The interest seems to be in homes like those shown in this post or the Tumbleweed Bodega or a 12′ x 16′ home that Peter King showed in his video yesterday. Of course the issue with these larger homes is the need for land and that often involves getting the local authorities to okay a building permit etc.

Russell Versaci’s Simple Cottage Plans offer quite a range of homes and my favorite is the Tidewater Cottage. These homes could also be put over a full basement which would give you additional storage or a spare room or two.

The Southern Piedmont with the bedrooms in the basement is very novel, small houses don’t take as much advantage as they should of the basement for cold storage and general living space. Anyway check these out and be sure and go to the Russell Versaci’s Simple Cottage Plans website if you want more information on these cute cottages.

As mentioned on their blog, Aluminum Bliss, Chris and Lani decided to make the Airstream their new home because of its sleek, rounded, aluminum interior and large windows that open up a small space and dispel the feeling of living in a box. The modern furnishings inspire a clean environment and the numerous storage spaces eliminate clutter. Their classic rig also turns a lot of heads.

Chris works out of the trailer using a Verizon MiFi, satellite dish and free campground WiFi. Lani takes care of the Airstream and the blog and awaits the birth of their new baby. They decided on this lifestyle because Chris is able to work from anywhere and it seemed like a good time in their lives to do some traveling. They were tired of be “owned” by their stuff and they craved the open road and a little adventure. After a year or so of traveling in an Airstream, they have a few insights on living the aluminum life:

“We no longer buy too many groceries that sit in our pantry well beyond the expiration date. In fact, we seem to buy more fresh foods and have learned to carefully plan our meals out in advance so as to avoid multiple trips to the store.”

“Our water consumption has decreased tremendously. When you only have a 15 gallon gray water tank, you quickly learn how to use less water when washing dishes or brushing your teeth.  Showers are quick, even when they are in the campground’s bathrooms.  And, laundry…well I’m pretty cheap when it comes to using my quarters so laundry is only done once a week.  And, with less clothing in tow, we’ve learned that some things can be worn awhile before being considered ‘dirty.’”

“We live in 160 square feet so it takes little to heat and power our humble abode. And, we grow tired of refilling our propane tanks so we are pretty stingy with our propane use. Additionally, we recently began converting the few lights in our home to LED.”

They plan on staying on the road indefinitely, or until they get tired of the lifestyle. In the meantime they have this to say about their decision:

“It’s been an incredible lifestyle change and one that will continue with us long after our Airstream journey comes to an end. I enjoy life so much more without the clutter and junk.  Don’t get me wrong, traveling the country and seeing what we’ve seen is amazing but so is this new sense of freedom from being owned and defined by our stuff.”

The 2010 Airstream Sport

Airstream Sport. Photos courtesy of Colonial Airstream.

For a big adventure in a smaller package, I recently saw a 2010 16 foot Airstream Sport for sale and was impressed with the design and layout. In this new model, the full bathroom from the back of the rig has been removed and has been replaced with a double bed. The reduced bathroom is now a wet bath without a sink. There seems to be plenty of storage space around the bed, in the closet and under the dinette. The tow weight is 3,500 pounds, it has a 23 gallon fresh water tank and a 21 gallon combination gray and black water tank. It also has a a 12,000 BTU furnace and an option for AC.

View the Airstream Sport brochure

The Sport is available in four types of decor: Cinnabar, Mochablue, Oatmeal and Sharksfin, and typical of the new Airstream designs, has clean, sleek retro styling. The price for this Airstream is about $35,000.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

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.

I contacted the company recently to see if they would share with me some recent photos of there projects. They responded by sending three wonderful cabins with lots of great pictures. I’ve decided to highlight them individually in their own posts and this is the first one.

The Marion cabin is an 18′ x 24′ cabin with a half loft, kitchen, bath, and a great room. The cabin includes an on demand electric water heater in the bath and kitchen.

You can learn more about Montana Mobile Cabins by visiting their website.

Codding is in the process of working with United Way to set up a way for people to donate directly for these structures for help in such places as Haiti and Chile. The current cost for this unit is around $5000. You can learn more by visiting the Codding’s Rapid Deployment Structures web site.

