Guest Post by Walt Barrett

Dear Mr. Mayor,

This is a very flexible framework of an idea to help the cities and the citizens. There is a growing movement in the world today towards building and living in smaller homes which are often referred to as micro homes, or micro apartments. The idea being that smaller homes are less expensive to build, to heat, and to cool. Smaller homes also require less space which is an ideal situation for any crowded city with a housing problem. Micro homes are very green in design and take a lot less material and labor which keeps the prices down and enables people who may never have had the opportunity to purchase their own home or to rent a decent home to do so.

Now if you consider that most cities need tax revenue, and that we have such a high rate of unemployment, I think that my suggestion has merit and everyone concerned should give it careful thought.

Basically, I am suggesting that the cities and towns that are experiencing revenue and housing problems amend their zoning laws and building codes to allow the judicious building of these micro homes and micro apartments. For example, if there is a home located on a decent size lot, and the home owner wishes to invest in a rental unit to be placed in the rear of the building, and if there is room for a proper parking space etc. then he, or she should be allowed to file for a permit. Let’s take a large three family dwelling that needs rehabbing for example. The investor who buys it should be able to either gut it, or tear it down, and turn the property into perhaps as many as twelve micro apartments. This part of my plan is not rocket science and should be doable with some minor zoning changes.

Now, the second part of my plan is that through building an experimental model, our company has realized that these smaller homes (128 sq ft to 800 sq ft) are highly mass producible and simple to build either in kit form or in certain sizes fully assembled and delivered to the site. It is also noteworthy that many people are powering these homes either fully, or partially off the power grid with solar and small wind power. We find this inexpensive if you stick mostly to lighting systems and hot water. One hundred percent off the power grid is still pricey, but partial systems save money and have the added incentive of tax credits in some areas.

Here is where we create the jobs. I suggest that in a city, like Providence RI, where there appear to be many abandoned factories and other buildings, that they take one of those buildings in a partnership with private industry and set up an assembly plant to produce these homes and prefabbed apartment walls sections etc. A precondition of such an agreement could be that the workers would be hired and trained only if they were residents of the city of Providence only if it is legal. A program like this would add additional tax revenue to the city, and it would also provide some decent jobs. Also, all building materials would be purchased locally as part of the agreement. The cost of the homes should be limited to approximately one hundred dollars a square foot or adjusted as necessary to local conditions. Another idea is to have local businesses that benefit from the program contribute to the program either financially or by providing free training.

My personal philosophy in business is that there does not always have to be a huge profit in every business deal. There are times when we all have to give something back. I pray that idea has not died in this new day and age. When I was a young man everyone pitched in and pulled together to solve the problems in the cities and towns. We can still fix things if we all pull together. I can tell you this. If we don’t fix things soon, we are going down. This is a serious problem.

This is the spine of my idea, and basically it is pretty simple idea and can be tested on a small scale. I’m sure that there are some rough edges that need to be trimmed, but like I said, “It isn’t rocket science,” and sooner, or later is is going to have to be done anyway. Why not take the lead in the race to the future of our cities.

Our Governor has recently, publicly asked Rhode Island business people for their suggestions to help make up for the huge deficit in our budget. This is one of my suggestions, which I think is better suited for the city of Providence than for the State of RI. I believe it needs to be executed primarily by the private sector and the states role should be to strictly enforce the building codes, rules, and regulations, and benefit from the fees, permits, and taxes. We realize our cities need money to operate.

Respectfully yours,
Walt Barrett, President
A to Z Global Marketing Inc.

Note: Permission to reprint is granted. Please give credit to this blog site. © 2011 Walt Barrett

Photo Courtesy Katz Architecture

The plans are for a micro home that is 8 foot by 16 foot and fits on a standard 16 foot trailer. It also has the option of being removed from the trailer and put on a standard foundation. The plans are detailed 33 pages including cut sheets and drafted by Chuck White.

Below are a few example pages from his plans. He has made them available at a very reasonable price of $19.95. You can purchase them below or on the Plans Page.

