Jenine’s home is not your standard structure and has its own personality. She has designed a roof above the loft that lifts up to let the outdoors in and plans to use the loft as her workspace for many of her artistic projects.

Jenine telling me about her roof that lifts up to allow the outdoors inside.

Her original plan was to have her work area be where her bed is now but has found it easier to sleep on the ground floor and has been using the shelf above her bed as a place for her computer so she can write, etc. while on the ground floor.

Jenine's sleeping space and office.

Jenine’s house has been almost totally built by salvaged materials that she has found through craigslist and other sources. The only new items bought have been the trailer and fasteners such as screws, nails etc.

Jenine's kitchen, still under construction but working

Jenine’s original plan was to have a second door and a bathroom in the corner of the kitchen area but she has decided to build a small separate bathroom area and will enclose this door. Stay tuned for a follow up post of Jenine’s completed tiny house.

Outside of Jenine's tiny house.

While poking around online we happened to come across Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Tiny House website and the light came on in our heads! We would build a tiny house! A palace on wheels! We’d already rented out our home in the city and moved to the country in an RV, so why not build a small home, we didn’t need the space anymore, and wild horses couldn’t drag us back to city living.

It’s been months and months of planning, but we are finally underway, building our very small home that will accommodate our needs and desires for years to come. It was important for us to try and stay as green and non-toxic as possible in building our home, so finding all of our supplies has been challenging and time consuming to say the least, but we’re always amazed at how open and helpful people are when we tell them about our project.

While we have used many of the tiny homes already built as inspiration, we’re finding that sometimes the best way to do something is to make it all your own. Initially we planned to find a free travel trailer off of Craigslist, strip it down and use the frame, but ended up splurging on a brand new custom length flatbed car hauler frame instead. The 24’ frame will allow us more interior space so that I don’t have to give up the luxury of a washer and dryer, and my hubby can have his larger loft space with room for a built in dresser.

We’re excited to start our journey once our house is complete and start looking for a piece of property to call our own and begin living a self-sufficient life in harmony with our surroundings. Check back with us to see how things are progressing, or take a drive out to the beautiful Washington Olympic Peninsula and come for a cup of tea and a visit )

Mark and Olivia

www.naturallytiny.blogspot.com

Their smallest design is the Garden/Backyard Dome which is approximately 12 feet in diameter, provides 100 square feet of floor space and can be built on a small stem wall to provide additional height. The advantage of this size dome is that it falls under building permit requirements and yet provides a spacious and calm ambience. Curved by Design also features two small designs: the 24 Foot Open Plan dome which is ideal as a relaxing yoga studio, a spacious conference room, or a guest house and the 24 Foot One Bedroom dome which can accomodate one spacious bedroom, a full bath and kitchen, a cozy living room and plenty of storage.

Curved by Design uses prefabricated wood panels in their designs. These panels have been created in a controlled environment with a high degree of quality, repeatability and consistency so they allow for fast and efficient on-site set-up and assembly that requires minimal labor. In fact, a typical structure can be assembled on site and ready for siding and shingle application in less than a week. The company also uses natural and renewable wood materials in the manufacturing of the curved panels, most notably the use of two-foot mill trim ends that continue to be considered as industry “wood waste”. They are categorized in this way due to the fact that the construction industry does not use shorter lengths of wood. Short pieces of solid wood (typically spruce, fir and pine) are an essential component in the formation of the panels.

From both the wood panel design and construction techniques these domes have been proven to withstand extreme seismic and load forces through testing that was completed at the University of British Columbia’s Earthquake Research Facility. The structures also have a complete open span interior since no truss or interior load bearing walls are required. This allows complete adaptability to the end use purpose and functionality of the building. The domes themselves are also relatively light and do not need special foundations. Typically domes are built on a concrete slab, crawl space or full foundation. Small domes with a stiffened floor system can also be placed on pad foundations.

Several advantages to building dome structures for any type of home or building is:

• The sphere is nature’s most efficient shape, and a dome covers the most living area with the least amount of surface area. When compared with a similar-sized rectangular-shaped house, a dome home will have 30% less surface area and use at least 1/3 less lumber.
• As domes have less surface area, they reduce the amount of energy required to heat or cool the interior space; less heat is transferred to and from its surroundings.
• Though a dome uses less material, it is unquestionably stronger than a rectangular-shaped house using stick-frame manufacturing. Dome structures have unparalleled strength and a natural ability to withstand immense earthquake, hurricane and snow load forces.
• A dome’s more compact footprint saves perimeter shell and foundation materials.

Curved by Design’s website says that the cost to build a dome is comparable to a stick-frame building, and in some cases can be less. The cost depends on the size and complexity of the dome’s shape as well as the level of completion the customer requires. Some people choose to do some or all of the finishing themselves. Others require a completely finished product – ready to move-in. Curved By Design Inc. finishes all projects to a minimum level of lock-up.

