A short story of how we came to build our very own Tiny House.

It all started with a meeting at the Apple Store. My husband Chris, while at work, had a chance encounter with a very adventurous lady. She tells him about this idea she has for living small, Chris is intrigued by this and asks to know more.

Later that day, Chris informed me that he was going to send me a few links, info about the Tiny House Movement. He said that he was working with Candice at the Apple Store and she showed him all about the Tiny House. He didn’t go much further into details, but I was curious. The next day, while working on the computer, I remembered what he was talking about and decided to do some investigation. I searched Tiny House Movement, and was blasted into another world… a much smaller one. The houses were amazing! So small, sleek and stylish… and had all the comforts of home. I’ve lived in my fair share of apartments within the past 10 years, and I know the feeling I get when I come home to them… empty.

You live in the space, but that space really isn’t yours, you always give it back. This has always been a challenging idea for a creative person like me, so once I broke down the door dividing me from what I could never have, and actually having the chance to feel at home, lets just say… I ran with it.

I began to obsess over the idea of living in my very own Tiny House. I would stand at my apartment living room window just thinking how trapped I felt, and this was a perfect blend of owning my own home (free of a 30+ year mortgage ) and having the luxury of moving it where and when I move. No more jumping around from apartment to apartment, but a real chance to not just have my own home, but to be able to create it from start to end. I was hooked.

Then the next amazing thing happened, Chris tells me that Candice, the lady he was helping, was actually creating her very own Tiny House! I was excited, I demanded that I meet her. I wanted to see what it took to create such a house. I would stop over and help out with design ideas and we would do some creative thinking. I was so inspired by her drive that it pushed me into really considering doing this myself. We would work right next to each other… helping out the other as we go. We even made a few trips down to Olympia to visit Dee Williams, and actually see what it’s like to live in a Tiny House.

I was beyond excited when I brought up the idea of building our own Tiny House to Christopher. And even more excited to hear that he was actually considering it. From that moment it was the start of our Tiny Tack House.

The house took us 7 months to finish, and we had a blast the whole way through. Lots of hours spent researching each stage of the house building process, and a lot of helpful blogs to guide us in the right direction. I’m a 3D Artist, so naturally I wanted to build my house in 3D to see what it would look like, but then I took it a step further and actually started to build it step by step as if it was an actual home. I measured everything out in real life size and it just took off from there.

It took about 4 or 5 designs before we settled with the last plan. You really have to think about what matters to you, there is only so much room for personal items, and they all need a place to go. Christopher is a photographer, so he has a lot of camera gear, where I only need a computer to do my work, so the Computer/Entertainment area was necessary for our home. Chris stores most of his gear in the Bench/Storage/Extra Bed area, as well as the closet near the kitchen. The lower section of the cabinet is for the cat litter pan, extra cat litter and cleaning supplies. The cats can access this space from the bathroom, the front does lift open for easy access. In the loft, we decided to go with dormers, just to have that little bit more head room, as well as for clothing storage and extra windows for ventilation.

The house was built with the idea that we could have it completely off grid if we were in an area that didn’t have a water and electric hook up, or on grid when parked in an RV Park if need be. So, because of this, we have a 40 Gallon Fresh Water Tank under the kitchen counter top. The drains feed out under the trailer, but has the option of draining into a grey water tank (if parked in RV Parks). We are running on only Solar Power for all our household uses, and loving it!

People still have a hard time imagining living is such a small space, but to me it’s not small at all, I still do all the same things I used to, I cook in the kitchen, shower in the bathroom, watch movies in our living room, and sleep in my bed… so, what’s really that different?

Christopher and I have made ourselves a home… and that’s where I want to be!

To continue to follow our story bookmark our blog http://www.chrisandmalissa.com/

This would be a great size for a tiny house! Plenty of room for bath, kitchen, small bedroom and great room. This would be a great opportunity for someone thinking about a tiny house to vacation in a size they might think of living in. Kind of a try before you by scenario. Check out the link below if you would like to vacation in and rent one of these cabins.

