Ordering Our T42 SIPs Kit

A month ago today I sent the model for T42 (the tiny house Isha and I are building together) to Patrick of Artisan Tiny House so that it could be turned into a SIPs kit. Patrick knew this project was coming down the pipe so he was ready for it. When I said it was on the way he said, "Great! Let's get this wrapped up today or tomorrow!" I was all for THAT!

But we had some back and forth and it was finally Tuesday, almost a full month later, that we signed off on our shop drawings and sent our SIPs into production. This was due to three main factors:

• The construction season is ramping up again and Premier, the SIPs manufacturer we work with in this area, is getting busier each week. They also had a couple people out due to unforeseen circumstances like jury duty and illness, so their turn around time slowed down.
• Despite all I know about SIPs - which helps me make simple designs for my clients that are more affordable and easier to build - I can't seem to resist designing more complicated structures for my own tiny house projects. The Lucky Penny's walls went up in just an hour and a half on my SIPs Wall Raising Day, but the complicated curved roof with a skylight took another 6 weeks to complete! With T42, we have a set of windows high up in the wall, so Patrick, Matt, and I all spent time back at the drawing board figuring out how to turn my design into a set of SIPs panels. "SIPs aren't magic, just the next best thing," Patrick reminded me. Lesson remembered! The easiest way to get a SIPs kit is definitely to use one of the Artisan templates. (And, of course, it's always fun for me when my clients want to work with me to ensure that their tiny house shell will match their interior layout and suit their lifestyle!)
• Just before we were about to order the SIPs, I spoke at the Tiny House Conference in Asheville, NC and I sang the praises of SIPs for tiny houses on wheels (THOWs) as I usually do. As usual, I had several people ask about toxicity and I explained that despite the fact that SIPs have one or two chemicals listed on the Red List (depending on the composition of the panels), even the Living Building Challenge - the world's strictest green building standard - approves SIPs for use in green buildings because they provide such good energy efficiency and the Red Listed chemicals are currently required by law to meet fire safety standards. But it got me thinking critically about this building system I love again and I pressed Patrick to get me some updated information about our options.

Fortunately, Patrick shared an update that Premier has introduced a new SIPs option that uses GPS (graphite polystyrene) foam, which has a higher R-value per inch AND has swapped the previously used toxic halogenated flame retardant that was Red Listed for a poly flame retardant. (Stay tuned for more info on this product, but for now, please check out Neopor, which is the U.S. version of a product that has been used in Germany for many years now and read this post from Energy Vanguard). We also confirmed that the flame retardants are a hazard to us only if they're burning. We know that we can use a respirator when cutting the SIPs to accommodate the wheelwell, so that concern is easily addressed. (And if the house itself is on fire, we've got bigger fish to fry!) So we all breathed a sigh of relief and specified the GPS foam for this project. Patrick even agreed to cover the price difference for this one project since we agreed to be his guinea pigs for a new product. Despite the frustrations, we're both appreciative that we've had some learning opportunities. This is why I continue to do projects with Patrick: he's a generous and upstanding guy who wants to do right by people!

Patrick and Matt also figured out a solution to address my crazy SIPs layout and Patrick offered to come help us puzzle-piece it together during our SIPs Wall Raising Build Blitz. It will be great to have his expertise for this exciting wall raising scheduled for mid-May, which is just under 5 weeks away! If you'd like to join us, too, please claim your spot in the T42 Build Blitz!

Timeframe to Build a Tiny House on Wheels (THOW)

Now that Isha and I are prepping for first Build Blitz for our Tiny for Two (T42), we get asked all day long about our T42 Build Timeline. I wrote about that a couple days ago, but I wanted to elaborate here in case you've been wondering "How long does it take to build a tiny house?"