We need to tackle this land, and location problem head on because next to raising the money for the building materials it seems to be the most difficult problem based upon the feedback that I am getting. There are two separate paths to choose from here, and then some sub paths. Are you working, or are you retired? If you are working and fully intend to stay in your current area you have a different path to follow as opposed to a retired person. You have to locate within a reasonable distance from your work. You also have to meet the codes. The land that you like has to be affordable. The property taxes have to be reasonable, and you have to meet the minimum housing standard size for a residence. I believe that it is imperative in the long run to follow the rules of the town, or county right to the letter, believe me, do not try to get cute with the building officials because it is going to come back and bite you really hard in the long run. The building officials can make you move, or even tear down a building for flagrant violations to the building codes.

Let’s take the retired people first. Most retired people have the option to relocate unless they are penniless. Let’s assume you are not penniless but have limited funds. You could move to one of the states, or to a place like Costa Rica that does not place so many restrictions on home size. Maine for instance, has many unorganized areas the are only interested in having a proper septic system, and will even accept composting toilets as long as the waste is properly disposed of. Whether you take this route, or not depends upon things like leaving the rest of the family behind, and the lack of the family support system etc. I’m sure you follow my drift. Admittedly though, most retired folks have the easiest path when it comes to retiring in a micro home. One more thing for the old timers like me. You can always go on Craigslist.org, and purchase a medium size older camping trailer for as low as $1000.00 and refurbish it. I see them all the time when filming in the Everglades. They move from camp ground to camp ground. I’m thinking about it seriously myself.

Next we have the working people that are stuck in one place for a given number of years due to employment considerations. This can be a problem because finding a place where you can get a permit to build could be over one hundred miles away. The commute can be dangerous, and expensive.

Sometimes, however, you can get lucky by doing relentless searches for property. For example, In 1981 our son Dave found a job first in New Hampshire, and started off by renting a small apartment there. Eventually after a great deal of searching he found a small cabin on a lake within a couple of miles from his job. It was dirt cheap. He can easily walk to work, and is very happy there. The savings allow him to have a like new car and a like new Harley. None of us every buy brand new vehicles. It’s a huge waste of money. If you keep looking hard enough you can find a reasonable place because things are always changing. People retire, or they die, or are forced to move away. I have seen this a great deal in Florida. There are lots of old retired people, and unfortunately, many of them die, or are forced to move in with their children, or a retirement home every day. There are many small homes for sale, and every day the Good Will stores have loads of practically new furniture and household goods coming in. A lot of the furniture is in practically new condition. Many smart people with money patronize these stores, believe me! So that’s a good way to furnish your micro home. There are no set rules for changing your life, or life style. It’s whatever works for you.

I have found many great pieces of land by using www.realtor.com. You can lock in a description of what you are looking to purchase in a given area, and they will email you weekly with properties for sale that will fit the description right down to the price desired. So basically, as I see it. The biggest obstacle to owning a smaller home, preferably in the country, is for many of us, finding decent employment. By the way, my advice to anyone that lives in the north east that is not super rich is to get the hell out while you still can. There is no future here, especially in Rhode Island.

There is another route to explore no matter where you live. The micro apartment route can actually put extra money in your pocket. Although it involves working closely with the building and zoning officials to get started, It is a good route to follow if you do not mind living in an urban area. I have been considering it myself as an investment. I’m speaking of the micro apartment concept. Our area is loaded with abandoned homes and many of them are already multi-family which means no rezoning is required. If you are considering this method you first must have a discussion with the building and zoning people to be sure not to buy a home that is not eligible for micro apartments. Here’s a thought. You may already own a home that is now too large for you now so why not investigate converting it to micro apartments. The one thing I strongly advise is you look into the section 8 housing requirements first because if your apartments are eligible for section 8 the government will guarantee that your rent is paid and also that any damages caused by the tenant are covered too.

Well I don’t know what else I can say right now on the subject, but I’m sure someone will read this and offer some additional ideas. I certainly hope so.

Thanks for reading
Walt

A few weeks ago I was visiting a US Coast Guard Station where I looked at small solar battery charging installation. It was built to government specifications, and was an excellent example of a perfect solar installation. One of the companies that I have owned for over twenty-five years is a battery company so naturally I was interested in their battery bank.

I noticed immediately that there was a very prominent sign above it that said “Check batteries for water level every thirty days.” There was also a log there so the persons responsible would have to date the log and initial it. I cannot tell you how good it made me feel to see that our government is using serviceable batteries that you can easily water. I really do not like sealed batteries because as a battery re-conditioner I have personally found that when I autopsy a failed sealed battery it is always out of water, or nearly out of water. Now you don’t have to be young Thomas Edison to figure out very quickly that if someone could have added water on time they would not be experiencing premature battery failure.

