Lately, in the light of two very recent earthquake disasters, I have been giving a great deal of thought to the advantages of living in a small self contained, or autonomous home. The benefits are quite obvious, and huge. First of all, you will probably be located in a rural area far from the looting and other crimes commonly found in cities after a disastrous earthquake, or other natural disaster.

Photo Credit: Jay Shafer

There is also the advantage of not running out of power because you will be making your own. If you are using a composing toilet you do not have the problems associated with sewerage disposal. You most likely will have your own water supply which would be pumped from the ground by a solar powered water pump.

Tiny homes are far less expensive to heat, or cool for that matter. Small wood or propane heaters are very economical in tiny homes. Passive solar heating is an excellent choice backed up by wood. Solar hot water heaters can provide both hot water and heat if necessary by using a 12 volt powered fan coil, or even a convection heater if designed properly. If possible a small vertical wind turbine should be utilized. These units if between 500 watts and 1 KW are very inexpensive, and when connected to a battery bank can supply 120 volts A/C house current using an inverter to convert the 12 volt DC power to the 120 volts need to operate many small household appliances.

Personally, I already live in a rural area in an energy efficient home. Regardless of that fact, and due to the extremely harsh winters here in New England, I have already built a micro home in the rear of my property. This is because we have had power failures lasting up to six days and I’m not going to try and heat my full size home with wood or solar. We have very little sunlight on our property and I’m not going to kill all of my beautiful shade trees because we “might” lose the power. That is too extreme for me. My current micro home is 128 square feet if you count the full second floor sleeping loft with a full four foot ceiling in the loft. This spring we will add an 8′ x 8′ x 8′ module with a composting toilet, shower, and additional storage space in it. The south facing wall will be passively solar heated with a large solar drape to be closed when necessary, like on dark days, or cold nights.

The thought of living off the power grid is a very appealing one. I think that tiny off the grid homes are a major part of the solution to the poverty, and housing problems we are experiencing today. If a family can purchase, or build a home for the price of a new compact car, that is a most appealing thought. Land can be a problem, but again, through investigation I have found that there is still inexpensive land available in the rural areas of many states. There are not as many restrictions either. The main restriction that everyone has though, is the building of a proper septic system, but if you go the composting toilet route you won’t need it. However, you will need to build a simple gray water disposal system. You can use the gray water to aid in the irrigation of your garden which you most certainly have as a part of your survival plan.

There is no shame in being poor, or low income. I myself started life in a 400 square foot tar paper covered home with hand dug well, a sleeping loft and no heating, or indoor plumbing in 1933. By starting out that way we were able to save money and gradually improve our home and lifestyle and eventually were able to install the proper plumbing, heating and electrical systems. I personally believe that most homes and apartments in America today are far too large and wasteful. Although I am concerned about that, I am certain that the rising cost of energy as the supples diminish will take care of the problem, and many large homes will be spit up into micro apartments in the future. Because of the warmer climate, there will also be a very large shift to the south in the not too far distant future. If you are looking for rural land in the south to build your new energy efficient home I suggest you get cracking.

Those are my thoughts on the subject.

Walt Barrett

The new MK designs will use the Blu folding technology in their building construction, and will be available nationally. Blu is unique in that they ship and set their own homes with teams directly from their factory.

The newest product line from Blu is a small prefab called the Origin. Each unit is 17 to 20 feet wide and 24 to 35 feet long. This design has a wide variety of purposes including home offices, meditation spaces, media rooms, in-law apartments, granny flats, commercial office spaces, backyard cottages, exercise or art studios and weekend retreats. The Origin line has both commercial and residential applications, and are configurable to meet the customer’s needs. Origin units can also be combined into groups with connectivity through decks and pathways.

For their little size, the Origin is really stylish. The design features bamboo flooring, energy efficient heating and cooling and energy monitoring systems, interior doors, trim, low VOC paint and recessed light fixtures. Kitchen countertops, cabinetry, sinks and lighting are from IKEA and the standard refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer and range are from Whirlpool. Bathroom cabinetry, faucets, baths and toilets, fixtures and floors are also from IKEA, Kohler and American Standard.

