This house is designed and built lt by John Hilmer. It has a bell swoop at the bottom and finishes at the top with a beautiful cupola that is utilized to vent the building.
The house is made of hemlock and pine from the woods of Maine and sawn by a local sawyer in Athens, Maine.
Since it is almost only wood and nails the building releases minimal off gases. No harmful glues and plastics are used. The building is built using mostly hand tools so as to lower the carbon footprint of the builders and customer. The walls are sheathed with boards the old-fasioned way so no ply wood is used that contains harmful glue.
A boot is installed in the roof to accept a stove pipe and a wood stove can be installed immediately after it is built. The inside can be lived in immediately or it can be insulated and finished by either the home-owner or the builder. The board siding/sheathing is beautiful on the inside to look at if left natural if the customer decides not to insulate it.
It is a beautiful and well built building that can be erected anywhere in the U.S. for $20,000 plus $4.00/mile outside of Maine. After a order is made the building can usually be erected on your site within a month. You can contact the builder through their website hilmerbuildinganddesign.com or by calling 508-332-9721.
I love seeing others from my home state of Maine getting more involved in Tiny Houses! I am a sucker for cuploas, love’em…very interesting flair on the lower part of the house. Is it just one large open room inside, could we see some pictures from inside there? Good job keep up the good work!
Im not sure I can watch one more video of this guys creations. Sorry, just being honest.
If you are refering to Deeks videos you replied to the wrong thread.
However for the record, I think Deeks ideas are very worth while and extremly entertaining!
24’x24′ huh? Not to toot my own horn too much, but I have a sketch of a plan I sell on my website ( http://www.shoestring-homes.com ) that would transform this shell into a very nice two bedroom house. Mr. Hilmer would have to move a couple of windows on the side and add a few to the back, but you’d end up w/ quite a nice small home. I’m just sayin’
We can put the windows where ever the customer wants. Also I would like to make it clear that the john above that is critical of this deeks character is different than the John Hilmer in the post.
By the way, I don’t know what videos John is referring to above, but I have to agree with Tim. I always get a kick out of Deek’s videos.
Sorry, wrong thread. Im not bashing Deek’s work, but by no means are any of his creations a “tiny home”
They are what I would call Ive hit rock bottom and need a place to sleep type of a deal.
I like his creativity and if he spent some money I bet he could build a great tiny house instead of a casket.
John, check out Deeks video on his Tiny Cabin, I think it is in Mass. but I could be wrong just cant remember off the top of my head, it is a very nice Cabin/Tiny house in the woods.
If you have viewed Deek’s videos in their entirety, he actually says that tiny shelters like this may be a solution of sorts for homelessness. Clearly it is better to have some comfort against the elements, and he’s also demonstrating some inventive techniques that can be applied to larger and/or more permanent structures.
FWIW: My 2 children and I just had a major flood in our home that destroyed a ceiling and damaged another ceiling and several walls. In a few weeks when certified lead specialists come to tear up the house, we won’t be able to live here, and we may be living in a tiny travel trailer I keep in the yard. Deek’s type of digs might very well be useful in such circumstances. Be kind.
I’m pretty sure Deek’s cabin is in Vermont. He sent me some pictures of it. Very nice.
Yup, I think your right Jay thank you, I knew it didnt sound right when I said Mass but I just wasnt sure, thanks for the correction.
Pretty cool, but I wish it had some inside pics.
I’m working on getting some indoor pictures, so hopefully will post some later.
My comment earlier generated a ton of hits to my site (see above), so thank you to both Kent Griswold and John Hilmer for that. If anyone came away confused or unable to find the plans I referenced, they are on the “gallery 1” page. I was talking about the smallest plan in my Muir series, the M576-1. A complete plan set sells for $79.00. I haven’t installed a “buy now” button yet, so if you’re interested, just shoot me an email. Thanks again.
Does the ‘bell swoop’ serve a function or is it merely decorative?
The bell swoop is basically decorative. It is a style of years ago. Also the boards would want to cup otherwise because as they are not 100% dry. The side the sun hits would dry much sooner and the boards would want to pull of the wall as the outside shrunk. Not unlike a bi-metallic strip we used in science class. By bending the boards it creates zero pressure when they dry they will stay that way. But mostly it looks nice and adds a nice style to the building.
Why does the bottom of the door of the The Chapman Ridge building appear to be 20 inches above the bottom of the exterior walls? Is the floor at the level of the bottom of the door, or is it much lower. Wouldn’t the space below the overhanging exterior walls offer a perfect home for rodents and other critters?
The threshold is oak and is handmade by myself. There is no step down into the building. The sheathing hangs down past the framing to keep the wood dry so that is doesn’t rot. The building sits on piers and the site is sloped. The sheathing is near the grass on the highest part of the grade but not in the grass as it would rot. Some lattice should be installed to keep the critters out and also create a nice place for morning glorys and roses and things to grow on. Also the building can be built on foundation walls. This particular site has numerous cats and dogs that would drive away any unwanted critters but I was planning on putting lattice on it down the road.
Update: You can now see my 24×24 house plan on my Small Scale Homes blog at;
http://smallscalehomes.blogspot.com/2011/02/576-square-foot-two-bedroom-house-plans.html