While poking around online we happened to come across Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Tiny House website and the light came on in our heads! We would build a tiny house! A palace on wheels! We’d already rented out our home in the city and moved to the country in an RV, so why not build a small home, we didn’t need the space anymore, and wild horses couldn’t drag us back to city living.

It’s been months and months of planning, but we are finally underway, building our very small home that will accommodate our needs and desires for years to come. It was important for us to try and stay as green and non-toxic as possible in building our home, so finding all of our supplies has been challenging and time consuming to say the least, but we’re always amazed at how open and helpful people are when we tell them about our project.

While we have used many of the tiny homes already built as inspiration, we’re finding that sometimes the best way to do something is to make it all your own. Initially we planned to find a free travel trailer off of Craigslist, strip it down and use the frame, but ended up splurging on a brand new custom length flatbed car hauler frame instead. The 24’ frame will allow us more interior space so that I don’t have to give up the luxury of a washer and dryer, and my hubby can have his larger loft space with room for a built in dresser.

We’re excited to start our journey once our house is complete and start looking for a piece of property to call our own and begin living a self-sufficient life in harmony with our surroundings. Check back with us to see how things are progressing, or take a drive out to the beautiful Washington Olympic Peninsula and come for a cup of tea and a visit )

Mark and Olivia

www.naturallytiny.blogspot.com

Peter has built 11 tiny houses since we saw him last but is not super pleased with his new moniker “The Tiny House Guy.” With the economy in shambles and foreclosures running rampant, tiny houses seem more relevant than ever. But Peter has some ideas that are even bigger than his tiny houses. Please check out the Stuck in Vermont article here and enjoy this excellent video below.

In October, Will drove from Abbotsford, British Columbia to McKees Mills, New Brunswick. Will drove a used 1999 Dodge diesel truck and it worked out great to tow the house.

Will and Alyson created a small blog called Alyson and Will’s Adventure to cover their move and life at their new farm home and you can view it here.

After so many months and so much planning, I drove away with the tiny house and most of our possessions in tow. Left just around lunchtime with everyone on the farm hugging me and saying goodbye. I’ve got my Ipod loaded with songs and we’ll see how far I get today. — Will

Will weighed the house before moving it, it came in at 6182 lbs. empty (well below the trailer’s 10,000 lb capacity). The tongue weight is around 1,100 lbs which is more than the max of 900 lbs recommended in the truck owners manual. He was carrying all his and Alyson’s meagre possessions also and loaded the heavy items in the back of the house to lessen the tongue weight.

Most of the trip, Will slept at truck stops or campgrounds, just stopped and had a snooze when he got tired of driving.

Leaving Glen Valley Organic Farm

Fall Colors

Lunch stop in Golden, BC

I covered about 700 km over the Rockies from Kamloops, BC to Strathmore, Alberta. Kind of slow going over the mountains. It will be flat for a long stretch now. Not too much interesting about driving for hours and hours looking for good coffee and for a place to eat that is not too bad. — Will

Made it to Manitoba

KOA campground near Ottawa, Ontario.

It was nice to start seeing wooded areas in Manitoba after the plains. The northwest part of Ontario was really beautiful with a different lake after every little hill I would go over. Until next time, thanks for reading. — Will

Pulling in the drive-way at our new farm in McKees Mills, New Brunswick.

Will arrived on the farm just before noon today. I am so happy to see him and he is so happy to have arrived! The truck did really well, the house held together and Will survived the days of driving. I think he is feeling a great sense of accomplishment for having made the big trip and I’m so proud of him, too! — Alyson

Got the truck stuck when moving the house so had to use the tractor to move it.

The house after a recent snowfall

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

Using a home built trailer using classic and modern building techniques and style. Based on traveler’s and “gypsy” wagons from Britain and France as well as sheep wagons from the western U.S. George is keeping this to the absolute minimum in size and weight. George doesn’t plan to live in it so it can be thought of a base camp.