You can check out where the cabins were delivered at http://www.glaciertrailheadcabins.com/

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I recently bought and dismantled a 14 ft. RV trailer for tiny house parts. I thought you avaricious do-it-yourselfers might find the story interesting.

It was a pretty moldy RV, with some appliances inside and an undamaged trailer frame. My goals were to get those two things out of it, and when all was done, I was about 80% successful in doing so.

RV exterior

Costs:

• Purchase price: $300
• Licensing: $23 (it had current tabs)
• Work gloves, dust masks: $10
• Sawzall demolition blade: $7
• Contractor trash bags (for loose debris and fiberglass): $12
• Diesel fuel for the project, towing it home and delivering recyclables: $55
• Local landfill fee (plywood, broken glass, fiberglass) $99

Working Interior

Labor:

• Towing home: 5 hours
• Teardown, recycling, cleanup: 13 hours
• Total costs/labor: $506 and 18 hours

Not bad.

Here’s what I ended up with:

• RV range/oven
• A small sink
• Hand pump faucet for fresh water
• Polyethylene fresh water tank
• A small 120v refrigerator
• 2 new 5 gal propane tanks
• 5 aluminum frame louver windows (others were broken during demolition)
• 2 leveling jacks
• Recycling of aluminum and copper: a check for $125!
• A 14 ft x 7 ft trailer frame (see notes below)

After walls knocked down

So, was it worth it?

It was messy work, especially tearing the floor structure off the frame. And the floor structure was the moldiest part. Hauling was hard work. All the recyclable landfill waste fit into my truck, but I have a fairly huge old Ford. The weight of all that wood/glass/etc. was 1660lbs.

Recycling the metals was a little more fun. I had 149lbs of ‘clean’

Aluminum and 41 lbs of ‘dirty’ aluminum (that I couldn’t get the screws/staples out of.)

And 15 lbs of copper pipe and wire. They weighed it all, then printed me a check. If you are going to reclaim metals, check with your local recycler first. Sort everything out before you pull up. If it is mixed, they may not take it OR they may give you the lowest rate possible.

Aluminum

The louver windows are going to my friend, Charlie, to use in his camper restoring project.

RV appliances are sometimes usable for tiny houses — sometimes not.

Many are not built for day-to-day use. The ones I got are OK though, but required a good bit of cleaning. I had to repaint the metal top of the range, because it had rust spots.

I am an electrician, and I chose to dispose of all old electrical outlets, switches, wire, light fixtures, etc. They just didn’t seem to be in great condition. There is definitely a safety concern with using old electrical equipment.

The trailer frame is OK. I realized that I will have to add quite a few things to make it usable for a tiny house: new fenders, more steel cross-members, and a complete rewiring. This won’t cost me much, because I am a welder, and have shop space to do it in. But for some, this may be a deal-killer. If you hired someone to do all the aforementioned improvements, it could cost as much as a new trailer frame. Still, if reclaiming materials is your goal, this might be acceptable.

The trailer frame

Well, there you have it. A very moldy RV is getting reborn in various ways, notably as a tiny house foundation!

Abel Zyl Zimmerman
Zyl Vardos
Olympia, WA
Zylvardos.com

Truck loaded for landfill

This past winter, my brother and I decided to try our hands at a tiny house build. With my skills as a builder and my brother’s as an artist and designer, we set out with a rough design and many things to learn. We began with a modified plan that was inspired by two of Michael Janzen’s solar house plans from tinyhousedesign.com. The final product is the beaming rustic modern tiny house you see above.

Our spacious tiny house began as a 20 ft trailer with dual #3500 axles that transported a lowly camper in days bygone. Painted and leveled, construction was ready to begin.

The now completed rustic modern home is 21ft long, cantilevered a foot off the back, and semi-divided into three seven-foot sections. The square footage is approximately 130 sq ft, not including the additional sleeping loft. It has a maxed out 8ft 6 in width and towering 13ft 3in height, with a folding deck and removable awning for travel. While the weight is yet to be determined, it is estimated at 5500 – 6000 pounds.