The Origin exterior specifications include several choices in addition to the standard materials:

Standard Exterior

• Helical Pile Foundation
• EPDM Roofing
• Hardie Soffit and Trim
• Hardie Siding
• Closed Cell Spray Foam Insulation
• Andersen Vinyl Clad Windows
• Exterior Glass and Sliding Doors

Optional Exterior

• Cedar Siding
• Decks and Foundations by a general contractor
• Roof Deck

Exterior Green Options

• Green Roofs
• Solar Panels
• Rainwater Collection
• Hybrid Plug-In

Pricing includes Origin factory costs, before shipping and site work. Depending on the location, Blu adds shipping, foundation and setup charges upon review of the customer’s site and needs. The Origin price breakdown is as follows:

24’ shell $64,000
28’ shell $72,000
35’ shell $83,000
Play 24’ $71,000
Media Room 24’ $74,000
Artist / Exercise / Yoga Studio 24’ $79,000
Music Room / Library 24’ $71,000
Home Office / Therapy Room 24’ $78,000
Big Kid Play Space 28’ $85,000
Cottage / Addition 28’ $102,000
Living Room/In-law Suite 35’ $114,000

Other Blu Homes are currently being built in the Colorado Rockies, California woodlands, Carolina coast and towns throughout New England and for corporations from coast to coast.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

It turns out it’s a tiny observatory built by a local man named Michael. His neighbors affectionately call it the “Milk Carton.”

He built it about 3 years ago and it took him several months. It is 2×4 construction built on concrete piers, but does not have heat, plumbing or insulation. It is two stories tall and an internal ladder goes up to the second story. Michael owns several telescopes and uses the house for digital imaging. The telescope sits on the second floor scanning the sky, and Michael sits on the bottom floor with a computer capturing the images. He is mostly interested in planetary nebula.

I thought the deck in front of the observatory was a nice touch and must be a great place to hang out in the summer. This winter, Michael is using the observatory for a storage area and does not have the telescopes set up in the house.

I was most impressed with the orientation of the observatory. The roof window looks toward the West part of the sky where there are fewer city lights from Carson City in the South and Reno in the North. Also, the deck is located on the East portion of Michael’s build so the tall house blocks most of the hot summer sun but still allows the winter sun to hit the deck from the South.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

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.

Northern Timbers built the microhome with design help from landscape architect and metal artist H. Keith Wagner.

Much of Northern Timbers’ work reinterprets the traditional Vermont vernacular by introducing new applications of diverse materials into the residential setting, resulting in homes with a practical yet creative aesthetic. The exterior steel of the building will weather in the extreme climate, giving extra character to the place.

Their design meets the challenges of a northern climate while creating a modern, energy efficient tiny home. Their company has achieved LEED Gold certification, while two other homes they built were awarded American Institute of Architecture awards for Excellence in Architecture.

Northern Timbers devotes personal attention to each stage of the job from planning to completion, working closely with homeowners and architects to achieve custom homes that reflect the unique tastes of the owner yet remain within the reach of modest budgets.

The Burlington microhome has also been featured on the Jetson Green blog and the Simpler Living blog of the Times Union of Albany, NY.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

Sorry to take so long to get back to you on the Solar Decathlon houses on the mall in DC.

I’d taken pictures, but they didn’t turn out so great what with all the crowds. As it happens, the solar decathlon webpage has some great videos for each house on the front page that do a far better job of showing off the houses than I could.

Team Germany was just announced the winner, though my favorite was Team Louisiana’s Beausoleil house. They plan on marketing the houses as modular homes in the next couple of years with a price around $120,000 including the solar panels.

The maximum size limit for the houses was 800 square feet and they all had to be off the grid/independent.

There is some fantastic design going on here. Each house has a separate website found by clicking on the team site and then following the link at the top of the page where you can find information on all the technologies and appliances used, including information on the manufacturer.

It is very worth noting that the working drawings/plans for all of the houses are freely available on the site by clicking on the Teams link and selecting the team of interest. The plans link is on the right side.

There is a wealth of information here for all small house enthusiasts. The green/sustainable and off-the-grid aspects are a real bonus.

Thanks Craig for the great information and be sure you check out the website as I only pulled a few of the pictures and one of the videos for this post.

The other day I showed you Mike’s Micro House which he has been building for under $3,000.

Mike is also quite an inventor and is interested in solar and wind energy. He has created a simple hot water heater that I think would be useful for a tiny house or a large home. I asked Mike to share the details on how he creates his solar hot water heater.

Solar water heater. Sun during the day preheats the water in a 30 gallon water tank, prior to it being sent into the on demand water heater inside the house. This solar heater has preheated the water up to over 100F more than once when the outdoor temp was in the 30F range.

This simple setup works great, and is pretty much maintenance free. Just keep the glass clean, and you are good to go. If it starts to warm the water to hot during the summer months, just cover a portion of the solar window, to lower the sunlight bombardment into the solar chamber.

The solar water heater is simply a standard water heater (preferably one that was electric not gas powered).