You can view more pictures and follow his project at his Paleotool’s Weblog. I will also do an updated post when George completes the vardo, so stay tuned.

In the spring of 1983 I was finishing up my second year at Virginia Tech.  I felt lost and frustrated at school.  When I came to VT I thought I wanted to be an engineer but that wasn’t working out.

I decided I needed to clear my head by taking on a big challenge and I narrowed it down to either hiking the Appalachian Trail or joining the Marines.

When I was deciding what to do I met a guy named Eddie, a local who owned property about 10 miles from campus.  He must have sensed I was ready for a big challenge because he asked if I wanted to build a cabin on his property.  I thought about it for one night and decided this was exactly what I needed.

I had zero experience building save for the dog house I built while in high school.  Eddie said he would help guide me in the process but the lion’s share of work would be up to me.

The deal was that I could live rent free while I was attending college.  I was to move out once I graduated.

Building the cabin and living in it was an incredible experience.  I built the cabin for $1,100 and the investment paid off in more ways than I could ever have imagined.

I lived in the cabin from the summer of 1983 to fall of 1985.  No rent.  No phone bill.  No electric bill.  No water bill.  No trash removal bill.

Some of the lessons I learned / looking back:

1. It’s not critical to have electricity, running water, and a phone to be comfortable. With that said – if I was doing it again today – I would figure out a way to get a laptop computer with internet access (charge on the car battery or small solar panel).
2. I learned how to conserve water. I learned the value of a clean and abundant water supply.
3. I learned how to use a chainsaw without hurting myself.
4. I learned how to be quiet and enjoy it.
5. I learned that building a home is relatively easy (it’s not rocket science). This knowledge has provided me with a great sense of security over the years.
6. I wished I had built a cabin with half the footprint and built with a very steep roof to provide a second story. Building the foundation took an enormous amount of time compared to the rest of the building process. Building up (steep roof) would have been faster (I think).
7. As soon as I was done building the cabin I found out about yurts. Had I known about yurts I would have built one of those instead.
8. I learned how to become more self-sufficient.
9. I learned how to ask for help after I injured my back and needed help stacking firewood.
10. I learned how valuable electricity is.
11. I learned how to navigate a dirt road under all types of conditions (deep mud, ice, snow) and learned when to park and walk.
12. I learned how to stay warm in the winter. I learned how to cut wood and prepare kindling. I learned how to quickly start a fire in a woodstove and keep it going.

When I graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986 I moved to Asheville, NC where I’ve been living since. The last time I saw the cabin was in 2000 and it looked good but no one was living in it. I’ve been trying to contact the folks who owned the land (they now live in FL). I want to go back up for a visit. The roofing material I used was simple asphalt roll roofing. When the roof goes then the cabin will quickly collapse. Not sure how long roll roofing can last.

Below are a few of Tom’s photos and you can view all his photos on his picasa web page.

My primary tools for building the cabin were a chainsaw, small axe and hammer. When I started the project I knew nothing about chainsaw maintenance but I quickly learned about chain lubrication, chain tension and how to sharpen the chain.

Brian poses next to the the foundation. Notice the middle oak beam is not yet touching one of the locust posts.

Back to the mobile sawmill to purchase 2x4 rough-sawn lumber to be used for framing. This wood was a tree two days before I started framing. The wood was so wet that when I drove a nail in water would seep out.

Positioning all but four of the rafters was hard to do all by myself. The rafters were heavy and hard to handle.

This photo was taken after passing through the plastic door - looking left. You can see my wood stove which I made from a kit (converted an oil barrel into a stove). The aluminum fins on the stove pipe represented an effort to steal more heat from escaping gasses. This stove was not my original stove. The stove I purchased originally was terrible at holding a fire and it was too small.

This photo is taken near my bed and looking towards my sink. You can see the elevated plastic trash can that I pumped water to. I used a propane stove for cooking (propane tank was outside). To keep mice from eating my food, I stored my food in the metal cabinets (you can see them on the left).

