I am looking for other co-owners or investors for a perfect property for a tiny house eco village on Vancouver Island. This would be a permaculture site for tiny homes with organic gardens, chickens, rainwater collection, and greywater recycling.

The property I am looking into is 5.5 acres and has one conventional house, three mobile home pads – ideal for parking Tiny Homes, and an RV pad (which could also be used for a Tiny Home that uses less electricity). There is also a workshop on the land, where you could work on building your home!

The mobile home pads have 70 or 100 amps and a fresh water hook-up. This is the ideal set up for a Tiny House ecovillage! It is very difficult to get zoning for this kind of set-up, and on top of that it can be expensive to set up this type of infrastructure. This property is very unusual in it’s zoning and is a perfect opportunity. I am currently looking for other co-owners or investors for this property.

The property does have a septic system but I am interested in sustainable permaculture systems that save money, recycle wastes and turn them into resources. To his end, our grey water would drain through an outdoor filter system and the water would be reintegrated to treed parts of the land. The toilets in the Tiny Homes will be composting toilets, eliminating the blackwater issue.

The conventional house can be used as a shared building with a communal kitchen and dining space as well as shared laundry. It could house wwoofers or other volunteers to help with the garden. We will save money by pooling our resources, buying food stuffs in bulk, and cooking en masse. You could have your own kitchen as well in your Tiny Home, or choose not to!

The tiny homes can be DIY or built by one of the many budding Tiny House companies. They would be made of salvage or other green materials. I am currently building a Leaf House, pictured above, with totally chemical-free materials, as I suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. Therefore this community would be ideal for others looking for a scent-free and chemical-free environment or simply those interested in sustainable living systems and leaving a smaller footprint.

There could be room for more houses if others are interested in living off the grid. Especially for seasonal visitors or for houses not containing plumbing (to get around zoning laws).

If this property sells, I will be looking at other options on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. For a link to the property and other options that could be considered please see my blog: http://mychemicalfreehouse.blogspot.ca/p/tiny-house-eco-village-bc.html.

I write about how to build a chemical-free house for anyone interested in exploring that further.

Please feel free to contact me at corinne_segura(at)hotmail(dot)com

The post Tiny House Community in British Columbia, Canada appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

I see a lot of “new build” stories lately, and I wanted to share our small house with your readers, since we took a different path.

Our municipality has a minimum size requirement for new houses. At 44 square metres (roughly 475 square feet) it is not too bad compared to some places, but it still scuttled our plans to buy a lot and build a Tumbleweed New Vesica (289 square feet) on it. Homes on trailers and RVs are also specifically mentioned in the Property Standards and not allowed. Instead we bought a two-story 1907 farmhouse in the cute “Ontario cottage” style that is prevalent on the Island.

However, this old house has some important benefits that we’ve found. It’s two stories, but the upstairs is closed off with a door at the foot of the stairs, which we keep closed. There is a bedroom on the main floor which we also keep closed off and don’t use, meaning that we’re living in just 325 square feet after all! The main room is 14′ by 14′, and contains our bed/couch, the woodstove, table and dining chairs, a comfy chair, and a wardrobe for storage. The kitchen is bigger than I need at 9′ x 9′, but does provide lots of extra storage. We do go upstairs to use the existing bathroom, which is 6′ x 8′.

We’re happy with our strategy so far. The cost of this house was less than a new build – just think of the cost of materials and labour 100 years ago – we’ve got inflation on our side in that equation! We also feel good that we’re “recycling” an entire house. In fact we are “reducing” – living in less space. And we are “reusing” – a previously loved, but then empty, house. Older homes tend to be smaller, and I think they’re the perfect way for some people to try out downsizing without committing to a truly tiny space. It has been a great way to reconcile my love of old houses with my love of small spaces.

Kirsten Nelson
Manitoulin Island, Ontario

The post Kirsten’s Small House appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

Trekker Trailers in central Florida has been building vintage and retro style teardrop trailers for over four years, but the company’s owner, Andrew, wanted to take his love of simple, tiny living to the next level and built a 70 square foot house on wheels that was recently sold to a 17-year-old student. His mother is also thinking of getting a tiny house.