We get hundreds of letters regarding this subject yearly. Now I am not telling you what to do, but personally, I will not buy any type of automotive or solar deep draw battery that is sealed. No battery is ever really sealed, or it would blow up. They are valve regulated which means when they are charging gases including water can escape. I rest my case on that subject. No watch me catch a lot of flack from “Experts”. Just give me a break and put screw caps on the batteries so we don’t have to drill them to service them.

Now that I have covered that subject we can move on to servicing the batteries. When I was a flight engineer during the Korean War the Air force sent me to an extensive training class on the proper servicing and maintenance of lead acid batteries. I can’t thank them enough to this day! This is the sequence that I do to this day

1. A visual inspection of the overall condition of the battery. I’m looking for leaks, corrosion, broken, or bad connectors, loose hold downs, and anything that looks abnormal. If the battery is really corroded, I carefully clean it off with a quarter of a cup of baking soda dissolved in a Quart of water. Make sure the caps are on and never get baking soda indie the battery. BE SURE TO WEAR EYE PROTECTION, AND NEVER SMOKE OR MAKE ANY KIND OF SPARKS AROUND A BATTERY BECAUSE THERE IS HYDROGEN GAS PRESENT AND IT IS VERY EXPLOSIVE! This brings up a major point. When removing a battery you obviously have to disconnect it. Always remove the negative – cable off first and put it on last when replacing the battery or the resulting sparks may cause a hydrogen explosion.
2. Once you have inspected and cleaned the corrosion off the batteries you should use an inexpensive battery terminal cleaning brush, remove the negative terminal first and clean the terminal post and the cable end. Leave the negative cable off, then remove the positive cable and clean and inspect the positive + post and cable end. Did you know that many supposedly “Dead” batteries are only suffering from dirty or loose terminals? Many can be cleaned up, tightened up and recharged. I get about eleven years from a battery. This is a good time to do a battery load test. Please watch the video to view all the tests you are about to read.
3. While you have the terminals off is a good time to remove the caps and check the water (electrolyte) level. I like to use distilled water. Some people would argue with me, but that is up to them. I do not want a lot of minerals and such in my battery.
4. Never overfill a battery. An eighth of an inch above the lead plates is sufficient.
5. Now this is where I get a little more in depth with my battery checking. While the caps are off I always do a hydrometer check on the condition of each cell. Be sure to read the instructions that come with the hydrometer so you will get an accurate reading. There are six cells in a 12 volt battery. I am including a video with this article to show you how to do these simple tests. If you really care about the life of your batteries, you will do these tests. A hydrometer is used to check the condition of the electrolyte in each individual cell. Hydrometer looks like a gravy sucker with a glass float inside with color coded markers and numbers printed on the glass float. When you suck up the electrolyte into the glass tube and hold it level the fluid rises up in the tube. If the level on the float is well up in the green that cell is in good shape. What you have just done is to check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in that cell. Repeat the process for all six cells. If you get significantly lower reading below the green marker then that cell has a problem. At that point we would use an additive and try to bring it up. If a cell has dirty black or brown electrolyte is is usually no good or will fail soon.
6. While you have the cell caps off you can also do a cell voltage test. You need an inexpensive $3.00 volt meter from Harbor freight or one of the other discount too supplier. Put alligator clips on the ends and cut two six inch test probes from a wire coat hanger. Then clip the probes into the alligator clips. Then, starting with the positive post touch positive probe to the positive battery post and stick the negative probe into the first cell next to the post and touch the electrolyte. A good strong cell with a decent charge will read 2.1 to 2.4 volts. Now, remove the negative probe from the first cell and stick it into the second cell, and take the positive prob and stick it into the first cell. This will give you the voltage reading of the second cell. Now repeat the process for all of the cells right on up the battery.
7. A weak cell will read less than 2.0 volts. At this time I would add an additive to see if the sulfation in the cell can be cleaned up. It is best to do all the cells at once. If the additive is working the cell will gain strength with each successive charging. I even do this with forklift batteries that cost $7,000.00 to replace. You better believe my customers are happy with our company.
8. Now having done all the cleaning and checking and testing, you can put the caps back on, put some anti corrosion paste on the positive battery post and terminals and replace the positive + battery cable first. Then repeat the process with the negative – ground cable. Most of the anti corrosion compounds work great on battery terminals posts and cables. Now this is not rocket science and on some of these expensive solar power packs it will save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
9. Please view the video that appears with this article. It has veen viewed by over 250,000 people.

