Roald Gundersen, an architect who may revolutionize the building industry, shinnied up a slender white ash near his house here on a recent afternoon, hoisting himself higher and higher until the limber trunk began to bend slowly toward the forest floor.

“Whooh!” he said, jumping to the ground and gingerly rubbing his back. “This isn’t as easy as it used to be. But see how the tree holds the memory of the weight?”

The ash, no more than five inches thick, was still bent toward the ground. Mr. Gundersen will continue to work on it, bending and pruning it over the next few years in this forest which lies about 10 miles east of the Mississippi River and 150 miles northwest of Madison.

Loggers pass over such trees because they are too small to mill, but this forester-architect, who founded Gundersen Design in 1991 and built his first house here two years later, has made a career of working with them.

“Curves are stronger than straight lines,” he explained. “A single arch supporting a roof can laterally brace the building in all directions.”

This would be a very interesting way to construct a small or tiny home. Go and read the complete article and view more pictures at the New York Times website.

Photo Credit: Paul Kelley

Easy to assemble panel construction. The kit is ready to assemble with the help of a couple of friends or a local handyman.

The kit includes: a steel door and two 3‘x3’ double pane windows and a steel roof and texture 111 vertical siding and is ready for you to finish off the interior and paint or stain the exterior however you choose.

Henry’s Place is great for a shed, spare room, home office, tiny house or a getaway.

Special introductory pricing of $4,800 which includes Free shipping within 400 miles of Santa Rosa, California. Shipped as a flat pack plus the option of assembly on delivery for an additional fee. Only 4 are available with this introductory option. Get your order in Now!

Call Kent Griswold at the Tiny House Blog at 707-799-6891 today and place your order. A 50% deposit is required to begin construction and full payment due on completion.

*Shipping Extra depending on location
*Shipping further distances is also available.
*Deck in illustration not included

Basic Kit Floor Plan

Suggested Tiny House Floor Plan not included in Basic Kit

Ryo has a very interesting blog and you will enjoy reading it. It is a journal of his experiences in building his hut, so make sure you go and visit it here. I’m going to let Ryo tell his story now.

This past summer, I bought 60 acres of vacant land in northern California, and have been living there part time since August. Sleeping in a tent was fine while it was warm, but as the weather turned colder and wetter, I decided I needed something bigger, warmer, and dryer. I knew I didn’t need or want much; just something big enough for me to relax, cook, and sleep in comfortably.

In keeping with my theme of “minimalist comfort,” I decided to go for something small, just 6 feet by 8 feet, though with some insulation for warmth, and windows for light. Of course, it also had to be sturdy enough to not collapse under the weight of snow. I looked at pre-fab sheds at hardware stores, but even the tiniest, most shoddily made ones cost $500-600, with no windows or insulation. Naively, I figured that I could build a nicer hut for under $300.

With only a rudimentary (and incomplete) design I put together using Google SketchUp, I began construction in late October when a couple of friends came out for a weekend to help with the raising, and then worked on it alone for another 7 or 8 days before it was ready to be moved into. I built a loft for my sleeping pad, which left all the floor open for use, and left enough space for me to put in a small counter table for my propane stove.

The actual cost has since ballooned past $500, but it’s mostly done, and has been more or less comfortable enough to live in through rain, snow, and 20 degree (f) nights. It’s not the prettiest thing, but I’m proud of the fact that I designed and built a nice, cozy and sturdy hut for relatively cheap, despite not having any formal training in carpentry or architecture.

Ryo’s hut is not quite finished as he still needs to finish off the roof, be sure and follow his blog to keep up with his progress. Thanks Ryo for sharing your story.

Here is what Bruce has to say about his book: For yurt lovers everywhere, we’ve created the newest and best book about making an ultra simple, hand-made, yurt-home.

Ten years ago, at Spirit Hollow, a shamanic school tucked back in the Taconic Mountains of Vermont, I fell in love with yurts. I was bedazzled by an exotic tent, with a framed door, wooden floor, diamond latticed walls and rays of rafters, arching out from a central sky light. I was dumbstruck by the complex beauty and warmth of a tent in Green Mountain winter.

