American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers
Abstract
Through TV s hows, websites, and other popular media, a relatively new class of
affordable residences, “tiny houses,” is attracting home buyers’ interest but so far has
not undergone much scrutiny from the engineering community. The author became
interested in this topic because when he was young his family “summered” in very
small cabins and sometimes vacationed in towed-campers—both share similarities
with modern tiny houses that are generally defi ned as being 400 ft2 (37.2 m2) in fl oor
area or smaller