Professional Builder

• If you plan to have a professional build your tiny house, it’s reasonable to expect they’ll have the house built within 2-3 months from the time they begin construction, assuming your house is one of their priorities and they don't have a lot of other projects going on.
• If your builder is constructing one of their stock models for you, it will go more quickly than if it's a custom design.
• If you're going for a custom design, anticipate that you'll spend some time upfront before the build begins to refine the design and specify the materials. Keep in mind that this work on the front end will save you time and heartache on the back end. This is a perfect example of "Go slow to go fast!"
• If someone is promising to have your tiny house built in less than 6 weeks, learn more about their track record by contacting other people who have had the company build for them in the past.

Building Yourself WITH Experience & Time

• If you plan to build your house yourself AND you have some building skills AND a great network of handy friends AND you’re not working full time you can probably do it in 3-9 months.
• A good rule of thumb for intermediate builders is that everything will take twice as long as you initially anticipate!
• The very quickest DIY build I’m personally aware of is the Vagabode, which took 2 months. It was completed using SIPs (structural insulated panels) which go together more quickly than a stick-built tiny house. It was built by a couple who had done lots of planning and were working on the house more than full-time. They also had friends and family in the trades with good construction and project management skills.
• It took Dee Williams 3 months to build her 84 square foot little house, working on the house full-time. She has a background as an architectural engineer and a lot of handy friends. She's also a badass!
• I had build and project management experience and it took me six months to build my tiny house, The Lucky Penny, while working ¾ to full time. My tiny house is a little smaller than most out there these days but it's also a little fancier. I have a curved roof with a skylight and a preposterous number of shingles! I hosted work parties most weekends. I took a six-week break after building the shell to travel, work, and play then resumed building.

• Building Yourself WITHOUT Experience & Time
  • A good rule of thumb for beginners is that everything will take three times twice as long as you initially anticipate!
  • If you plan to build yourself AND have no experience AND have few handy friends AND you’re working at least part time, expect that it may take you 9-12 months or longer to build your tiny house.
  • Many people with no building experience are interested in building their own tiny homes and estimate it will take them 3 months. Many of them take a year or longer to complete their homes.
  • If you saw the films Small is Beautiful and Tiny: The Movie, you'll know that novice builders Ben and Christopher underestimated their tiny house build timelines considerably, but once they realized what they were in for they decided to hunker down and take the time to learn how to do it well. Both of them built themselves lovely homes over the course of about a year.
  • I have several friends, including Angela Ramseyer of Mighty Micro Built and Matt and Laura LaVoie of Life in 120 Square Feet who took three years or more to build their tiny homes. These folks were early adopters of the tiny house movement and there weren't nearly as many resources available as the time they began building, so there was a lot of learning along the way!

So how long will it take you to build your tiny home? Honestly, the best answer is still "It depends." It depends on the weather, lead times, your health, your friend's availability, material sourcing, and the many hiccups that will happen along the way (see Plan F: Take 2). But I highly encourage you to create a good plan and then jump on in and enjoy the journey! (And if you'd like a right hand woman for the adventure, check out The Package Deal!)

T42 Build Timeline

Now that Isha and I have made a Tiny Announcement about building Tiny for Two (T42), one of the questions we're most frequently asked is when it will be done. This is no surprise because I got the question a lot when I built The Lucky Penny, too. And we're answering much like my build buddy Laura and I did then: "It will be done when it's done." Which we know isn't very helpful. So let me try to shed a little light on why it's so hard for those of us building to answer that question! (Also check out Timeframe for Building a Tiny House on Wheels).

First of all, figuring out when we're even starting has been a challenge so far. Back in February we ordered our tiny house trailer from Iron Eagle and it's ready when we are. Then we went Window Shopping Again and got our windows ordered. But we don't have a delivery date for the SIPs yet. When I submitted my model to have it converted to shop drawings for the SIPs we anticipated a pretty quick turn around for the shop drawings, but there's been some back and forth. Three weeks later, we're still not signed off on the drawings. The SIPs usually take about a month to produce once the drawings are approved, so we've had to bump back our start date by a month. We now anticipate we'll start our new tiny house at the beginning of May. Here's our tentative timeline:

• Monday, May 2 - Friday, May 6: Tiny House Foundation & Build Prep
• Monday, May 16 - Friday, May 20: SIPs Wall & Roof Raising
• Monday, May 30 - Friday, June 3: Rainscreen, Exterior Trim, Siding
• Monday, June 13 - Friday, June 17: Lofts, Interior Walls & Painting
• Sunday, June 26 - Thursday, June 30: Cabinets, Built-Ins & Stairs

(If you want some hands-on build experience, please join us for a week-long Build Blitz or for the day as a Tiny House Helper!)

