Looking into building out detached replica cabooses for a hotel/lodging setup in Eastern Washington. 300 + days of sun per year. Hot summers and cold winters. Looking to build them as energy efficient as possible while watching a budget. 300 - 400 sq ft. Looking for everyone's great ideas. Thanks

Have you got a floorplan for us to look at? At 300- 400ft^2 an efficent floorplan is going to be the most important part of this build. This summer I worked on a superinsulated 600ft^2 house, but on the inside it looked roomy, by using high ceilings, light colors, and an open floorplan. I have seen larger houses with crappy floorplans that looked way smaller.

On an aside question, what all comes with the kits you were looking at? It would seem easy enough to pour four piers, use LVL's to make a floor joist system, filling all cavities with fiberglass, frame some efficent walls (foam sheathed studs work well), put curved trusses on top(and blowing in insulation), and finding a local artizan to design some "wheels" to cover up your four poured piers. They could be made of wood, covered in fiberglass and painted.

I posted on 2 forums as you can see, I saw your other post, I posted this back,

This is the company that builds the kit, and then you take it from there, Looking for all the neat green ideas to incorporate something this small.

http://www.dogpatchandwesternrr.com/

This is the look to achieve:


http://www.guestcaboose.com/Rates.html

Looking at a 10x30 for 1 bedroom, and also a 12x40 for maybe 2 bedrooms
Ceiling be 7 to 8 ft with a curved roof.

The owner of the kit company said the same thing about the piers. With the kit he has an undercarriage and wheels. The wheels are styrafoam covered with fiberglass. He also suggested. Sounds like you and he are on the same page on the frame. I need to figure out best heating and cooling, ventilation, with out getting too carried away. 300 + days of sun, so best way to incorporate solar. I can sell back to the grid where I am at.

Thanks