Tiny House Blog

One thing I really am enjoying about writing this blog is the people I am meeting along the way. As I research and look for people living the small house life style it is fun get to acquainted with them.

This time I had the privilege of meeting Stephanie who is a member of the Yahoo Tiny House Group located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TinyHouses/ which I also belong to and recommend that you join.

Steph recently moved from Tucson, AZ to Portland, OR and is living in a floating home. Steph is a fantastic writer in my opinion and I will let her give you a brief introduction below to her home. To get her full story and look at more pictures please go to her blog called Coming Unmoored.

“What?!” you say. “What the hell is a floating home? And why in the world would you do that?”

Well, to start with, a floating home is a house that has been built upon a raft-like system called a “float”. Typically they are docked in a slip-space (or in some cases two adjoining ones) in a marina. Mine is sitting in a marina about 20 minutes outside of downtown Portland in the Columbia River. If you’re familiar with the area, it’s just south of McGuire Island and cycling distance to Blue Lake Regional Park.

My house started its life as a boathouse in the 1960’s. At some point, one of its enterprising owners began to carve out living space from the boat well. It has been remodeled by subsequent owners, each time expanding the living space at the expense of boat space.

Currently the living space is a little over 500 square feet. When I finish filling-in the boat well, it will be roughly 650 square feet. Small, I know. Even by floating home standards, which are still smaller than what’s happening on land.

Following are a few more pictures of Steph’s home. I will be writing a followup post with some resources and and other examples of small floating homes in a couple of days.

Please visit Steph’s blog and enjoy a great read!

Slip where floating cottage is located

Living Room

Boat well to be converted to Office/Laundry

Inside Boat well

I’m quite a big fan of Mother Earth News and in most of their recent issues there are always articles on SIPs or Structural Insulated Panels.

I started doing some research on tiny houses using SIPs and found a great site and company who specializes in tiny or small buildings called Little Green Buildings based in Port Angeles, Washington.

They are a small company with great customer service. There buildings range in size from 32 square feet to 400 square feet and are quite reasonably priced.

Getaway

Why Use SIPs? Here are a few good reasons.

• Extremely energy efficient.
• Super insulated floors, walls and roof.
• Small heating and air conditioning equipment = much lower utility bills and no more cold feet.
• Because of the core system of rigid foam no mold, no bugs.
• And a great fire rating!
• Stronger, straighter, three times faster to build.
• No vapor barriers to worry about.
• Little or no waste.
• No need for bird blocks or ridge vents.
• Storm and earthquake resistant.
• Snow loads just about anywhere on earth.
• Super quiet. Need a place to shut out the noise of every day life?
• More space. Because the roof itself is insulated “no attic”, more room for loft or storage space.

Here are a few more samples of Little Green Buildings designs:

Chalet

Beachfront Study

River Shack

CalEarth’s Eco-Dome can be built out of nothing more than dirt, barbed wire, and the same kind of polyethylene bags used to make sandbags to contain floods. The house will probably last longer if you mix some cement with the dirt, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

The bags come in the form of a continuous tube, and the house is constructed of layers of dirt-filled “snakes,” with barbed wire laid between them to keep them from moving.

This 400 sq. ft. home is one of CalEarth’s plans that can be built from the dirt on your land.

It’s 21st-century adobe: faster and easier than traditional adobe construction, because you don’t have to make and dry individual bricks. This construction technique can be learned quickly by anyone, and is about the cheapest possible way to build lasting shelter. But these are by no means temporary buildings; they are so robust that they meet California building codes.

Plans and a DVD and bags are available at the CalEarth’s Eco-Dome web site.

Eco-Dome video of the construction:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMNzoWkXTtc

Eco-Dome pictures of the structure.

Called park models because they can be parked anywhere, they are a maximum of 400 square feet under federal guidelines and therefore not taxed as permanent dwellings, making them an attractive option for beach, lake or mountain retreats.

Though they are considered recreational vehicles, they look more like small houses. They are available in many different varieties. From rustic to modern and sophisticated, you decide what style is best for you.

Breckenridge Glassic

Glassic Kitchen and Living Area

Costing $20,000 to $80,000, they are subject to sales tax when purchased, and depending on the state or the municipality, they may require annual licensing and registration, for fees from $30 to about $300.

The New York Times has a great article on this style of living. To read “A Resort Cottage to Go” Click Here.

There are several manufactures of Park Homes and I have listed a few below:

• Breckenridge
• Cavco
• Dutch Park Homes Inc.
• Park Model Direct
• Superior Park Model Homes
• Woodland Park Inc.