The front and rear sections of the house are constructed with 2 x 4 floor framing. The center section raises above the wheels with 2 x 10′s. Sheathed underneath with ½ in. painted plywood and topped with ¾ in. subfloor the floor is covered with ¾ in. stained pine flooring. The majority of the exterior is 1 x 4 cedar rain-screen siding, with a ply-and-batten backside and painted pine left frontside. Nine Crestline double-paned windows fill the walls and a Crestline low-e swinging patio door transitions the space from inside to out. On top of it all is an exposed fastener steel roof.

Inside, the ceiling is 12 in. maple plywood with a narrow reveal. Walls throughout the house are painted hardboard. Corrugated galvanized steel surrounds the shower, toilet, and closet in the bathroom. Five-inch-wide pine tongue-and-grove covers the floor, stained and sealed with Danish oil. The cabinets and countertops are custom-made from ¾ in. maple plywood. The cabinets and ceiling are sealed with linseed oil and the counter has a clear gloss epoxy coating. The loft, covered in the same pine flooring, is large enough to fit a low-profile queen mattress or pad. A small open storage area is accessible from the kitchen, with additional closet space in the bathroom.

The house is plumbed and wired, similar to the common camper. A water hook-up is underneath, supplying water to the sink, shower, and 6-gallon Bosch electric water heater. Power comes through a 30 amp camper hookup. Inside, there is a 4-circuit sub panel with two 15-amp and two 20-amp circuits. Originally designed to be heated by a small electric space heater, it was later decided that heating is a personal preference. Knowing that some would prefer propane or wood heat, these can be easily incorporated. While it does not currently contain a heater, one can be installed or you may supply your own.

The bathroom houses a sawdust compost toilet, but is able to be converted to an RV toilet if you have a full-time sewer hook-up. The living room has a ceiling fan for circulation and the windows provide excellent cross-ventilation as well as ample solar heat on a cold sunny day. A window air conditioner could also be easily added in the summer months.

The house comes furnished with an IKEA sleeper loveseat and IKEA banana leaf rocking chair. The refrigerator is an Igloo two-door fridge and freezer. The kitchen’s propane stove is upcycled from the original camper. The entryway prides itself in its custom-built pine storage cubby and two IKEA chairs, able to be pulled up to the multi-purpose counter. All furniture is included in the price and decorative items may be purchased at an additional charge.

With my brother and I both being a towering 6′ 7″, Tall Man’s Tiny House was born. Everything was built with those who are vertically blessed in mind. The low points on the main floor are the standard door and entryway ceiling at 6′ 8″. Both of us are able to crawl into the spacious three-and-a-half tall loft. This house was built as if it were being built it for ourselves, no detail left undone.

The asking price is $27,000 with buyer arranging transportation. If you are interested contact Adam via his contact page: http://www.tallmanstinyhouse.com/About-the-House.html

You can also view all Adams photos at his gallery: http://www.tallmanstinyhouse.com/Photo-Gallery.html

For those who haven’t heard (many, as we haven’t talked/posted on it much), I’m hosting another Relaxshacks.com Tiny House Building Workshop this year, something we’re dubbing “Tiny House Summer Camp,” and for good reason….

Last year’s sold out workshop went very well, and we had great feedback, so we decided to try a FOUR DAY workshop this time, with camping sites and lodging, and MANY guest speakers and demonstrators. I initially only wanted one guest presenter, perhaps two, but this tiny-house-athon has almost become a small living convention of sorts. Well, a convention where we’re only letting in fifteen attendees!

The aim is to keep it small, hands-on, fun, and eclectic. We want you to not only learn about the ins and outs of small space design and construction, but also to actually build a tiny cabin in the woods together. You’ll have the chance to see and stay in a small off-grid log cabin (one Kent featured as a “tiny house in a landscape” last year), my own Vermont Cabin (as seen in both Lloyd Kahn and Mimi Zeiger’s new tiny housing books), The U.B. 30 Treehouse, and we’ll take a field trip or two to The Pine Crest Cabins in Barton, Vermont, a local mom and pop sawmill, and “Uncle Bob’s Place” to check out some thrift-built tiny structures, and more….