Walter H. Barrett is the President of Battery Chem International USA in over 55 countries.

Walt has offered to let me sell his Battery Chem additive here on the Tiny House Blog. Use it for your off grid home or your car and help keep this blog going at the same time. Only $19.95 . Use the Add to Cart button below to purchase.

I have been writing about micro homes, solar, and energy efficient homes for 35 years. People never really paid much attention to any of it, and my Internet Blogs have gone virtually unnoticed for years. Recently, however, I have started receiving email from people who have read my articles about solar powered autonomous micro homes. Many of them are simply looking to down size, which I happen to think is a great idea, unless you have tons of money to save towards your future. The other people that have written to me have no place to call their own at all, and very little money either. All of these people are seeking as much information as possible about building micro homes, and also the support systems needed to make them a comfortable place to reside.

When you build a micro home the savings really add up quickly. First of all, if you are handy enough you may not need a mortgage. That alone is huge! A tiny well insulated home is less expensive to heat and cool, another major savings. Because of the LED lighting systems we have developed, solar lighting is relatively inexpensive. The electricity saved on lighting enables you to downsize the number of solar electric modules needed to power the home. Believe me, this is not rocket science as some people would like you to think. I like to keep things simple.

We will be discussing the down sizing of all the systems required to run a home, and alternate ways to do laundry and store fresh food. Downsizing and green living will definitely leave you with more money in your pockets. We are also going to be discussing how to achieve zero output for all trash and waste products. Not recycling is like burning money. We will discuss all these topics in future articles. Today I am focusing on how my parents micro home. If you don’t have a lot of money, it’s a great story that should offer you some encouragement to move ahead with your dream.

My intention is to do a new series of articles and films to assist anyone who is really serious about green living, micro home living, and just plain saving money by downsizing their homes, the number of cars they own, and the size of their ever growing utility bills. I will discuss building your own home, and the various support systems as opposed to buying a completed professionally built home and related support systems. The technology is all available free on the Internet. You should also become expert in salvaging other people’s junk. I did it for years when I was a kid. I got my first bike by dump picking in the Pawtucket, RI city dump, and building it from salvaged parts, and I don’t care who knows it. When I was in the military, and very poorly paid I used to go to the base landfill where I found all kinds of wooden furniture, building material, and many other items. “A dump is a yard sale where everything is free.”

Many people that write to me are really down, and out, and depressed. I feel terrible about that, and personally, very discouraged that our own government is not doing more about it. Well we have already seen that our government is not really that concerned about our own poor, and is far more interested in meddling in the affairs of other countries. So it is up to to those of us who can to help people get started in the right direction, and give them some hope for the future.

This is my way of offering the folks who have written me some needed encouragement. I’m going to tell you a personal story about my parents who had nothing when they were married in 1929, but through hard work, and determination they managed to build a home, and eventually live a happy life.

When my parents were married in 1929 my Dad worked in the receiving room of a very large cotton thread spinning mill. My Mother was a highly skilled secretary, and seamstress, but in those days the wages were terrible, and they were lucky just to have jobs. They managed to buy a small house lot overlooking a lake. It cost $50.00. My Dad managed to pay for it by selling the rest of the lots on our dirt road to other people that were were in the same predicament as he was, and that is how we got our land. The next thing they did was to clear only the areas they needed for the house, the yard and the driveway. They left the remaining large trees in place for shade. My Mother, who was very talented in many areas including art, drew up a plan for what we now call a micro home. It was 20 feet wide and 24 feet long with a sleeping loft divided into two bed rooms. The first floor had a large room in one entire half of the first floor that we would now call a living and dining area, The other half of the first floor was mostly the kitchen with a small area that was set aside for a future bathroom. That was basically the house plan.