So, how long will it take us to build our tiny house? My best answer is that I figure it will take about six months to build the new tiny house because it took me about 6 months to build The Lucky Penny. Since the Tiny for Two is bigger but I'm now a better project manager and builder, I'm figuring the same timeframe is realistic. We're staring in May and we'll have two months to work on the house before July when I take off two months from building to embark on summer teaching and speaking adventures. Hopefully we'll get dried in quickly and then be able to make good headway on the functionality of our little house in June. We'll be able to start working on the tiny house again in September so if we count four more months of building from then, we should be able to move in by the end of 2016 and begin making it home!

Inventing Tiny House Community

It’s always fun for me to ask people at a tiny house workshop (like our recent Tiny House 101 Workshop in DC) or events (like the Tiny House Conference last weekend) whether they are interested in living in a Tiny House Community someday. Typically, about half of them enthusiastically agree. And when I ask those folks if they’re pretty sure they invented the concept of tiny house communities, most of them nod and laugh.

Yeah, me, too. For years I was certain I invented the idea of tiny house community.

And I’ll admit I was downright proud of myself for this particular invention. I come up with wild ideas all day long, but this one was a brilliant idea.

For tiny house lovers, the only thing better than a tiny house is putting a bunch of them together!

Simply Home Community, the tiny cohousing community I live in, has been a twinkle in my eye for a decade. You can read all about my initial concept in Lina's Vision for Tiny Cohousing and learn more about My Journey to Cohousing.

When Lee Pera and I spoke at the Tiny House Jamboree in 2015, we bantered about which one of us invented the concept of a tiny house community. In the end, we decided we both invented the idea independently. Although I may have come up with the idea before she did, Lee's tiny house community, Boneyard Studios, was created first. The Boneyard folks became my heros the moment I realized they were actually doing it!

If we focus just on tiny houses on wheels, Boneyard Studios may have been the first tiny house community. And Simply Home Community is the only tiny cohousing community we know of. But we certainly weren't the only ones to create tiny house community. If we include recreational vehicle parks, canal boat communities, liveaboards in the marina, wagon trains, tipis, yurts, and many other collections of small, portable dwellings, it becomes evident that community-minded nomads throughout time and all over the world have located their little homes close to each other so they can share food, time, energy, materials, and fun.

Still, I think it’s okay for all of us to be proud of inventing the idea. It is a great idea. And there are many more tiny house communities still to be created. So let’s not worry about who invented the tiny house community concept. Instead, let's high-five about how great minds think alike and then get on with the important work of creating more fabulous communities!

I've now had the pleasure of Visiting Orlando Lakefront Tiny House and RV Park, where my pal James Taylor lives. They have begun welcoming tiny houses into a 1950s RV park. Earlier this week on my Tiny Tours near Asheville, I visited High Cove, an intentional community that intends to add tiny houses on wheels. And I keep hearing of others that are working on similar projects. You can find a list of tiny house communities at TinyHouseCommunity.com. If you know of anyone else who is inventing tiny house community, please tell us about it in the comments!

Tiny Tours Near Asheville

I'm spending this week following the Tiny House Conference in Asheville, NC and working alongside fellow work-from-homers, Matt & Laura LaVoie. The past couple days they've been gracious enough to also take me on a couple of tiny house tours.

On Monday we drove to High Cove in Mitchell County, NC, about an hour northeast of Asheville. High Cove is an intentional community that a couple dozen households are creating on a lovely swath of land which emphasizes art, science, and lifelong learning. We enjoyed touring the common house and two of the homes on the property (both under 400 SF) before settling down for a good chat about community and tiny houses over a scrumptious homemade lunch.

