Tiny Houses

Rio Grande: Towable tiny living, supersized

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The Rio Grande tiny house sits atop a 9.7 m (32 ft) long gooseneck trailer (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
The Rio Grande operates via a cable hookup to a generator or power supply, and also requires a hookup for water (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
Not too many towable tiny homes feature a full-sized bathtub (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
The dining area features folding seating that reveals storage space, in addition to a fold-up table (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
The interior includes a kitchen, lounge and dining area, with full-sized refrigerator, washer and dryer, and wood-burning stove (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
The home comprises an impressive 20.25 sq m (218 sq ft) of main living space and 6.5 sq m (70 sq ft) of sleeping loft space (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
Custom countertop with inlaid river rocks collected by the owners (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
Stairs, which double-up as drawers, lead to the loft sleeping area (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
A secondary sleeping area is in the loft (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
The bedroom area is located over the gooseneck (raised) area of the trailer and accessed by stairs (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
The Rio Grande tiny house sits atop a 9.7 m (32 ft) long gooseneck trailer (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)
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We recently reported on the Custom 30 Foot House by Colorado's Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses, a towable dwelling that's on the larger side for such homes, at 9.1 m (30 ft) long. For those who like their tiny homes supersized, the firm recently followed-up with an even bigger model, dubbed Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande sits atop a 9.7 m (32 ft) gooseneck trailer, which is less than a meter (or a couple of feet) longer than the Custom 30 Foot House. This isn't a lot, but in the small living scene, in which homes can measure as little as 9 sq m (96 sq ft), it's sure to make a difference. The gooseneck trailer was chosen by Rocky Mountain Tiny house boss Greg Parham to offer its owners more stability when towing.

Comprising 20.25 sq m (218 sq ft) of primary living space and 6.5 sq m (70 sq ft) of loft space, the Rio Grande features a river motif formed by taking a propane torch to the cedar siding to create the outline of a flowing river. Inside, rocks collected by the owners were inlaid into the countertop. Reclaimed wood was used for the front door, fold-down porch, rear door, and picture frames.

The interior includes a kitchen, lounge and dining area, with full-sized refrigerator, washer and dryer, and wood-burning stove (Photo: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses)

Like its predecessor, the Rio Grande packs more amenities than you might expect from a towable dwelling. The dining area features folding seating that reveals storage space, in addition to a fold-up table, while the kitchen area boasts a full-sized refrigerator, washer and dryer, wood-burning stove, and a propane range cooker. The kitchen leads onto a bathroom – separated by a sliding door – and this includes a full-sized bath and composting toilet.

The main bedroom is located over the gooseneck (raised) area, and accessed by stairs which double-up as drawers. A secondary sleeping area is in the loft. The Rio Grande requires a hookup to a generator or power supply to keep running, and also has a hookup for water and air-conditioning.

The Rio Grande took Parham six weeks to construct and sold for roughly US$60,000. The video below gives a tour around the home.

Source: Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses

View gallery - 10 images
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6 comments
Fábio Dias
Unless you can make a house (without fridge etc..) for 15.000$/€ it's useless. For 60 grand I can buy a 125 Sqm house where I live.
Buellrider
Pretty nice little home on wheels. Be nice to tow out to a lake and live for the summer.
Tom Lee Mullins
I think that is really nice.
Michael C
"Fábio Dias" wrote "Unless you can make a house (without fridge etc..) for 15.000$/€ it's useless. For 60 grand I can buy a 125 Sqm house where I live."
There is No Way that you could build this with the same materials, applanciances & the extra's for less than $25,000 even with all the hundreds of hours of construction labor free. The cost for the custom gooseneck trailer alone is going to be over $6000 .
You might be able to find a very old small house that needs a lot of fixing & rehab, costs a lot more to run plus the taxes & maintenance but that is a different thing than a large tiny house. post that house listing if it exists.
There is No Particle or OSB board visible and the craftsmanship is done well with no sloppy fits or cheap material.
there are some builders that try to charge this much & more for a much smaller tiny house which i agree is way overcharging. this house is going to be at least $25K in materials alone and probably really around $30K for materials. I don't know how this was insulated and the combo washer/drier does not have a vent which means it might take 2 hrs to dry a load. they had the space so they should have done a stacked pair. It didn't say what the weight is but that is a pretty hefty truck towing it.
Other than a few design quibbles that could make it more space efficient they did a very good job on this model. Anyone know what kind of wood stove they put in?
Milton
@ Michael
Well said about the price. $60K for a complete seems more than fair.
I'd love to get a design of my own built, and when the time comes to do so, hopefully this guy is still around.
on another note:
I don't know why people insist on bashing the washer/dyer all-in ones, but as an owner of one I've gotta set the record straight:
A load of laundry (fully-loading the machine *not over-loading it) takes ~1:45. Thats a wash-cycle AND a dry cycle. No need to transfer the loads, and I have no problem with the 1:45 time. If you are getting a complete cycle that's more than 2 hours, then you are over-loading the machine.
If you don't own one of these awesome little machines, or haven't used one yourself. Then I'd ask that you stop spreading the "takes forever" rumor that I've seen too many people spreading.
I love my washer/dryer all-in-one unit and it ticks me off that I never see them in-stores.
Germano Pecoraro Designer
Finally a trailer wooden decorated. Nice stones embedded in the resin of the plan of the kitchen. Even the internal volumes are quite habitable, compared to other similar solutions.