Tiny Houses

[Dawn]

I opened my Mother Earth Newsletter (free with subscription) and up came a delightful article about 8 Great Microhouses. Here's the link: http://www.motherearthnews.com/natur...m_medium=email Plus a fun photo of one of them:


And one more fun one:

[13th Warrior]

I also follow the tiny house movement.

A lot can be learned about space management, dual purposing and efficiency. One of the greatest advantages is less upkeep, cleaning and maintenance which frees up time and energy for more stimulating projects.

A 100 square foot home definitely isn't for everyone but, you sure can do a lot with 1,000 square feet with proper planing and layout...

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

$1800 used shipping container as architects' backyard office

This chap uses shipping containers as an office, but as can be seen, could quite easily be converted into a home.

Shipping containers are built to carry huge loads and the refrigerated units are very efficient at climate control. So it's unsurprising that when they're retired from the sea, they're being used as the building blocks for homes and offices.

Given their strength they work well in earthquake country. In Berkeley, California architect Karl Wanaselja and his business partner and wife Cate Leger created their home-office using a shipping container. It cost just $1800.

Wanaselja and Leger cut their 40 foot long refrigerated unit in half and placed it in a T shape in their backyard (with the help of a crane). They didn't need to add any insulation: they're designed to not have any thermal bridging between the interior and exterior and the polyisocyanurate insulation has the highest R-value of any foam insulation.

Using a sawzall (reciprocating saw), the couple cut huge windows into the aluminum/stainless steel structure. Wanaselja says he was initially intimidated by the idea of crafting out of aluminum (the exterior material) and stainless steel (interior), but "once I got over my learning curve I actually like working with metal".

In this video, the couple talk about working in a cargo container, using materials like the soy-based plywood floor (Purebond) and the music made by rain and branches on a metal roof.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqLg3Mxnqrc

Great thread btw.

[CD7]

How about we pay nothing for a SPACIOUS HOME! Isnt this nice...society is making available SHOE BOXES for those who just cant SLAVE enough for an OVERPRICED house. Sick...nope not good enough....Earth is ALL OF OURS and so is its shelter!

[gooty64]

I love this post!

My consciousness just expanded!

Thank you, Mr. rmauaersr for this post and to all who added to it...

[BestLion]

For 1000s of years people lived in small houses. I just read Cracker Culture about the Old South, and 90% of southerners lived in 1 room houses and often had large families. Here in Ukraine most people up until recently lived in homes no larger then 700 sq ft. The reason for small homes was easy to build, and needed less energy.
I just dont understand why a family of 3 need a 4,000 sq ft home to live in..heck they don't even live in 80% of that house.
One thing I noticed about life..is when a man is young he seeks all the wealth, wants the best car, big house and wants to keep up with the Jones. Then as he is 65 and wants to retire he sells his house-car etc..and goes and lives in a 1 room flat or even some into a retirement home that has 1 room. Instead of working his life to accumulate big homes, cars, junk..he could have bought a small pad, a small car and been much more financial free. Also in the book 'Your Money or Your Life" they talk that all this stuff 'big homes etc" doesn't make people any more happy. They say it often tends to work against people and makes them more miserable..the more is better idea....When in fact people only need just enough..I learned in life I really dont need much to be content.
Photo is my home in Ukraine..It is living space 410 sq ft. Has "the white siding' a storage room- gas furnace. My heating bill in the winter is 30 bucks a month. i jar my own grapes, tomatoes..and have a rot cellar that I store potatoes jars, and beets-carrots in. i buy meats, and flours and stuff..and barter milk..my neighbors rents my land and plants onions and gives me free milk in return.

[Dawn]

BestLion: ...people only need just enough..I learned in life I really dont need much to be content.
Photo is my home in Ukraine..It is living space 410 sq ft. Has "the white siding' a storage room- gas furnace. My heating bill in the winter is 30 bucks a month. i jar my own grapes, tomatoes..and have a rot cellar that I store potatoes jars, and beets-carrots in. i buy meats, and flours and stuff..and barter milk..my neighbors rents my land and plants onions and gives me free milk in return.

Thank you so much for your personal sharing. I really like what you said and how you said it. What a wonderful way to live. It sounds like you still have the sense of community that so many lack these days.

