As if it really needed specific mention, wood is a truly precious building resource. Finding new ways to preserve this resource, to be frugal with its use, but to still take advantage of the excellent properties of wood in our home building is a great concern.

The use of timbers in building has a long and varied history, and there is growing interest in timber frame home construction — the use of large posts and beams, with traditional wood joinery, and without the use of metal fasteners.

Roundwood timber framing uses whole poles, or whole trees for posts, beams, and other framing members. There are a number of advantages to this construction approach, versus the alternative option of milling and squaring timbers for a similar frame. Let’s look at a few of the benefits of the employing the roundwood method, whether it be for a tiny house, or a larger project.

Benefits of Roundwood Timber Framing

Roundwood timber framing uses whole trees

In typical timber frame construction, trees are milled down to square dimensions — 6×8, 8×8, 8×10, etc. Quite obviously, the original tree needs to be larger than the final post or beam, resulting in some waste of the material. To be able to produce larger dimension or longer timbers, older and straighter trees are necessary. As we know, these older and straighter trees can be difficult to find in certain areas.

However, if using the roundwood timber framing method, the tree can be used in its entirety. That means no milling (saving energy in the sawing process), and less waste as a result. Using roundwood is a more frugal alternative, and helps to preserve older and taller trees in the forest.

Materials can be grown more readily

Trees are slow growing, especially many hardwoods, and it could be decades before a tree is considered a useful timber. Once that tree is cut, it’s gone.

However, Ben Law has pioneered a cutting edge (no pun intended) approach to growing and cultivating trees specifically for roundwood timber frame construction, creating forests that can continually sprout back new material for future projects. Rengenerative coppice forestry promotes the growth of strong, quick growing trees that once coppiced (or cut at a certain time of year), can send shoots back and continue to grow new poles. Black locust is a good example of the type of tree suitable for the purpose — easily coppicable, quick growing, yet incredibly tough — a perfect wood for building.

Using coppicing techniques, one could sustainably cultivate materials for building on the same land for long periods of time, without simply cutting down a host of trees and denuding the land.

Roundwood — strong and beautiful

Roundwood is tough stuff — using whole trees leaves the grain intact, resulting in stronger posts, and a long-lasting frame. It also opens up the door to beautiful creative opportunities. Exposed roundwood timber frames are gorgeous, enrich a living space, and provides ample opportunity to get more creative with living spaces.

We’re all familiar with the flat wall syndrome prevalent in modern construction — sharp corners, flat wall surfaces, and a lack of texture. There is nothing more natural or organic that whole poles, and leaving these timbers exposed in the home is inspiring and connects us more fully to the land.

Learn Roundwood Timber Framing

There are new opportunities to learn about timber framing, and roundwood timber framing this year. The Year of Mud is hosting a timber frame workshop at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri that will teach roundwood timber framing methods as part of the curriculum. The host site will be a small house, and students will learn all about the benefits of roundwood and timber frame building, using traditional hand tools. It will be a great chance to get hands-on experience.

This was a guest post from Brian (Ziggy) Liloia.

The idea of living in the trees is a fun one to imagine. Treehouses are one way to set yourself aloft, but suspending your tiny place with cables or straps is another. Here are a couple of clever examples of folks who’ve brought these visions to life.

This first example is from Erik Pirolt, an artist in Norway. It’s called Flying View and you can see more of it on his website.

This next suspended structure is a 20 pound tent that can be setup in as little as 10 minutes. It’s called the Tentsile Stingray and it costs about $1350 (check website for current pricing). It’s the creation of treehouse architect and inventor Alex Shirley-Smith. It just needs three trees (anchors) and uses heavy duty ratchet straps to create the tension needed suspend the tent.

The production model became available in March of 2013 and was developed in partnership with product designer Kirk Kirchev. It can sleep/suspend three adults and their gear. They suggest suspending it about 4 feet above the ground for easy access but it can be placed higher in the trees.

If you have seen any other cool suspended tiny living spaces, please email me links at email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Also… thanks for Oliver Swann at Natural Homes for the Flying View tip!

