Tiny House Blog

Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is a designer specializing in sustainable architecture and urban planning.

He is known as the guru of tiny houses and has a real following growing around the country. Jay was recently featured on the Oprah Show.

I live about 20 miles from where Jay is located and hope to tour his tiny house pictured above in the near future.

Jay has many designs to choose from and all geared toward the tiny house market. These homes are stick built or the conventional style building that most of us are used to. Mark Terrano’s recently completed the tiny home pictured below based off of one of Jay Shafer’s plans.

Below is a short movie of the construction of a WeeBee house from one of Jay Safer’s plans.

For more information on how you can get his plans and build one yourself or have him build one for you, go to his site at: Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

WeeBee Construction

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If one were to take a large enough airplane engine with a propeller, and bolt it on to a barn door, it could be made to fly. This is the basic concept behind the average home design today. Through brute force, we use air conditioners and forced-air heaters to make our homes comfortable. It is done this way because the machines exist to heat and cool any building, of any design, in any climate. All it takes is a lot of gas and electricity to change the air temperature to our comfort level.

The problem is that all of this brute-force comfort comes at a high cost to both the homeowner and the environment. The homeowner must pay hundreds or thousands of dollars per year to make up for an energy-inefficient building design. The environment is stressed because of the pollution created from generating excess electricity, burning fossil fuels, and from the inefficient use of building materials.Energy performance is invisible to the average homeowner during the design stage. This is something that can be changed. We need simple, green building guidelines to follow so that building an energy and resource-efficient home does not turn into a complicated research project for the homeowner, architect, or builder.

Many green building elements cost nothing to implement, yet can have a dramatic effect at reducing heating and cooling bills. For example, by orienting your house in an east/west direction (with the long side facing south) along with a carefully designed roof overhang, it becomes much easier to heat your home with the warmth of the sun in the winter and keep it much cooler in the summer. By placing the majority of windows on the south side, the low winter sun will enter under the eaves of the roof, and add much needed heat to the home, and thus lower energy bills.In the summer, when the sun is high in the horizon, the direct sun will be prevented from entering the home, and thus keeping the interior cooler. By keeping west facing windows to a minimum, air conditioning loads can be greatly reduced. By making north windows smaller, less heat will be lost in the winter. These green building design parameters may add nothing to the construction cost.

Other guidelines may add some cost up front, while actually returning a net gain over the long run. For example, a compact fluorescent bulb may cost $14.00 per bulb, while an incandescent bulb costs 50 cents. If the bulbs were to burn 6 hours per day for 4.5 years, the incandescent bulb would be replaced 10 times and cost $21.90 in yearly electricity costs (based on 10 cents per kilowatt hour). The compact fluorescent bulb will last the entire 4.5 years and have an annual electrical cost of $5.91 for the same amount of lightoutput. The total cost for using the incandescent bulbs would be $103.55 while the compact fluorescent would cost $62.95. Even though the compact fluorescent bulb cost $14.00 up front, it actually saves the homeowner $40.60 over the life of the bulb

1. Now, where would you like to put your money? And why is it that the majority of home-owners still use the antiquated incandescant lightbulb?

With good green building design, and the proper use of materials, it is even possible to build a home in the high desert that does not need an air conditioning system. These homes actually exist today and I live in one of them. I know from first hand experience that conserving energy and resources through green design can actually improve your quality of living without sacrificing comfort. It is a win/win scenario.

Ted OwensSyncronos Design

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Recently I have had the opportunity to review Ted Owens Guidebook and DVD - “Building With Awareness.“

Green designer and filmmaker Ted Owens has spent much of his professional career in the field of energy and resource-efficient design. Award-winning filmmaker and designer Ted Owens guides you through the entire construction process of building his elegent and energy-efficient straw bale home. Building for efficiency requires more than just using straw bale for insulation in the walls.

It is the entire house design the will prevent overheating in the hot summer months and high energy bills in the winter. Building With Awareness shows you how to look at the big picture and choose the proper materials and design parameters to insure your home is both comfortable and beautiful.

Beautiful design is a green building principal that is just as important as energy-efficiency. This video and book looks at a home as an entire system – the layout of rooms and windows, the materials chosen for specific areas, and how the home relates to the angle of the sun. All have a dramatic impact on how well the home performs. This video is packed with green-design and construction techniques from professionals working in the cutting edge of home building and design. Many of these concepts add nothing to the construction cost of the home, yet can save the homeowner thousands of dollars in utility bills.