Later as I worked in Boston, seventy hours per week, at a Fortune 500 company, making more money than I had at any point in my life, I daydreamed of yurts. I sketched yurts set beside a roaring brook, in Arlington, in Vermont’s Kelly Stand. I made calculations of the cost of acreage, cost of a bridge to cross the river, cost of a floor and the cost of a Pacific Yurt sixteen feet in diameter. I would calculate the month of next year that I could afford to actualize my dreams.

In the next year, down-sized by life, aching for simplicity, living in an attic room and tending an organic garden belonging to friends, my head was still full of yurts. Purchasing land and a Pacific Yurt was now out of the question. I obtained books by Len Charney, Paul King and Dan Kuehn and down loaded a paper by Charles Lokey, works that would comprise the books of my yurt bible. I studied with religious fervor. Could I build a yurt, bit by bit, over the next several years?

How hard could it to build a yurt? Could I drill six holes in an eight foot stick? Could I drill six holes in sixty-six, eight foot sticks? Could I tie a knot at two ends of a cord after threading the cord through holes that I drilled? I knew I could do all of this and build a yurt wall, and from this place, I believed I could take on the rest of it. But could I really?

“A year and a half to complete everything”, I thought, but could I design and construct something that would fit and hold together, would actually work? To my amazement and joy, within two months, I moved into a new sixteen foot diameter yurt, my “ger” (Mongolian for “home”) all at a cost of less than $1000 or about one tenth of t he cost of a Pacific Yurt. Baku, a Japanese friend of mine said, “It wasn’t that God helped you build a yurt. It’s more like you helped God build it.”

How this all happen, step by step, the ideas, the calculations, designs, construction ideas that led to the simplest plan possible, the good fortune and blind luck that completed my yurt -home is the story that follows. Check out his book and website at For Love Of Yurts.

Lofted Porch

The Lofted Porch comes in 11 sizes from 8X16 to 14X40 and starts at $2,625 up to almost $10,000. This building provides overhead storage space with a covered entry. Windows provide natural lighting, and a traditional style metal door provides security and convenience. There is an abundance of overhead storage, and a covered entryway. The exterior of the Lofted Porch is virtually maintenance free.

Lofted Porch

Portable Casita

The Portable Casita comes in 9 sizes starting at 10×22 which costs $4,465 to 14×40 for $9,650. The Casita offers overhead storage space along with a “cabin” style exterior appearance. The covered “porch” offers a nice added touch, while windows provide natural lighting, and the metal entry door provides security and easy access. Built on sturdy 4×6 pressure treated skids with 2×6 treated floor joists and heavy duty 3/4″ plywood flooring, the Portable Casita is protected with 25 year solid tab shingles. The Casita also comes available with log siding which is available in 8 sizes. With the log siding option, you get real wood log siding over OSB sheathing. The inside of the building is still open with exterior stud walls that can be left unfinished, or you can finish the interior any way you want.

Portable Casita Interior

Mini Cottage

The Mini Cottage is patterned off of Dix’s very successful Portable Playhouse. This unique little cottage provides additional room for both play and storage. The end of the cottage features a larger door for adult access making it a very versatile storage shed. You can also order your mini-cottage with 6′6″ walls in place of the standard 5′3″ walls making it even more functional and providing additional storage room. There are three sizes available: a 10×12, 12×12 and 12×16. They range in price from $2,995 to $3,995.

Each Better Built building will be custom built to your specifications, allowing you to specify such things as overall building size, door and window sizes and locations, and shingle colors that blend with existing structures. Dix also offers a rent-to-own option with each of its buildings. Any plumbing, electrical and interior work will be done by the customer.