“I have always loved campers and simple tiny living,” Andrew said. “I’ve been building teardrop campers for 4 years now, have restored many historic homes in my area, and have a love for form, function, and art. It seemed like a good fit for my talents to build a tiny house. Though my wife and I intend to retire in a tiny house, this one was built to sell so I tried to appeal to the lovers of the craft.

Watch a walk-through of the Trekker Trailer tiny house on the company’s Facebook page.

The Tiffany blue house is built with high quality materials like Galvalume roofing, cypress interior and exterior trim and some interesting and unique storage and space-saving details. The small living room couch (with a lovely skylight above it) has storage behind and underneath the seat and what Andrew calls a “hybrid Murphy bed” folds down from the back wall. The bed can be adjusted to sleep one or two people. The kitchen contains a sink, refrigerator, microwave and a slide-out pantry. The wet bath has fiberglass flooring and a composting toilet that can use BioBags. The water heater is a propane powered heater that is mounted on an exterior wall near the deck.

“I wasn’t happy with the idea of a loft bed. I know I certainly didn’t want to feel that squished or try to find my way down a little ladder in the dark in the middle of the night to use the bathroom,” Andrew said. “My “Hybrid Murphy bed” solved the problem well. It folds down from the wall just high enough to clear the living room furniture. It’s easy enough to get into with a stool or by stepping on the couch. This bed also keeps the overall height down and lowers the build cost.”

Andrew mentioned that he went with a composting toilet option because it was the easiest to change to meet the buyer’s choice. His personal choice for a kitchen of this size would be to have a 12 volt refrigerator and freezer and gas burners.

“I’d like to stay away from 110v to avoid the big energy losses associated with inverting,” he added.

Andrew said his other favorite tiny homes are the more contemporary homes built from unique or re-purposed materials. He plans to build a more contemporary home with some high tech and artistic details.

“Maybe it will even have an observation deck,” Andrew said. “I have so many ideas and so little time. One of our goals is to have a quaint tiny community. An artist will always need more canvas.”

Trekker Trailers also builds several styles of teardrop trailers.

 Photos courtesy of Trekker Trailers

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The post Trekker Trailers Tiny House appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

I receive many emails regarding tiny houses and building codes. This is a very difficult subject because every location is different. However, up to this point there has not been a good resource to send people to show them how to go about the process of getting answers in their local area.

Ryan Mitchell of The Tiny Life blog has recently published a book to help you find these answers. I have had a chance to look at the book and would highly recommend it if you are doing this kind of research.

Here is Ryan’s description of his his book and what it will help you accomplish:

This guide is designed to help you navigate all the red tape when it comes to tiny housing. I have designed this manual to help you quickly familiarize yourself with some of the key bureaucratic road blocks, suggest possible pathways to building your home from the legal perspective, and several strategies to make it a success. If you are hoping to build a tiny house, this is information that you will need. For those who purchase this they will also get and additional 180 pages of reference materials and free updates on future versions!

Thanks Ryan for this great resource. To learn more and to purchase the book click here.

Click here to purchase the book.

The post Cracking the Code – A Guide to Building Codes appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

April Blankenship shared her story about four years ago on the Tiny House Blog and recently she published a picture on her Facebook page that I thought was a perfect Tiny House in a Landscape feature. She has agreed to let me share it with you and you can learn more of her story at the blog post I spoke about earlier. Click Here.

Thank you April for sharing your piece of paradise with us.

The post Tiny House in a Landscape appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

Derek Diedricksen aka Deek shares another Tiny Yellow House video with us. This time a tour of a German Caravan videography by Nicolette Stewart and based in Mainz, Germany. Nicoletter publishes a blog at clickclackgorilla.com which tells more of her story.

In this video she shows how she restored the caravan, previously used as a basic shed, and how she made it into a livable home. She lives in a small community of tiny homes similar to hers.

