Tiny Houses In The Tabloids!? The Sun/Weekly World News...

     This one surprised the heck out of me as it arrived on my doorstep- a tabloid called "The Sun", which I've seen in supermarkets many times. I never thought I'd be in it, and am glad that they played the story straight instead of inventing some spin on it. I guess tiny dwellings are bizarre enough for most people! The Sun and The Weekly World News are sister publications, the WWN being the crazier of the two.
    Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller of Tiny: The Movie, also get some love in the article. Check them out at Tiny-themovie.com- their film will be out sometime this summer!

Also, our Relaxshacks.com "Tiny House Summer Camp" building workshop in VT is filling up fast. Its a four day (well, day and night, as you stay on the premises) tiny house building experience for all skill levels. I can't wait. The guest speaker list is insane as well....check out the huge link above.
    -Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

The tiny, tiny shelters of mine shown are "The Boxy Lady" (L), and "The GottaGiddaWay" (R)- both featured, among many "larger" ideas and designs, in my book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks"

Andrew Odom on Building The Base/Sub Floor for your tiny house on wheels/travel trailer home

Today, while I further prep things, plans, and gear for July's building workshop,"Tiny House Summer Camp" in Vermont, I hand things over the Andrew/Drew Odom of Tinyrevolution.us, all around good guy, and tiny house addict, and soon to be a tiny home dweller.  -Deek

 

I asked Drew to talk about building the base/subfloor for one's travel trailer (there are many approaches, as we discuss in the Tumbleweed Tiny House Workshops I teach) and here's what he had to say...

One of the most talked about subject in tiny house building is the subfloor. Like a number of subjects surrounding the building of a tiny house, there is no black or white; right or wrong. It truly is left up to the builder and his perceived version of what will work within his skillset (or pocketbook). Once a trailer has been chosen (as ours was sometime ago) it quickly becomes time to decide just how the house will stay attached. That, my friends, is where the subfloor comes in. Because we chose to use an EcoFoil radiant barrier we knew that would be one of our first steps. It wasn't THE first step though. We essentially ran a stringer down the center of the trailer in between each cross beam. This will serve as extra structural support as well as a way to hold in the insulation. Once we had the blanket of double bubble radiant barrier on the frame we added our floor joists. Each joist was constructed of 2"x4" lumber and held in place two ways. 1) If the joist fell directly on a metal cross beam it was attached by a 4 1/2" carriage bolt that is countersunk through the wood and then down through the metal, going through the EcoFoil and then tightened up by a washer and bolt. 2) If the joist did not fall directly on a metal cross beam it was attached via joist hanger which was attached by nail to the perimeter framing. After our joists were in place and bolted down we then wrapped our remaining EcoFoil around the framing, stapled it into place, and prepared for the subfloor. Our subfloor is LP ProStruct Floor with SmartFinish - a durable overlay of beautiful, professional-grade substrate With no knots or voids. The subfloor is held into place by a bead of construction adhesive on all exposed joists and then 3 1/2" framing nails around the top perimeter of the 4'x8' sheets of sub. Now that I read back over what we did I realize in words it isn't all that complicated. And I guess it wasn't. It is time consuming though and presents hours of questioning yourself, your skills, and the whole dern tiny house! But as I said earlier, there is probably as many ways to construct a tiny house floor "sandwich" as there are tiny houses. What it truly boils down to is being comfortable with your own finished product. If you want to see the visual of how we constructed our floor I invite you to watch our video here: http://youtube/9I--d6xB_II While you're on YouTube feel free to subscribe to our channel!

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     Bigger does not always mean better. Progress does not always mean forgetting our roots in order to forge a new future. Blogger, photojournalist, and hobby farmer Andrew Odom has spent much of the last few years rediscovering the lost art of living, growing, and being truly happy. Visit him online at www.tinyrevolution.us

TWELVE "DAMN FABULOUS" TINY HOUSE, CABIN, and SMALL HOUSE INTERIORS

Proof that mere plywood floors can look GREAT. I love the open feel, and height of this little home- although heating all that dead, lofty, space is a waste in the trade-off.

 I've been doing a lot of brainstorming, planning, and sketching, in anticipation for "Tiny House Summer Camp" (July 6-9th), a four day tiny-house-building workshop that I'm hosting, and as a result, have been going back over many bookmarked photos I have harbored. The ones you see here are either shots of mine for the book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks" (link is below), from www.tinyhouseswoon.com, or other various blog locales.
     Each tiny house represented here, to me, offers something very appealing by way of spatial design, arrangement, and color. Three of the offerings are my own work/builds, and after wrestling back and forth with the idea, I went and included them- after all, they are exactly what I like in tiny decor, color, and layout.