Each of the buildings feature pressure treated 2×6 floor joists notched into skids providing a much stiffer and stronger flooring system than the industry standard 2×4 system. They also feature:

• Wall Studs on 2′ centers, doubled on siding joints
• A solid framework for exterior siding
• 5/8″ T1-11 Pressure Treated Premium Grade Siding with sprayed on Cedar Stain/Sealer
• 2×4 Roof Trusses on 2′ center, with 7/16″ OSB decking
• 2×4 Reinforced doors
• Vents for air circulation and temperature control
• Exposed nails that are ring shank and galvanized
• One-year warranty

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

I’m building this enormous tiny house, more accurately, it’s building me. I began with wood from a barn a friend and I took down in Cotati and a 7′ x 16′ utility/ flatbed/ car hauler/ trailer. With each decision, my approach has been to imagine a million other people making the same choice I’m considering. If it seems like that choice supports the kind of future I want to see, I go for it. If it seems like the choice is a “necessary evil,” I do the best I can to find an alternative. Please excuse/enjoy the following manifesto.

Living in northern California is a privilege. Here especially, luxurious self-indulgence creates waste of all sorts. Now, vernacular architecture* consists of the abundant building materials locally available from incessant remodels across Marin and Sonoma Counties. Though the practice of replacing a perfectly functioning kitchen has certainly lessened with this economic downturn, the Recycle Town located in Petaluma at the Regional Central Disposal Site continues to provide a pile of wonderful reusable materials otherwise headed to the landfill. So does Craigslist.

With this building project, I want to add what I can to the creative commons and to all of you doing fantastic work to beef up open source architecture. This is an international issue. I agree, there is a housing crisis, and I’ve learned from creative builders who address this issue. I especially want to empower and encourage other women builders.

I have yet to see a house on a trailer built without the use of plywood for sheer strength. Plywood is not something I find often in salvage yards nor on Craigslist. So, stubbornly, this has been my goal: to build a solid, long-lasting home on wheels out of salvaged materials, with no plywood, as inexpensively as possible. I’ve used diagonal bracing for sheer strength. I had been planning on welding 2″x2″ angle iron to the base of the trailer coming up each corner and bolted into the rafters, but after taking it on the road, I’ve decided it’s probably unnecessary. I keep track of each find/expense in order to share a detailed budget once I finish.

If I do it again, I wouldn’t use rigid foam. I’m only using this toxic product because of the truckload I found for free in Sebastopol from someone’s remodel. I thought I had enough to insulate the whole structure, but I’m coming up short and questioning how to complete the insulation. Though rigid foam is lightweight and has an undeniably high R-value, the particulates that go to the wind as I work aren’t something I want my family, garden, neighbors, or anyone to really have to live with. There are things about this project I’m not satisfied with, hence the posting on my blog: ALL THE BAD CHOICES I’VE CHOSEN: Killing the Planet, Killing Myself: Why I’d rather be building with straw and mud, period (8 Oct 09).

Please look all through my blog if you are curious to learn more or post comments. I have a wishlist at the top. If you’re a local and have any of those items laying around, please let me know!

- Jenine Alexander
Blog: Forge Ahead Puppet {Building} Productions http://forgeaheadpuppetproductions.blogspot.com/

Photo Credit: Jenine Alexander

*Vernacular Architecture: methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs.

This little home is certainly distinctive!  Due to the signs on the back of the trailer (Neenah, WI – Tampa, FL) and the owner saying they had come to Florida for the winter…I assume they are snowbirds.

The owner said the following may be hard to believe, but the left rear corner of the trailer was run into by a car driver … IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!

The owner had to straighten it out and used hose clamps to pull the back and side together again … and used lots of caulk on both the outside and the inside to water-proof it.

Most of the the stickers are on a single topic.  One sticker says, “Watch out for motorcycles.”  One on each side says, “Share the road with bicycles.”  And he says he used a lot of trucker reflective strips to avoid being run into at night.  Florida isn’t the only place they have traveled.

The owner stated that one time the trailer actually made it all the way out to California and back.  When I saw this trailer, it was being towed by a utility van.  They have a small black & white dog.

I did not get a look inside the trailer … I had to move my 18-wheeler truck out of the WalMart parking lot …

- Royal 

He just put up a post with a slide show of pictures of his visit. He went to visit Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley in their home in Coquille, Oregon.

Ianto and Linda are two very influential cob building pioneers in North America, and authors of The Hand-Sculpted House, the number one go-to book for cob construction.