High Cove provides guidelines for creating sustainable dwellings on the land, including a size maximum of 1200 SF. However, ADUs are allowed on each lot so you could, for instance, build an 800 SF house and a 400 SF accessory dwelling. One of the founders, Olga, is a city planner, so I enjoyed having her talk us (and, actually walk us!) through the plan for the community, which will include a village center. There are also plans for a tiny house cluster near the creek. It's a lovely spot and I think it would be great fun to be here with several other tinies nearby. Now I have fantasies of spending time in a wee abode in this community someday! I look forward to seeing how this community evolves. Meanwhile, if you're committed to community living and love the Asheville area, get in touch with Olga!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Laura and Matt's tiny house, also in the mountains near Asheville, but closer to the city. Matt and Laura built their home over the course of three years and Laura's been blogging about it at 120 Square Feet. It was one of the first tiny house blogs I came across and it's been fun to follow along all these years. So it was a real treat to get to tour Laura and Matt's tiny house yesterday along with Kristie Wolfe and Kelly and Chris of Just Right Bus. They did a beautiful job constructing their little home and it was fun hearing about the little changes they've made as they've enjoyed their wee home over the past 4 years.

As so often happens when I'm exposed to new and fabulous tiny homes, I'm inspired all over again. And the timing couldn't be better because when I get home I'll begin building my tiny house (again)! Isha, The Guy Next Door, and I will begin construction of our new tiny home, starting in April. If you'd like to join in on the fun, please check out our T42 Build Blitz or Tiny House Helper.

2016 Tiny House Conference Recap

This was the third year of the Tiny House Conference and my third year speaking at the event. There were around 350 people in attendance this year and the conference was split into two tracks with one focused more on lifestyle and one focused more on technical considerations.

I presented on Tiny House Design twice on Saturday and led the Open Space session on Sunday afternoon. The rest of the weekend was devoted to visiting with fascinating folks from all over the world, exploring the dozen tiny houses in the parking lot, and attending other sessions on everything from funding a tiny house to off-grid living. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with folks I'd met at previous conferences or through the tiny house network.

It's so fascinating to see the Tiny House Movement shift over time as the number of reasons for going tiny increase. It's also interesting to see how innovative tiny house designs and products are as people invent new ways of living little while living well.

Next year's Tiny House Conference will be held in Portland, OR on April 8-9, 2017, so if you're interested in coming to the event in my corner of the world, mark your calendar!

A Detour for Uphill Art Farm

Today I continue my journey to the Tiny House Conference in Asheville, North Carolina.This will be my third year speaking at the Tiny House Conference and I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new people, too! I'll be speaking about design on Saturday, which will be lots of fun. But meanwhile, I'm so glad I took a detour along the way!

I woke up this morning to the smell of homemade bread. The sun was just starting to peek (or shall I say peak?) over the top of North Mountain. I'm in one of the bedrooms at North Mountain Residency at Uphill Art Farm. On this particular visit I'm not here to do art, although I certainly hope to come back for that purpose sometime soon! (The North Mountain Residency is on my bucket list now!) Instead I'm here to visit with my friend John Labovitz, an artist whose family has owned the farm here in West Virginia for three generations.

John's been telling me about the family farm for years, but it's the first time I've gotten to see it. Fortunately, I gave myself a few days between wrapping up Tiny House 101 in D.C. with the Tiny House Collaborative and arriving in Asheville for the Tiny House Conference. Because I haven't spent much time in this part of the country, I relished the idea of road tripping between these two events. Since I was sort of "in the neighborhood" a detour to Uphill Art Farm seemed fitting.

So yesterday I connected up with John for lunch in Glen Echo where he grew up and the drive to his family's farm in West Virginia. John first told me about this fabulous place while we were having a cup of tea in his house truck back when he lived in Portland, OR a few years ago. When he told me he was considering moving back to the family farm in West Virginia with his little house truck I was bummed because I so enjoyed being able to visit with him in person. However, the more I learned about this place and his dream of turning it into an artists' residency, the more excited I got for him.