I ordered a set of the Sonoma Shanty plans back in July, bought a 26′ flatbed trailer, and, well, that’s where I swerved from the plan, ditched angles in favor of curves, and began my Shell House construction. I’m a few weeks away from wrapping up this project but thought I’d send you some construction shots.

Some project thoughts.

Curved lines have sheltered me in my adventures for over a decade. I spent 5 years sailing my steel cutter “Sea Bird” alone around the world, living in a floating home of curved hull and cambered deck house. Then came a 13-month stint living in a tipi while traveling from Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean by mule. Followed by another 13 month trek from Canada to Mexico in a tiny wagon (I sent you short a piece on this earlier). All these homes featured round lines.

When I got back to North Carolina from my latest trip, I started building a tiny mobile studio. Bought a 26-foot trailer. Laid out the floor. Raised walls for a Sonoma Shanty. But when it came time to raise the ridge pole and rafters, it struck me I’d strayed from the world of curves that had take me so far. So I came up with my own design of a cambered roof with tapered overhang.

The roof design is based on the New Zealand green-lipped mussel I encountered in my 1 1/2 years in the Land of the Long White Cloud. That’s why I call it the Shell House. Instead of using a computer to design the roof, I just wrote friends of mine a letter telling them what I was doing. Doodled up some sketches. Then, using a batten cut from a piece of heart pine flooring, I drew the roof line I wanted onto a piece of plywood I used as a template. The eaves are tapered on both sides, ranging from 18 inches over the back window to over 36 inches over the back door. Roof beams are 1 by 6s insulated with solid foam. Tin was secured on the bias, giving the roof the strength and spiraled texture of a mollusk.

The Shell House features more porch than heated area. Inside it measure 75 feet. Porches will cover over 120 feet. Front porch will be made of locust boards salvaged from an old farm house. Tough stuff. Hard enough to stop a .22 bullet depending on how far away you shoot from. Stands up to weathering really well, too.

One of the things I noticed with such a long trailer (26 feet) is that the tail sagged. To solve that problem, I installed a chain and spreader support, much like you’d see on a sailboat. One end of the chain attaches close to the of the trailer. The chain then runs over a 2-foot upright steel post just in front of the wheels and continues to the front of the trailer where it attaches, via a turnbuckle, to the front of the trailer. By tightening the chain, I’ve eliminated the sag I bet plagues a lot of trailer-based tiny homes over 15 feet long. Most of the assembly is hidden in the wall. What juts out onto the porch I will feature as proudly as standing rigging on an offshore sailboat.

Walls are insulated with blue foam on both sides of the studs to break thermal bridge. Siding is metal. Windows are wood and metal clad double hung and casement Pella and Jeld-Wens. Solar power is planned. Building is wired 12 volt DC / 110 volt AC. At present, I’m wrapping up the interior. I’ve paneled it with 6-inch wide painted white pine paneling. Floor will be tongue and groove southern yellow pine.

So there you have it. I’ll drop you some photos when the project’s complete.

Crystal says the progress has been slow on the house due to the weather! A “winter storm” moved in a couple of days ago, beginning with above freezing temperatures and rain, progressing to freezing rain and then a blizzard of snow in less than 24 hours!

There is probably about a foot of snow outside! Anyways, we have some new pics for you. Ron went out and took them in the blizzard and his hands came back so red and cold.

We found a place to park our tiny house. We are going to stay in our house until mid February. The farm we are moving to, north of Eudora in Linwood, KS, belongs to a friend of Ron’s parents. She has a basement apartment that we are going to live in until we finish the tiny house (hopefully spring). We will be moving the tiny house unfinished to her land. She also rents some of her acreage to farmers who own cows, pigs, sheep, and chicken. It is going to be the perfect little spot on the prairie for our house! Luna is going to grow so much being in this environment.

