Huge Tiny Houses, sure they are Tiny But...

Here we are with a portion of the floor going in. There will be two storage area's fit right into the floor for emergency provision storage. Rechargeable batteries, matches, the typical first aid kit that type of thing. Insulation first and then a box fitted out with a strong lid that will act as the floor area and can be walked on. Out in the woods there is always the possibility of being stranded, ointment, band-aids, etc., will be in the box, who knows when we will need that type of thing.  There needs to be a place for them that does not take up regular living space so in the floor in an easy access box they will go.  

Wow, there is just as much work in this Huge Tiny House as there is to building a regular house. It's the same spaces but only smaller and compact. Every inch is used differently than a regular house too. If there is a bare space then it is a wasted space, if it is not convertible to storage space.

Certainly you want an aesthetic sense to the room but if it is a space simply for a piece of art then it is smart to figure out how to also have storage. An example of one of the things we are going to do is to sink extra spaces between the 2' by 4" interior walls that have a less visible door. Art can be hung on it with a lock down hanger and the art will not float around or fall off the door when the door is opened. Paints, brushes and such for my art will be stored out of the way. Bookshelves will also be sunk into the interior walls as well as storage under the future stairwell so that no space goes unused.

The only space that will not be put to double use is the original roof to the gazebo.
Here it is in a picture from a few years ago, the transformation will be most interesting.
                   

I believe we will leave the four corner beams showing. But I do have a husband who might forget and bury it when I am not around. The key is I have to be flexible with what happens to the existing space based on it's peculiar dimensions. If you read the last blog you would know this portion of the Tiny House is not exactly square. Being a temporary house that will end up being storage and my ad hock art studio on the property it really does not matter and saving the money on the roof materials was more important.

 Because of the small space we will be hugging the drywall right to the roof structure to give it a bit of an arched ceiling. Extending the 10 by ten space up for a feel of largess in the room. Pulleys will be hung for shelving that lifts out of the way in the middle which will also house the unique skylight I have found that is not only DYI but waterproof and will charge solar lights for the room. Why waste electrical when you don't need to waste electricity? Rhetorical question really, we are going as passive as we can without expensive materials.   

Ok, we are off to work out the day, between packing up the store and house and finishing the first two spaces so we can be on site by midnight this next

 Sunday we are very busy. 

~*~

 http://desperateforhousing.blogspot.com/2014/07/clearing-up-few-misconceptions.html


Tina Bjorkland of Spokane Voice has started a Go Fund Me for us, even a dollar would help. http://www.gofundme.com/cbmxq0

What Do You Mean It's Not Square? Is To0! Is Not! Is ToO!

Ok So It IS Not...

But I can explain. Really.

When we build the gazebo several years ago, I measured not once, not twice but three times. Yet, I somehow misread the measurement and then when my dear husband pointed it out I fought him like mad because I measured three times how could I be wrong?

So what did he do? He built it as I measured it, I know, I deserve a good kick in the butt because it is biting us in the rear now. Since it is a Tiny House any fluctuation will be very obvious, but as an artist I have always said, It's like wallpapering a pig, if it holds still it will be beautiful. 

This morning as I get a good look at the floor that is developing at the build I see we have the wonky area to straighten for the second part of the house to come out even. This means extra wood, it means on site adjustments, it means, my husband is laughing at me, it means I deserve that kick in the butt. 

Since we are building this tiny house as a temporary solution to our housing needs, 

so be it, eventually it will be storage and well I like things that are a bit wonky.

This is a picture of Josh, if he ever needs a work ethic endorsement he has both my husbands and mine, we never met him before but he is smart as a whip and the hardest dang worker. Jacob is taking the picure so I as yet don't have one of him. I was at the store all day yesterday so could not go out to 

check out the progress. 

You can see it down the two by fours on the left, it looks like a tiny gap but in fact there is a difference of 8 inches on this side.

To adjust for that the post will be extended out into the kitchen 

area to make that wall flush in the kitchen room. 

