You can’t spend much time involved with the tiny house industry without hearing two names – Tumbleweed Tiny Homes and Four Lights. What do these two seemingly different companies have in common, and which one is the better choice for homeowners looking to go small with their home? The story behind both companies is interesting, and provides insight into two of the leading firms in the industry.

Tumbleweed Tiny Homes Background

We’ll start with Tumbleweed, as it’s the older of the two companies. It was founded by Jay Shafer (who now owns Four Lights, after leaving Tumbleweed to his business partner in order to pursue other options). The company was founded back in 1999, and has since grown to include two national locations. The company’s original home (and primary location today) is in Sonoma, California, but they’ve also extended their operations to Colorado.

Tumbleweed offers nine different home plans, including four mobile tiny homes and numerous cottages designed to be installed on a permanent foundation (not a trailer). While the company sells plans for all of its homes for customer construction, it only builds the four mobile tiny houses – the Elm, Cypress, Linden and Mica. All four were designed by employees and are available in a number of lengths and widths, with a wide range of potential customization options (dormers, door positons, skylights, appliances included, etc.).

The company’s motto is, “Dream Big. Live Tiny,” and their creations certainly help owners do exactly that. You’ll find Tumbleweed homes all around the country, many of which have been profiled online, as well as through several cable networks, helping bring awareness to the tiny house movement.

Steve Weissmann is currently president of Tumbleweed. I have interacted with him over the Web a couple times and found him to be friendly and genuine. Here is an interesting video from when Jay Shafer still represented Tumbleweed:

Four Lights

Four Lights is Jay Shafer’s new company and you’ll find a lot of similarities between it and Tumbleweed. However, where Tumbleweed offers four mobile tiny homes, Four Lights offers only two that are really designed for ongoing mobility. The remaining four models are designed for installation on a permanent foundation. There are some remarkable similarities between Four Lights’ homes and those offered by Tumbleweed.

While that’s partially due to Shafer’s design work, it’s also due to the choice of materials, and adherence to classic architectural designs (for instance, the Gifford is built with an American Craftsman style). One difference here is the fact that some of Four Lights’ homes offer bigger tiny living options than Tumbleweed. For example, the Marie Colvin comes with 288 square feet standard, and can be configured to have much more. The Marmara can be designed with over 880 square feet, making these two options good choices for families with children, more than other models on the market.

Four Lights has grown to employ four people, although Jay still does all the design work and furnishes those homes customers order with appliances and other furnishings.

Understanding Jay Shafer

If you’re living in a tiny house or considering a move, then you can most likely thank one man – Jay Shafer. While he’s not the only pioneer in the industry, he does get credit for a significant amount of the movement’s traction, with at least one interviewer crediting him with, “practically inventing what is now known as the tiny house.”

So, who is this guy, this father of the modern tiny home?

Actually, Jay’s relationship with smaller living goes back to the 1990s when he built his own tiny house. Until that point, he’d been living in an Airstream trailer, but finding that it wasn’t really that great for year-round occupancy, he set out to create something that was. Thus, he built his first tiny house and moved himself in. The home won the “Most Innovative Design” award from Natural Home Magazine for 1999, and that spurred him to decide to make a career shift – to designing tiny homes.

Jay didn’t let his lack of an architectural degree hold him back, either. Part of that was his natural bent toward design, and another was his inner artist (he holds an art degree, actually). Another element was his outlook on what a home can and should be – he says that when he analyzed the normal house and removed all the unnecessary elements, the result was a very small home indeed.

Tumbleweed Tiny Homes was born shortly after Jay’s realization that he could make such a dramatic career change. However, his tenure with Tumbleweed wouldn’t last more than a few years. He decided to leave the company to his business partner in 2012 to found a different tiny house company – Four Lights.

Perhaps the most telling thing about both Four Lights and Tumbleweed is Jay’s personal philosophy. In his book The Small House Book, he say, “When everything in our immediate environment is essential to our contented survival, home and the life within will take on a truly essential quality.” It’s about efficiency, but also about essentials and eliminating needless, unnecessary things that do little more than tie you down with responsibilities (building on the theory that everything you own, owns you in return).

Which Is Right for You?

Between Four Lights and Tumbleweed Tiny Homes, you have an incredible range of options whether you want to build your own tiny home based on professional designs or buy one pre-constructed. So, which company is right for your needs? Really, you can’t go wrong with either one. Both companies take considerable pride in creating designs that are at once aesthetically pleasing and efficient. Both companies have deep roots in the tiny house community thanks to Jay Shafer. Both companies have reputations for quality, innovation and customization. You’ll even find that both of them can offer furnishings and appliances that fit (and work) perfectly within a tiny house.

Warming Your Tiny Home – What Are the Best Tiny House Heaters?