Nicoletter says on her blog: Oo la la!  A video that we filmed almost three years ago about my Wagen and renovating it and how I dumpster dived the hell out of the building supply store.  Deek of the blog relaxshacks and the book Humble Homes, Simple Shacks turned that footage (with help from some other excellent folks whose names you will find in the credits) into another lovely segment of Tiny Yellow House TV.  Ever wondered what my voice sounds like after reading so many silent words on a screen?  Well, now you know.

Enjoy!

The post Tiny Yellow House German Caravan Tour appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

It is going to be my full time home as soon as I get the propane hooked up. Right now I live next door with my parents during the work week and at the cabin on the weekends, as my original farmhouse burnt down. This cabin is on my farm property. It is 10 x 12 with a 4 foot overhang porch. It is heated with a small woodstove and I have more than enough wood on my property.

The cabin is insulated inside and out with isoboard, and the siding is 12 inch rough lumber board and batten. The roof is metal and is insulated conventionally with battens.

The cabin was built in the pole barn fashion, not framed. I started it in September ‘11 and was putting the roof on in December. The hardest part was getting the framework square and it is not 100% square. The floor is a raised platform suspended from the poles, it is rough lumber with isoboard and vapour barrier over, and then plywood and clickflooring. The space under is gravel with a plastic barrier over it.

The 4 foot loft over the porch is used for storage and there is a 6 foot bedroom loft on other side. The kitchen is a converted cabinet with an RV sink and 2 burner propane store, there is a closet/pantry beside it. There are drawers mounted between the upper floor joists which hold all my dishes.

The rest is living space. All the furniture is folding except the bench on the wall which is high enough to be either seating or a table, and the space underneath is good for the dog beds. The railing for the loft is rebar with a shelf, above and the door on the wall is all shelving. The access to that loft is a barn-style wall ladder made of 2×4, below which is the doggy door, and behind hangs a shoe bag containing slippers, a whisk broom, and dog brushes, etc. There are also hooks here for winter coats. I have a wire trellis suspended above the woodstove for drying clothes and herbs. I heat water and soup on the woodstove.

The cabin has eavestroughs and rainbarrels and I am building an outdoor solar shower by the outhouse which will use rainwater. I also plan on digging a root cellar directly in the ground near the cabin. A propane fridge will be housed in the back lean to, which shelters firewood, tools, generator and a small propane bbq.

I have no plans for electricity beyond maybe a small solar setup. Right now, I have battery lights in the bedroom and solar rechargeable lights and oil lamps downstairs.

The outhouse is not dug, it is a sawdust composter, just a bucket whose contents is buried into the horse manure pile when full.

Can’t think of anything else right now, other than I loved building this and that something of this size is doeable by anyone with basic carpentry skills and a little help from friends!

Judith

The post Judith’s Pole Barn Cabin appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

by Brian Cobble

I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and enjoy the pictures and stories of little houses… I thought I would share one of my own…

I was able to find an affordable (and remarkable) private lakehouse for rent on property that bordered the farm, and realized that I needed a storage solution for stuff accumulated over the past 10 years. One of the problems I had found in the past, is that every time I purchased a tract of land, I felt a need to have some sort of a structure on it, and always built the structure in a permanent manner on the property that had just been acquired.

Also, with my modest budget, the only way to aquire bigger tracts of land, often meant selling the smaller tracts, once they had been partially developed. The solution was to construct a portable building, in a way that was rock solid, yet still able to be transported. My solution is included in these photos.

I call it the FL Cracker House, and it is 12 x 24, or 288 square feet, with a loft. This doe not include the planned partial wrap around porch. Total cost so far, not including my own labor, is less than $2,000. It is well on its way to completion.

Using the construction methods I found, I am building it right beside the house I am renting for convenience in many ways, and it can be moved to the (now 77 acre) farm once complete. The house is small and economical. The saved money allows me to devote more time to the farm and extra money goes toward an early mortgage pay-off. The cabin was more attractive to me than a mobile home, is bigger than a camper, and can still be used for storage of stuff if it is ever not needed. And equally importantly, it is portable if a larger farm becomes available. (this is my theory anyway)

The post Florida Cracker Cabin appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

My friend Julie’s family comes from a ranching family in eastern Nevada and various antique items have made it into her home including a full-size sheep wagon that now sits comfortably in her backyard. The wagon was formerly used by her husband and father to camp in while they went hunting in the wilderness of the high mountain state. Julie would eventually like to turn the wagon into a place for people to stay and get a taste of the Wild West.

The wagon (which dates around the early 1900′s) has a metal roof that has been painted, the original wood and a full size bed in the back. It also contains the original wood stove and a small table that covers up a storage cabinet and lowers down in front of the bed. Many original sheep wagons did not have a sink, but Julie’s does. It’s covered with a wooden food prep board and the water drains out onto the ground. The sheep wagon shares the yard with an tin-roofed outhouse that she picked up for free.

Sheep wagons originated in Wyoming around the 1870′s with the development of the sheep industry. A sheepherder would follow his or her herd of sheep around the countryside and would use a sheep wagon for shelter from the harsh western weather. Sheep wagons are still used today by herders in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada, but original sheep wagons are getting more difficult to find and maintain.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The post Julie’s Sheep Wagon appeared first on Tiny House Blog.

Dimensional lumber — 2x4s, 2x6s, etc., are about as ubiquitous as suburban sprawl is in America. (Maybe there’s some kind of relationship there..?) 2x4s are an industrial product, only becoming a dominant building material in the last century. As priorities have shifted to speed, uniformity, and ease of production, more traditional building styles have fallen out of favor.

However, it is almost certainly time to rethink how we build our homes, addressing not only downsizing possibilities, and the size and efficiency of spaces, but how we build houses themselves, and what materials we use. I believe timber framing, and specifically roundwood timber framing, fills a great need, enabling more holistic and sustainable home construction.

Building Locally?

Here’s a great passage from the USDA Forest Service’s “History of Yard Lumber Size Standards” (warning: PDF link) that hints at industrialization beginning to seep into the world of construction:

Until the middle of the 19th Century, building lumber was usually produced in a locality close to the place where it was to be used. Sizes were not a problem. The needs of builders in the locality were well understood and carpenters were accustomed to much more hand fitting on the job than they are today. As the forests were cut back from the centers of population, lumber had to be shipped greater distances. By the last few decades before 1900, lumber was no longer a locally made commodity. It then became apparent that the sizes used in different trading areas were not uniform and as a result sawmills had to cut lumber for the markets they wished to serve.

Like food, perhaps we should take the local approach and build with locally available materials, reducing the impacts of transportation, improving local economies, and gaining a greater sense of connection to the source of materials.

Timber framing, the technique of using large posts and beams, joined with mortises and tenons and later pegged, and without the use of any metal fasteners, is an ancient and proven technique that is particularly well-suited to using local wood. Due to their sheer size and weight, large timbers are not practical to ship, and are generally transported only short distances. Much of the US has some suitable wood for timber framing, especially roundwood timber framing.

Roundwood Timber Framing Advantages

To produce an 8×8 or 8×10 square timber, there is some amount of waste in the milling process. However, by using trees in the round, there is no waste to speak of. In fact, smaller diameter timbers can be used in building, because roundwood is 50% stronger than similar-sized squared timber.

That means less wood, and less waste is necessary for construction. Combined with forestry coppicing techniques, trees can be thinned at a certain time of year, and the stump will send new shoots up, which will mature and can be harvested all over again years later. Forests can be managed to grow timber specifically for building, as seen in the work of Ben Law in the UK. There are a number of tree species suitable for this practice, including black locust, which has a very wide range of growing conditions.

Roundwood: Local, Durable, Beautiful

Other benefits of timber framing, and roundwood timber framing include durability, strength, and beauty. Stick framing is not a construction method known for lasting hundreds of years. However, there are timber frame homes still being occupied 500 years after their construction.

Timber frames are incredibly durable and strong, withstanding both time and severe climate conditions much more respectably than stick buildings. Using organic round posts and beams brings us closer to the source of the material, as well, and enables more creative and inviting living environments.

To learn more about timber frame construction, check out this Timber Frame Workshop at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri this August, where participants will get hands-on experience working with roundwood and building a house using local and reclaimed materials.

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