I feel lucky to see Uphill Art Farm at this moment, before the next round of artists arrive. With the help of his contractor Mike, John is fixing up an old 500 SF farm house down the lane. The little house is over 100 years old and John remembers playing with the kids who lived there when he came to the farm to visit his grandparents. The little house had good bones so John and Mike have transformed it by taking out walls and adding giant windows to frame the beautiful orchard, mountain, and sunset views. The house is basically a shell at this point, with flaking paint and gaping holes, but it's so easy to envision what it will be like in just a few months. He'll have a fabulous loft, a couple nooks for reading, a great kitchen with a stupendous view, some clever stair storage, and upgraded windows. Last night I was asking John about the house's name. He's dubbed it The Orchard House and he's been writing about the process of deconstructing and reconstructing it on a fabulous blog. I teased him that he should call the place the Newed House since it's an old house that has been "newed." I don't think that one is going to stick, but I'm still giggling about it!

I'm so happy for John because I think this old farm house that already has fond memories is going to be a lovely home for him! And I'm excited for the artists who will be coming this summer to share this beautiful place and the inspiration that abounds here!

TH 101 in D.C. Recap

It was such fun to team up with the other members of the Tiny House Collaborative to the TH 101 Workshop in D.C. this past weekend for tiny house curious folks! Vina and I arrived in D.C. on Thursday evening and since this is the first time we've pooled our materials to teach a workshop together as the Collaborative, we spent most of Friday ensuring that our curriculum was ready to roll.

Saturday we greeted our participants (most of whom arrived early because they were so eager to get started!) and got started with our sessions. We talked about our inspirations, the benefits of going tiny, big considerations, and regulatory issues as well as exploring design considerations and project planning. On Saturday evening we had a happy hour so people could ask additional questions and share more about their specific situations.

Yesterday we started out with tours of two tiny houses: Lee's Tiny House and Jay's Tiny House. (If you want to see them for yourself, be sure to attend the Tiny House Tours on April 17th!) I'd never visited either tiny house before even though I've known Lee and Jay for a while now. Jay and his sweetie came to visit me and The Lucky Penny in Portland last year so it was great to see them again and swap tiny house tours. I love how creative Lee was with use of her space, including multi-functional furniture, a tuck-away ladder, and pops of color that bring her house to life. Jay's house is a masterpiece of intentionality, with a fabulous map of places he's been, a spot for his bike, a minimalist wardrobe, and even room for a power tool or two! I loved his plastered walls and picked his brain about them. I'm more eager than ever to give plaster a try in T42!

Back at the Thurgood Marshall Center, we recapped our tour topics: trailers, building the box, systems, and building science basics. Then we played with tiny house design and had another round of Q & A before bidding everyone farewell amidst lots of hugs and handshakes. We're honored to have been part of the tiny house journey for this great group of people and we look forward to seeing what they do over the next couple years!

If you'd like to join us for our next Tiny House 101 Workshop in Portland, OR, please mark your calendar for the weekend of July 2-3 and stay tuned. Registration will open soon!

Tiny House 101 & Tiny House Conference

Hooray! Today a new adventure begins!

I'm headed to Washington, D.C. this morning to co-teach a Tiny House 101 Workshop with the other fine folks of the Tiny House Collaborative. We have a nearly full house and it's going to be fun to share our tiny homes and our lessons learned with the workshop attendees as we help them noodle through some of the major considerations for their own tiny homes. We'll be doing sessions about inspiration and aspirations, the tiny house lifestyle, systems (including water, electrical, propane, etc.), trailers, project planning and management, and building basics. I'm especially excited to be doing a design session with Vina Lustado of SolHaus Design!

I've also never been to D.C. before AND it seems it will be peak cherry blossom time, so I've got to say that's pretty exciting as well. I've given myself an extra day in D.C. to explore the city after the workshop.