Since we are working with an as is situation you can see from the image below that we will straighten the wall to the kitchen. The pass through will hide the fluctuation between square and not so much. The additional space heading south will have a bit of a bump out which I will hide by having a shelf built out from the wall. We wanted to save the roof materials from the gazebo, since we are on a very short timeline. So we are saving the whole roof. Technically this is nothing more that a storage unit at this stage but better this than nothing! So onward, per legal regulations as long as we keep it under 200 square feet it is storage, although we are following the law to the T. It is not a permanent build, and we own the property so if there is a problem we will live in a tent if we have to do so. Next year we will be building a real house on the property I am redesigning it as a 87% passive house so it will take some time for permits and stuff.  

You can also see the pale line where there will be no wall just a header to support the open space, as well as the openings for other rooms to be attached later. What you are looking at is intended to serve long term as a place to store my art, teach art classes. By the way seems I will finally accept the offer to do classes out in the Tum Tum area, details coming.   

We have until Sunday before we are unhomed...so bye for now we have lots of hammering to do.

Have a great day!  

A Lesson On Subfloors, And An Alternative For Drywall

           The Title Sounds Boring But Really It's Not

If I had to resort to anything but the real thing we need to do the first layer of the subfloor, I have wondered what should/could we use?

It needs to be airtight, somewhat waterproof, free of course since we are doing all of this with no budget what so ever so I have pondered.

Could I use metal? Where could I get it? How would I apply it? Should it be flat? or corrugated? Would it keep the bugs out? Would it make the floor noisy? Would the floor sweat if there was a fast warm up as the temperatures dropped, and would that cause dampness and then mold. Well, darn, yes it would. The only way to avoid that is to use cement. That is out of the question for this build. Time and money we do not have.

So I have searched a bit and it seems, no it is not a good idea. But I can use pallets, it seems we will need to do a bit more nail pulling than I expected

Insulation does go over the layer and then an additional sheeting of chip board could be the top of the subfloor.

If you look at the two pictures below the first one you can see the many layers that go into the sub floor. The flooring I am talking about changing out the wood is the one that is now grey in the second picture. That is what holds the insulation in place. under the floor. Even thought this is a temporary house, we still need to figure out how to stay warm. Insulating the floor is rather important. So, there are the stringers, they are usually 2" by 6", then there is the layer that holds the insulation, then there is the insulation, and then there is the upper subfloor layer. You can leave it at that or do what we plan on doing and add a layer of variegated stained boards out of pallets.

1. 

2.

These sheets are at least $9.99 per sheet. We need I estimated 23 more sheets, if I can glean all of that we will save $239.76 on the floor. We will have to use good plywood or something strong for the floor, I believe, if we put down the chipboard we can then piece a lovely floor in with pallet boards if we run them through a table saw, to make them even and then stain them randomly before we nail them down. Once down, a good sanding and a few coats of polyurethane and we will have a lovely floor.  Gleaning has been the way we have been procuring the materials for the build. It is our only option and we have been jumping on as much of the offerings on craigslist as well as all the other places to find free leftovers both from old builds that are being torn down, to even one piece by one piece offerings from friends and friends of friends.

Pallets of course are free for the taking all over Spokane if you take the time to gather them. Yes, they do have to be torn apart.

We are neither too proud to glean and sweat by lifting and toting nor to embarrassed to accept help at this stage. We must have this Huge Tiny House built by fall or we will indeed be living in a tent all winter. I'm not so sure I can manage that, although my husband seems to be made of ice in the winter and runs around sleeveless. Of course he IS native Alaskan American so this is all easy peasy for him to imagine. I am looking forward to this change, I have not lived out in the woods and we will be doing just that. I will whine here on this blog for dramatic interest but deep down even though this has all come about because of a series of uncontrollable situations, from medical/health costs to theft, from economy losses to five different moves for our store, playing catchup sometimes is not enough.  At least we have the nerve to pull it off. Someone said to me, you can't do that, they of course said a few other choice things all of which made us think just watch, better yet give us a hand, we will do it, we will prove it is possible for anyone to do it and we will be able to apply what we have learned to helping others rebuild in the same way. This journey may be the answer to our unhomed problems right now but we will be able to help the next person down the road when it is there turn to need housing.