Housebuilding seems complex until you break it down into simple components. By breaking the design and construction into separate elements—each one flowing into the next—the process becomes easy to understand.

Straw bale walls are like working with the oversized blocks that you used as a kid. Once you see the step-by-step demonstration by straw bale expert Stefan Bell, you will know that building your own home is within your grasp. Stefan is not only a master at his craft of straw and mud, he is also engaging and entertaining. Ted’s enthusiasm for straw bale construction is contagious. Learn each step of code-approved techniques for straw bale construction—stacking, noching around posts, window installation, code-required proceedures, how to split straw bales, plaster and stucco preparation—the whole works.

In the adobe section, Ted shows you how to build walls out of mud bricks. Placing thermal mass walls (thick, heavy walls that can absorb and store heat) within your highly insulated exterior walls, is very important—and sometimes overlooked in green building. This will greatly improve the efficiency of any straw bale home. This home stays cool and comfortable inside, without the use of an air-conditioning system, even in the hundred-degree heat of New Mexico. It does this by taking advantage of the local climate and by using adobe thermal mass walls. If adobe is not available in your area, either stone or brick can be used.

This home generates 100% of its own electricity. Wiring and electrical work for straw bale and frame construction are demonstrated by solar energy expert Joe Yarkin. Joe, when he is not working on electrical wiring for straw bale homes, is installing large photovoltaic systems in anarctica for the National Science Foundation. He brings a passion and knowledge of alternative power systems to this video. Joe wires this straw bale and adobe home for both a conventional and photovoltaic electrical system.

Stefan Bell also hosts the sequence on using an all-volunteer crew to apply the first coat of mud to the home’s walls. He demonstrates mud mixtures, application techniques, the use of tools, and additional tips and tricks. Nothing will get you up to speed faster than by watching Stefan go through the entire earth plastering process. By the end, you will want to get your hands dirty yourself. It’s fun!

The finish coat of earth plaster is demonstrated by author and master-of-mud, Keely Meagan. She wrote the original book on earth plastering, “Earth Plasters for Straw Bale Homes”. Keely will show you how to obtain a beautiful white earth plaster finish in a variety of colors—even if you have never plastered a wall in your life. She will show you how to mix the earth plaster and what tools to use. When finished, you end up with a beautiful, paint-free surface on your walls.

In the Guidebook and DVD, you will learn how to install a rainwater cistern, how to construct a rubble trench foundation to conserve concrete, and how to place your windows to maximize solar gain. You will learn how to make small spaces appear larger, and how to make the best use of the space you have.

The purpose of the Guidebook and DVD is to educate, inspire, and give you the confidence to build your own home using a variety of green building materials. This video is an engaging journey through green-home design.The Guidebook and DVD will appeal to both the casually-interested and the professional builder. Whether you are ready to start building or are just interested in the concepts, this video will inspire you to create a living environment that is truly a pleasure to live in. It will be the least expensive tool you buy for saving money in the design and construction of your home.For those of you interested in building a tiny house using straw bales, I would hightly recommend this Guidebook and DVD. You owe it to yourself to at least look it over. Go to the Building with Awareness website now.

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Contributed by: Angela-Parker

So you have decided to go smaller. Depending on your age, you have probably shocked your parents or your children (or if you are a true rebel — maybe both generations in one dramatic swoop!)

Now that you have committed yourself to more sustainable living and a more enjoyable existence with less worry, less responsibility and less “stuff” — you want to determine how to scale back comfortably and fit your desired lifestyle into a tiny home. I have a few tips that may help ease your transition and create a living space that you simply adore!Smaller does not mean less interesting, it usually means just the opposite. You will get more impact with fewer furnishings and your personal style will shine through. Your tiny house should fit your life while keeping you safe, happy, organized and unfettered. It should be designed to tremendously reduce the time, energy and money required to repair, maintain, clean and finance your living quarters so you can spend more of your personal resources enjoying your life.

What is a Tiny Home?