Then I'm going on a road trip. Most of my East Coast time has been in Vermont since I teach for Yestermorrow Design-Build School. So I'm really looking forward to traveling by car from D.C. to Asheville for the Tiny House Conference. The conference is the first weekend of April and I'm going to be sharing some design tips and tricks as well as leading an open space session. This will be my third year speaking at the Tiny House Conference and it will be great to see Ryan Mitchell and reconnect with these awesome speakers: Laura LaVoie, Matt LaVoie, Andrew Morrison, Lora Higgins, Ethan Waldman, and Zack Jones. (And I'll get to meet Jody Brady & Bill Brady, too!) Will YOU be there? I look forward to meeting you, too!

Let the adventures begin!

Tiny Remodeling Project

Spring has arrived early this year in the Pacific Northwest and we're already having days that are warm enough that My New & Improved Chiller can't quite hack it! Meanwhile, I'm headed to DC tomorrow to teach a Tiny House 101 Workshop with the Tiny House Collaborative this weekend and then on down to Asheville for the Tiny House Conference. So I figured I'd better get The Lucky Penny ready for my landie Jake who is going to house and cat sit for me while I'm away.

Part of my design for The Lucky Penny was to have room for a My Fridge-Only Mini Fridge and my separate Mini Chest Freezer so that I'd have lots of capacity to prepare food and freeze homemade leftovers. The freezer also doubled as a step up to my lofted Pull-Out Bed. The mini fridge tucks under the counter in the warm months and stores in The Big House basement during the cool months when I need a heater but not refrigeration. (That's when I rely on My New & Improved Chiller.) This set up has worked pretty well for me for the past year.

However, now that I'll be building a new tiny house with my partner (check out A Tiny Announcement from Lina & Isha for more on that!), I'm starting to think ahead to how I can prepare my little house to be a short-term rental. That way other people can enjoy a stay in The Lucky Penny and try on tiny for themselves! I figure people who are staying for a short visit won't get much use out of a chest freezer and they may find it inconvenient to step outside during the cooler months to access things in the chiller. Additionally, the thing my house has missed ever since I jettisoned it in favor of My Fabulous Tansu storage unit, is a comfy sitting spot on the first floor. I haven't minded much because I like perching on my window seat, but when visitors come round (and especially if they're not spry enough to clamber up to my lofted sitting spot), they tend to just stand around.

So this past weekend, along with working on Garden Beds & Graywater, I did a tiny remodeling project to replace My Fridge-Only Mini Fridge with a mini fridge-freezer combo and replace My Mini Chest Freezer with a comfy chair.

My friend and tiny house dweller Anita of Lilypad Planet passed on the mini fridge with separate freezer she was no longer using. (It turns out those of us who eat whole foods need plenty of storage space for them, so she upgraded to an apartment-sized fridge with freezer.) Unfortunately, since I raised my kitchen floors, the new fridge/freezer combo didn't quite fit inside the space under my counters. So instead of just swapping it out, I had to do some remodeling. I removed the countertop, which also involved removing the sink and faucet. I figured while I was at it I might as well add a ball valve for the shower, too. Then I cut back the 3/4" plywood underneath my wooden counter so that the new fridge with freezer would fit. I double checked all my measurements, got out the circular saw, and went for it. Fortunately, it works splendidly!

Meanwhile, I'd been eating up frozen foods over the past couple weeks so that I could stuff what was left into my now teeny (but actually functional, thank you!) freezer. Tony and Isha helped me move the chest freezer down to The Big House basement where it can be shared by the community. And I replaced it with a comfy chair!

Now that everything has been put back together, I just need to reinstall the trim piece at the front of the countertop, caulk that seam and the sink, and find risers for my chair legs so that it's not such a big hop up to the bed. The cat food cans are just the right height so they were a good improvisation, but I'm sure I can come up with something better!

I sat in my new chair for a bit yesterday while working on our Tiny House Timeline and enjoying the rain and the new perspective. I'm quite pleased with the remodel and I think other folks will enjoy it, too!