Be sure and watch his slide show and read his post as he covers a lot of good information on cob building and what he learned from his visit. Here is what Ziggy came away with from his visit:

Having spent those few days at the Cob Cottage Company, I have felt my desire to continue building with cob strengthened. I love the idea of building a sheltered cob seating area at Dancing Rabbit, or building a couple of very small cob cabins for visitors, guests, etc. I also adore the idea of building cob walls, and trying to make that work at Dancing Rabbit to create and define space. I also have some ideas of teaching cob building, and hosting actual workshops.

We shall see. But I can definitely say my visit to Ianto and Linda’s land has been very motivational. -Ziggy

Photo Credits – Ziggy

The bunkies face south across the lake. Because of the setting, with open fields, limestone shelves along the shoreline and open water, there is a very east-coast feel to the land.”

Karen is planning on building a bunkie on her property on  Simcoe Island shown in the last picture but she has some concerns. You can read them here and if you have any suggestions use the comment section to give her your take.

I would like to build a bunky next summer (actually, a friend who is a carpenter is going to build it for me.) The provincial building code defines a “building” as a structure that is greater than 10 square meters, equivalent to 108 square feet. That footprint maximum includes a covered deck where supports for the roof of the deck are anchored into the ground (and may also include an porch area that is not covered.) Technically, anything that is not a “building” according to this definition and size is not covered by the building code and so does not require a building permit. However, it’s my understanding that there is a good deal of “discretion” that can be applied by the local building official, so considerations of shoreline set-backs of 50 feet, height restrictions of 14 ft and assumptions that a bunky will be an adjunct building to a “primary structure” (i.e., a building that has been installed according to the building code) may also apply. These two bunkies have been in place for at least 10 years, maybe longer. Since then, other islanders have put up bunkies, some as additions to a main building on their property and some on vacant land similar to mine. I guess my worry is that I would be halfway through putting the bunky up, only to have the building inspector in the area and tell me I have to stop.

In the attached photos, there is one with a small deck which is 11 by 11 on the exterior, plus the deck.  It is the only structure on the property. The other place is probably 10 by 10, away from a main house, but the deck certainly extends out from there and right on the shore line.  My property in between: I think my biggest challenge will be that it is vacant land with no existing primary structure. I have always wanted to build something small on the property, ideally about 250 square feet, but in the 9 years since I bought it, the local rules have changed, and now you cannot get a building permit for a “building” smaller than 950 square feet.  So the only real alternative financially for me is to go small and comfy, which is fine, because besides the two ferry rides, the distance by land to the property is only about 6 miles from home. Perhaps ignorance of the rules would have been a better source of bliss, and most of the folks I have spoken to know about the 108 square foot rule, but not the other considerations.  So much for being curious…

Anyhow, if you do have thoughts or suggestions, that would be great. -Karen

I’ve been living full time in my 12×16 cabin since May of 2008. The cabin was built by myself and my brother-in-law, Greg. He’s the carpenter and I the assistant though after building 4 structures I’ve accumulated a good bit of knowledge and skill. I’m on land left to our family by my grandfather.

The property had been a campground of sorts from the 1970’s to the early 90’s so has the somewhat functional remains of an electrical infrastructure and several wells. The area we are using had a well and an old but structurally sound pole-barn style shed. It’s a mix of woodland and meadow with an 18 acre lake on the west side. We’d often talked of building a couple cabins but we never seemed to get started which proved lucky as a tornado hit the far side of the property in 2006.

In April of 2008 the economy had begun to show the first obvious signs of serious problems and I decided that it was time to build. After a bit of discussion we got started with the first structure, an outhouse with a composting toilet. This was built in a weekend and my cabin was started next. Using a combination of new and re-used materials (mostly from craig’s list) we had the shell built after two very long weekends. I moved in at the end of the second weekend when it was almost enclosed. The only thing left to do were the soffits. By the end of the second weekend I’d also gotten the garden started with tomatoes and peppers I’d started from seed a month earlier.

Over the next few months we finished the inside with insulation, tongue and groove ceiling, and plywood bead board for the walls. Cabinets were donated by a friend and the old style sink, which looks like something from an old farm house, was found on the curb. In the fall of 08 we installed a wood stove and built a loft area above my bed. The loft is for storage or a sleeping space for visitors. In the fall of 08 Greg found a good deal for a 10×20 cabin on craig’s list which has been set-up as a bunk house used primarily by my siblings and their spouses. It has a bathroom, 3 twin bunk-beds and a full bed.

