Tiny House Design

Black Rock City Inspiration

Michael Janzen — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:22:26 +0000

At this very moment 50,000 people have setup housekeeping in a temporary city in the Nevada desert. If you don’t know much about the Burning Man Project you might find it surprising that this temporary city (Black Rock City) has an incredibly well thought out plan designed by architect Rod Garrett.

This year the art theme for the city is Metropolis: The Life of Cities… so naturally there is an increased awareness and focus on how to make it more livable. The inhabitants of Black Rock City are already very careful about leaving no trace when they leave, so it seems like a great community to spent a bit of focused time noodling over this growing concern – how to make communities more livable.

Continue Reading: Black Rock City Inspiration

Dan’s Tiny House Project plans now available

Michael Janzen — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:35:29 +0000

Dan’s Mom had been living in a badly constructed trailer home that was deteriorating around her. Like most of us these days money was tight, so Dan began researching frugal housing options and discovered the tiny house movement.

Inspired by the tiny homes he found online, and having some experience building stuff, Dan came up with a design of his own and began construction on his Mom’s new home a year ago this month.

Continue Reading: Dan’s Tiny House Project plans now available

Twelve By Twelve – by William Powers

Michael Janzen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:26:52 +0000

I’ve not read my copy of Twelve by Twelve yet, but I was happy to see that David at The Good Human has posted his review of this new book.

After spending some years abroad doing humanitarian work, William Powers came back to the U.S. and experienced a dose of culture shock. He had an opportunity to live in a tiny 12′ by 12′ off-grid tiny house in North Carolina. The book is less about living off the grid and more about questioning values, personal growth, and discovery.

Read David’s review of Twelve By Twelve – by William Powers

Hut 2.0 – Tiny House Raising with Friends

Michael Janzen — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:37 +0000

A great way to build a tiny house is with friends – kind of like a mini-house raising. Ryo Chijiiwa did just that a couple of weekends ago at his property in a remote part of northern California. Ryo had already built a little hut but wanted something a bit more substantial so he came up with a simple post and beam design and invited friends to come camp out and help build. Hut 2.0 just 96 square feet but will have ample loft space and will be much more comfortable for Ryo’s extended stays.

For more about this project visit Laptop and a Rifle.

Solar Burrito’s Cabin – Update

Michael Janzen — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:32:46 +0000

Solar Burrito’s off-the-grid cabin is coming along nicely. On their most recent visit they finished up the sheathing and sealed it up tight with house wrap. Originally they had a yurt in this same location but it caved in last winter under the weight of snow; so they bought a kit from Penny Pincher Barns and have been steadily building this little dream cabin. It’s located up on shared remote property on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and you can follow along at the Solar Burrito Blog.

Minicabin JaraBacoa

Michael Janzen — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:44:29 +0000

This Minicabin is located in Jarabacoa, a mountain region in the Dominican Republic. It was built by Luis Martinez for about $6,000 US. It’s designed and constructed to be disassembled and moved because the riverfront property it’s built on is owned by a friend. He intends to use it as a second home and it has a sleeping capacity for four adults and one or two kids. The main floor is 100 square feet, the loft is 36 square feet, and the front terrace is 63 square feet.

He chose to open up the longer wall of the house to integrate all the interior spaces because it makes it feel bigger. Due to the Caribbean’s hot climate a lot of air circulation is needed to cool down the house and the terrace is used more than the interior. In this particular location they experience high humidity plus 90 degree Fahrenheit during the day and 68 degree fahrenheit at night.

Luis has posted some photos online which you can see at his Minicabin blog.

Thanks for sending this to me Luis! Great photos and information.

The Boxy Lady – Tiny Yellow House

Michael Janzen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:00:12 +0000

Derek Diedricksen has a new episode out of Tiny Yellow House. This time it features one of his latest micro house creations called The Boxy Lady. In addition to providing a place to sleep it can also double as a curbside vending booth.

