Plumbing for backyard trailer

[chrisbuzzard]

My wife and I are getting closer to buying a small trailer. So one of the things we are discussing is paying for it by renting it out for a year or two while it sits in our backyard (very common here in Austin, lots of young people / college students).

So the issue we are stuck with at the moment is the bathroom issue (or more aptly the poo-poo issue). Having a stranger coming in through the back door in the middle of the night to use the head would be inconvenient at the least and unsettling at 3am. Our back yard is a very gentle slope away from the house, which would be great for grey water. Do I just empty it for them periodically? The sewer cleanout in on the other side of the house and not reachable from where the trailer will be and it the cleanout is slightly uphill anyway. And even if I emptied the sewage into a blue tote, how do I get it OUT of the blue tote? There is water and drain inside near the back of the house where our utility room is, but again we have a pier and beam house and the pipes would be higher than the floor of the trailer.

Perhaps there just isn't a workable solution? Opinions?

[steve dunham]

I think you are being highly optimistic about renting out your trailer for a year or two to college students . The rent collected may well pay the monthly trailer payments but after 2 years the trailer may be worth less than what you still owe.
We raised 5 kids and trying to get them to clean their room was a full time job .Getting rid of the sewage waste may end up being the least of your problems.
We own a lake cabin which we rented out on occasion and when all was said and done , we lost money and spent numerous hours repairing damage .

[chrisbuzzard]

Young professional type college students, not undergrads. There won't really be any room in there to party, plus the trailer would be in viewing distance from the house.

[k corbin]

You can pump liquids up a hill from a holding tank.

Hope you are really close friends with all of your neighbors and that they are supportive of your new rental unit plan.

[stevebaz]

I don't see how this works unless you like to take your new roomie with you.

Anyway this will probably fit your needs.

Bathroom Anywhere Macerator Pump 120 Volt-38724.0 - The Home Depot

[Franswa]

there are units specifically designed for people who want to add a bathroom in the basement and where the sewer outlet is too high to do it.....look for one of those in a wholesale plumbing place...they are cheap and easy to install...the only caveat would be the head rating of the pump (difference between bottom of tank and outlet at the house end)

you would have to run a water line (3/4"), a return sewer line(1.5 or 2") and electrical wire to the site

these units are all assembled, ready to go and all you need to do is connect the different lines to them......and dig a three foot or so hole of course

[chrisbuzzard]

Originally Posted by k corbin

You can pump liquids up a hill from a holding tank.

Hope you are really close friends with all of your neighbors and that they are supportive of your new rental unit plan.

We have a privacy fence. I'm pretty sure the only difference between then and now would be one more car out front. Also, we're a bit more libertarian than other cities...

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by chrisbuzzard

We have a privacy fence. I'm pretty sure the only difference between then and now would be one more car out front. Also, we're a bit more libertarian than other cities...

I'd still check bylaws before making plans.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

I don't see how this works unless you like to take your new roomie with you.

They call it trading places

[Darral T.]

I cant nightmare of renting my Scamp out. My wife doesnt even want our GROWN kids sleeping in it when they're up...we do!

(Man..sometimes like its a sacred thing.... )

[chrisbuzzard]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I'd still check bylaws before making plans.

We don't have a neighborhood association (thank the gods).

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by chrisbuzzard

We don't have a neighborhood association (thank the gods).

BUT, you do have State Laws, County Ordinances, and if live inside a city limits you have City Ordinances. To be sure you're fully covered contact all of them.
There's also in insurance issue.

[Kai in Seattle]

When our son was a senior in high school he bought himself a used silver trailer (airstream knockoff) and we set him up in the sideyard away from the main road.

We put in a propane tank pad, ran a long line to the sewer (dug a long, long trench, making sure to slope it correctly), ran a long, wrapped hose for water, and used heavy-duty extension cords. Thus, his last 8 months with us he had his own "apartment." We installed a brand new little 110 fridge, and he moved out/in.

We learned a few things from all that.

1. There are still "coming and going" issues.

2. Those trailers are generally NOT designed for full-time living. All systems begin to wear out faster than you thought possible (including inner walls, upholstery, etc). A "park" type model would be designed for full time living, but his wasn't a park model.