Codding’s Rapid Deployment Structures (RDS) provide the lightest, strongest, and safest materials able to withstand the harshest of elements.

• Constructed using light gauge steel for strength and durability
• Panelized floor, walls, and roof for quick assembly on-site
• Meets earthquake standards (based on California Codes)
• Meets Category 4 hurricane standards
• Simple to install in any urban or rural area
• Multiple shelters can be shipped in one 40’ cargo container
• Exterior and interior panels finished with durable non toxic materials
• Shelters are termite and mold resistant
• Codding RDS trained staff can provide field support (1 wk in project area for 100+ unit orders)
• Shelters can easily be converted to permanent homes

• 40′ shipping container includes everything needed for up to 4 units
• Prefabricated panels assembled with only small tools
• Single 10′ x 14′ unit takes 4 people 4 hours to complete

The units can be used as a single unit, a multiple or connected structure or setup as instant communities.

The Cabin Fever cabins are built in the factory, then disassembled, packed and shipped to the customer, to be reassembled on-site. This process (along with the permit process) can take about five months. Their cabin packages contain pre-built wall sections, an engineered roof and precision cut components. All hardware, nuts and bolts, screws and nails, and a full set of engineered architectural drawings are included. Depending on local soil conditions, codes and site grade, cabins can be built on a concrete slab or a wood timber foundation system.

Their most popular design is the Maxwell Cabin with its signature curving roofline. It’s 16 x 20 feet and 320 square feet and priced from $32,500 for the basic model. Each of the Maxwell Cabins, or its lower priced sister, the Morris, can be expanded into several different sizes including the 12 x 16 MINI up to a 1000 square foot 2-bedroom cabin and many sizes in between. I think the best tiny house option is the MM Efficiency or the MM Weekender. Each are under 500 square feet and allow for passive solar heat through their large windows.

The Maxwell/Morris Cabins include:

• 4 foot wide prefabricated wall sections insulated to R-11
• Meta™ floor/foundation system
• Exterior spruce trim
• Standard insulated windows
• Standard insulated 6’ sliding door
• Extra strong tongue and groove roof deck
• Duro-Last roof
• 1-1/2” rigid roof insulation
• Natural wood tongue and groove ceiling
• Maple paneled interior
• Unpainted exterior
• Laminate flooring

Packages with bathrooms and kitchens include all the fixtures needed, but Cabin Fever recommends that a licensed plumber install the plumbing on-site. The interior paneling comes pre-cut to accept electrical boxes. Electricity will also be installed on-site.

Cabin Fever does work with customers to make their cabins off-grid and as green as possible. They work with various companies and help the customer specify and choose suitable products and then make sure that cabin can easily accommodate the equipment by reinforcing certain areas, building access doors and cabinets to house battery banks, etc. The customer purchases the equipment directly and those can include:

• Solar electricity
• Solar water heater
• Windmill for power generation
• Composting toilet
• Water catchment roof
• Water tank and low pressure water system (for no-water locations)
• Gas refrigerator (for no-electricity locations)
• Gas water heater (for no-electricity locations)

Along with the Maxwell/Morris cabins, Cabin Fever also offers the modern Mariposa which is 448 square feet and starts at $52,800, the flat-roofed Eichler which is 192 square feet and starts at $17,900 and the Zip, which at 120 square feet does not need a permit and starts at $12,500.

Cabin Fever is also responding to the need for affordable, sustainable, and safe housing in Haiti by partnering with several business enterprises and agencies on major prefab design projects for relief and transitional shelter. Their Miami branch is based in the Little Haiti neighborhood and they feel a special obligation to help with the Haiti rebuild effort. They hope to bring smart solutions to Haiti housing by leveraging their domestic U.S. design experience and expertise.