I'm telling you right now it will be adorable too. As an artist, I can take anything even seriously ugly and make it sing with beauty. As an example, we were given quite a few solid core doors. So many my husband was shaking his head as to what in the world would we do with them. Well below you can see a picture of one of the walls. We have enough doors to cover most of the walls on the interior. We plan on cutting the doors into two sizes. On the bottom we will make wainscoting by cutting the bottom of the doors off. Where there are holes for door knobs, we will fill and putty and sand until those disappear. On the top of the wall we will again, using the doors trim a section to cover the top. This is an old style of wall cladding these raised panels but I like the look and with the doors being at least an inch thick they will add a remarkable amount of insulation on the walls. Top and bottom we will have thin shelves for storage and decoration.  In-between we will layer pallet pieces in a staggered pattern. All will be painted and then sanded back to look shabby chic. I am the first person to admit that I am a bit hard on things so if we incorporate the scuffed and kicked up look throughout this Huge Tiny House, it will not be obvious. The windows we have already gleaned. Enough to put throughout the walls for good lighting.  

I'm sure whatever we use, whatever we find, we will get the job done. Don't hesitate to offer us your leftovers. We will jump for joy if we are offered whatever you have to give.

Kitchen Dreams for the Huge Tiny House

Based on my desire to incorporate everything I have gleaned so far, this is the mock up of the kitchen in our Huge Tiny Cabin.

Nothing in this kitchen will be electric at the beginning of this journey, one it's not in the budget, and two, I think a passive house is pretty cool, I have lived without pubic electricity hookups,  before and its not that hard if you are prepared with batteries, a generator and solar power. Certainly we will end up on the grid but since this is a temporary house and will end up being my art studio and classroom its long term needs are not a fully functioning kitchen. 

The stove will be alcohol, that we do have to purchase, the oven will be solar and outside though in our BBQ area. The sink will be hooked up to a portable grey water filtering system as well as using all of the peelings, egg shells, 

and cuttings for the compost bin.  

Initially we will use our refrigerator as an ice chest, we know know it will hold an ice block for 5 days. At about 2 dollars a block, that will work out to about $10.00 a month in ice purchase. Of course there is the propane refrigerator on the market. I love that but at a cost of $1000. to $1300.00 that is something we will have to save for. 

So how are we going to light the kitchen? Eventually there will be electrical in the cabin, but initially it will be solar as well as battery and of course we will have a generator.

The three lights hanging from the ceiling will be solar spotlights rehoused in utilitarian shop lights. They aver very industrial looking, not quite like the mock ups. The solar panels will be mounted in the window. The window on this side of the kitchen  will get sunlight all year round. In the winter the solar lights light up just fine they charge by the natural ambient light even if it is snowing. There will of course be several battery operated lanterns in the room too. The other natural lighting will be from the skylights in the ceiling as well as the solar lights mounted in the window sill. There will be enough solar lights mounted on both sides of the room,  to give off the same light as a regular single bulb in the room.

The small lights usually last for about 6 hours once it gets dark. I don't know about you but I don't plan on staying up past midnight and that should be enough light. Plus, one solar light resting within three or four inches of each other will partially charge themselves. I know this because we have used solar lighting out at the property for the last ten years. Even a battery operated lantern will charge a solar light just a bit. The key is to make it work. Test out how close to put the lights together.

So, some of the other features in the room. We were given some counter tops. While we have not yet picked them up I will faux paint them and polyurethane them to give them the wood look.

The mosaic tile on the left wall, I bought 11 sheets of this tile a couple of years ago and intended to use them in a big piece of art. I used something else a slightly different color and ended up saving these in a box. I have designed this wall to only have a 12 inch high back-splash. I will add a side view picture below to show you a cutaway of the outside wall where this wall will be. note that the cabinets will stick out the wall at the back because of the way the land lies. Short of digging another 8000 pounds of dirt out of my way,  instead, I adjusted the walls design to fit the area.

