My Tiny Boo-Boo & How to Properly Care for Your Tiny House Tires
Taking Care of Your Tiny House Tires
Hey!
Great to see you again here on the Tiny House Expedition blog. Or if you’re new, hi! My name is Alaska, aka The Tiny House Concierge. I am a tiny home dweller who makes a living sharing this fabulous lifestyle.
I think I do a pretty good job of getting information out there- but trust me, I am not perfect. In fact, a lot of my knowledge has come from learning the hard way.
As a tiny house concierge, I want to save you pain and suffering, so today, I’ll be sharing one of my recent tiny house boo-boos: I haven’t taken good care of my tiny tires.
Oops.
The Tiny House of Peace is nothing short of my baby, so, of course, I feel terrible about this. Tires are part of a tiny home’s foundation, after all! So in an effort to make amends, I recently spent a couple of hours on the phone with tire and trailer experts to learn proper tire care.
Allow me to save you the time and condense what I learned.
Ahem.
Let's talk maintenance and best practices for tiny house tires.
How to Take Care of Your Tiny House Tires
1) Park on a proper tiny house pad.
When I bought my tiny home, it was parked in an RV park on a gravel pad. This was good. Then, I promptly moved it to someone’s backyard and parked it on grass.
To be fair, I did put pieces of wood under the tires, but dirt, grass, and moisture still worked their way into the rubber grooves as the boards sunk into the ground.
So is parking on grass possible? The short answer is yes, but the better answer is that it’s not a great long-term plan. The soft ground just doesn’t do the chassis (trailer) or tires any favors. That’s why when my family asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I only had one thing in mind: a gravel pad to park a tiny home.
2) Jack up your tiny house and place it on supports.
If you have plans to buy a tiny house, you should know that it’s a good idea to jack up your home and place it on wood supports. Don’t use cinder blocks.
I repeat: don’t use cinder blocks (or pavers!). They will crumble, I promise.
Jacking up your tiny home has a few benefits. First, it will turn your bouncy house into a stable home. Also, it will take weight off of your tiny house tires. Win-win!
Please note that the goal is not to jack up your house until the tires don’t touch the ground; you just want to relieve them of some weight. That being said, some people choose to remove the tires entirely, either as a preference or to comply with legal tiny home parking requirements set by a municipality.
3) Cover your tiny house tires.
We drive our cars too much to bother, but since your tiny house will likely sit for extended periods, it’s a good idea to cover the tires. I did not, and my tires were exposed to sun, rain, snow, ice, and more than one dog who wanted to *buy a tiny house.*
Bonus tip: torque the lug nuts before travel.
So if you want to protect your tires from dog pee and the elements, you’ll want to invest in high-quality tire covers. I wish I’d done this from the beginning, but live and learn, you know?
4) Inspect your tiny house tires regularly.
This is another tiny house tire mistake I made. And then a family of wasps built a nest inside my wheel well.
If you don’t plan to offer your tiny home as a critter-friendly Airbnb, you’ll want to regularly inspect your tires and the surrounding areas for such things. You’ll also want to be watchful of cracks in the rubber, wearing of the tread, and tire rot.
Tiny House Tires: Lesson Learned!
Wow! I feel so much lighter after confessing my tiny house tire sins. Thank you for listening! I hope this information saves you the five-hundred-dollar set of tires my mistakes cost me.
If you live tiny or plan to, be sure to share this post with yourself, so you’ll have these tips for reference. Oh, and subscribe to this blog while you’re at it because there is no better source of tiny house 4-1-1 than Tiny House Expedition!
Watch for more tiny house tire maintenance advice to prepare for a move:
Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back in two weeks. 🙂
-Alaska
Alaska is a writer, realtor, and tiny homeowner living in the great state of Colorado. She is the founder of The Tiny House Concierge, a company that offers consultation and copywriting services for people looking to rethink their housing and rewrite their lives. In addition to her website, she can be found on Instagram and YouTube.