Photos courtesy of Curved by Design, Inc.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

Here in New England it gets pretty cold in the winter, and the temperature hovers around the freezing mark. We have already built a 128 square foot micro home to use as a test bed for our energy saving products, and now we are giving serious thought to building an underground micro home test bed so that we can better deal with the cold and windy winters. Our test model, due to space restrictions, will most likely be 100 square feet with only a solar passive heating light wall, but for a full size home design I am thinking about using four shipping containers arranged in a rectangle with a large tempered glass ceiling light well in the center.

Each container would have a door, or doors opening into a central light well patio area with a year round garden. We could cover the exterior walls with waterproof foundation sealer, and then glue on foam to the exterior the same way we cover our concrete foundations now as per our local building codes. The entire project could be set on a suitable concrete slab. The location can be either on a flat lot, or dug into the side of a hill where an additional solar wall could be added. An important note is that you must have at least two escape routes to the outside in case of fire. One can be in a corner of the light well.

Many people already realize that by going mostly underground the first 55°F in the home temperature is a 100% free ride. When you add to that the heat gain from people, refrigerators, cooking, lighting, washers and dryers etc. you pick up a considerable heat gain. However there is also going to be heat lost through ventilation because no one wants to live in a swamp filled with stale air either. Light wells and solar walls can be an asset in the day time for solar heat gain, but must be insulated at night. There are several ways to accomplish this. Some methods are insulated curtains, sliding walls, Zome walls, or sliding covers. Solar light walls and light wells must also be shaded in the warm weather or you will find yourself living in a large solar oven.

If you design your underground container home properly it will cost far less money than a conventional above ground home, and the heating and cooling will be a virtual free ride if you engineer the home properly. This is not a new idea by the way. I had several neighbors that lived in poured foundations during the depression of the nineteen thirties, and some others joined them right after world war two when we had a bad slump in the economy. This was a common practice here in New England during the thirties and forties. You do not need a large central heating system, or air conditioning system either. I also know several people that own large above the ground homes that they can no longer afford to heat. They have made apartments in their cellars to live in in the winter. They drained the above ground plumbing for the winter. They are saving a fortune in heating bills, and they move back upstairs in the warm weather.

People have been living under ground for thousands of years because in most cases they had no choice. With the ever rising prices of fuel we now have to take a long hard look back into the past, because the past may be our future again. I advise you to give it some thought, and play with some designs of your own to make the idea more palatable. Personally, I’m going to work on it, and my design will be totally off the power grid.
A little imagination goes a long way.

© 2010 Walt Barrett President A to Z Global Marketing Inc.
Contact Walt Barrett for permission to reprint.

The interest seems to be in homes like those shown in this post or the Tumbleweed Bodega or a 12′ x 16′ home that Peter King showed in his video yesterday. Of course the issue with these larger homes is the need for land and that often involves getting the local authorities to okay a building permit etc.

Russell Versaci’s Simple Cottage Plans offer quite a range of homes and my favorite is the Tidewater Cottage. These homes could also be put over a full basement which would give you additional storage or a spare room or two.

The Southern Piedmont with the bedrooms in the basement is very novel, small houses don’t take as much advantage as they should of the basement for cold storage and general living space. Anyway check these out and be sure and go to the Russell Versaci’s Simple Cottage Plans website if you want more information on these cute cottages.

Peter has built 11 tiny houses since we saw him last but is not super pleased with his new moniker “The Tiny House Guy.” With the economy in shambles and foreclosures running rampant, tiny houses seem more relevant than ever. But Peter has some ideas that are even bigger than his tiny houses. Please check out the Stuck in Vermont article here and enjoy this excellent video below.

So be sure and visit their website Our Tiny House to view some clips and if you choose purchase their DVD of their tiny house being built. I’ll let Dawn tell you more about the build.

This is the story of the construction of our tiny house built by C&E Construction. In December 2008 we attended a construction seminar in Florida and were fortunate that our general contractor was able to attend the seminar with us. While the seminar was helpful for design, it really did not give us any of the details we’d need in order to build a tiny house. As Chuck Peterson of C&E Construction built our beautiful tiny house he taped the construction details, showing the specific methods and critical tips for success. We now offer a detailed 2 hour construction DVD full of these details and helpful hints that are necessary to actually build a tiny house.

We did buy a set of plans for our tiny house and modified the plans to fit our needs. Some of the changes we made to the original plans were:

• We wanted the tiny house to be usable in a sub-freezing environment.
• We raised the loft ceiling height to accommodate Scott’s height so that we have 7 feet clear.
• We wanted a full size 36″ x 36″ shower.
• We wanted to sleep on the main level.
• We plan to use this as a weekend house and not as our full time residence.

