Pre-fab - Part 2

ideabox’s New minibox

I covered the ideabox several years ago. It is one of my favorites. I wanted to share with you their newest design concept. Its called ‘minibox’, 200 sq ft of open space, aimed at bringing the outdoors in. Taylor Russell from ideabox shared the following information with me.

ideabox is a small home design company based in Salem, Oregon. They have homes ranging from 200 sq ft to 1250 sq ft, all prefabricated and ready to go.

It’s one thing to be small. Quite another to be so full of personality you live beyond your shell. Everything minibox is about is living big. Clever combinations of natural cedar and galvalume metal creates a confident exterior and a totally cool persona.

The Signal Shed

by Christina Nellemann

This off-the-grid cabin in Northeast Oregon, named the Signal Shed, was recently featured in Sunset Magazine, and the couple who spent two years planning and two weeks building the cabin are now offering the plans and prefab models for sale.

Mariah and Ryan Lingard fell in love with the woods and lakes of Joseph, Oregon and purchased some partially burned, partially logged land after seeing an ad in the local paper. The 100×150 foot parcel of land cost them $47,000 and is located smack dab in the middle of hiking, skiing and snowshoe territory. The couple has a full-time home in Portland, but they make the 6-hour trip to the Signal Shed about four times a year.

After two years of planning and extended weekend camping trips to their land, the couple built the 130 square foot cabin over a two week period with friends and family. The materials cost about $10,000 and the cabin features several recycled windows, IKEA cabinets and laminate flooring. They found the barn door hardware and the woodstove on Craigslist. The cabin rests on a floating pier to minimize impact on the land and cedar screens used to lock it up when Mariah and Ryan are not around. The Signal Shed has no running water, no electricity and the couple uses the woodstove for heat and some cooking.

Cargotecture by HyBrid Architecture

by Christina Nellemann

Sunset Magazine’s Celebration Weekend in Menlo Park, Calif. was held at the beginning of June, and one of the stars of the show was the cargotecture c-series Sunset Idea House by HyBrid Architecture. The c-series represents a group of pre-designed, factory built units made from recycled cargo containers that can be combined or customized as desired by the owner.

Hybrid coined the term cargotecture to describe any structure built partially or entirely from recycled cargo containers. The c-series consists of five models ranging in price from $29,500 to $189,500. The home featured at the Sunset show was the c192 nomad which costs $59,500.

The prices of the c-series include:

Recycled ISO cargo container with new paint
Soy based spray foam insulation
Aluminum clad wood windows and doors (one 10 feet long opening and one side door)
Bamboo finish floor
5/8 inch drywall ceiling and walls
Panelized wet room bath with redwood decking.
Duravit bath fixtures
IKEA cabinets and kitchen fixtures and lighting
Summit appliances
30 gallon electric water heater (gas if available on site)
Convectair Apero heat
Factory plans, State L&I permits and inspections

Green and off-grid options are offered including solar panels, composting toilets and “green machine” sewage treatment and roofwater harvesting.

All the models are insulated about 15 percent above IBC and UBC building codes in the floors, walls and roofs. The building can be placed in cold climates as well as moderate to hot climates. The recycled plastic and soy sprayed-in insulation creates R24 walls, R44 ceilings, and R32 floors. The roofs can handle 60psf snow loads.

The HyBrid homes are shipped complete. A local contractor will need to be arranged for electrical and sewage hook-ups as well as foundation work. In many jurisdictions, if your project is less than 200sf there is no permitting process required. HyBrid has completed residential and commercial cargotecture projects in California, Oregon and Washington and has designed over 20 projects on 5 continents. They will ship their cargotecture homes worldwide.

baumraum Treehouses

by Christina Nellemann

I’m sure many tiny house enthusiasts have dreamed of living in the branches of an oak tree in their own tree house, hidden by leaves and accompanied by birds and a light breeze. This dream could become a reality with these elegant, little nests from the German company, baumraum. They specialize in the design and building of tree houses and other constructions in natural surroundings.

The company combines the creative and constructive expertise of an architect with the experience of a landscape designer, a tree expert, and other craftsmen. They transform individual ideas and wishes into ingenious and inspiring dwellings that combine versatility with craftsmanship of the highest quality and maximum safety standards. These tree houses are also installed without harming the tree. They are not anchored with bolts or nails into the tree, but rather with textile belts and adjustable steel cables. This protects the bark, trunk and branches and allows the tree flexibility and growth.

The dimensions and the height of the tree houses depends on the stability and health of the tree. Sometimes it might be better to anchor the tree house to two or more trees rather than a single one. The tree houses can have a horizontal or upright design, with two or more levels, or even consist of several interconnected constructions at different heights. Most of the tree houses are units about the size of a small trailer or caravan.

Rintala Eggertsson Architects

by Christina Nellemann

This architectural and design firm in Oslo, Norway has designed everything from bridges to nature observation towers, from swinging platforms to art pieces that release wooden birds or are set on fire. However, Rintala Eggertsson Architects have also designed a few tiny houses…or potential tiny houses.

Sami Rintala and Dagur Eggertsson’s work has been featured all over the world and they pride themselves on designing with a balance between man and nature. Many of their designs incorporate nature as a major element, but also have a modern, industrial feel to them. Their tiny homes in Norway, Italy and Thailand use nature as part of the design.