Tiny homes may be stand alone dwellings. They may be (like mine) a tiny cabin with a huge private outdoor space. Yours may be a small condo with a huge semi-private, shared outdoor space (like a private beach or a gated community with plentiful amenities).Perhaps yours is a town house purchased to spend time near your children, grandchildren or your parents — without sacrificing your privacy (they live in one half, you live in the other). Maybe you are an entrepreneur (or small business owner) who has decided that having a leased store front and a leased apartment is a wasteful duplication of resources and you have decided to replace these two separate spaces with a nicer, “all in one” working/dwelling space with the convenience of a downtown location and the ability to utilize more economical modes of public transportation.

The first step to Living Joyfully in a Tiny House

Whatever your situation, during the transition the time will come when you are sitting in the middle of all your “stuff” wondering how you are going to make this tiny house idea work. The Key is to Eliminate Your Excess Stuff. (I’ll be creating a series of articles on the process of observing voluntary simplicity on my WickedBlog, if you need a few tips.) I’ll help you to organize and discard, evaluate and eliminate the treasure trove that you currently call “mine.”Tiny houses encourage you to delve into your life, pamper yourself and spend more time doing what YOU want to do: enjoying more time with family and friends, volunteering for worthy causes, pursuing your creative endeavors, meditating, reading, or whatever you enjoy most.

How to Evaluate, Select or Improve a Tiny House for Full-time Living

1. Determine Your Minimum and Your Optimum Space Requirements. Consider your current and future requirements. If you work from home and do not live alone, for instance, you will probably need a separate room for work. If you have children, you will need a bedroom area for them. If you live alone, you may be able to be happy in a studio style flat with an “office nook” and if you have a 17-year-old child who is headed for college in a few months, a single bedroom “tiny house” with a large living area that has a pull out couch may get you by in a pinch. Determine where you are now and where you will be in the near future and make your decisions with the long-term in mind.
2. Assess Your Potential Tiny House for Essential Features. If you are a gourmet cook, a tiny kitchen will not make you happy. You should consider an open layout so that even a small kitchen has adequate counter and storage space (including a pantry) and the airy feel afforded by a living-area/kitchen combo. If you need to rework the kitchen to make it larger, do so. Conversely, if you seldom eat at home but require a studio for your art or an office for your work, a small simple kitchen will suit your needs perfectly and will mean you have more space for your office/studio.
3. Plan for You, Not for Others. Do not outfit your tiny house with an eye toward resale. You should mold the living space to best suit your needs. Forget about what anyone else thinks. Create a space that is your personal retreat where you are comfortable and happy.
4. Watch wasted space. Although some people want bigger bedrooms, you may want to consider how large the bedroom needs to be. A bedroom should be a serene area that is uncluttered, soothing and conducive to sleep. Keep the television and other distractions in the living area. Your bedroom should be a place to rest, rejuvenate and retire in peace and quiet. It does not need to be huge, it merely needs to be private. Do be sure that you don’t create a bedroom so small that it’s difficult to maneuver around to make your bed or access your closet. Consider a feng shui approach to your sleeping quarters.
5. Consider Outdoor Living Spaces. If you like to entertain, it may be important that you have a larger outdoor patio or screened porch to entertain. You don’t need to maintain indoor space all year round for a few parties you throw during the temperate months. Take the party outside!

You want a space small enough that your life is as uncomplicated as possible, and large enough that you don’t feel smothered. Loving life in a tiny house is accomplished through light, enticing features, abundant storage space, planned organization, and thoughtful, free-flowing floor plans in the space you have.

Live in the Light

No house seems inviting if it is too dark. Be sure your tiny house has an abundance of natural light and has tastefully incorporated artificial light.

Artificial Lighting Techniques

• Consider using light, rather than walls, to separate living areas. (For instance, create bright workspace light in the kitchen area and softer light in the living areas.)
• Use lighted cabinets with glass fronts to push the walls back and make the space seem larger visually and to keep your cabinet contents in easy-to-find, organized groups.
• If you don’t want your cabinet contents showing, you can achieve a similar effect with frosted glass door fronts and lights on the top of cabinets (to push the ceiling up).
• Decorate and accent with light. Showcase a plant or your favorite work of art with directional lighting.
• Check for any “dark corners” even in the closets and/or storage and utility areas and brighten them up with task lighting.
• Consider using full-spectrum bulbs for a more pleasant option to florescent or incandescent bulbs.