Before the lure of internet took hold of my priorities, I was a potter – a good potter but a poor potter. While I had studied architecture in school, I ended up leaving with an art degree in ceramics. Not all ceramics majors think of themselves as potters, many, no most, think of themselves as artists or sculptors. But some of us are drawn to the ancient craft, the spinning wheel, the fire, the utility the things we make provide.

But these days it’s tough to earn a living doing something that takes so much time to do. So like so many, when the internet took-off I jumped on and found another way to apply my creative skills. I never lost that love for doing things the hard/right way – just got my priorities rearranged; societal pressures seem to have a knack of doing that.

I suspect you might know what I mean. So many of us get caught up on the treadmill that drives the current paradigm – our current way of life. It seems like if we don’t focus all our attention on acquisition – making money, making progress – we’ll fall behind and somehow fail.

In the video below we see a man finishing an axe. His name is Cody and he lives on a homestead in the woods of southern Washington. He once ran on the treadmill too, but today he lives simply and stays very busy with many projects like crafting this axe. Incidentally one of his other projects is a tiny timber frame cabin, which is probably patiently waiting for warmer weather.

But why make an axe!? You could go to the store right now and buy a Made in China axe for 30 bucks. Bringing an old axe head back to life and crafting a handle from a carefully sought & selected piece of hardwood would take so many hours, it would hardly be worth your time. All that time could be far better spent earning many times the cost of the axe too.

I’m probably preaching to the choir, but Cody’s video gave me an opportunity to reflect. It reminded me that maybe the biggest difference between our modern society and simpler times is in the values we hold highest.

Focusing on acquisition has brought us advances & riches but they’ve also come at quite a cost. I suspect many of us are drawn by the lure of tiny houses because they embody a value shift that resonates with us. A value shift where things like freedom, love, peace, and balance are held in higher regard than acquisition. Acquisition is still there, but it takes a back seat instead of center stage.

The revolutionary in me says that maybe this is the answer to many of our troubles and may explain why the powers-that-be are constantly working to control more. As masters of the current paradigm these people would naturally be obsessed with acquisition & control since these two things are required to be successful in the current paradigm.

The revolutionary in me also tells me to share ideas like this, in the hope that if enough of us see the danger that comes with holding acquisition above all other values, we might choose to hold other values higher ourselves – and demand it of the people we elect to govern our collective affairs.

A higher standard we need – not because it brings us more riches but because it brings us  closer to each other, and the things that help us thrive.

I know I tend to read a lot into things so thanks for your patience while I wax poetic. I hope you enjoy the video.

You can follow Cody on his Wranglerstar Youtube Channel and on Facebook.

For those looking for the back-story of this axe and why he’s going to give it away watch this video.

Where to build? Where to live? Well this is just out… the USGS & NOAA have issued a  report that warns that coastlines are becoming increasingly hazardous and costly to live on due to climate change impacts. Some of the expectations relayed in the report include a rise in health issues for coastal dwellers, stronger storms, changes in precipitation, increasing potential for damage to infrastructure, and higher insurance rates.

Ironically from NASA we’re hearing more reports that climate change can be partially attributed to the sun – in other words it’s not just us. In fact I think they should retitle this recent NASA article to, Climate Change… it’s the Sun Stupid.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for reducing our carbon emissions, getting off fossil fuels, and reducing consumption of all things. I’m also not looking for a scapegoat – I’m happy to think it’s us. But I also don’t want to turn a blind eye to the truth – and the truth that’s emerging for me (after months of tracking news of the sun) is that the climate change we’re witnessing has a lot to do with the sun’s activity – and lack of it.

Hey maybe Al Gore can do a new film… An Inconvenient Sun Spot! Just kidding

You see the sun has a normal 11-year cycle of ups and downs. During solar a maximum we typically get more sun spots that send energy toward earth. We see the impacts as Aurora Borealis and disruptions to radio transmissions. Right now we’re approaching the end of a solar maximum that looked a lot more like a solar minimum, and has some saying publicly that sun is affecting our climate.

A few even go a step father by pointing out that the last time we saw this trend it was followed by the Maunder Minimum, a period of even quieter solar activity where the sun sparked off very few sun spots and seemingly caused The Little Ice Age during the Middle Ages.