The lower half of the wall is cut back and the clading, the decorative wall covering in front of the counter and cupboards is only designed ti function for beauty and for the 'counter' to extend into the room allowing for an 12 inch work space counter.  Remember this is a tiny house so every single space has to be designed for full function in a smaller space.

As pretty as the picture of the kitchen is mind you, I'm going to shabby chic up the walls behind the counter and on the wall behind the refrigerator. We will not be putting in drywall. Instead the walls will be covered in strips of wood from the pallets we have gleaned. They will not be even, so once the walls have been white washed, meaning a couple of thin watered down coats of paint are brushed onto the walls I will sand the edges so the wood peaks through.

The floor will be painted in squares but painted in the diamond pattern across the floor, in the jade green and grey, and then coated with polyurethane once they too have been scuffed up.  

The trim will be a grey white and the cabinets will be a country white. All of the cabinets are mixed matched but fit well together. Paint will blend them together. 

We already have everything for this room ready to go. The total current expenditure in this room will be the stove, $200.00 plus tax. The various paints, a total of $120.00. The hanging solar lights $35.00 and the sill solar lights $12.00. Tar paper that goes between the chipboard sheeting on the walls and the outer layer of finish. Because this wall is so close to the hill, it will be covered in sheet metal, which we have had for almost 2 years. 

I will add a blog later towards the end of this journey, with a list of costs if one wants to build a tiny house like this,  with brand new materials. 

No, we do not hoard, I used a bunch of it iin a very large artwork and thought hmmmm, wouldn't that work? Well it will, we will just paint it to match the rest of the walls. It will also show up as a wall-covering in our 'bedroom area', although I will rust that and then coat it with polyurethane. I have a few gallons of that stuff because I'm an artist. I might as well us it up on my needs for a change and get fresh for my artworks.   

Everything else has been gleaned.  

Over all the design will be sleek meets shabby chic.  

Feel free to wander around some of the other blogs on the Desperate For Housing Blog site. This is a long journey and we will be sharing all of the good the bad and the ugly with you. You can add comments or ask questions  if you like and I will do my best to answer them. 

We are still in need of 2 by 4's don't forget to check your garage for any poor ol' boards just laying around. We accept all used boards even if they have nails in them we will pull them.

Moving Dirt - Pictures!

We broke ground, the first bite with the shovel. 

This is the hard part, moving dirt around with a shovel and hoe. Today my dear husband is going to be out by himself. Yesterday we toke out the old logs supports for the shade sail covering. It sounds like we had it pretty dolled up but in all actuality it was seriously rustic.

Our bedroom, currently decorated with rocks, weeds, one of the old log posts
as well and a huge amount of dirt that we are moving with a shovel. 

One has to beg the question why are you doing it by hand? We don't own the equipment to do it by machine, we want it and so to get it we have to level the land. The choice then is to grumble and whine, or shovel. We choose to shovel. It is very hard land too. We have a layer of basalt that is about 4 feet thick.

This is so hard we have to use the heavy pick bar to break it up before shoveling it
into the dips to smooth out the build out area of the Huge Tiny House. Eventually,
there will be a bit of landscaping to make it pretty. 

We also have to pull the trailer out from under the lean-to roof. Now that it is no longer viable to use; since it was vandalized, we will recover the roof, shore it up and use it for another part of the Huge Tiny House. We will also recover the stove and refrigerator as a temporary kitchen too that is inside the poor old thing. It's pretty frustrating because we had spent a good amount of time and money dolling her up and someone senselessly tore it apart.

Ah well, just wait and see what we do to the gazebo area.

All four posts are rotting at the bottom.

One of the steps, as soon as the dirt is all moved around, is to replace all four log posts with 2 by 6 beams. Once they are in place we will put in the sub-floor, and then the walls. Of course I will have pictures, and at some point we will have video of all the exciting parts.