While all this was going on, The mill where my Dad was working purchased modernized machinery, and eliminated him, and most of the men in the receiving department. His job of 17 years was gone. That was a serious blow for the young couple just about to start construction on their little country dream home. A decision had to be made so they gave up their apartment in the city, pitched a tent on their lot and started building their home using a hand saw, a square, a level, and a hammer and nails. With noting but their bare hands and pick and shovel they set piers in the ground to set the home on temporarily to get the house livable as quickly as possible. After the house was weather tight they moved into the attic for the winter and finished the house in the following spring and summer. They shingled the house in their spare time. My mother did a lot of it. All the while my dad was taking any kind of work he could find from day to day, and traveled as far away a 400 miles to Canada to clear brush for power lines, sometimes wading up to his chest in swamps in the freezing weather. He was a tough old bird!

When the economy got better he got a job working in a commercial laundry running an extractor which is really a very large washing machine. Then he would come home, have his supper, and go dig out the foundation hole for the cellar. When the hole was finally dug by pick, shovel and wheelbarrow the two of them gathered all the loose rocks from all over the lot and walled up the cellar, removing the piers when they were finished and mortaring all the rocks as they built it. That foundation is still perfect to this day. During WWII Dad was too old for the military so he took a job working in a shipyard building liberty ships. He never made so much money in his entire life. After the war he took a job doing the maintenance for all of the public libraries in the city of Providence and remained there until his death in 1974. He was sixty-nine. Mom was 91 when she died in 1998.

I have made a video to go with this article to show you what is possible through hard work, perseverance, salvage, and a great deal of saving, and scrounging for materials including stone and timber gathered right off your own land. We always had a large garden, and chickens, ducks, rabbits and fruit trees. It all adds up at the end of the year. In future articles I will discuss building your micro home from virtually free and inexpensive building materials extracted from your own land, and don’t ever let anyone steal your dreams!
I hope you enjoy the video. It’s a true story.
Walt Barrett

I promised that I would write an article about the composting toilets that we build, so here it is. It includes my idea of a sliding adjustable urine separator.

The customers that we have using this toilet are very happy with it.

One of the main killers in the world is contaminated drinking water. In third world counties people can be very careless about where they dispose of their fecal matter. The sad results are disease followed by death usually from Cholera! This is because the runoff from this human waste is polluting the streams, rivers and lakes in those countries. We don’t need fancy units to solve this problem. All we need is to convince people to properly dispose of their own waste in a composter protected from the rain to prevent runoff. You would think that at least in the last 5000 years the could have learned that.

Well this is our version of the composting toilet for the off grid home so that you can have the indoor convenience and a safe, economical disposal method for human waste.

Please read this and don’t skip any steps or you will ruin the project.

It’s tricky in a couple of spots to get the unit in square.

This is a relatively simple unit to build and I am just going to take you through all the steps right now. My son John and I sketched out the design we had been discussing for a practical composting toilet, and figured out the dimensions that we needed to fit the actual standard toilet seat and make room below for the two plastic collection bins and the vent stack. We also wanted to build as many units as possible from a single sheet of decent quality 3/4 inch plywood. While at the Home depot we had a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood ripped into three long pieces approximately 16” wide each. Those cuts must be exact so all three lengths have the same width. Home Depot or Lowe’s will use a panel cutting saw which will make perfect cuts if the sheet is measured correctly. Note that due to the width of the saw blade the width will be slightly under 16”. You can compensate for this on assembly by assembling the pieces so that the box is slightly narrower than 16”

Next we cut two 16” wide X 16 inches high for the two (2) end pieces.

That leaves the two sides, the bottom, and the top. Now this is where you have to be careful. Look carefully at the construction of the box in the photos. We cut the two side pieces 22 inches x 16 inches high. That left the top and the bottom pieces which we cut 23 ½ ” inches long. Now we have all the pieces and that leaves us to position the store bought toilet seat and trace the hole in the top cover. I use the larger and better oval type toilet seat that fits the better quality toilets that you find in better homes and all commercial applications. They are much more comfortable for adults. I then drill a 3/8” hole for the saber saw, and cut out the hole in the top of the box. Make sure the hole is back far enough to accommodate the urine collector drain bin.

Now let’s stop right here for a minute and make a cutting schedule.

All pieces are ripped 16 inches wide. It allows you to get the most toilets from one sheet of ¾ inch plywood. So here is the schedule. ” = inches.

