Patrick Sughrue built his first tiny house on wheels in 1973 on the back of a 1949 Dodge flatbed truck. He has been involved in building green, high-performance homes for over 30 years with special interest in passive solar design, energy-efficiency and innovative products. He and his wife Jill hand built their own home north of Vancouver, WA with structural insulated panels (SIPs) over 20 years ago. He has been using SIPs in his designs ever since and now brings this experience to Tiny Houses on Wheels, Accessory Dwelling Units, (ADUs) and small ground-bound cabins, cottages, studios and workshops.
Patrick is perhaps best known for his METRO tiny house. The METRO is the brainchild of Artisan Tiny House and is a nod to the mid-century curved travel trailers, with aluminum siding and exposed fasteners. She has traveled regionally, from Wenatchee, Washington and The Dalles, Oregon to some shows in Portland, Oregon. Everywhere she went people were amazed at how light and open she is, often commenting they could not believe she was only 20 ft. long.
Patrick describes the METRO as follows:
The METRO tiny house is built on a custom tiny house trailer from Great Northern in southern Oregon. With 2- 5,000 lb. axles. This model came in at 8,600 lbs.
Premier SIPs (structural insulated panels) were bolted to the trailer for the floor and the SIP walls were bolted to the floor and trailer using Simpson Strong-Tie fasteners. The curved SIP roof on the METRO tiny house was formed in a large press in several pieces. The original is R-16 all the way around. (we can now achiever higher R-values with Platinum SIPs)
Since we used FSC redwood on the outside that theme was carried inside with a redwood loft and window trim. We envisioned the METRO tiny house as an Airbnb or backyard spare bedroom, so the appliances are small and efficient. With six feet of counter space on each side of the galley kitchen leaves plenty of room for larger appliances if you want.
We spent over $37,000 in materials because we wanted our show model to reflect our commitment to green building
We assume you will want to customize your home to fit your lifestyle. When you make the commitment to build you will be amazed as the materials and help you need come to you. Be open and flexible to the gifts the universe has for you.
We use the Park Model code ANSI a119.5 as our guide for designing and building. So you will notice the loft and bath ceiling height at 6’-6”.
