Construction Articles

Gypsy Wagon Design and Build Seminars

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Last year I let you know about a coveted workshop offered up in Port Townsend, Washington on Gypsy Wagon design and builds. Jim Tolpin contacted me the other day to give me the schedule for the 2010 year.

Jim says, “We’ve shortened the seminars to three days to focus on design development and to make the class more affordable.” The price is $295 for the three day seminar and limited to 25 students at each of the seminars offered. Register Here.

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Students helping to steam bend a wagon hoop around a form.

In this three day weekend we will begin by exploring in depth how the late 19th century, English-made “Living Wagons” (called “Vardos” by the Gypsies)—were designed, built and used.

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It Has to go Somewhere!

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Water and Waste Management Systems Part II By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell Last week, I posted about water sources. This week, we’ll discuss what to do with the wastewater. We put in a standard septic system with lateral lines that seep into the ground. We really didn’t have a choice, but for … Read more

Water and Septic Systems Can Be Tricky in a Little House

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Part I – Deciding on a Water System that Best Suits Your Needs

By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell

Water systems and sewage disposal can be a tricky thing when you are building a tiny house in the country.

This has been an issue for us since we built our Little House over six years ago. First, we had to decide on the water system. During construction, we were running out of funds, so we first had a huge tank system and water was trucked in. That was expensive at $140 a load, (I’m not sure of the tank size, but it was huge). However, when we didn’t live here full time, it worked. I think we typically had to buy 2-4 tanks per year.

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Photo Credit Kevin Pieper (Mother Earth News)

After we moved here full time, it just wasn’t economical. Even with trying to conserve water, we went through 1 tank every 2-4 weeks.

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Portable Lifesaver Water Filter

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Dave one of the Tiny House Blog readers has consistently sent me some great articles and I don’t always manage to fit them in. Here is one he sent recently that not only could help the world but I think could be used in a tiny house situation or help the homeless as well.

“On the outside, it looks like an ordinary sports bottle. On the inside, there’s a miracle: an extremely advanced filtration system that makes murky water filled with deadly viruses and bacteria completely clean in just seconds.”
Allison Barrie, FoxNews.com

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Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it — inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds.

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Walt Barrett’s Solar Pump

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Walt Barrett who developed the Micro Home has a new invention called the Barrett Solar Pump that will be developed to help bring water to Cambodians and others around the world. The unique design allows solar-power to harness the stiffling midday heat and generate kinetic energy and draw water from … Read more

Solar Decathlon 2009

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Craig one of our readers had the opportunity to go to the Solar Decathlon in Washington DC. and wanted to fill us in on this exciting event. Here is what Craig has to say about it.

Sorry to take so long to get back to you on the Solar Decathlon houses on the mall in DC.

I’d taken pictures, but they didn’t turn out so great what with all the crowds. As it happens, the solar decathlon webpage has some great videos for each house on the front page that do a far better job of showing off the houses than I could.

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Team Germany was just announced the winner, though my favorite was Team Louisiana’s Beausoleil house. They plan on marketing the houses as modular homes in the next couple of years with a price around $120,000 including the solar panels.

The maximum size limit for the houses was 800 square feet and they all had to be off the grid/independent.

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The Simple Life Bungalow

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Today is a milestone for the Tiny House Blog. This is the 500th post for the blog. I want to thank everyone for your support and loyalty to the Tiny House Blog. As the Tiny House blog grows and matures, I am looking for more ways to make your visit … Read more

FirstDay Cottage

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The FirstDay Cottage company in New Hampshire offers a house kit which they claim a couple, and a handful of friends, can build in approximately fifteen weekends and for under $45,000. These house kits can be customized for each customer and can be built with almost no carpentry experience. What … Read more

Little Red Cabin Plans

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Many of you expressed interest in the availability of the plans for this little red cabin we featured in a recent Tiny House in a Landscape post. The owner has kindly consented to making these plans available through the Tiny House Blog. This 14 x 28 cabin is 392 square … Read more

Little House and Laminate Flooring

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We didn’t do everything right when we built The Little House, but I love the things we did do right. One of those things was to skip the carpeting and instead, we installed laminate flooring that looks like wood. I put a lot of thought into the flooring because I … Read more

Pallet Chairs

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Pallets are really Michael Janzen’s specialty from Tiny House Design, but I happen to like them too and enjoy seeing what can be built with them also. Craig one of our readers, sent me a couple of cool links to chairs that are being built with pallets and if you … Read more

Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut

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I just couldn’t pass up a post on the beautiful shepherd huts built by the Plankbridge company in Dorset, England. Plankbridge shepherds’ huts are a traditional, insulated and mobile design of the classic sheepherding hut. These are for contemporary uses such as a home office, studio, bolthole, music or garden … Read more