If you happen to be near Scituate, MA this coming Thursday (August 26, 2010) at 7:00 p.m., you should stop by The Front Street Book Shop. Derek will be there with The Boxy Lady which is now sporting some yet to be seen features. He’ll also be doing a demo on redneck window construction, as well as talking about his book and designs.

Rustic Elegance in the Catskills

Michael Janzen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:00:22 +0000

One of my long-time readers, Eva, sent me a link to this incredible little cabin in the Catskills. At first glance it may look like a simple rustic cabin, but on closer inspection the level of fit and finish expose the truth that this is the cabin of gifted artisans. Kim and Jonny began this project four years ago and through careful frugal choices built it without borrowed money. With the help of friends and family they were able to finish it up this past spring.

Kim and Johnny also have a band called Family Band and just released their first album, and Kim runs a website called The Wild Unknown which features handmade items including Kim’s prints and calendars.

Thanks again Eva, excellent find!

Learn more about Kim and Jonny’s Cabin at Design Sponge.

Photo credit to Design Sponge and Kim & Jonny.

Hybrid Cob/Earthship Workshop in October

Michael Janzen — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:26:04 +0000

David Reed will be hosting an intensive 10-day cob/earthship workshop in Hempstead, Texas starting October 1, 2010. The workshop will show you everything you need to know about building your own cob home. Participants should plan on bringing their own accommodations (tents, RVs, trailer, tiny houses) for camping-out at this off the-grid community. On the 6th of October the participants will take a break and visit The Blackwood Educational Land Institute, an ecosystem and living classroom for sustainable living.

Learn more about this workshop and others at New Jura Natural Building.

Is a Travel Trailer a Tiny House?

Michael Janzen — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 05:52:39 +0000

This question has been coming up quite a bit recently, so I thought I’d post my two cents on the topic. By no means it this my final answer on the subject – just my current thinking.

I think anything small that can provide shelter can fit the description of a tiny home, but I think tiny houses are rapidly defining a new unique class of housing.

This idea congealed today as I noodled over a post on Tiny House Blog titled The Hard Questions. That post mostly focuses on the challenges surrounding where a tiny house can be legally inhabited. At the moment tiny houses on trailers fit into a grey area between houses and travel trailers. Here are some of their obvious differences:

They are portable, but are built like houses.
They are heavy like houses, and don’t typically make great raveling companions.
They are not known to be examined by building inspectors because they are not attached to the ground.
They feel more solid than a travel trailer, more like a house.
They are often better insulated than travel trailers so more comfortable for year-round living.
They are often owner-built.
They have a totally different aesthetic.

So while many people make a fine home in their travel trailers, vans, house trucks, gypsy wagons, and bus conversions, those tiny homes are not tiny houses.

But don’t get me wrong – I have no bias against any flavor of alternative housing. I just think that tiny houses on wheels may be emerging as a new class of housing because they share more traits with their foundation-bound cousins than their free-wheeling friends.

A Can of Worms?

I can also see how this trend could benefit and hurt tiny house owners at the same time. Moving out of the grey area could help some people gain acceptance from the powers-that-be and make it easier to find communities that are accepting of tiny houses.

But at the same time this kind of acceptance would probably come at the cost of adhering to certain rules and building codes. But then again, some building codes can be a good thing if they can help us build safe homes. So like anything, there would be trade-offs.

Self Governance?

Something else that might help tiny house owners gain more acceptance could be the formation of a cooperative trade association. I’m not picturing some kind of for-profit group, but instead a collection of people from the greater tiny house community that come together and collaboratively define best-practices for tiny house construction.

This kind of organization might bring more legitimacy to tiny houses and help them gain more acceptance from the powers-that-be by setting safety standards. It might work even better if owner-builders could point to the standards they followed to build their home and some kind of independent inspection record.

I’ll noodle over this self-governance idea more. I’d love to see something like this evolve if it took on more of an open standards philosophy like we see in open source software communities worldwide. After all we don’t need more bureaucracy, we need more self-governance and individual empowerment.

Anyway… this evolving thinking seemed important enough to throw out there to noodle over and discuss.

Photo credit Wikipedia.