Natural Light

• Bring in the outdoors with large, expansive windows.
• Consider tambor-style windows that will allow your the privacy of shades or curtains on the lower panes and natural light above eye-level.
• Consider architectural changes to improve natural light. A bay window in a tiny house is more impactful than the same window in a larger home.
• Skylights can offer more natural light while expanding your ceilings into the clouds.
• Make sure window treatments offer privacy (if needed) without blocking natural light.

Go for Luxury

When making changes in your tiny house, buy the best you can afford. The joy of owning a smaller dwelling is that it’s easier to afford those features you have always wanted. Scaling back means these items will have more impact and it will cost less and bring you the joy of these luxuries.With only a single bathroom, you may be able to afford the footed tub you couldn’t justify when you had to maintain a home with three and a half baths. Now, you can install the granite you always wanted for little more than it would have cost to install laminate counter tops in a much larger kitchen. A single object of fine art will carry more weight than a veritable gallery of art would in a McMansion (and there’s less to dust!)Bookshelves should be built in and should feature glass fronts. The built in feature means that less floorspace is required for this storage space and glass fronts give you the opportunity to keep your treasures dust and maintenance free. You can also place gallery lighting inside to help “push back” the walls in the storage areas for a lighter, brighter, and more spacious feeling room.Vault the ceilings in the living areas. Want special woodwork and trim? Go for it! In a tiny house there are less doors, less square footage and it is more affordable to incorporate such luxuries.

Storage Space

Enjoying life in a tiny house requires an abundance of storage space. Even if you have eliminated the majority of your “stuff” before moving in, having a place for everything to “live” inside your home will reduce your stress. Planning for and organizing adequate storage in a smaller home is essential.

• Storage space is the antidote to the one true enemy of the tiny house… clutter.
• Your storage areas should be well-organized and designed to have the things you need stored where you most often use them.
• Divide rooms with closets, built in bookcases, shelves, entertainment centers and other storage meccas.
• Use glass and light to expand the walls past the back of the storage units.
• Use mirrored doors on closets to provide full-length mirrors for getting dressed, to visually expand rooms and to amplify light.
• Keep your storage space organized, always.
• Use labels, beautiful and/or transparent storage containers, and thoughtful placement to ensure that your closets, cabinets and utility areas stay pleasantly clutter-free.

A properly designed tiny house will offer you all the advantages of gracious living without any of the disadvantages. It’s not an undertaking for an individual who abhors planning, but it can be a wonderful option for those who seek more meaningful pursuits in life, less debt and more comfort and joy. A spectacular tiny house will take into consideration the economies of features, motion, space and style to create an home that welcomes and nurtures its owners.

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This is part 4 of a series on building a small log cabin. This is a reprint from a 1983 Popular Mechanics article by Michael Chotiner with illustrations done by Harry Schaare.Enjoy and I hope this helps in your quest for the ultimate tiny log cabin.

As we move up the walls, alternate each successive log so that their smaller, tapered ends are not all on one end of the wall. Once the logs reach waist height, cut out the door opening.

Brace the logs on both sides. Of course, if your cabin is larger than the one shown here, you’ll have several interior partitions. These can either be made with logs notched into the outside walls or with framed walls later on. Notching the logs is preferred because it yields the same interior finish on all walls and strengthens the structure.

When the logs reach the top of your planned window and door openings, brace the walls and cut out all the open ings at once. Then cut a groove, as shown, in the log ends on both sides for a permanent stiffening spline. Cut and insert the spline and then add at least two more logs over the openings. The top wall log is called the plate log and it should be pegged at least every 4 ft.

The roof on the cabin shown is a combination of purlin and rafter construction to give an idea of what’s involved with both. Normally, you would use only one. The purlins are set into notches cut in the gable ends; the rafters are notched into the plate log and ridge log.

Once purlins or rafters are installed, apply roofing boards for the roof sheathing. Next, apply 15-lb. roofing felt and either asphalt shingles or cedar shingles.

Finally, pre-assemble all window and door jambs, install them in the openings, and add the windows and doors. Allow 3/8-in. clearance for each vertical foot of opening above the jambs for the logs to settle. The spaces around the jambs should be chinked with okum (hemp and pine tar).

Wash the logs with detergent to remove any dirt, and then with a solution of two parts household bleach to one part water to lift out any stains. Rinse the logs t thoroughly with water and let them dry for a week. Then apply a mixture of one part linseed oil to five parts turpentine to the outside of the logs. This treatment should be repeated every five years.

This concludes this article on log cabin building.

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