Tiny House Blog

Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont is hosting a building class focused on building a tiny house on wheels.

They’re hoping to find a client who would like to offer their little house as the subject of the class — significantly jump-starting the construction process! Essentially, the client would dictate the design and offer the materials, including the trailer, and the folks at Yestermorrow would begin the construction process as part of the class. http://www.yestermorrow.org/workshops/detail/tiny-house-design-build

If anyone is interested in getting more information about the class or how their project could be used in the class, please contact Paul Hanke of Yestermorrow. He can provide information about how the class went last year. I’ve attached a photo of the little house they started last year. The porch and other aspects of the house weren’t complete, but the walls and roof were on and the project well underway by the end of the class. Paul’s e-mail is jphanke@gmavt.net.

Hey All,

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….

Continue Reading »

by Caleb Clark

What: We built a small house in our Southern Vermont backyard and documented the process, including:

• Actual costs in a public spreadsheet
• The Plan is on Houseplans.com
• 200-ish photos, including shots of plans.
• Blog posts http://www.calebclark.org/?p=1928
• Videos of sun studies and construction
• Link to sites, house plans, organizations,
• Architect

Who: We are not professional carpenters, nor will we be quitting our day jobs. Laura is an elementary school teacher at The Neighborhood Schoolhouse. I’m the director of the educational technology program at Marlboro College Graduate School. I also worked as a carpenter in my youth, and have always been interested in real estate. In November 2010 we bought a house on tiny 1/8th of an acre lot, 1/2 mile from downtown, Brattleboro, Vermont. (200 miles North of NYC). Continue Reading »

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape was shared with me by Derek “Deek” Diedricksen of Relaxshacks.com and the Tiny Yellow House videos. Deek and his brother Dustin recently spent some time in this log cabin in Northern Vermont. It is a 20′ x 20′ cabin which is about 400 square feet. This cabin resides at the very end of the dirt road that Deek’s land is on.

After night two Deek and Dustin awoke to find it snowing, and proceeded to pack their stuff up quickly as they had to move their car up a hill before it was snowed in as they did not have four wheel drive.

So we luck out and have two pictures that look like two different seasons. Thanks Deek for sharing your adventure with us. You can also view a couple more pictures of the interior on Deek’s blog.

In this little side-tour episode, Derek “Deek” Diedricksen of Relaxshacks.com gives us a look at “The Fern Forest Treehouse”, in Northern Vermont- one owned by Harrison Reynolds, and author Louella (Ellie) Bryant. Harrison, a former woodworking teacher, designed this cabin with his son, which has now stood for four years in the midst of four maple trees growing below a hillside. While staying in this treehouse for two nights with his family, Derek was able to capture this narrated video, showing you the ins and outs of this hut aloft.

Bruce Sargent contacted me about a Yurt building workshop he will be holding in Shaftsbury, Vermont this summer.

Bruce say: I built two 12′ yurts last summer each, with 12 students, and each, in two days, start to finish and up. I’ll be offering the lessons learned in a workshop this summer. Course details at http://www.forloveofyurts.blogspot.com.  Minimal cost on a sliding scale $225-$185. The 12′ yurt design is simple and uses ordinary lumber and simple sail maker technology to make a waterproof roof (polytarps cut to shape and jointed with double sided carpet tape hammered down with rubber mallets). Material cost of each 12 foot yurt was $421.83 using Pex for a dome or about $771.83 using a plastic dome. There are pictures of the classwork at the blog at older posts from the workshop announcement.

Yurts have sheltered people since Heradotus wrote histories 2000 years ago. With minimal woodworking skills, a home of complex and magical beauty can be made at an amazingly modest cost, (roughly one tenth of the cost of a Yurt kit). In this workshop, you will gain an experience that will allow you to make your own yurt of any size and any design. This course will lead you through building walls, door frames, rafters, roof rings, roof ring supports, domes, tension bands and coverings. You will gain an experience that will allow you to make your own yurt that meets you needs and matches your dreams.

Workshop Objectives

To learn how to build an ultra simple, green, sustainable yurt
To learn simple power and hand woodworking skills necessary to build a yurt
To experience the magic of wall rods, under tension, shaping walls
To experience the ease and joy of lifting the roof ring skyward and fitting rafters to ring and wall
To see how a yurt cover plays with light
To gain a knowledge that allows you to create your own yurt

Build Your Own Dream Yurt.
Memorial Day Weekend, Friday 4 PM To Sunday 4 PM, May 27-29
Click here for all the details: For Love of Yurts