Chuck took the plans we bought and handled the modifications. We went home and taped the tiny house dimensions onto our basement floor so that we could really see how the space would work for our needs. Based on this we decided on a few more changes.

Once we had the trailer we pulled it to the building where Chuck would build the tiny house. This building was owned by friends of ours, who own King Cut – Concrete Cutters, Inc. and we were very thankful for their generosity.

The King Cut building is where the filming begins of the construction. The step by step process explains the difference in the roof pitch, a different framing process, plumbing that is easy to drain, and many more details that need to be considered when you decide to build a tiny house of your own.

Be sure and check out the video clips and see if this DVD would be a help to you in your tiny house construction. Thank you Dawn and Scott for sharing your story with us.

In October, Will drove from Abbotsford, British Columbia to McKees Mills, New Brunswick. Will drove a used 1999 Dodge diesel truck and it worked out great to tow the house.

Will and Alyson created a small blog called Alyson and Will’s Adventure to cover their move and life at their new farm home and you can view it here.

After so many months and so much planning, I drove away with the tiny house and most of our possessions in tow. Left just around lunchtime with everyone on the farm hugging me and saying goodbye. I’ve got my Ipod loaded with songs and we’ll see how far I get today. — Will

Will weighed the house before moving it, it came in at 6182 lbs. empty (well below the trailer’s 10,000 lb capacity). The tongue weight is around 1,100 lbs which is more than the max of 900 lbs recommended in the truck owners manual. He was carrying all his and Alyson’s meagre possessions also and loaded the heavy items in the back of the house to lessen the tongue weight.

Most of the trip, Will slept at truck stops or campgrounds, just stopped and had a snooze when he got tired of driving.

Leaving Glen Valley Organic Farm

Fall Colors

Lunch stop in Golden, BC

I covered about 700 km over the Rockies from Kamloops, BC to Strathmore, Alberta. Kind of slow going over the mountains. It will be flat for a long stretch now. Not too much interesting about driving for hours and hours looking for good coffee and for a place to eat that is not too bad. — Will

Made it to Manitoba

KOA campground near Ottawa, Ontario.

It was nice to start seeing wooded areas in Manitoba after the plains. The northwest part of Ontario was really beautiful with a different lake after every little hill I would go over. Until next time, thanks for reading. — Will

Pulling in the drive-way at our new farm in McKees Mills, New Brunswick.

Will arrived on the farm just before noon today. I am so happy to see him and he is so happy to have arrived! The truck did really well, the house held together and Will survived the days of driving. I think he is feeling a great sense of accomplishment for having made the big trip and I’m so proud of him, too! — Alyson

Got the truck stuck when moving the house so had to use the tractor to move it.

The house after a recent snowfall

I would be willing to sell the tiny house as it is (dried in) if someone wanted to finish the interior,  if you think any of your readers would be interested in this you can let them know that for the next few days I will sell it for $2500 as it is,  picked up here or within 200 miles of my 72560 zipcode, I would deliver it that far for free,  any distance beyond that I would need to charge $2 per mile.

I am also willing to sell it completed but I need a commitment right now. Here are the details:

Here is the deal of the winter, I have enough time to finish this house before starting the bigger unit so I will offer one heck of a deal to anyone ready to pull the trigger today on this house finished and completed with bath, kitchen, wood interior, etc., Same delivery option as above,  free delivery within 200 miles of 72560, $2 per mile after that. The price for the house completed is just $9250 hopefully someone will take advantage of me and my situation and get a real bargain on a quality house, I really do need to move this house asap, to accept this offer the buyer will need to put down a 50% deposit with remainder due upon delivery, I will honor this offer until Tuesday 2-23-10 noon Central Time, the offer for the dried in version will be good thru Friday 2-27-10 5P.M. Central Time.

You can reach Scott anytime at 870-213-5310 or by email ozarksbest@yahoo.com.

To view some of Scott’s finished work I have attached some photos of one of his previous projects. Either Scott or I can send you more pictures of other projects he has done too.

The wooden Victorian is a 12′ x 20′ and it is located in Canyon Lake, Texas. It is lined with 1800 circa metal roofing tiles in the bath area. It also has their new ladder design and a nice rounded loft front.

Brad also told me that he has been busy building and selling homes for several Bed and Breakfasts across the country. A recent one up in the Badlands of South Dakota and three more for another in Pasadena, California. I will follow up with an update on these before long.

Photography: Doug Gaidry III Digital Imaging

Tanner another one of our readers sent me this link to this article in the Austin News about Kittel and his tiny houses. You can read the article called the “Small House Movement hits Central Texas” and watch a neat little video along with the story. Thanks Tanner for sharing this story with us.