We are building around the rock, it sits just outside the gazebo, it's awesome and it will look cool peeking out of the small deck, emerging as the mighty Rock of Charles. Someone already asked why we don't move it...this after asking why we only have shovels to work with. Shovels move mountains, but not big rocks.

Besides, nature has a way of taking care of that all on her own. Once we are out there I will keep this tiny little tree watered it is obviously rooted just fine so it will be the dominant force over the rock. In time it will split the rock, allowing us to move it or leave it at that time. It is a symbol of what we are doing don't you think? Laying down roots in a hard spot and sticking around, giving the place the time to let us grow our own roots. 

If you look close you can see the twine marking off the area we have to dig to level. There was a huge hump right there that had to be cleared, about 600 pounds of dirt. Now it is just a bunch of grunt work to get it all moved over to the right and then leveled. It's a good thing we don't have to take the dirt very far.

You can also see we have to pull out one of the posts that is in the way, right there will be the end of our bed. I marvel at our ability to move something that weighs a lot. Below you can see once we took out the post Michael dragged it out of the way by tying on a strap and using a 2' by 4' to lever it across the old firepit area and off the landing.

Success, it will be cut up to be firewood. Waste not. 

OK! More tomorrow! 

Sweat Equity is the name of the game. 

Goodness we ended up moving another 1600 pounds of dirt the next day...whew. 

Breaking Ground Today

I always imagine a green alien popping out of their spaceship, tilting their head and with their first question tilting their heads and saying: What does this mean the breaking ground thing? Why are you breaking the ground? 

I know, breaking ground, that always sounds so silly to me. We are not breaking it we are going to be moving it around. We have a strip of bedrock though that will be quite the trick to move around.

Last night we remeasured and this Huge Tiny House, this temporary dwelling that will end up being a classroom, my art studio and the place to go for all the gossip, she got some re-arraigning. We will be moving dirt around to flatten the ground a bit, one corner of the tiny house will be close to a bit of a hill and we have to clear the way for her to sit there.

We don't begin to build the other Big Tiny House until at least spring, this is where will will live until the permanent house is built. We say spring, but we might still be gleaning for the other house so we shall see.

We switched the bathroom and the bedroom spaces around it is an easier fit and we will be using about 30 less 2' by 4's. This will make the space just about 70 square feet smaller.

The most unusual thing about the build is some of the roof lines. Because we are using an existing structure and we are saving the roof we have to tuck the rest of the roofs around the middle roof core. One of them will be at a sharp angle to allow for the snow to move away from the middle of the the building.

Below is the space we agreed on my dear husband and I, the bathroom of course is more of an RV style bathroom. The kitchen will be in the old gazebo space that becomes the living room/dinningroom/kitchen.

The back door will be in the bedroom space.  

The front door is this on side. It faces the road. 

All of the dark green boxes are storage. I will be remaking the blueprints based on this sketch and will set in the windows and all the other things necessary for it to look like a real house.  But for today, we know where to dig and move dirt around. 

We also have to prep to remove the log supports on the gazebo roof, it's the only part we can save because of the damage to the logs. 

The walls will be made of the pallet wood we have been collecting and then clad over so we will not freeze this winter. 

Ok, I'm not paying attention to the time, we are off to dig our way to begin re-homing ourselves. 

Have a great day send us your energy! 

Tina Bjorkland of Spokane Voice has started a Go Fund Me for us even a dollar would help. http://www.gofundme.com/cbmxq0

Need A Budget for the Electrical System Out At The Huge Tiny House? Sell Something of Value For A Good Price.

You know, you have to pay electricians, you even have to pay plumbers. Even if you are building a passive house you still have to have certain systems in place. If you don't have the skills you have to pay for them. I have to raise some extra funds quickly. Well I have a great way of doing that. I sell my artworks for a slightly better price than they normally would be when on the market. The prices are on the graphics. But, here's the thing, I love to dicker especially when I need to pay cash to an electrician or a plumber.

