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.

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.

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.

Rima is a traveling artist who with Tui her partner have built this unique home to travel around the country selling her artwork.

These pictures will just wet your appetite for what Rima has on her blog.

Rima’s curiosity leads her through the many worlds of words, languages and lettering, books and stories, puppetry, nature and interesting people, music, superstitions, folklore and fairytales, and most of all the otherness that can be found on the periphery of our lives, the strange and grotesque, the absurd and unnerving … that topsy turvy in between place where things are not quite what they seem…

Her days are spent in a house on wheels with Tui, her man, best friend and fellow traveller and he weaves beautiful sounds to make beautiful music.

Rima writes tales of their days and thoughts of her stories and songs of her paintings here on this blog for you to smile at.

Visit The Hermitage Blog.

Bill just completed installing the windows with some help from his father. He was able to complete the installation one day. Below are some updated pictures of the house with the sheathing completed. The house wrap in place and the roof installed.

Windows Installed

If I have done a post on your tiny house that you have started and you have an update for me, please let me know. I get rather back logged with all the great ideas and projects coming in and I am unable to stay on top of all the projects at times. Please send me an email with pictures and I will do an update on your project too.

Sheathed

House Wrap

Roof Completed

I’ll let John tell you more about his plans and his philosophy behind his choice of design and materials.

My overall values in designing the housetruck were simplicity, durability, sustainability, and mobility, which combine to liveability. Although I’ve been inspired by the tiny house movement, the biggest breakthrough was discovering the long tradition of gypsy caravans and British ‘living wagons.’

I’m building the tiny housetruck from scratch, based on an Isuzu NPR truck chassis. The housetruck will serve several purposes:

• A compact and mobile home in which I can hang out and socialize,
  cook and eat, and retreat and sleep.
• A workspace for my photography and programming projects.
• A vehicle that will transport me & my belongings to points beyond.
• A laboratory for research into alternative and mobile technology.
• An expression of art & creativity.

I’ve been designing it for about a year, and about a month ago hired a local steel fabricator to build the frame. That’s now done, and I’m now onto adding “skin” to the bones.

If you’d like to follow along, I’ll be updating my website fairly regularly. You can always find the current status, plus links to longer articles & more images, here: http://polymecca.com/housetruck

–Best,
John

You can follow the progress on Johns blog and I will also try to update the Tiny House Blog as John completes different stages in the project. It’s fun to see something a little different, so stay tuned.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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Joe in Michigan sent me his story about what he is doing in his life right now and how he is downsizing.

I have been a tiny house fan all my life and a fan of your website for over a year.

In 1997 I had to sell my 2000 sq ft house in the country and move into a trailer park in town. Not wanting to sell my solar panels and equipment with the house, I installed them on my 1979 camper trailer and parked it on my parents back 40 for safe keeping and the solar camp was born.

Mom was quick to tell me where a good place was to place the fire pit and I had a 4ft by 8ft building for the kids to wait for the school bus moved over into the area.

Last year I put in a sawdust privy and power for the camper trailer and a 35 gallon rain barrel with an outdoor sink in. This spring wanting a better place to deal with the food from the cookouts, I added on to the backside of the privy an Arizona kitchen.

I have been drawing and dreaming of my little house on wheels for my retirement years, I came across your article on a 8ft by 8ft finished house for $9,000 this inspired me to start drawing on the 64 sq ft idea.

Needing a temporary replacement for the camper trailer next year when I remove the old trailer from the frame and build my new 8ft by 22ft little house on wheels, I started the bunkhouse which is 8ft by 8ft with a 4ft covered deck.

I have to date finished the exterior and should have the bunkhouse ready for sleeping in a mouth or two. Next spring I hope to finish up on the desk and closet for a finished and complete project.

Thanks Joe for sharing your project, I look forward to pictures of the completed bunkhouse and will plan to do an update when you are finished. Please keep us posted on your 8 x 22 tiny house on wheels as you design and build it as well.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

Arizona Kitchen

Many of you expressed interest in the availability of the plans for this little red cabin we featured in a recent Tiny House in a Landscape post.