Great layering/leveling here, so as to maximize space for usage. This one almost has a stark, nautical feel, but still finds a way to come off as looking comfortable. (The Leaf House).

Made from 95% junk- "The Gypsy Junker" micro-cabin that I built/designed. If you had to, it could sleep three- one up top, and two on the floor, in a mere "shelter" sense. I just love the natural light and colors that this little cabin always seems to capture. (Photo by Bruce Bettis).

I've always wanted to make simple corrugated poly/plastic walls, and this photo is proof that this approach looks decent, works well, and would be very cost effective. The R value would SUCK though.

This is from a series of photos that I took in Seattle, of Steve Sauer's Pico Dwelling- a 182 square foot apartment that utilizes living levels more than almost any tiny dwelling I've seen before. What a great guy Steve was, and I hope to include some photos of his place in my next book. Christopher Smith (Tiny: The Movie) is seen behind the camera, and this shoot will end up as a future edition of my show "Tiny Yellow House" on youtube.

Another Seattle shot, and I figured we had to at least have one simple, yet cool looking, bathroom represented. This is a wet bath (shower stall with a toilet in it, more or less), with a homemade salad bowl sink, a "VAN-ity" mirror, and some funky tiling. Hal Colombo, of Freemont, WA is the mastermind behind this 68 square foot rentable dwelling. Check out airbnb.com. A GREAT, and very fun, host. 

Nicolette Stewart from Germany furnished/built this little wagon dwelling for under $2000 USD (equivalent). The woman's got some style!

I'm a big fan of shipping container homes, and this one's got such a great, open, and light, vibe. I really dig the wood paneling, and sink/cabinet set-up.

What's not to like about this hippied-out, stained glass adorned, treehouse?

Another one of my cabins "The Boxy Lady"- only 14 square feet, and designed as a sleepable kiosk for craft fairs, it gets much in the way of natural light, and yes, was built with free, discarded materials. Its a very fun, and cozy place to hang out with a book. 

Graham Burnett from the UK built this one to serve as his backyard office/shed/guest hut. I really like its look of haphazardly placed windows- even more-so, recycled ones....

Starting at age 22, I set upon building this cabin, in Vermont, with no plan, no electricity, and no running water to help me out. Its where we'll be holding (one of many cabins in the area) "Tiny House Summer Camp" in July (2012). I am a huge fan of natural wood, and this has lots of it!

Tiny House Thrift Video #4- Solar Cooking and Hot Water Showers for Tiny Living

  
      I talk about this stuff often in tiny house workshops, whether for The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, or for the workshops and speaking engagements I've done on my own. In fact, July 6-9th at Tiny House Summer Camp, four days of tiny house learning, building, and well, doing, we'll most likely mess with a little bit of what you see in this video- solar cooking, and passively heating water for showers with the sun. Its a simple idea, and one that will enable you to cook, and shower, without using up heat-producing utilities in the summer- a time when you usually won't want your tiny, tiny house to become overheated.

After all, who wants to cook a 4 hour pot roast in an oven, in the summer, when your home is already too warm....herein, lies the avoiding solution.....

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Why the heck not? Kids forts as enlarged tiny houses or cabins...

 This kids playhouse below is actually remaniscent of a design I have in my book on tiny house and shelter designs, "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks"- mine was three levels high and meant for adults, in a backwoods camping sense- each cube was 6' to 8' long and accessed by decks, or ladders (or a combination of the two).

Anyway, this photographically represents the general idea, and I just love it. Enlarge this bad-boy for your own use, and it'd make for a REALLY cool, tiny vacation cabin or hut in the woods, or your backyard. Why the heck not? It'd sure be easy enough and affordable to build a tiny little house like this too!

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Prepping for "Tiny House Summer Camp"- scenes from Vermont (and Tumbleweed Boston!)

"HERE'S WHERE WE'LL BE BUILDING A TINY HOUSE IN VERMONT...."

THE ANTI-CLASSROOM: Above- THIS is one of the sites, near the log cabin, where we'll be having one (of a few) of our nighttime, campfire discussions on tiny housing/micro-house building- with guest speakers....we'll be building a tiny cabin/house, over four days, nearby as well....

So, this past weekend was Tumbleweed Boston, which I hosted, and it was great- so many good people, some incredible and unique ideas from those who attended, and there was much eclecticism in approach and aspirations all around. Thanks to all who came, we had fifty-one attendees in all, and it was great to meet all of you. I'll soon also be hosting Tumbleweed's workshop in Washington DC, the end of June, and I hope to see some of you down there. In DC there will also be a tiny house on hand to tour! Photos coming soon...