It’s one thing when the alternative media reports on these issues, it’s another when NASA, NOAA, and the USGS start reporting that climate change is serious business and it’s not entirely our fault – and completely out of our control.

Design for Resilience

Which brings me back to housing and the importance of things like mobility, sustainability and resilience – not just for homes but for life. I think we can all safely say that climate change is very real – no matter the cause – and that impacts to life are on the table. So it seems perfectly logical to begin making changes in how we live.

Some core requirements for this design may be:

• Downsize - an ideal strategy with a lot of benefits for today’s world and as a hedge against unforeseen changes tomorrow. Think of it like going for a day hike with a 10 pound pack versus a 50 pound pack- which makes you more agile?
• Mobile - easier for those who’ve downsized. Wheels under your house can help too but it’s really the lifestyle and work you choose that impacts your ability to be flexible.
• Sustainable - also easier to achieve after you’ve chosen to live with less – because there’s less input required to keep things moving.
• Resilient - achieved when you’ve mastered the inputs and outputs – adding that spring back to life.
• Happiness & Peace – the goal ultimately. I realize that some think the goals is power & riches but I think most of us think that’s just crazy. Hopefully someday soon those Yertles will fall from their towers of turtles and the rest of us can go back to living. I just hope the mess doesn’t slow us all down for too long. I guess that will depend greatly on the resilience we build today.

This is just food for thought and a peek into where my head has been lately. It’s one thing to worry about the craziness in the world around us and another to do something positive about it.

I think we’re living in a society where change is afoot and the powers-that-be are scrambling to find a way to stop or slow the changes. Everything in their beings tell them to tighten their grips harder in an attempt to control the situation and keep from falling – not realizing that the game is over.

It’s time to put away the Monopoly Board, pack away the funny money, bag up the houses & hotels, and get back to playing tag outside – rain and all. The paradigm is shifting.

Here’s a fantastic idea with what looks like some tinker toy inspiration origins. It’s a modular building system that could be easily deployed for disaster housing relief but could also clearly be used for all sorts of housing solutions from tiny homes to larger multi-family communities.

The inventors are currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to take the next step. What you see here is a prototype they’ve built to prove the concept (below) and an expanded view of the design (bottom). Learn more about this prefab design at Ablenook.com.

On 12/12/12 the Federal Reserve announced QE4 (Forbes). I guess they weren’t seeing enough impact from QE3, which was printing $40 billion a month to buy mortgage backed securities. Now they’ve more than doubled that bet by promising to print $85 billion a month until unemployment is under 6.5%. You might be asking…

1. What is QE?  Quantitative easing is a extreme measure used a central bank to stimulate an economy. Literally speaking the central bank creates new money to buy assets, in this case the Fed will be primarily buying treasuries issued by the U.S. Government. In other words they are taking extreme measures to protect the value of the U.S. Dollar by buying the paper that backs it – which ironically technically devalues it.
2. Why should we care? It’s a sign that things are going very badly for the economy. Since most folks have bought into the current paradigm lock stock and barrel its understandable why the powers-that-be are taking such measures. Today it’s considered normal to live in perpetual debt, commute long distances to work for multi-national corporations, rely on the steady supply of goods from overseas, an so on. That doesn’t sound ideal but these are realities of the current paradigm. Well folks… the current paradigm is fatally flawed and a paradigm shift of some kind is on the table. I can say this with certainty because we see evidence everyday that the powers-that-be are prepared to do anything to protect it. There’s no way to know how long these extreme measures will work but one thing is for sure, big change is needed to fix it or it needs to be replaced.
3. What does this have to do with tiny houses? Everything. Beyond being adorable functional homes, tiny houses represent an idea – that extreme downsizing doesn’t have to mean hardship. Extreme downsizing by choice, or even the mental preparation to downsize, is a step away from the current paradigm and toward a better one, one that doesn’t have to require going into debt. It’s the realization that there is another way to live with dignity and comfort.

