the plumbing, diagram helps you to understand the flow and use the right fittings to stretch the flow from one point to another.
Once the water comes from the outside source into the tiny house via a water hose, the water goes into different lines either the hot water or cold water supply line, then to the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, washer, shower, and even water heater.
Take a look a the tiny house plumbing diagram below.
Tiny House Plumbing Options
There are different ways you can bring water into your cozy tiny home. Both have their pros and cons.
#1. On-Grid Plumbing
This is one of the tiny house plumbing options. It is a popular tiny house plumbing option. We advise tiny home builders to go for this plumbing option because it’s cost-effective and makes your home more comfortable. You just have to locate a permanent water source and connect your hose to it. Water will run in different sections of the home. You may store some water if you want. You can easily disconnect your tiny house from the water source.
#2. Off-Grid Plumbing
Off-grid tiny house plumbing involves storing water in a water tank. You will have to make space for a water tank inside your tiny home. However, off-grid plumbing costs more than on-grid plumbing because constant maintenance is involved.
Tiny House Plumbing Basics
There are two stages to completing your tiny house plumbing. We have the rough plumbing and the finish plumbing.
1. Rough Plumbing
This involves the installation and routing of pipes to the end destinations such as shower, bathroom sink, kitchen sink, toilet, and where other water appliances are located. Here, you have to install the water inlets, route the pipes and connect the drain pipes. This will enable water to flow well to the different sections where water is needed.
2. Finish Plumbing
This is the type of work that is done after the rough plumbing. Also, the interior work like the interior siding or drywall has to be completed before the finish plumbing can take place. This plumbing involves connecting the supply and drain lines to the plumbing appliances.
When the finish plumbing is completed, your tiny house will be connected to the water source using the water hose and every new plumbing connection have to be tested in case of any mistakes or leakage.
Tiny House Water Hookups
We have two main ways to hook up water to your tiny house. For both methods, there is one challenge which is freezing as it goes from the water source to your tiny home. One of these methods is for a short term while the other longer term. Whatever method you choose, ensure that you insulate it properly.
- Direct Connection
- RV Water Inlet
Direct Connection
This method is more permanent for tiny houses that are not mobile. It is less prone to freezing, unlike the second method. Just ensure that you insulate the buried PEX line that connects to your house. This method is also cheap and neat on the outside but you will need more technical skill or knowledge to do it properly. And if you are moving, the connection needs to be cut.
RV Water Inlet
In this method, a spigot is used as your water source. It is good for tiny homes that are mobile and works well at most campgrounds. You will need a hose and use an RV water inlet to allow the entry of water into your tiny home. However, You have to make sure that the hose you will use doesn’t have chemicals that can contaminate your drinking water. Ensure you use a hose that is safe for drinking.
This method is easy to connect and disconnect unlike the former. It also has its disadvantages like being more prone to freezing, the hose and inlet can get damaged, it being more expensive and the hose connection may leak.
Each method has its pros and cons, you just have to choose a method that suits your needs.
Tiny House Plumbing: Conclusion
In summary, tiny house plumbing is not as difficult as it may seem, you just need the right knowledge and skills. You are the one to also choose which method to use depending on if your tiny house is mobile or not and what will suit your needs.
However note that you have to have access to the water lines in your tiny house, it may not be very convenient access but it should help when you want to fix any problem that arises.
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