Thanks to our guest speakers in Boston!
Sage Radachowsky- Gypsy Wagon Dweller (he built and designed it)

Mariah Coz- who talked about her "Comet Camper" educational dwelling on wheels

John Hanson Mitchell- Author of "Living At The End Of Time"- chronicling two years of living in a 150 square foot tiny home, fashioned after the work of Andrew Jackson Downing.

Doug Immel- From RI, who is currently building a Fencl (and already living in it).


Speaking of which, earlier in the week, in preparation for Relaxshacks.com's "Tiny House Summer Camp" (which is close to selling out already), I made a short one night trip to Vermont, and spent the night in one of the log cabins that attendees to the workshop will be able to sleep in. This cabin DOES have a solar set-up and CFL lights, but at night, as my kids slept, I worked on my lesson plan notes for Tumbleweed by candlelight- which just seemed to fit the mood for what I was doing and preparing.

Below are several fun random photos of the area and site where the workshop will be held, and I'm very excited to be hosting and heading this "meeting of the tiny minds" in the Northern Vermont. Hmmmm...maybe I should rethink that title.....no, its going to be great(!), and on this recent trip I hauled up a TON of lumber, which we'll be using (and then some) to build a little cabin in the woods so as to gain some hands-on experience.

A nearby field in the town the workshop will be held in, with a small mountain range in the background....

Above- campfire at night outside of the log cabin. There is also a guest-sleeping treehouse on the premises, and my own Vermont cabin right nearby- walking distance...

The ugly orange couch (free from an auto-body waiting room) mades its way to Vermont- We'll use this, among many other funky n' free, or re-purposed things, to furnish out the tiny cabin we'll be building. THIS FIELD, if you choose to tent-it, is the locale we'll be using as well (if you don't stay in the log cabin, my cabin, the hickshaw, or the treehouse).

I additionally brought "The Hickshaw" micro-cabin/sleeper up to Vermont, where it will serve as a crash-space for one of our attendees....

If interested in attending, email kidcedar at gmail dot com for information/to sign up. The rest of the info, guest speakers, and course details are at the link on the top of this blog.... (until the date of the workshop).

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Micro solar showers for tiny house living, camping, and off-grid homes

A Solar Shower Jug in My Backyard- the "Arnold Palmer" Shower....(it was a jug of Arnold Palmer Iced Tea)

 Solar showers DO work, and we'll be talking about them, and solar cooking, at "Tiny House Summer Camp"- July 6-9th, in Orleans Vermont- 4 days, with lodging space, of tiny house teaching, sight-seeing, and building!

-Well, they don't work well in the winter (at least here in New England), but here's a completely afffordable, environmentally-friendly (you're not using propane or electricity to heat your water) way to heat water for washing yourself, while off grid. While this could, or could not be, you primary source of (sunny day) showering and bathing, its a very simple option to at least consider (even for supplimental use), and one that is talked about as "squeeze showers" quite a bit in the "Dwelling Portably" books by Holly and Bert Davis- an outlandish, typewriter-written, journal-entry style, collection.
    I plan to use one or two of these for weekending on my little houseboat/shantyboat project, when its completed and launched. 

The Pros- (because there's always that large faction of people who will say/think "That's ridiculous"- before they ever (and will never) try it...
 

-Simple, and you can set up as many of them as you please in a sunny spot. They are simply recycled plastic jugs spray painted with flat black paint (NOT glossy black- it reflects some of the sun back).

-They're easy to control, work well (the water can get pretty hot- but not scalding hot). You can drill holes in the top too, so that when tipped, they flow more slowly. You'd be surprised at how little water you need to get clean- especially us Americans, who are used to 80 gallon-use showers.

With a $1.00 can of cheap Home Depot spray paint (the no-name brand)- you could make about seven or eight of these.

If placed in a sunny window, they can serve, tromb-wall/thermal mass-style, to retain a little solar heat/gain in your home after the sun has gone down- not much heat with small jugs, but with many of them, or a big barrel, it might make a noticeable difference.

Great for on the go camping- as you travel, leave one or two in the back window of your car while on the road, or in your parked car. If your car is parked in the sun all the time at your tiny house site, just leave 'em in there to warm up full time.

When stored (even just left outside) they don't take up much room at all. And when no longer in use, just recycle them. 

The Cons-

Its certainly different than a shower, you have a to conserve a little more, but once used to them, they work fine. They take getting some used to- you'll get the hang of it after 2/3 showers though.

What people will say/think- but who the heck cares!? You shouldn't.

The lack of control on the temperature of the water.

Cloudy/cold days, you're out of luck.
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My book has a few pages on solar gain, solar showers, and more....  -Derek "Deek" Diedricksen