Living in a tiny house doesn’t automatically exempt you from the same concerns that face any other homeowner. You still have dishes to wash. Laundry still piles up. The floor still needs to be swept and mopped. You still need to heat your home, as well. If you’re struggling with the question of how to keep your tiny home comfortable during the cold months of the year, there are plenty of choices out there. They range from mini split systems to combo window units and standalone units, but which are the best tiny house heaters on the market? It can be confusing to find the right solution to your needs, but the following guide will help you make sense of the options.

Mini Split Systems

This might sound like a strange HVAC system at first glance, but the basic concepts should be familiar to anyone who has ever owned a home with central heating and air. It’s essentially shrunk down version made to fit a smaller home rather than a larger, conventional home.

A mini split system relies on the same basic components as a central HVAC system, minus the ductwork. You’ll have an evaporator and an air handler unit. The evaporator is mounted outside the home. The tongue is the most common place for installation, but some homes are designed to have them mounted at the rear (they cannot be installed on the sides if the home will be mobile). The evaporator is connected through the wall to the interior air handler, which is where you’ll find your temperature controls, on/off switch and other functions.

There are a few caveats to using a mini split system. While these are certainly the most efficient option, they must be installed by a licensed HVAC technician. That automatically ups your cost if you’re doing this on your own (rather than buying a pre-built tiny home from one of the many companies out there). You also need to ensure that you choose the right model. Most mini split systems run on 240 volts, which requires special wiring. However, there are a few 120-volt systems on the market. You’ll just have to do some digging to find them. You’ll also need to ensure that you get the right BTU rating (9,000 BTUs is about the minimum, and should be sufficient for a tiny house up to about 500 square feet, but always check the manufacturer’s ratings and recommendations).

Finally, most mini split systems draw too much power to be truly feasible in an off-grid setting. A single speed unit will draw somewhere around 1,200 watts. A multi-speed unit can draw up to 400 watts on low, which is more feasible, but might not heat your home enough if you live in a very cold climate and/or the home is not correctly insulated.

Combo Window Unit

Chances are good that unless you live in a northern climate, you’ll need both heating and air conditioning. You can solve both problems with a combo window unit. These come in a range of heating and cooling capacities, and install just like a standard window unit. When the weather turns cold, you simply switch to the heating feature of the unit. It’s really that simple. Everything’s contained in the same box, and there’s very little maintenance to worry about. You also don’t have to worry about having the unit installed by an HVAC professional.

As with mini split systems, there are a few considerations here. First, window units are not as efficient as other options (particularly a mini split). Second, most combo units require 240 volts of power, which means you’ll have to accommodate those needs during the build with specific wiring (and a separate breaker in the fuse box for the unit). There are 120-volt units on the market, but they tend to be smaller, and less widely available, so plan on a lengthy search if this is your choice.

Another consideration here is that a window unit (whether a single AC system or a combo heat and AC) is not the most efficient solution available in terms of insulation. While they can be modified with a little creativity, most of these units still rely on the accordion plastic partition to separate the indoors from the outdoors. That will allow cold air into the home, causing the unit to run more often than would be necessary with a different type of heating system.

Through the Wall

The above picture is a through the wall installation kit. “Through the wall” systems are not much different from window units, and you’ll find heaters, combo heat and air, and air conditioning systems available in this category. They share all the same considerations as combo window units discussed above, but they have one additional factor that you should know. Because they’re installed in the wall itself, they’re best installed during the build. They can be installed afterward, but this will require cutting through the interior wall, as well as the insulation and the exterior siding. Ideal placement may be compromised due to the installation of structural supports for the home as well.

Infrared Portable Space Heaters

Space heaters might not sound like the ideal solution for heating an entire home, but when you live in a tiny house, they suddenly become very promising. Of course, there are many different types of space heaters out there, including propane, kerosene, and electric. Of the many options, electric is the better choice (less risk of fire, and they can be operated on a solar system if need be). Infrared heaters like the Dr. Infrared Heater™ can provide all the heat you need for your entire home, and offer advanced functionality, like a wider range of temperature control (50 to 85 degrees with the Dr. Heater model, plus it features a thermostat so it cycles on and off as needed). The biggest problem with a space heater is that it isn’t likely to be cost effective if you use it much. We do not recommend going with the space heater option if you live in a cold climate.

Wood Burning Stove

Wood burning stoves can be a great option if your tiny house is going to be off the grid. The heat can also be extremely cost effective if you are going to live on land where trees tend to fall anyway. I personally love the rustic, throwback nature of having a wood burning stove in a tiny house. One of the biggest downsides can be space. Make sure you pay close attention to the dimensions before buying any wood burning stove. They can be monsters in a small floor plan.

These are some of the best tiny house heaters on the market, but there are many others. Quite a few owners choose to go with a wood-fired stove to ensure they can be completely off the grid. With a little careful consideration, you’ll find the perfect option to keep you warm and toasty.