At this point I think the 2007-2008 recession never ended and was only bandaged-up, and I’m in good company (Forbes). Most of the evidence comes in the form of monetary policy, as it’s the most publicly visible. Some say that market rigging like the Libor scandal and high frequency trading also show signs that the powers-that-be will do anything to protect the current paradigm. But looking at the crimes committed to protect the current paradigm shifts our attention away from what we can do to move to a new one.

Make a Plan for a Paradigm Shift

For a moment lets say we knew for a fact that the way things are today will change. What would we do? I’m going to suggest we begin by looking at the things we rely on today, and then build a plan that helps account for rising costs and availability reductions.  Here’s a quickly brainstormed list of things we rely on in no particular order:

• Paycheck
• Rule of law
• Affordable transportation
• Ability to borrow money
• Ability to pay rent and mortgage
• Uninterrupted global supply chain
• Affordable energy to heat and cool our homes and workplaces
• Municipal services like water, sewer, and trash
• National security

These are also the things that the powers-that-be are working tirelessly to protect – which on the surface is a good thing. But we also know that these these things may be difficult to maintain indefinitely under the current model.

So any step we each take to account for each of these things is a step toward a new paradigm. This approach doesn’t require that you walk-away from how you live today, it actually leverages how you live today and allows you to begin paving a path to another kind of future.

So here is quickly brainstormed list of things we can do to account for the rising costs and the reduction in availability of the things above:

• Paycheck – Lower living costs and build alternative income streams. Take your hobbies, expertise, experience, and skills, and begin finding ways of making them available to others. Peer to peer commerce is a very small entrepreneurial step each of us can begin augmenting our paychecks.
• Rule of law – Improve physical home security, reduce vulnerabilities, build connections with neighbors, and stay vigilant. No matter how high or low the crime rate goes, working toward improving your personal security is always sound advice.
• Affordable transportation – Downsize your vehicle and length of commute. If you plan to move include the walkability in your decision making process.
• Ability to borrow money – Reduce spending to a level where borrowing is not needed. Diversify savings in tangibles (food, gold, silver, land, tools, etc) and intangibles (paper financial investments, savings accounts, retirement accounts, etc). Pay down and eventually eliminate debt.
• Ability to pay rent or a mortgage – Downsize and bring housing expenses to a more easily manageable level, and/or build a tiny house backup plan.
• Uninterrupted global supply chain - Shop locally and discover local producers of food, goods, and services – in other words shop with those those that don’t currently rely heavily on transportation to bring those good to market.
• Affordable energy to heat and cool our homes and workplaces – Downsizing helps tremendously here since it’s cubic feet of space you must heat and cool. Learning to live more frugally can also provide added protection.
• Municipal services like water, sewer, and trash – Reducing consumption, increasing recycling, and learning how to manage waste yourself can reduce your reliance on these services.
• National security – We might assume that this is the job of the government. But I’m going to argue that it’s a citizen’s responsibility. The more of us that choose to live within our means, improve our own self-reliance, and prepare for uncertainly, the more secure our nation (and economy) becomes.

Now just image… if the majority of us lived in sustainable homes without debt & mortgages, had diversified incomes and savings, worked in the communities we lived, and had the means to ensure our own personal safety, would there be a problem at all?

The paradigm shift is a shift in thinking. Think tiny.

Jay Shafer brought tiny houses into the public eye when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show (original video here) in February of 2007. At the time the idea of living simply in a small space was refreshing approach that inspired many to follow. Jay’s Tumbleweed Tiny House Company thrived over the following years as more and more people discovered tiny houses.

But now Jay has chosen to resign from his position at Tumbleweed to start a new endeavor  - Four Lights Tiny House Company. Here’s a quote from the announcement:

“When asked why he split with the business he founded in 1999, Jay says, “For some of the same reasons I started designing, building and living in small houses in the first place – for more freedom and more manageability. The message and design philosophy I’d built my original company on had become harder and harder to maintain as the business grew from a one-man operation into what it is today.”

Four Lights will launch by offering Jay’s first-ever unabridged, hands-on building workshop, his plans for a tiny house village (slated for completion in 2015), and a new 280 square foot home design. An additional house will be unveiled every month for the next five months. Jay’s designs for compact furnishings and his system for “design-it-yourself” tiny houses will be released thru fourlightshouses.com on January 31.”