2 End Pieces 16” x 16”
2 Side pieces 22” x 16”
1 Bottom piece 23 ½” x 16”
1 Top piece 23 ½” x 16”

At this point it is best to sand, and clean all the pieces off with paint thinner. Because if you are going to stain your unit like we do here. You must stain before you start using the wood glue. If you don’t stain first, wherever you get glue on the wood the stain will not take and it looks terrible.

After the stain is thoroughly dry I use a couple of brads on each end and lightly tack the four sides together while just sitting on the bottom piece just to check for fit, and using a large metal square I make sure it will square up in three directions. You could also measure diagonally from corner to corner for equal dimensions in two directions. Then set the top on Just to make sure it fits squarely.

Once you are satisfied with all of the workmanship and the fit of all the pieces, it’s time for the permanent assembly. This is how we do it.

1. Set the four sides that are lightly tacked together on your flat work bench surface.
2. Remove one of the ends that you have tacked on and tap the finish nails that were holding it back away so that you can hammer them in again easily.
3. Then run a thin bead of quality carpenters glue down just off center favoring the interior of the box. Do not use too much glue as it will squash out all over your finish. Thats why you always favor the inside edge. You cannot stain over excess glue blotches.
4. Now careful pet the end cap back in place and nail it securely with six long finish nails on either side.
5. Repeat the process on the opposite end.
6. Next you run a bead of glue around the rim where the bottom of the box will be nailed.
7. Set the bottom on and while someone helps to hold the box square you nail on the bottom using long finish nails about every four inches. It is very helpful if you nail a couple of cletes to hold the corners square while you nail your box together. Corner cletes on either end will also hold your box square while the glue is drying. If you have clamps, use them too get a tighter glue joint. You can also take a length of rope and wrap it around the box , make a loose knot, insert a length of stick and twist the rope until you get several pounds of pressure on your joints.
8. Be sure to wash off any glue that squeezes out of the joints immediately.

That leaves us with the top which never gets fastened down because it has to lift on and off to remove both of the bins for cleaning etc. the lid is kept from sliding around by use four pieces of aluminum angle tacked inner the rim on the center of each side to provide a snug fit to the box. That way the lid is easily removed for cleaning purposes. See the photos for the aluminum pieces.

Now you have built a regular composting toilet without a urine separator. We got our plastic collection bins from Walmart. We purchased a smaller fairly deep bin for the urine collector. We got the fittings and clear plastic ½ inside diameter inch drain hose, and clamps from the plumbing department at the home depot. The drain hole goes out the side of the bin and box as high up as you can get it without kinking the hose and still get a good gravity feed to your exterior collection system. The brackets are made from the flat perforated metal plated to buy at the home depot that are use for building decks and joining pierces together for various construction projects. I bent then to the shape I wanted using my bench vise and a rubber mallet. Be careful for sharp metal edges! If you want a vent stack you can put it in one of the rear top corners or elbow out of one of the rear sides, or end. It the best way to go and add a solar vent fan too.

This is a pretty good project for a beginner, but believe me, manufactured units go from $800.00 to $2,500.00 dollars, and thats a lot of money for a person on a budget. This unit will work just as well. Just keep a spray bottle around with a little bleach and water in it to freshen up the urine catcher after each use. You can cover the fecal matter after each use with any kind of dries vegetable matter, like saw dust, Pete moss. Dried leaves, dried grass etc. Just don’t get bleach water in the composting material.

You can empty the compost into a barrel with a watertight lid on it. If you are going to introduce earthworms to the compost you have to keep it moist without drowning the worms. Be sure to make provisions fore the composter to drain excess fluids into more compost beneath it. Never compost anything near your water supply. Keep the composter as far away from you well as possible. After a couple of years the compost will turn int rich black soil. Throw all of your table scraps into the outdoor composter too.

Well, I think I covered everything. If I didn’t, I’m counting on you all to let me know.

Walt

© 2010 Walt Barrett

Guest Post by Walt Barrett

It’s not like the “Micro Home” is a new idea that was recently invented by some modern day genius. New England is loaded with them. I would venture to say that the micro home was invented in Africa in prehistoric times seeing as mankind came out of Africa to begin with. I just wanted to get that little fact out of the way. I consider any home under 700 square feet to be a micro home. My parents built our home themselves with the help of a few friends and neighbors in 1929. It was 20′ x 24′ with a fully divided loft for sleeping. I came along in 1933 and the three of us lived there together until I left for the Korean war. It was a great little home and is now a wing off our new home and offices that we built to green specifications in 1998. Now it is 1700 square feet including the offices. We have family members living with us, or we would still be living in the renovated old micro home my parents built. As a point of reference, many micro apartments in Japan and New York City are only 250 Square feet in Size. Why not, if you are hardly ever home like many people are these days.