The owner has kindly consented to making these plans available through the Tiny House Blog.

This 14 x 28 cabin is 392 square feet plus a 198 square foot loft. The plans are on two pages, 24”x 36” each and are drawn 1/4” = 1’.

The first page contains four plan views for the foundation, roof, loft, and main floor along with a door & frame schedule, and a window schedule. The second page contains four elevations (front, rear and both sides) some general notes on codes, systems, and the like, and a detailed stem wall section (from footing to roof).

The owner is selling these plans for $149.95 with additional sets available for $15 each if bought within a 90 day period of purchase of original plans. Three shipping options are available. At this time the plans are only available at the Tiny House Blog.

You can purchase the plans on the Tiny House Blog Plans Page.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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We didn’t do everything right when we built The Little House, but I love the things we did do right.

One of those things was to skip the carpeting and instead, we installed laminate flooring that looks like wood.

I put a lot of thought into the flooring because I hate carpet – and here’s why – we have dogs.

Dogs and carpet don’t mix. I would like to say I was the genius who came up with the plan to forego the carpet, but my aunt moved here before we did and was actually the brains behind the plan.

She’s been here since 1999 and her high-quality, laminate flooring still looks almost as good today as it did then, and she has several big dogs running around with their nails.

As well, carpet is just not good here in the country, where the clay is red and seed ticks dwell (seed ticks are tiny little baby ticks that are worse than their grown counterparts and can burrow in carpet).

When we pulled the carpet up to replace it so we could sell our house in the city, I was doubly glad I would never have to deal with carpet again. Even when you keep it clean, the dirt and dust (and I suppose mites) that congregates under the carpet and padding is one of the grossest things I’ve ever seen!

As with most people I know, our primary consideration had to be with cost when building The Little House. Our next consideration was the convenience of cleaning/maintaining a floor with the dogs.

When taking both cost and convenience into consideration, hardwood was automatically ruled out.

While I would have liked to have gone with bamboo, as it is the most environmentally friendly flooring, cost also eliminated that choice as well.

We were left with laminate and I’m very happy with it. In The Little House, we went with a light oak, as the décor is more cabin-based. In The Belle Writer’s Studio, I went with a darker wide wood plank, as the décor there is what I like to consider more “19th century country law office.”

If you’re going to choose a laminate flooring, here’s some tips that made things easy for us:

• In The Little House, we went online and chose a high-quality laminate as the prices were cheaper then the stores, even with shipping. We had the company ship us samples first to make sure it was what we were looking for.
• For both buildings, we chose an easy snap together flooring that uses no glue.
• We haven’t found it to be true that you can’t use laminate in the bathroom due to the risk of water. I suppose it might not be a good idea if it were to get wet all of the time (if you have kids, for example), but we’ve even had an incident where my husband left the shower curtain out and the floor didn’t buckle. Of course, we soaked up as much as we could and put fans on the floor to dry it as quickly as possible.
• We weren’t here for much of the building process on The Little House, so we hired a flooring company to install it for us. BIG waste of money. The snap together flooring is easy and can be done in a small house in a matter of hours. Just make sure you follow the directions. If you have a helper, my husband says it’s easier!
• The one thing I would have done differently was to go with the next higher grade. We went with a medium priced, medium quality floor and we’ve found when things hit it just right, it will dent and even chip.

Guest Post by Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell for the Tiny House Blog

Office Floor

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Yesterday, we looked at a book promoting the Minimalist lifestyle, today I want you to take eight minutes of your time and watch a couple who is living this life style.

Go back to the 1800’s with a couple determined to live in solitude without any modern technology. Dick and Bonnie Cain don’t have electricity, running water, or any other conveniences on their West…

Thank you Robert who brought this movie to my attention and who thought you might like a look at some people who have lived a life dream for 35 years. In a 100 year old adobe home in West Texas, and thank you Texas Country Reporter for putting together such a neat story for us to sit back and enjoy and at least dream about this type of life and break away from our hectic day to day lifestyle we live in today.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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