The simple life, Permaculture and a bigger picture
I still carry water from the well 200 feet away for use inside the cabin. Next spring we’ll probably get a water line trenched in but I don’t mind carrying the water as it reminds me to be more aware of what I use. I average about 4 gallons a day. The kitchen sink is plumbed to a basic gray water exit outside the cabin which is heavily mulched and planted with a variety of native plants. I’m working on a six barrel rain collection system and landscaped swales which harvest water for the garden. In addition to the kitchen garden of annual veggies, herbs and flowers I’ve also planted a mix of 30+ fruit trees and bushes as a series of 3 food forests with apples, peaches, plums, pears, pawpaws, blueberries, juneberries, currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwis and a few others. It will be a few years before we see significant produce but everything is in place!

I don’t really use hot water except what I heat outside in the summer or on the wood stove in the winter. Cooking is a combination of solar oven (in the summer), wood stove (winter), and a propane Coleman camp stove all year. I don’t have a fridge. In the summer I cook daily and keep left overs to a minimum. In the winter I have a cool cabinet which is just an area under the sink that is isolated from the rest of the cabin and stays fairly cool in the winter. I can easily keep food such as butter, cheese, left over soup, etc in this area. I do have electricity which is used for lighting, fans, computer and very limited use of the television. I average about 3-4 kWh per day.

In the spring and summer of 09 we built a chicken coop greenhouse which is divided by a solid wall and vented between the two. Much of this structure was made of salvaged lumber. Chickens put off about 40 watts of heat each as well as carbon dioxide. The idea is that there will be a heat and gas exchange between the 15 chickens and the greenhouse. I’m also collecting rainwater from this structure for the chickens, plantings in the greenhouse and for thermal mass to regulate the temperature of the greenhouse in the winter.

Other structures and todos
This past summer we built another cabin which is mostly for the kids to sleep and play when the bunk cabin is full of adults. It is 8×12 with a 8×8 loft area accessed by a ladder. It is gradually starting to look like a little village. Longer term plans might include turning the bunk house into a communal kitchen and building two or three cabins for my siblings, parents or guests. We’ll also be building a wood shed and possibly a root cellar/storm shelter.

In my own cabin I’m still busy with details. I’ve enclosed my wood stove  with 30 concrete blocks to provide thermal mass for holding heat and releasing it slowly. This means I’ll use far less wood because I can burn hotter, shorter fires which are less polluting. The heat is captured and slowly released by the mass of concrete so no more winter mornings at 40 degrees. The concrete is not too nice to look at so once I’ve settled on the arrangement of blocks I’ll be covering them with a thin layer of cob or some sort of rock facade. I’m not decided yet. My only concern about this is that it would make access to the stove for maintenance difficult. I’ve also just built a kitchen table made of weathered wood from a truckload of free pallets to replace the particle board table that had been loaned to me when I first moved in. The old wood and cedar branch legs are a much better fit for the cabin. I had enough wood left over to build a rustic end cabinet between the door and sink as well as a few wall shelves. The last big project for my cabin will be a covered porch which I hope to get to in the spring. I’ve still got a few bits of trim that I never put up and eventually would like to cover the vinyl flooring with some sort of wood flooring but for that I’ll wait till I find something I can salvage and re-use.

Living a simpler life in a small cabin or house may not be for everyone but it fits me perfectly. I’ve never had much stuff so there was no adaption or major transformation needed. I’m easily contented with a bit of reading, cooking or puttering around in the garden. In this homestead setting there are always little projects and chores such as managing the winter wood supply or daily care of the critters. I do think that for many who adopt life in a small house that a beautiful setting and willingness or desire to spend lots of time outside is likely to be a key ingredient and often has the added benefit of increasing healthy activities such as walking. Small house living, because expenses are less, easily leads to more free time which means more freedom and greater opportunity to explore interests and self/community development.

Thank you Denny for sharing your story. I look forward to reading more about it in your blog. Please keep us posted of any new developments.