Be sure to sign up for news & updates at fourlightshouses.com. You can also find Four Lights Tiny House Company on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

“The Light Box”- a tiny house on wheels that was group-built at Deek’s hands-on building workshop in November.

The following is a guest post by: Derek “Deek” Diedricksen

Hey all, I just wanted to share with you a few photos of a translucent wall I built in a three-season tiny cabin on wheels, that I’ve dubbed “The Light Box”, for obvious reason. By doubling a layer of this white Tuftex roofing, and leaving an air void in between, I could effectively create a somewhat insulated wall, but for my purposes, I don’t yet need that. Also keep in mind, small spaces are VERY EASY to heat, and this cabin, without the loft, is only 45 square feet in size- TINY!

Anyway, this is the front wall/window (very cost effective) of a tiny house we worked on at last months’s Relaxshacks.com Tiny House Building Workshop in MA that I hosted (we have another HANDS-ON one coming up in North Carolina too, which I’ll mention below). The overall idea was to make this front wall almost art-like at night when illuminated, and the reverse during the day, when light came into the small space and lit the interior. The roofing is affixed to a 2by6 frame (the supports also serve as a ladder to the loft) with hex-head, neoprene-washer, screws, and they’re beyond easy to drive. I’ve never seen a “light box” wall like this before, but was inspired to try it out after I used this type white poly roofing on an A-frame shelter/tree house I recently built for an upcoming DIY Network show that I’m now hosting, designing-for, and building for. I’ve also been very busy sketching, designing, and building, for an upcoming follow-up to my book “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks“- if you have cabins, forts, tree houses, tiny houses, or playhouses that you built, or photographed, I’d love to see them and possibly include them in the book- email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Anyway, the wall has worked out, and I like it so much that I plan on using this same approach on a tree house I’ll be building for someone down the road. With a material this light, in tree house applications, you can actually pre-build entire wall sections of your project, and then single-handedly hoist them up to you platform. This saves a ton of time, not to mention avoids some dangerous aerial work.

As for the other workshop…..   April 26th-28th – Wilmington, North Carolina – Three Days of HANDS-ON building, guest speakers, a trip to a tiny house most likely, demos, campfire discussions, and much MORE! www.Relaxshacks.com has all the sign-up details. We’ll also film some of this build for Make Magazine and my youtube show “Tiny Yellow House”.

Steven Harrell of TinyHouseListings.com and TinyHouseSwoon.com is also co-hosting this event….AND We just added tiny house dweller/builder Laura LaVoie as one of our guest speakers (MANY more to come!).

We’ll all be building a small 100 square foot guest cottage together, and trying some new, funky, unusual, and daring designs and approaches- I can’t wait! Click HERE for workshop sign-up info.

Cody (a.k.a Wranglerstar) is one of the folks I follow on YouTube and Facebook. He regularly posts great how-to videos he films on his homestead near White Salmon, Washington. While this short video series focuses on building a greenhouse, it demonstrates how quickly the shell of a small building can be framed. He found the plans for this greenhouse at Ana White’s website.

While a small building like this is not unlike a tiny house there are some significant differences which will add to the time and cost to a tiny house project. As you can see here the shell of stick framed building goes up quickly. To make it comfortable for living more steps are needed like making it weather tight, insulating the shell, finishing the interior, installing utilities, and so on. Learn more about how to build a tiny house.

Cody is also working on a timber frame cabin and documenting every step. Compared to timber framing, stick framing goes very quickly as you can see in the greenhouse construction videos below. You can also watch them on Cody’s YouTube Channel.

I’ll add the final video(s) when Cody posts it on YouTube.

I have five signed copies of my book to giveaway. Tiny House Floor Plans is quite literally a book of floor plan drawings that can help you visualize how a tiny space might be organized. You can buy a copy on Amazon.com and an ebook version right here. If you’re feeling lucky you can enter for a chance to win a signed copy (U.S. residents only). For international winners I’ll send you an electronic copy of Tiny House Floor Plans and one electronic copy of one of my house plans.

My last giveaway was so popular, and so many people still hoping to enter, that I thought I’d offer another right away.

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