Tiny House Blog

by Daniel Combellick

*New Photos added

The house began with ordering 60 logs from the forest service, which they delivered to the site. Common Fir. Some of these I used to build a small hut, which were all hand-hewn, along with some Birch logs taken from my forest. I lived in this small 12 X 16 ft hut the entire time I was building the house.

The foundation was dug by hand, and filled the same… this was one of the three procedures on the house I had help with – the other two were installing the metal roof, and hanging the drywall – besides these all work was completed by me. In my shed there was no electricity or water – the water I brought in containers in a wheel barrow, or on a sled in the winter – from a nearby farmers well, the old kind, drawing the water with a bucket on a chain and dumping into the old milk containers I used for storage. My light was from headlamps, and kerosene lanterns. I had a propane stove, an outhouse, and an outside bathing shelter.

When I had completed my lumber take-off I sent the logs to a mill and had them sawn. Then, I commenced building. I was alone almost every day, this is a very remote spot, it is very quiet. Sometimes the loudest sound above that of my tools was the flap of a bird’s wings overhead. Did you know crows are very noisy fliers? Continue Reading »

This week’s Tiny House in a Landscape is from a link that Margy Lutz from Powell River, BC sent to Lloyd Kahn. Lloyd and another reader Julie Thorne shared the link with me and I thought it was perfect for this feature. I chose the winter shot because it is that time of year and it seemed appropriate. There are construction photos of the cabin at the New Shelter blog http://newshelters.blogspot.com/.

“A series of bluffs up the East Tin Hat Ridge presented better and better views the higher we climbed. This is the last open bluff before Tin Hat summit, a somewhat flat and large, though uneven rock outcropping. We decided to build the cabin here.…Below follows a chronology of the construction of the hut which, complete with upgraded trail, took some 30 days over a period of about three months.”

The photos is titled: The first dusting of snow on Tin Hat Hut at the end of October.

Mike Massulo Photographer

Even though the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing winter weather, I thought it would be fun to interject a bit of summer before the holidays really heat up. These colorful beach huts are custom made by James Ward in the United Kingdom and with a little foresight can be made into a tiny house.

The huts are made with 2×2 Red Swedish Pine frames for durability and the 8×8 pressure treated legs and subframe hold up the structure. The decks are pressure treated to resist moisture. Pine boards are used for the interior and the roofs instead of plywood and each hut is finished with galvanized hinges and locks. Each hut is also painted with an environmentally friendly water-based paint. Continue Reading »

Ryo contacted me about his project in Northern California. Ryo has put together a shelter for a very small amount of cash and I think we can all learn from his experience.

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. Continue Reading »

John Chapman from New Zealand made a neat suggestion for a weekly post here on the Tiny House Blog.

Photo Credit: HB – click on picture to see full size

The idea is to show a tiny house, cabin, or hut in a landscape. It may be a meadow, a snowscape, a cityscape or any other setting.

With this first one I am showing a log cabin in a perfect setting. I am a big fan of log cabins and this is my choice for this week. This cabin is located in Montana and I like the setting with the clouds in the background.

Saturday will become know as “Tiny House in a Landscape day” and I want to encourage you to submit your favorite photo that you find in your search for a perfect tiny house for yourself.

You can email your photo to tinyhouseblog(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.

The picture should be as large as possible and if you can get permission from the photographer please do. If you are not able to communicate with the photographer, at least get their name so they can have the photo credit.

A description of the location would be nice also and why you chose this setting or what your dream is for your tiny house.

I hope this will become a popular post. Please comment below if you have any suggestions or other ideas.

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