Leslie Pelch contacted me about her “Kozy Shack in Vermont.” Vermont seems to be a real hot spot for tiny houses as I keep getting more and more stories from that great little state. I’ll let Leslie tell you about her Kozy Shack.
I bought the original one room camp (12×14 – one story) in 1997 and lived in it for 7 months, during which time I put on a 14×16 addition (with the help of many friends and a book called “Building an Addition.”)
There was no electricity, no running water (except the stream down the hill), and heat provided by an old propane heater. I managed to get the addition up and insulated (no sheetrock or siding, though) and the heater re-installed by Thanksgiving of 1998. I also installed a wood/gas cookstove but couldn’t find anyone willing to set up the chimney because they were afraid of liability related to setting up such an old appliance.
That winter it got down to -30 and I vowed that I would get the wood burning part of my stove set up the following year. I did indeed cut a hole in the roof and get the chimney installed myself so that I was much more warm and comfortable the following winter. And I learned to cook on a wood stove.
During these years I used oil lamps for light, which I do not reccomend – I’m pretty sure I killed a few brain cells inhaling the fumes. I used an existing outhouse the first year, then installed a SunMar NE composting toilet, which froze and overflowed one day when a friend was visiting. I read Joseph Jenkins’ book around that time and started using a sawdust and buckets system with a compost pile outside – haven’t looked back since.
In 2001 my partner Peter joined me in the little shack (coincidentally, he was at the time living in what had been a garden shed – about 10×10 with a loft) and quickly began to make improvements. In the intervening years he has brought the following into our life: propane fridge (I used a family antique for years – an ice box), solar electricity, an ingenious shower that uses a bilge pump dropped into a pot of water hot off the stove, a system that pumps the water from the stream up to our 30 gallon storage tank (and drains out when not in use, so it didn’t have to be buried), pine floors (rather than plywood), a kitchen (shelves, drawers, counters, a sink), greywater drains, a new wood cook stove and a cute old 3-burner gas stove, a lot of firewood cut on our land….you get the picture.
In 2005 we had our daughter and it has only been in the past year or so that I am starting to feel like we need more space, or at least more privacy. I kind of wish we had created a little bump out room for her, but for now she sleeps in the living room….and we are in the process of building a bigger (but still relatively small and off grid) house.
I loved the story about the people living in a Yurt in Alaska with their baby and realized you don’t have too many stories about people with kids living in tiny houses. Perhaps we are a case in point since we are getting reading to move into a small rather than tiny house, but it might be interesting to see if there are any other families out there living in tiny houses!
Leslie