There is something about sharing food, which the earth produces so abundantly, with others that really (really!) makes us feel abundant. I think it is a form of love. It is also speaking to that part of ourselves which is always focused on safety and survival, "look here, I not only have enough, I have more than enough and can enrich others too!"

And the inexpensive heating bill is so relaxing, isn't it? Our bill is about $35/month for our tiny home. It helps that we live in a mild climate. My sister lives down the road in a 2,400 square foot home with her husband. Her bill, for contrast, is about $250 in the winter and $75 in the summer. Life feels safe and relaxing when all you need to do is earn $35.00 to keep yourself warm and comfy.

[spiritwind]

Here's a small house of sorts for ya. We lived on this boat for 3 years with our teenage daughter. Kinda hard to grow a garden but otherwise all the comforts of home.

[Kindred]

True Freedom is in the Mind... not the space your body inhabits...

My current home is a 1941 Quonset Hut... about 700 sq.ft., all steel, with it's Original, 70y.o. roof. Still doesn't leak!... No/low maintenance,, but I've had to upgrade virtually everything. But - you know what?... it's Still Too Big!

Many years ago, I had made plans to build, and live on a boat... but nothing on the market really made sense to me, given my extensive experiences in that arena. Ultimately, I created a design that I eventually got patented... never did anything with the patent (that I wrote and illustrated myself) - it was more of an intellectual exercise for me. But, the product is still quite novel - that of a self-righting trimaran, which has been 'reduced to practice'... I even started building a 25ft prototype (the concept is applicable to any size or motive type - sail or power... Now... where's that Free Energy Device!!!???)
The prototype is 25+ft x 8ft to 15ft wide, with 6.5ft headroom almost throughout, and weighs 1400 lbs,dry.

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

Two very interesting ideas on small-housing.
One a political view, another a private decision.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq9xf0OhaVI

Jay Shafer: The Politics of Tiny Houses
In February, 2011, we spent a couple of hours with Jay Shafer (Tumbleweed Tiny House Company), in his 96 square foot house-on-wheels in Sebastopol, California. Jay is one of the more well-known and successful tiny house designers, and there's no denying the "curb appeal" of his designs. That appeal is generated by Jay's careful attention to proportion as well as by his decisions about which elements to include in--and more precisely, what to leave out of-- his designs. But as much as he enjoys talking about design, what he really wanted to talk about was the politics of tiny houses. Why building and zoning codes are stacked against tiny houses, how the costs of purchase and upkeep compare to the big houses he calls "debtors' prisons", and why, when the Big One shakes the land around San Francisco Bay, he'd rather be in his tiny house than anywhere else.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuyHGIxdjuQ

Tim Guiles: Conversations in Tiny House
In 2008 Tim Guiles built two tiny houses based on Jay Shafer's "WeeBee" design (Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.); one for himself and one for his son. He was so enthralled with tiny house living that one year later he formed a company, http://yesweecabins.com ....and hired an architect to help him with the design of his first product, an 8'x18' tiny house on a steel car trailer called "Elegant Simplicity." Tim and his partner, Kate, are now living in one of his tiny houses; he has sold another, and he is completing a third. George and Joan Packard, http://curiouslylocal.com ...spent a couple of hours filming and talking with Tim in early January, 2011, in his tiny house, perched on the brow of a high field on his Vermont land.

[Connecting with Sauce]

this isn't a tiny house...
http://www.sipsmart.com/dome/arcx_36.html

But this one is approaching it...
http://www.sipsmart.com/dome/arcx_29.html

Also as they are made with SIPS panels and are domed shaped they are ideal for shelter and areas where winds or storms may be and issue...

I like the idea of linking a couple of these together with a south facing solar green house or solar capture feature in between two gable ends like a "dumbell" weight...

SIPS are well worth investigating... SIPS build starts at about 1:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=5nFmaQziSbo

[eileenrose]

Of course, now we just need ideas of how to implement these ideas...ie if you don't own land and can't afford land, how to get land (in order to built something)?
How to build something, if you don't have the skills/ability to build something and lack funding (for said project).
and so on...

and thanks for the ideas. I start to become excited (as I have no housing), but then remember they are just ideas (and not results....that I can obtain). But I am glad that we keep sharing them....(don't feel sorry for me)....