The Eichler

The Zip

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

You’re looking at a disaster that used to be a livable house. Besides the wood, doors and windows, you also see curtains, beddings and other fabrics poking out. Where many people see only a trash pile, I see enormous potential. Why? Because even if the wood is singed and the fabrics have rips, I know that with just a few simple tools, a way to cut the wood and wash the materials, we have the makings for a little temporary house I call gertee.

scraps used for first 16' gertee, spring 2007

Gertees are basically standard yurts made from raw or salvaged materials. Unlike the Mongolian and Western versions (exquisitely crafted and covered in gorgeous fabrics), gertee is the budget variety. It utilizes many items that would otherwise go to the dump.

first 16' gertee, Mercantile campground, May 2007

A 16 foot wide gertee needs about 80 wall slats. If there are at least 20 2×4s in your mix (or fifteen 2×6s or eight 2×12s), these can be cut down into 1/4 inch slats. Even broken boards will work as your walls can be made as short as 5 feet. Pipe or other metals can also be used although not as easily as the wood. Short thin trees and bamboo work too.

first attempt at making walls, spring 2007

The walls slats are laid out like lattice on the ground and tied together at each cross. It takes 320 ties if you have four crosses on each board. The ties can be cut from scraps of string or fabrics. If at all possible, I recommend buying 400 8 inch plastic zip ties. Once tied together the walls slide together like an accordian and roll up for easy carrying.

first test of the 9' burnt spruce roof poles, spring 2007

A 16 foot gertee can be made with as few as 8 roof poles, more is better but not absolutely necessary. Poles need to be at least 9 feet long and can be as slim as a 2×2.

recycled construction plastic covers most of the 16'

The roof ring is by far the hardest piece to make. It may take more imagination than the rest of the parts, unless there is a carpenter handy who can fashion one out of leftover wood pieces and has a drill to make the holes. I’ve made one roof ring (my first) from a piece of metal screen that I curved into a circle, and I think teepee roof poles tied together might also work, although I haven’t tried it yet. I also think a square roof ring may be okay. The roof rings we make for the gertees we live in now are 2′ wide octagon shape.

recycled plastic roofcover before trimming

The door frame can be made of 4 boards screwed together to form a rectangle or a standard door with a frame can be used, even if the walls are shorter than the door.

plastic roofcover after trimming

The roof cover can be made from anything waterproof. I have used a combination of tent bottoms scraps, airplane covers and one time I used a slghtly ripped up sheet of construction plastic. Some sort of weatherproof glue is necessary if you don’t have one piece large enough to cover the entire roof. Square tarps work perfectly.

24x24' recycled billboard cover before trim, 2009

Today I cover all my gertees in recycled 24×24′ billboards, which are already fire, mold and UV treated.

stapling up interior wall covers, 2007

The exterior walls can be covered in pieces of fabric or plastic/tarps/canvas. The interior walls can be covered in screens, sheets, blankets and bolts of fabric.

upgraded scraps on walls, summer 2009

We’ve been living in our homemade gertees in interior Alaska for three years. While we’ve definitely improved on the materials we use to cover our roof and walls, we still keep a sharp lookout for useful throwaway items. The first 16′ frame endured six moves and rebuilds. Our initial concern that the zip ties would slip too much was unfounded.

16' gertee pods, winter 2009

As for staying warm in a gertee… well, I’m in one right now (written on 1/24/10). It’s a brisk 40 below zero outside and I’m sitting at my desk in a thin sleeveless dress, wool socks and my slippers.

recycled dollmaker fabrics over RadiantGUARD, fall 2009

I have RadiantGUARD foil insulation on all the walls and the ceilings plus an extra layer of R19 in the new addition. I have one long strip of canvas on the outside walls and this year I used the same canvas on the inside walls. I still use old blankets and scrap materials too.

exterior 16' bridal gertee, summer 2009

We have two gertees attached together this winter. The main gertee is now the kitchen with a wood stove in the center. The new room is the bedroom and bath and it has its own woodstove with the stack going out through the wall. With both fires going steady neither one has to burn too hot to keep it at around 68 degrees. Of course smaller fires means more work feeding them constantly, and a thermostat heater is on our wish list, for sure.

Cooking space out of recycled shelves and Granny's Oven made by the Amish

I just took a nice hot shower. My gertees have no plumbing so my winter shower is a 2 gal solar bag filled with hot water from big metal pots kept on our woodstove 24/7. I stand in a 2′ metal wash bucket with a plastic shower curtain tucked inside it. Works beautifully.

summer shower gertee, 2009

While the gertee lifestyle is certainly not for everyone, we believe it has changed our lives for the better. The ability to eliminate many of the costs that come along with renting someone’s four square walls has been a boost to our spirits and our creativity.

first gertee interior, June 2007

There is something very nurturing about living in a round room, once you get the hang of how to arrange the furniture. We now think in circles and “pies” and not squares and rectangles.