As far as construction goes, we have to pressure test the plumbing so that we can finish the walls where the connections are. We installed the water heater and the water tank just before the weather turned cold. However, there were a couple of really cold days where my dad and Ron still worked….I, on the other hand, “had” to stay inside with the baby! We still have to paint the trim on the outside and put a final coat of green. We also need to paint the inside and do the flooring. Oh the punch list gets longer every time we think about it…

To keep up to date with the Shavers be sure and follow their blog called the Tiny House on the Prairie.

About a 18 months ago I started noticing articles on the internet about people getting away from massive homes, and similar sized debt loads to support them. People were starting to become aware of what affect their habits were having on the environment. I have lived in Europe for a lot of my life and am quite used to the idea of a compact efficient home.

Thinking about it further I decided to see how small it would be possible to make a home that was still comfortable to live in and at the same time use building materials as efficiently as possible. Hence the choice to pick 12 foot dimensions for our primary unit.

The other major design decision was to have the bedroom and bathroom on the same floor. Most micro designs have the bedroom at the top of a steep flight of stairs or you have to use a ladder. Since I would be living in the unit, I reasoned that if I got up in the middle of the night, it would be much easier to use the bathroom if it was on the same floor.

It took 8 months to get a building permit after that. The local planning office did not understand what we were trying to do, so unfortunately took the official path of “no”. Unofficially they were very helpful and gave me a lot of suggestions – hence our ten foot sized unit that needs no permits to be built. We have units designed that use grey-water systems, a solar version – no outside power required! Our only limitation is the customers imagination.

I have now been living in my place for almost two months, its comfortable, and quiet. Its unobtrusive, people walk right by it without realizing its a home. It needs very little energy to run. An average 1 bedroom apartment produces 5 tons of CO2 per year. A cube will produce 0.8 tons per year. Its somewhere you can be proud to bring guests to. Its got enough space inside the sleep 3 – comfortably!

Its been very interesting living in what is perceived by most people as a “small” space, when all you need to do is change your outlook slightly and think cubic.

Pricing is dependent on options – but starts at CDN $24,500, our dollar is worth less than yours. Thats a completed unit, customer is responsible for permits (if required), and any foundation and deck work is on top. We don’t include it in the price as there are too many variations for us to have to deal with site unseen.

We are currently talking to two big builders, both who want to build the units, and we will have a flat pack version available shortly, it can be shipped to the clients site, and they erect it themselves. The beauty of the unit is that we can pre build them, and then load them on a flat deck, and ship them to a customers site for a very reasonable cost.

To learn more of James cubed micro house visit his cool website twelve3.ca or twelve cubed.

Hopefully Carrie’s home is the first of many more to come of this style  and era home. If you have one or know someone who lives in one please contact me so I can share the home with our readers.

Quoting Carrie: I have been poking around on your website and absolutely love it! I have been attracted to small, cozy, yet functional spaces such I was a kid. So it made since that when it came time to buy our first home that we would choose a small 650 sq. foot cottage that was originally built in the early 1930’s. I share my space with my husband, 2 year old St. Bernard, chickens, and lots of gardens!

Our home was a fixture of the community back in the 40’s and 50’s with the original owner and builder being quite the social butterfly. It has been wonderful to have neighbors stop by and share their stories and memories of what it was like when they used to come over for BBQ’s and cocktail hour.

We purposely purchased an already exsisting small home and made upgrades such as windows, insulation (in the 30’s this was not that important) to make it more effecient as our thinking was the most “green” thing we could do was to utilize an exsisting structure since the raw materials had already been used…….not saying that buidlding a new place is bad, certaintly not, but re-using an exsisting place is the most effecient use of materials, we think! This may be a theme among people living in small old houses, also ways to improve them energy wise, etc.

We are located in the white mountains of New Hampshire, just outside Waterville Valley, or “ski country” as it is known around here! Thank you, thank you for this site, it is inspirational to see others ideas and dreams and to see that we are not the only “crazy” people who feel that living small is really living large!

I am curious about people with small homes and big dogs, seems to be quiet common…..

Please comment below if you have an answer to Carries question and dogs.