Tiny House Blog

At first glance you would not think of Cabin Creek Timber Frame company as a tiny house builder. If you view their site you will see huge timber frame homes. But don’t let this first impression fool you. I discovered that Cabin Creek Timber Frames takes their left over wood and builds tiny structures. Recently I communicated with Norma Jo Bell who gave me some information I wanted to share with you about this alternate building style for tiny houses.

I personally think the 12 x 16 with the half loft would make a great tiny home….at a great price. One could enclose it with (SIPS) structurally insulated panels and have an extremely energy efficient unit. Depending on how it was finished out it could even qualify for the ‘new home’ tax credit. The 12ft x 12 ft compound joinery frame in the video is not on attached price list yet but it will sell for $6,000.

The 12 ft x 12 ft compound joinery timber frame and the 12 ft by 16 ft with half loft are both made with surplus lumber from other timber frame projects — thus the low cost.

All of our frames have been trial assembled in our beamery. So they can be reassembled anywhere. We can either reassemble them for you or send a detailed drawing of where the pieces go. Every piece has a handwritten number that corresponds with its location and sometimes direction in the timber frame.

Right now the prices are about a dollar a mile to the recipients location from our beamery here in Franklin, NC. If the frame is small they usually share the load with some thing else going near that location to save on costs. We have been using Custom Transport out of Brooksville, IN, 1-800-338-6288, as a jobber for our shipping. We have been quite happy with them for the past 1-1/2 to 2 years now.

The low prices on these frames – have a reason…. they are not ‘custom’ they were either cut when we had some down time or cut by one of our craftsmen to raise extra money for themselves. We put them on display outside our beamery and people like what they see and stop. These frames are not something we have all the time….while not built for a specific person – they are still at this time one of a kind.

They are handcrafted by our timber framers not cut by machines. We would invite you to compare our craftmenship to anyone that does timber framing regardless of where they are.

So if you thinking of a timber frame tiny house be sure and check out Cabin Creek Timber Frames.

Ann Holley from ProtoHaus wrote that she will be giving a lecture on the ProtoHaus project Friday November 13 at Alfred University. The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Science Center (building 13 on the map).

Ann will begin at 12:20 and the event will be over at 1:10. There will be an open house right after the lecture. If you are in the area and would like to come Ann would be happy to see you there! The address is: Alfred University · 1 Saxon Drive · Alfred, NY. You can find a campus map at http://www.alfred.edu/map/

“Learn by doing” isn’t that what education is all about and wouldn’t you think so in the field of architecture.

The Rural Studio is a design-build architecture studio run by Auburn University whose goal is to teach students both social responsibility while also providing safe, fine constructed homes with inspirational design for poor communities in rural west Alabama.

The project known as the 20K project is an ongoing project now into it 6th year. The project is based on trying to design and build and create alternative forms of housing on an extremely tight budget.

The project is based on the 20K limit to design and build a house for $10,000 for materials and with a proposed labor cost of $10,000, therefore not exceeding $20,000. Continue Reading »

Kent, I continually check into Tiny House Blog because it is about so much more than small buildings. For me, the tiny house movement has led to a much greater awareness of community development, sustainability, our environment, local food initiatives, and my child’s future. Is this what was supposed to happen? Recently, I saw your note asking for updates on past feature posts so I thought I would send ours in.

Since our post on Tiny House Blog last spring we have had over 150 people tour Camp Coyote and Farmhouse Life. I am often surprised by people’s positive reaction to our little buildings. Most comment that Camp Coyote is the ideal place to “get away.” Continue Reading »

Moonlight in Vermont? Sunlight might be better for this tiny solar powered home built by Alex Carver and Christopher North of Northern Timbers in Vermont. The Burlington Microhome is a 100 square-foot modular house that is off-grid and ready for additional modules to be added to it if needed.

Northern Timbers built the microhome with design help from landscape architect and metal artist H. Keith Wagner.

Much of Northern Timbers’ work reinterprets the traditional Vermont vernacular by introducing new applications of diverse materials into the residential setting, resulting in homes with a practical yet creative aesthetic. Continue Reading »

Ryan one of our readers from Iowa sent me this cool little house model and plans that he had found in an antique store. I’ll let Ryan tell you a little more about it.

Here are some photos, I could not resist trying to get one of the house in the landscape. I found the house model at a very nice antique shop on the Iowa Minnesota border. I paid $5 for it. The proprietor thought it came from an estate in Minnesota.

He had no idea if the house was ever built. The floor plan was tucked inside the model. I really like the drawing, it helps hint at the personality and interests of the designer and builder. Continue Reading »

To close off October, I thought this picture was appropriate. The fall colors are extremely bright and the log cabin just blends into them beautifully.

I’m sure this is located back east somewhere, as the log structure is typical of that area and generally we don’t get those bright orange leaves out in the west where I live. If anyone can track down the location of this photograph, I will add it to the post.

Ed sent me this today and I thought it would make a great homeless shelter. At $50 each surely we could afford to do something like this for the homeless in America and elsewhere. I’ll let Ed tell you more about it.

I wanted to share with you my mini cabin-sleep pod I built for a recent 4 day music fest I went to. With decent tents costing up to $100, I built this for around $50.

The dimensions are 4 foot by 6.5, with a 3.5 width bunk inside with storage underneath and room for me to maneuver in. (IE, change clothes and sponge baths. Heh) Being 6 feet tall, I was quite cozy in it. Its a little heavy, but it was fairly easy for me to simply tip it and slide it into the back of my truck. I got a number of compliments. Continue Reading »

If you own your own tiny house or are planning to build one, knowing how to do the construction is an education all its own.

I recently discovered a new resource from the Better Homes and Gardens Network’s DIYadvice.com that is the go-to home improvement website for all do-it-yourselfers, from the novice to the experienced, containing step-by-step detailed instruction on everything from drywall, plumbing, electrical and bathrooms and much, much more. If you are building that tiny house this is a great way to get the help you need.

Dave one of the Tiny House Blog readers has consistently sent me some great articles and I don’t always manage to fit them in. Here is one he sent recently that not only could help the world but I think could be used in a tiny house situation or help the homeless as well.

“On the outside, it looks like an ordinary sports bottle. On the inside, there’s a miracle: an extremely advanced filtration system that makes murky water filled with deadly viruses and bacteria completely clean in just seconds.”
Allison Barrie, FoxNews.com

Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it — inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. Continue Reading »