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:

Eco-Dome pictures of the structure.