Announcing the Amish Barn Raiser by Tumbleweed

amish barn raising

Over the years, we have heard from tiny house builders that it could take 100-200+ hours to complete framing and sheathing phases. Why not provide some help and heavy lifting for builders this spring? Tumbleweed now offers the Amish Barn Raiser. It’s a complete “shell” assembled by our Colorado-based Amish … Read more

NOMAD Micro Home

This stylish and energy efficient 10×10 foot micro home from NOMAD in British Columbia comes as a flat-pack micro cottage that can be assembled in just a few days. The NOMAD can also be customized to include a wet bath and appliances or no bathroom or appliances at all if … Read more

Free Tiny House/Straw Bale Framing Report

by Gabriella Morrison Straw bale construction is a wonderful building technique. It yields walls that are 3 times more fire resistant than standard construction, 3 times the energy efficiency of conventional construction, uses a waste material that otherwise gets burned in the field and creates huge levels of pollution, is … Read more

One Project Closer

The guys over at One Project Closer have been putting together expert how-to guides by shadowing contractors on actual job sites, and they call these articles “Pro-Follows.” If you’ve ever wondered how a professional contractor would build a concrete patio or finish a basement, check out their website. They only have a handful of Pro-Follows thus far so be patient as they build up this resource. Here are some pictures from a recent Pro-Follow for how to build a shed. Visit that link for the full story, and if you like what you read, consider subscribing to their feed.

The Foundation

The foundation was built by digging out a space a few inches larger than the shed, and lining the perimeter with pressure treated 4×6’s. Next, they set 10 columns of concrete block on undisturbed ground and back-filled the area with crushed stone. This type of foundation allows them to set the subfloor directly on the concrete block and provides an exit path for water and moisture.

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