If the banks own land/have the titles/and laws are written to keep people tethered to that system, ....and the rest of the population is paying high mortgages or rents, these ideas can only work for the smallest group of people (people who own land, or got permission to build on some one else's land, or are on the sea-paying rent/utilities to a dock owner/city)....and want to live simply. ...and they pretty much already have found this information. But thanks for sharing it with the rest of us. If anyone asks, I have it saved on my hard drive now.

[rmauersr]

A tiny house on the Kentucky River.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RaFApVP0zU

[Zelig]

My girlfriend and I, along with our two Golden Retrievers, spent three weeks living aboard our small sailboat this past summer. I was very worried during the preparations that our vacation would turn into a disappointment and was quite stressed about all of the conveniences we couldn't accommodate on board. The reality turned out to be an eye opener and our enjoyment of the simplicity surprised us both. The small space (especially with the two dogs) required methodical routines that we adapted to quickly. If it weren't for the fact that the lakes here are frozen for half the year we'd gladly sell the house and live aboard full time. Our house is modest but still too complicated with "creature comforts" to be anywhere near as relaxing as the boat.

Thanks for starting this thread, Ron.

[dpwishy]

I live in a 17X19 foot cabin I built. I live in it with a full size pitbull, my fiance and me. It has a wood stove for heat, full kitchen (sink, range, fridge). A bathroom that has a sink, composting toilet and 2 meditation cells. The meditation cells are piped to be showers one day, but I can take showers in the main house on the property, so its dedicated to meditation cells at the moment. The water system is run off of a 100 gallon fresh water tank that is in the loft with a water pump. There is also a queen size Murphy (wall bed).

At first when I had the idea, my fiance looked at me like I was insane. She did not think that this kind of space was livable and would feel like a home. After living in it for a year, she has decided that this is the way to live. We have a beautiful home and a beautiful family.

Live simply so others may simply live...

In divine friendship,
your brother,
-wishy

[Zelig]

Posted by dpwishy (here)
I live in a 17X19 foot cabin I built. I live in it with a full size pitbull, my fiance and me. It has a wood stove for heat, full kitchen (sink, range, fridge). A bathroom that has a sink, composting toilet and 2 meditation cells. The meditation cells are piped to be showers one day, but I can take showers in the main house on the property, so its dedicated to meditation cells at the moment. The water system is run off of a 100 gallon fresh water tank that is in the loft with a water pump. There is also a queen size Murphy (wall bed).

At first when I had the idea, my fiance looked at me like I was insane. She did not think that this kind of space was livable and would feel like a home. After living in it for a year, she has decided that this is the way to live. We have a beautiful home and a beautiful family.

Live simply so others may simply live...

In divine friendship,
your brother,
-wishy

Sounds pretty sweet.

[rmauersr]

Pictures, floor plans and bathroom construction detail would be really nice additions to this thread, especially for those who are planning to construct or live in a tiny house. A tiny house really has no definition. What is important is the creative use of space.

My 621 square foot, earth sheltered house with as much passive solar input as I could manage from a south facing wall is here:

[sandy]

Awesome rmauersr

[Orobo]

For anyone, even moderately, interested in building or living your own way...check out this publisher:

http://www.shelterpub.com/index.html

I was given their Shelter-book more then ten years ago, by a californian residing in the neighbourhood. It was so powerful it helped channel all my creative ideas about building and living. Ka-boom.

Have bought all their books since and lived and built my life.

I have lived for five years in a wooden backyard house, norwegian style, from 1880. 21m2 ( 225ft2 )in total, with my daughter, who was one year old at the time we moved in. Heating and cooking on wood, and had a tiny bit of electricity for lighting. Could do without that. No bills. Scrounging wood in the city up north here was easy. Moved out only to live in a bigger house with my girlfriend and all the kids.

Everyday is an adventure. As it should be. Anything else hurts my soul. Pinching a bit in different places every day.

Check out this site www.husly.net and http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/index.p...008-husly_en-1



as they got to the 4th placement in the prestigious Bauhaus award in 2008. An international architecture award with projects from more than 125 countries.

In short it is a modular house built from pallets. Designed to be copied by people living around cities in the need of housing. It was built as a part of the Generator project and lived its life ever after. Now situated in Trondheim, Norway, as an artist residency AND being reviewed to be approved by the building code authority.
It is a long term project, cos as the saying goes "time is money". With no money, you need time.

love, O.

[pie'n'eal]

Dear Ron,
Your blog page is excellent!


Tony