3. It costs more than you expect to set it up properly, even if you cut corners as we did.

4. Although it's still YOUR property, and you have full view of the trailer from your windows, you may well find ourself looking out at a gaggle of folks lolling about freely all over the place, even "graduate students" can still be relatively young people, and their friends wn't have been vetted by your rental process--and are under neither your nor your tentant's entire control. And renters are, well, let's face it, renters. They likely aren't going to ever feel the same responsibility toward YOUR property as you do.

Would we do it again? Wow. No. The trailer really went downhill in only the 8 months, and we were never free from worrying about it. Our neighbors were fine with it, we didn't even consider checking ordinances (probably not actually permitted), and our son was pretty happy with the arrangement, but it would've been easier in retrospect to just cut a new door from the outside into his bedroom and make do with that.

Bearing in mind it was HIS trailer and he was younger...

If I wanted the trailer for myself later, I wouldn't rent it out first on any kind of a long-term basis.

As a temporary visitor space, fine. A time or two a year. but for months and months on end? No.

Just our experience.

Seems like a really good idea--but the details pile up on you.

I think I'd just start setting aside some money each month for those two years in a special savings account to buy your trailer when you're ready to start using it, but YMMV, of course.c


BEST

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by chrisbuzzard

We don't have a neighborhood association (thank the gods).

Nothing to do with a neighbourhood associations.

All counties/districts/cities have building codes that outline how & where sewage piping and or storm drains can be constructed.

As far as your earlier question about what you do with waste that you have drained into a portable tote. I have a fairly small one so I can easily lift it and dump it into a toilet and flush - much the same as you would do with a porta potty. Although my tote is fairly small I still need to dump it at about 1/3 at at a time so as to not overflow the toilet.

[Kevin in Denver]

I'm so interested in this idea that I wound up buying one each of my three favorites: Scamp, Casita, Lil'Snoozy.

Since Fiberglass egg trailers have the least amount of depreciation in the sector, I haven't strayed yet, even though stick builts can be much larger for half the price. (A stick built trailer roof will eventually leak)

I'm still experimenting but I have some some information to report:

1. You can make at least $800/month for 6 months a year without even hooking it up through Outdoorsy.co -- You'll sometimes compete with commercial outfits That's a Casita for $120/night.

2. I like these numbers a lot. I could buy a $200k condo and rent it out for $50/night long term, or a new Casita for $18k and rent it for $120/night through the website.

3. I lucked into an $8500 Scamp and rent it long term for $400-$500/month.
All the hookups cost about $1200.

4. Your tenant must live stealthily or yes, the neighbors will turn you in and the City will shut you down. There is no fine for the first offense (long story).

5. The interior construction of the Snoozy is of such high quality that I really don't expect significant devaluation from full time living. I did have to install a Saniflo Compact macerating toilet .

6. In order to hide the shenanigans from the neighbors, I have been building garages to put them in. They are cheap ($10k to $20k), easy to permit, and also do not depreciate.

[David B.]

Kevin, if you are putting the trailers inside buildings, why wouldn't you purchase the cheaper stick built trailers, since it isn't going to rain inside anyway?
Dave & Paula

[Darwin Maring]

Originally Posted by chrisbuzzard

Young professional type college students, not undergrads. There won't really be any room in there to party, plus the trailer would be in viewing distance from the house.

OH Contraire. You can party anywhere, in a boat, a camper, a closet. Young people cut loose once they gat away from mom and dad.

[Jon in AZ]

Is anybody else seeing a huge red flag here in terms of liability?

If a "tenant" were to be injured in the course of using an unapproved housing unit, the property owner could find themselves on the wrong end of a lawsuit, denied liability coverage and, if the injury were serious enough, subject to criminal prosecution.

[Casita Greg]

If something bad were to happen, you could find yourself being sued for quite a bit. Not only may you wind up losing your trailer, but may possibly lose your home and savings too. Your insurance would probably pull the rug out on you and deny coverage if they found that you were renting it out. Seems like it has the potential to be more of a hassle than it's worth. And who in their right mind would want to go out there all the time to schlog around other peoples $#!T. Really? Gotta be an easier way to make a buck than that. And openly dumping gray water on the ground will surely endear you to your neighbors, not to mention earning some notoriety with the Health Department, (think big pollution fines.)

[steve dunham]

I assumed that the post was written as a joke to elicit a response.
The whole scenario is just too silly and ridiculous to be plausible . It sounds / looks /reads a lot like a headline / article from the Onion.