Because of my background having lived the first nineteen years of my life in a micro home with no central heat, or plumbing except for a small kitchen sink, I have been following the micro home business with great interest. My son John and myself actually built an 8′ x 8′ model with a full sleeping loft giving us a total of 128 square feet of space which are really too small for most people. We did that to give our company a little more credibility when we speak about micro homes in the market place. Believe me, we learned a lot with that little exercise. Not being carpenters didn’t help a bit either, but we got the job done, and that is what counts. We won’t make the same mistakes twice. I have wanted to build a totally off the power grid micro home for forty years, and now we have done it. I visualize these homes as being mass produced as kits and costing completed as little as the price of a clean used car. In other words, totally affordable.

The current high costs of micro homes is what I am leading up to here.

There are actually three markets to serve today.

1. The DIY market.
2. The dying lower to middle class, trying to survive in a nearly dead economy.
3. The extremely wealthy, price does not matter market.

I am concerned about the first two groups. The wealthy are quite capable of taking care of them selves. Please, let’s not forget about the others. We need an inexpensive route for them to follow. I remember when when my poor young wife and I had three little kids and were living in a housing project in Providence, RI. We were desperate for a home in the country so we could get the kids out of the project. After a year we found a great buy in the country for $8,750.00 which was like a gift even in 1958. The Realtor wanted us to have it so badly that she even lent us the money to add to ours so that we could make the $1,000.00 down payment, She didn’t have to do that because she was one of the biggest Realtors in RI. We paid her back, and we never forgot that nice lady. She could have sold that house to anyone and would not have had to lend them money. That loan was a total act of Charity.

Now I find it extremely alarming when I see prices climbing towards $300.00 a square foot for a micro home. Those kind of prices are totally out of line with the income levels of the working class market. I just had a very nice lady, and here husband write to me and they ave manages to save up $6,000.00 towards a micro home and felt that they just didn’t have enough money when they saw the high prices they are quoting on the Internet. Well we sent them a free 45 page set of plans for a home they can build on a DIY basis, and they are now very happy. We have got to spread the word that micro homes do not have to cost a fortune!

My own personal idea is to not go insane with the interior, or exterior including all the fixtures and finishing materials. We used composite hardwood flooring material and we used bead board on the walls which is dirt cheap, and only costs about $11.00 a 4′ x 8′ sheet. If you follow this line of thinking you can come up with some unbelievably low prices per square foot, and you still get a very nice look to the interior. Stay away from the exotic and expensive building materials for the interior unless you have money to burn.

We used Texture 111 siding with a high quality exterior solid stain on it. We rolled it on before we installed it. Micro homes are small and do not require a lot of materials. They are also much less expensive to build labor wise and heating or cooling are very low. Even propane is only about $200.00 a year according to my sources.

I see building any home today as an exercise in the material science of the building material industry. For instance, we now have both roofing and flooring that anyone can install easily, and are both rich looking and inexpensive. I prefer metal roofing over the composite sheets because my friend had a bad experience with it in the hot weather.

We work with the new LED lighting in either 12 volts DC or 120 volts AC all powered by solar modules. Because of the LED lighting, there are fewer solar modules required. The biggest deal killers are the electric appliances. Most people want a washer and dryer and they use a lot of energy. We are constantly seeking ways to cool food and wash and dry clothes. Clothes can be hung, or use a gas dryer which would also heat the home when running if you put a heat exchanger on it, but that still leaves the washer and refrigerator.

Lighting, computers, radios and TV’s are really cheap to build a solar power supply for.

Well anyway, my plan, as soon as we have a market for these units, is to mass produce micro home frame kits and complete micro home package kits in a local factory. God knows, we have enough of them empty around here these days. These kits are highly shippable on wooden pallets. I think the frame kits are the best because:

1. They are cheap to ship.
2. They are totally pre-cut including all the difficult rafter angle cuts etc.
3. They come with a full set of assembly plans including a full cutting schedule in case you ever have to duplicate any pieces.
4. They have all of the holes drilled in the studs for the wiring
5. They are not that much more expensive that the original cost of the raw lumber because a factory pre-cutting line move like lighting compared to doing your own measuring and cutting.
6. They can be built to any width as there are no shipping problems. All pallet loads will fit inside of any shipping container. Shipping by rail is very inexpensive. I was surprised.