Smallworks

by Christina Nellemann

Smallworks Studios/Laneway Housing Inc. is a design and building company based in Vancouver, Canada. They specialize in small homes and laneway houses which are small cottages or homes that are built on the rear of a property lot, usually behind another house. Their designs range from around 100 square feet to 750 square feet.

Smallworks takes an active role in the entire process of building a small home including site inspection, custom design, permit applications, in house millwork, pre-fab and flat pack material delivery and on site construction management. The company uses LEED accredited designers and will walk a customer through various sustainability and green building options. Premium upgrades for each project include lifetime warranty metal roofing, upgraded siding, millwork and furniture packages and bamboo flooring.

Mini House ONE+

by Christina Nellemann

Described as a lego set for adults, the Mini House ONE+ was designed and built by the Swedish company Add a Room. The ONE+ houses are designed to start out as a basic 15 square meter (approximately 161 square feet) module which can be added on to as needed in many different configurations. Add a Room will design the ONE+ to an individual’s needs, build it within a controlled, covered environment and deliver it to your site.

This concept is based on a cooperation between Denmark and Sweden and choosing high quality materials from both countries. The system includes decks and deck covers as well as an indoor or outdoor kitchen, a mini bathroom, beds, wardrobes, full insulation, plumbing and electrical fittings.

The E-den and the Hut

by Christina Nellemann

The E-den and the Hut are two new outdoor living/tiny house designs by the UK company Timber Tradesmen. Timber Tradesmen are selling these tiny buildings as alternative options to camping in a tent or trailer, or as a tiny office, but I think they would each make a great tiny house. Both of these buildings have a unique, organic design that fit comfortably in any surrounding, while providing an uncluttered, spacious interior – complete with a large bunk bed, full insulation and storage space. They also include an optional deck and and a canvas canopy for additional luxury and privacy.

The E-den is hand built by skilled craftsmen in Somerset using a combination of timber and steel framework, locally sourced materials and incorporating modern timber frame construction techniques. They each include a wide door for people with mobility problems, a large roof window for natural light, and electricity can be added into each E-den. They are each constructed in a workshop and delivered as a complete unit on a trailer. To launch the project the company has decided to sell the first 10 E-dens at cost to establish them in the marketplace, therefore the prices below are a genuine special offer and will be offered on a first come first served basis.

West Coast Green In-Law Pre-fab

by Kent Griswold

Friday I had the opportunity to visit West Coast Green for the first time in San Francisco. Jay Shafer and Steve Weisman from Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and I carpooled together and shared the experience.

The first thing we spotted as we walked onto the grounds was this cute little pre-fab and we all headed straight for it first thing. Based off of plans by Houseplans.com and designed by Larson Shores Architects, the little pre-fab is an accessory dwelling unit designed to help folks age in place and was built by Eco Offsite in eight days and, after some finish up work, completed one day later.

6a00d8341c67ce53ef0133f4c300e5970b-800wi — Photo Credit Houseplans.com

This little backyard cottage has all the space you could ask for in a home with a living area, kitchenette, bedroom, and bathroom. It is also designed and built to be low-impact.

Seattle’s Timber Frame FabCab

by Kent Griswold

Logan, Tammy Strobel’s from the Rowdy Kittens blog husband brought this new company to my attention recently. I have been in touch with Maura a partner in the business to learn more about this unique timber frame pre-fab product.

FabCab designs and sells pre-fabricated and kit-built environmentally-friendly homes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Maura says: “We launched our company in March and we have had an outpouring of support and interest in our products. We are passionate about designing environments that marry “green” design, design that supports people with a range of ages and abilities and prefab design. Therefore, our environments are designed to be flexible, open and easy to use and live in.”

The Chapman Ridge

by Kent Griswold

This house is designed and built lt by John Hilmer. It has a bell swoop at the bottom and finishes at the top with a beautiful cupola that is utilized to vent the building.

The house is made of hemlock and pine from the woods of Maine and sawn by a local sawyer in Athens, Maine.

Since it is almost only wood and nails the building releases minimal off gases. No harmful glues and plastics are used. The building is built using mostly hand tools so as to lower the carbon footprint of the builders and customer. The walls are sheathed with boards the old-fasioned way so no ply wood is used that contains harmful glue.

Zook Cabins

by Christina Nellemann

Blending the benefits of a prefab, a log cabin and a mobile home, Zook Cabins, built by the Amish in Pennsylvania, offers several different types of fully assembled cabins in single or double-wide units that can be delivered directly to your property. Several different floorplans are also available, as well as customization and integration of your own design.

Zook Cabins are offered as fully assembled units for the simple reason in that it makes it easier on the owner. The Zook website says that most buyers of kit homes don’t have a lot of time or extra hands to construct a cabin from a kit or from scratch. Also, if your building site isn’t precisely level, the precut lumber doesn’t fit, or if you place one piece wrong you fight everything the rest of the way, and sometimes a piece will be cut wrong at the factory. Couple that with the fact that very few people have ever assembled a kit, and have yet to face the frustrations of doing it themselves or finding someone to do it for them.