Park Model photos  produced by Breckenridge.

I’m proud to announce the Tiny House Plans page.

If you are looking for plans to build a tiny house, please start with our Plans page. Click on the Plans page above. This is an ongoing project and plans will be added as more are become available.

If you know of any great plans or have some yourself please let me know by contacting me through the Contact page above.

Enjoy!

Tiny Homes Weekender
(Click on the link on the Plans page)

Simon and Jasmine Saville have built a very unusual eco-house in Wales. This is not your transportable home but one built right into the land. Very different and not your run of the mill home.

Simon and his wife Jasmine had the offer to use this land if they built an eco-friendly house and were were offerd 2,000 pounds to help construct it. Simon with the help of Jasmine’s father built the home in four months.

A total of 3,000 pounds and a lot of manpower and effort in finding eco-friendly products they built this beautiful home.

To read an interview with Jasmine and see the construction of the home, be sure and visit there website.

Click on the plans below to enlarge.

Some key points of the design and construction:

• • Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
  • Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
  • Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
  • Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthetically fantastic and very easy to do
  • Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
  • Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
  • Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
  • Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
  • Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring…)
  • Wood burner for heating – renewable and locally plentiful
  • Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
  • Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
  • Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
  • Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
  • Water by gravity from nearby spring
  • Compost toilet
  • Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

Eco-house pictures of the inside of the house. Please visit Simon’s Website for more information and pictures of the construction of the house.

Kitchen

Living Room

Complete View

Visit Simon’s Website Here.

Jan of CoyoteCottage.com in Eastern Washington agreed to let me showcase his small home here at the tiny house blog.

Jan’s title on his site says it like it is: “Creating a simple shelter-and living with it” or “Building a small, functional cabin for full time living.”

Jan started his cabin using the little house plans which he bought from the CountryPlans website back in 2003. Initially planning to construct a 1000 sq ft home, he changed his mind when they bought the property and decided to go instead with a small 16 x 16 or 250 sq ft cabin. (he later added an addition) He completed all the construction himself, so he wanted to make sure that he was up to the challenge.

Completed floor plan with addition

Jan walks you through the construction of his family’s cabin, discusses issues such as heating, property, waste, solar and answers many FAQ’s on doing this yourself. He has a construction diary and pre-building notes that are very infomative.

Following are some of the pictures of his cabin. He has enlarged it from the original size as he found it just to small for 3 people to live in full time. Thank you Jan for sharing your experience with us. Go to his site a CoyoteCottage.com and get the full story.

Kitchen

Dinner Table

Wood Stove

Bedroom

The Coyote Cottage winter of 2008

Billie McKig homeowner in Berkeley, California, describes her little house as “perfect” and “just ideal.” Not an inch of space is wasted; built-ins provide a TV area and her walk-in closet holds a modern washer/dryer combo. At 540 sq. ft., her home is compact yet comfortable says McKig.

Walk through the house with Billie in the flash movie.

Berkeley Architect, John Hopkins says: “Although zoning requirements restricted the cottage to 540 sq. ft. and the site included a California live oak tree that had to be protected, Hopkins was able to create a home that’s both compact and comfortable. The floor plan eliminates wasted space and consolidates many functions into as few rooms as possible. Maximizing the ceiling height takes the onus off a small space, and the use of ceiling-height windows and doors adds to the expansive feeling. Outside, meanwhile, a large deck nearly doubles the living space.”

Visit Hopkins Studio to see more pictures of his work.

Entry

Kitchen

Living Room

Bedroom

Saturday I had the privilege of visiting Jay Shafer (Tumbleweed Tiny House Company) at one of his free open house days at his home in Sebastopol, California.

I wanted to experience first hand his craftsmanship and see the actual house he lives in and meet him in person.

Jay had just completed a Vardo, which is a very small space. Which consists mainly of a bed in a very attractive cover. It would be great for camping and weekend excursions.

Jay is very friendly and easy to talk to and I enjoyed a personal tour of his home. It is very small, but for a single person a perfect size if you believe in a simple life and want to live in it full time.

It would also make a great weekend vacation home for a couple, with the ease to move it from place to place.

His work is of the highest quality and I would consider him both an artist and a craftsman.

I live about 15 miles from Jay’s home and have requested to come watch and shoot a few photos of his next project. So stay tuned!

If you would like to visit his house please go to his Upcoming Events Schedule at his website.

Jay is also offering a Building and Design Workshop in several cities across the country. If you are interested in building one of his homes, I would highly recommend that you attend one of these workshops.

Here is a video tour of Jay Shafer’s house:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbRvsWuWNUM