Our Tiny House
Dawn and Scott Hines recently completed a tiny house and asked me to share it with you. Dawn and Scott had a tough time finding detailed information that could help them build a tiny house. So they did something different. They had their friend (a licensed builder) tape the process and explain what he was doing and why and it really makes it much more clear. They hope this may help others too.
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.
9 Responses to “Our Tiny House”
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Awesome! It may not be on wheels but I am in the middle of building a 200 square footer. Love your site!
Hi Ray,
I would enjoy seeing what you have built, please contact me and send some pictures.
Why do people insist on building houses on wheels, that require a car? That car requires gas (or if it’s pure electric, might be a bit better) but that car is also expensive and will need tune ups as well.
I’d like to see more tiny houses that require foundation and can only be moved by crane, not a bloody car.
Code restrictions and many people like mobility or, at least the capability. Go your own way.
[...] Oυr Tіחу House [...]
Just because it CAN be moved doesn’t necessarily mean it WILL be moved often. The wheels add to the possibility of keeping your beloved house no matter where you move and give you more options. A person might need a mobile home because of their work or family obligations or just because they like to change locations. You don’t need to own a vehicle, just obtain the use of one when needed. Any small house on wheels can just as easily be built on a non-mobile temporary or permanent foundation. There are certain size and design restrictions on movable houses but I see no shortage of good designs of many types here. Fully evaluate your own needs and circumstances, use ideas from a variety of plans or something fully formed as is and make it work for you.
Really amazing!
They mention the goal of setting the tiny house in cold climate. I’ve always wondered about putting a tiny house inside a greenhouse. It seems that a tiny house could go inside a commercial sized hoop greenhouse easily.
Another way to go would be to have an enclosed, wraparound porch, or set the porch on the long side of the tiny house, glassed-in, to catch passive solar energy in winter. Adds to the footprint, but even the tumbleweed could glass in the front porch without adding to the footprint.
[...] 19 Marzo 2010 | Sin comentarios Estos artículos pretenden animar a todos aquellos que deseen iniciarse en la construcción de su propia casita de madera, y nada mejor que dar pistas y hablar de aquellos que se encuentran en esa tarea, o que ya completaron una, como es el caso de Dawn y Scott Hines, del que han escrito recientemente en Tiny House Blog. [...]