Gerteeville at Camp Redington, fall 2009

We’re set up in a year round campground, have electric and phone (usually) and the rest we do for ourselves. It’s been amazing to see what kinds of things we need and how hard it is to find some of them. Sometimes it hits us how we could be making things we’ve always bought, like rope, and now we make our own. Gertee has caused me to try things I never imagined I wanted to learn, like my chainsaw, which I started using to cut firewood but now have made 2 doors and all kinds of structural changes with it.

Me sawing logs, fall 2008

I have to say the best part of my gertee experience is the satisfaction of knowing I live in my own house I built with my own two hands. I own it free and clear and can change it anytime I choose (which is often because I’m an American middle aged woman).

original 16' foot frame, summer 2009

The best part for everyone else like me who needs a home is, Gertee is an affordable, livable option that can be modified to adapt to any climate. Green by natural design, yurts have a low carbon footprint and are a proven sustainable house; the Mongolians have been living in them for more than 3000 years without it destroying their environment.

gertee today, February 8, 2010

Our Gertee book is under development and will be available in April 2010.

By Niki Raapana

Japanese Dome House Website

The company is located in Japan, but the dome segments are made in their factory in South Korea. Several small “villages” of various sizes of the dome houses have been built in Japan, where the design has been approved by the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transport. This building system can also be adapted for small businesses, storage areas or bathhouses.

However, the website says that this type of construction is “semi-permanent”. I asked Dome House International what they meant by that statement and the company said that their product’s structural material, expanded polystyrene, lasts semi-permanently because it could be affected by UV light, chemicals or heat. The material is covered with a special coating that protects it from damage. The Dome Houses have not been experimented on, but Dome House International claims that they can last for 300 years. They also said that there has been several cases where expanded polystyrene has been used for decades, and when the buildings were renovated, the material had not been damaged at all.

The Dome House can be built by assembling separate dome pieces. Each dome piece weighs about 175 pounds. It will take three to four people about a week to complete a Dome House. The basic model is about 22 feet in diameter, but separate domes can be added together to make larger buildings. Since expanded polystyrene is made only from carbon and hydrogen, casting of expanded polystyrene is extremely clean. Construction of the Dome House does not produce any waste, nor does it involve any deforestation.

The Dome Houses have beautiful, simple interiors with lots of light. They have no corners, so each dome is open for interpretation and interior design. The Dome House is simple, since it is a prefabricated building with a small number of parts. Because the construction of the Dome House requires only minimal manpower and a very short period of time, it is possible to reduce the substantial amount of labor costs. Prices on the U.S. website will be available soon. However, the prices on the Japanese website for the basic dome are about 3 million yen or about $33,000, not including shipping. The prices and specifications for domes in other countries will be different.

Benefits of the International Dome House

• Ultra-thermal insulating
• Semi-permanent durability
• Wind resistant
• Earthquake resistant
• Short assembly time
• Low cost
• Good for people with chemical sensitivities

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

I was skeptical at first but after reading Humanure (everyone should read this book!) I was inspired to design an outhouse that incorporates a composting toilet. I know there are many out there that have been doing this exact thing for years, but I’d like to think that with the use of SIPs, the Trösta (“comfort” in Swedish) could be one of the most efficient.

With R-28 closed-cell SIP walls, roof, and floor, the unit would require very little input to heat or cool. Plus, with temperature being crucial to the composting process, it just makes sense to have a highly insulated outhouse. I designed it with the use of 4×8, 4×9, and 4×10 sheets of OSB to keep scrap and price to a minimum. With is being a bit larger than typical outhouses, you could use that extra space as a storage shed, or even split it with a divider wall for two toilets for a Men’s and Women’s unit.

With the use of the ICS’ camlock system and one-piece corners, the unit could be closed-in in just a few hours.

__________________
Luke Danielson
Takeoffs/Panel Design
Insulated Component Structures – Rocky Mountain, Inc.(ICS-RM)
Manufacturer of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)
www.ics-rm.com