I would like to see more companies follow these conservative guidelines, and just work on a reasonable and fair markup. We all like to make money, and make a good living, that’s understandable, but let’s not be gouging people. Let’s not ruin the dream of so many Americans to have a nice little place they can call home. Everyone deserves a home. Remember Henry Ford, he built a car for the millions, and as I recall, his income was not to shabby. The real wealth in this world comes from when you help others. I know, I have spent my life helping others and God has been very good to me and my family.

Walt Barrett

Here in New England it gets pretty cold in the winter, and the temperature hovers around the freezing mark. We have already built a 128 square foot micro home to use as a test bed for our energy saving products, and now we are giving serious thought to building an underground micro home test bed so that we can better deal with the cold and windy winters. Our test model, due to space restrictions, will most likely be 100 square feet with only a solar passive heating light wall, but for a full size home design I am thinking about using four shipping containers arranged in a rectangle with a large tempered glass ceiling light well in the center.

Each container would have a door, or doors opening into a central light well patio area with a year round garden. We could cover the exterior walls with waterproof foundation sealer, and then glue on foam to the exterior the same way we cover our concrete foundations now as per our local building codes. The entire project could be set on a suitable concrete slab. The location can be either on a flat lot, or dug into the side of a hill where an additional solar wall could be added. An important note is that you must have at least two escape routes to the outside in case of fire. One can be in a corner of the light well.

Many people already realize that by going mostly underground the first 55°F in the home temperature is a 100% free ride. When you add to that the heat gain from people, refrigerators, cooking, lighting, washers and dryers etc. you pick up a considerable heat gain. However there is also going to be heat lost through ventilation because no one wants to live in a swamp filled with stale air either. Light wells and solar walls can be an asset in the day time for solar heat gain, but must be insulated at night. There are several ways to accomplish this. Some methods are insulated curtains, sliding walls, Zome walls, or sliding covers. Solar light walls and light wells must also be shaded in the warm weather or you will find yourself living in a large solar oven.

If you design your underground container home properly it will cost far less money than a conventional above ground home, and the heating and cooling will be a virtual free ride if you engineer the home properly. This is not a new idea by the way. I had several neighbors that lived in poured foundations during the depression of the nineteen thirties, and some others joined them right after world war two when we had a bad slump in the economy. This was a common practice here in New England during the thirties and forties. You do not need a large central heating system, or air conditioning system either. I also know several people that own large above the ground homes that they can no longer afford to heat. They have made apartments in their cellars to live in in the winter. They drained the above ground plumbing for the winter. They are saving a fortune in heating bills, and they move back upstairs in the warm weather.

People have been living under ground for thousands of years because in most cases they had no choice. With the ever rising prices of fuel we now have to take a long hard look back into the past, because the past may be our future again. I advise you to give it some thought, and play with some designs of your own to make the idea more palatable. Personally, I’m going to work on it, and my design will be totally off the power grid.
A little imagination goes a long way.

© 2010 Walt Barrett President A to Z Global Marketing Inc.
Contact Walt Barrett for permission to reprint.

The unique design allows solar-power to harness the stiffling midday heat and generate kinetic energy and draw water from shallow wells.

The water will also be used to bring water to homes. “We can use the pump to draw water from the wells into a water tower, where it can be treated. The water is than distributed to households for their daily use,” says Mr. Perrin, a full-time executive member of the Green Earths Concept.

Walt is very excited about this and says it is in the process of going into production. He will supply pictures and an update in the near future. Congratulations Walt!

Back in March Walt Barrett introduced us to his 8×8 Micro House. Recently they converted it into a garden office.

Walt sent me a video and some photos to show you what they have done in making the Micro House into a garden office.

The loft will be made into a sleeping area and he will send photos when it is completed. I really like the quality of the completed interior. It looks like a very nice place to work. I could see myself working here without any problem.

These micro home/offices are available as plans or as kits. Be sure and check out Walt’s business A to Z Global Marketing Inc. where he offers all kinds of great resources for the tiny house enthusiast, from solar power to lighting and everything in between.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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