Here’s what you do:

1. Peel off the outer sheetmetal skin of the water heater, and cut off the foam insulation in order to get to the internal steel tank.
2. Remove the electric heating element if needed and replace with a simple pipe plug fitting if the original element was bad, causing a leak.. Otherwise do nothing but remove all the electrical wiring to the element and the thermostat controls.
3. Verify that the overtemp/pressure valve operates and looks to be in good condition, otherwise replace it, so you have a safety feature if the pressure were to build up to high from the heated water.
4. Paint the water tank, “Flat Black” in order to help it absorb more of the sun’s energy.
5. Build an insulated enclosure that the water tank can fit into, with a window on top at roughly a 45degree angle.
6. Place the tank in the enclosure so that the southern sun exposure will shine directly onto the water tank inside.
7. Plumb the cold water going to your existing home’s water heater to the input of the solar water heater, and the output of the solar water heater to the original cold water input of the original home water heater.

Now when the sun preheats the water in the solar water heater, it will be feed into your home’s existing water heater as hot water, therefore your now backup water heater should not work nearly as hard to provide hot water for your home.

To view more of Mikes inventions check out his flickr site here.

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I have been communicating with Tim Gage, vice president of Cavco’s Specialty Division about the company’s new off-grid solar park model home. Tim has shared with me the following information from his press release regarding this new home.

The solar home has a $47,000 starting price, and this home shown here has options that top it out around $70,000.

Options like Bamboo flooring, upgrade slate tile backsplashes, upgrade kitchen cabinets, 12’ sliding glass doors etc. If you are in the Pomona, California area, you can view this model at the California RV Show through October 19, 2008. Be sure and page down to view all the pictures and a floor plan of the solar powered park model.

Cavco becomes nation’s first company in the RV Business to produce factory delivered, Solar-Powered Park Models.

Cavco’s park models, which are used as vacation cottages at campgrounds and RV resorts across the country, are now being equipped with solar panels and batteries provided through an exclusive arrangement with Ready Solar Inc. of Redwood City, Calif.

The recreational park trailer or “park model” industry is gaining notoriety as growing numbers of consumers discover that the 400-square foot cottage-like units can be permanently placed in campgrounds and RV resorts and used as low cost vacation cabins.

But thanks to Phoenix-based Cavco Industries, consumers who purchase these units will not only obtaining a vacation cottage at a fraction of the price of a site built home or condo. They’re also doing something positive for the environment.

Cavco has become the first park model manufacturer in the country to produce solar powered park models.

“We believe we are the first company in the RV business to produce a trailer product that can produce its own electrical power,” said Tim Gage, vice president of Cavco’s Specialty Division, which produces park model cabins. He added that demand for the 400-square foot cabins has been “off the charts” since the company introduced the product in June.

Still relatively unknown to most consumers, recreational park trailers or “park models” are 400-square foot movable resort cottages that are designed exclusively for part-time recreational use. Typically upscale in appearance, they often include hardwood floors, bay windows and lofts as well as cherry, oak or maple cabinetry.

And because park models are technically classified as recreational vehicles, they can be set up on leased or purchased sites in campgrounds and RV parks and used as weekend retreats or seasonal vacation dwellings.

But unlike most trailer products, which have to be hooked up to electrical utilities, Cavco’s solar powered park models have enough panels to generate their own power. The units come equipped with energy efficient light bulbs and kitchen appliances, including tankless water heaters, as well as maintenance free batteries that are designed to store enough power to last for two days. Gasoline-powered generators are also provided as an emergency backup system. But Gage said he anticipates that most of Cavco’s solar powered park models will be sold to consumers in Southwestern, Rocky Mountain and Sunbelt states, where there is plenty of sunshine to keep the batteries charged.

Cavco is providing the solar technology through an exclusive arrangement with Redwood City, Calif.-based Ready Solar, Inc. He said the solar packages, which include panels and batteries, add about $5,000 to $7,000 to the price of a park model, depending on the park model’s solar energy requirements. The typical park model sells for about $40,000 without the solar power capability.

“Our adoption of solar energy systems is the first chapter of our efforts to develop green park models,” Gage said, adding, “There will likely be 10 more chapters as we get further into this.”

For more information on Cavco’s park models or its solar energy systems, please contact Tim Gage at (602) 763-5488 or Meredith McClintock at Ready Solar Inc. at (650) 255-1828 and visit their respective websites at www.cavcoparkhomes.com and www.readysolar.com.

Cavco Kitchen

Cavco Living Room

Cavco Bathroom

Cavco Bedroom

Ready Solar Instruments

Cavco Freedom-6 Floor Plan

Cavco Off Grid at RV Show in Pomona, CA

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