Photos are by Deek and Bruce Bettis

The log cabin we'll be doing talks in, off-grid and solar powered, where people will also be welcome to stay for the weekend.....its about 500 yards from my land/camp....an easy walk.

See why do we need four days??

We might try out a few of the other ideas/approaches from my book “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks” as well- and you’ll see many of the sights depicted in the photos and text of that very book.

The U.B. 30 Treehouse down the trail, where attendees are also welcome to camp

The hiking, fishing, and sightseeing in this area of Vermont (Orleans, in the Northeast Kingdom) is just incredible too miss. Coventry, a neighboring town, has THE MOST covered bridges in all of the US, an underground house too…and the local architecture (one town north boasts an actual castle) is just incredible.

Two meals included, campfire discussions at night, and lots of hammer swinging will make this a weekend not to be forgotten. $399 for four days, which includes camping spaces and/or cabin spots (first come, first serve). Email kidcedar [at] gmail [dot] com if you’d like to sign up.

For those who can’t make it I’m also heading workshops for the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, and more all in 2012.

-Derek “Deek” Diedricksen

Deek's cabin

inside of Deek's Vermont Cabin (where people can stay)

Deek's Vermont Property

Building location in Vermont

Tiny house and loft work by Derek and Dustin Diedricksen

Deek's Book - Click to Purchase

You can list yourself on the website and find others in your area who have the same interest. If you have an open house, workshop, or are a builder you can list that too.

If you do not want to much information about yourself online you can limit it but it is nice to have a way to contact you if possible. If you have a website or blog you can list it as well.

Check it out today!

I very much enjoyed watching this production and would like to encourage you to set aside a good hour to sit back a enjoy the video.

Thanks Kirsten and Nicolás for all your hard work. You can learn more at the We The Tiny House People website.

When I consider all of the hurdles and hassles associated with building a tiny house in this modern time of high land prices and restrictive zoning, I find myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to buy a small cottage. My cottage has remained essentially unchanged since the 1940s when smaller houses were the norm.

I have always had an idea of just what kind of house I wanted to live in. For years I had been keeping an eye on the market for the perfect house. Finally, in 2006, I saw an ad in a real estate flyer: ‘Brookside cottage with claw foot tub.’ This I had to check out, even though I was in a perfectly comfortable living situation at the time. When I visited the house, I felt a sense of recognition. It was as if I were returning to a home I had built for myself in a previous lifetime. In a flurry of negotiations I got the price down to what I could afford, and with the help and advice of a Tarot reader, I overcame some legal hurdles and I became a homeowner.

Although I think it would be closer to the truth to say that this house owns me. Even as I have chosen this house to be my home, I feel that in some sense I have been chosen by this house, and by the woodland spirits that live here, to be its caretaker.

Since then, I have been redecorating/remodeling the house one room at a time. The claw foot tub is still there, although the rest of the bathroom has been completely redone.

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The Bonsai has not been built yet, but there is a lot of interest and hopefully it will soon go from a concept to home. Rachel shared some information about it with me and I thought I would pass it on to you. Maybe you will be the first person to build this cool tiny house.

The Bonsai 104/150 square feet (with a loft). Though Manadala specializes in building round homes, they are excited about this design.  If the building is not used for a residence, but used for a studio, it may not require a building permit. We suggest you contact the building department for details. On many levels this home is more accessible to more people.

So if you would like to be the first and have the Bonsai built for you contact them via their website http://mandalahomes.com/.

I have featured several couples who have made this choice and are very happy that they have, but most of us find ourselves in a situation where only one person is totally convinced. So, I have decided to broach the subject with you, my readers, and hope you will join the discussion in the comment section below with your suggestions.

I, personally, still live in a small home, around 1200 sq ft. Our son is in college, but comes home fairly regularly and our daughter’s room has become the guest room/office/workroom.

Our goal is to downsize when the both kids are completely out. However, I don’t see us moving into an extremely tiny house (130 square feet like some couples have). We are getting older and a loft is out of the question and we each need some private space for work or play. I see us eventually in a smaller home of 400 to 700 square feet as our answer.

What is your answer and how will convince your partner to downsize with you?

Photo Credit Tammy Strobel