I am an artist. Below are quite a few artworks that are available. Now is the time to purchase one if you are interested. Why? Because I will make you a deal on any one of them as long as I make budget on the costs involved with hiring professionals to give us a hand putting in the systems we need. If I have to ship it to you, there will be shipping and packing costs so take that in mind.

What kind of a deal? You just have to ask. 

(509) 443-4799 ask for Grace. 

I will be adding more artworks as I get them into this format. 

Tina Bjorkland of Spokane Voice has started a Go Fund Me for us even a dollar would help. http://www.gofundme.com/cbmxq0

The Race To Glean* Wood - On The Hunt For More 2" by 4" Materials

When gleaning sometimes it is a race to get stuff picked up. Michael is on his way to get as much of this wood as possible. They have someone else who might come later in the day. But if we can get all of the usable pieces we can rip them into 2' By 4's.

I wonder as you look at them, do you think they don't look perfect? Or do you see what we see?  Once the green moss is sanded off, these boards will be mostly hidden under the floor or behind the walls. Who knows, if Michael gets all of it, some of it can be cladding on the deck side of the build. See it's not about what it looks like to you, its what it looks like to us. The used wood is such a blessing. It will not only house us as we build the permanent Huge Tiny House, it will be a dry place for me to make art, teach art and to do outreach to homeless vets. For me this wood is beautiful. Another persons leftovers can still be of good use. In the wasteful world we live in, a second look at that thing you want to throw away, will it be garbage? Or will it have a new life for someone else.  Some of our dreams are attached to this wonderful pile of wood, as well as all the other things we have found so far.  Dreams we thought we would not achieve and now we rush towards by sweat and toil.  

In case you wondered, ripping is cutting down the length of a board. Sometimes it is to make two matching pieces instead of one piece. Other times it is because your wood is to big and making it smaller is necessary. I tell you this not because you don't know, but I'm sure there is someone else out there contemplating what we are doing themselves and they need to know, so I state the obvious.  

It takes about sixteen 8 foot long 2" by 4's to do a solid wall. It can take additional shorter pieces for headers and supports for windows as well as more for doorways both inside and exterior. We have 14 separate exterior walls of various sizes on the temporary house.

This of course will end up being the art studio and classroom that will be on the property. We will be living in it temporarily while we work out the details for the permanent house. It will also serve as the place to go once the smaller Transnational Tiny Houses* pop up one by one on the property.

I make it sound so easy. I wish we had more than the two of us to go and gather but we will be sedate (or did I mean totally worn out and need of a beer?) in our accomplishments, by doing it ourselves for the most part. Although, we do have a few people on standby when we have enough materials to really get a lot done in one day.

Don't hesitate to send us an email if you have some used 2' by 4's or some chip board floating around you have no need to keep. We will gladly come and get it!


*to glean:hunting for abandoned or discarded or to be discarded, used things found or acquired by gleaning.

** To read more about these additional Tiny Houses read about the long term plan re-vistit this blog here: 
 http://desperateforhousing.blogspot.com/2014/07/clearing-up-few-misconceptions.html


Tina Bjorkland of Spokane Voice has started a Go Fund Me for us even a dollar would help. http://www.gofundme.com/cbmxq0

Oh Come On YOU Are Building A Tiny Home?

I am getting this over and over. Or It's a series of questions about my ability to put together a blueprint, or count how many boards and screws I am going to need.

Then there is the style. This one always makes me laugh. What makes you think you can design a house?

I'm an artist. If I foul up I will do it over. I'm a cook, I can read a recipe. Directions are the same thing. I love youtube videos on how to do....whatever.

I'm a smart person. I have access to the internet. I know how to type in blueprints, tiny houses, gleaning, craigslist, free, roofing materials for cold weather, poop control, water, hot water, cold water, passive systems. Heating with straw, cooling with cardboard. Making a bio-fuel out of pig poop, that article was interesting.

I've typed in Disney's rock recipes for their landscape builds, solar, solar lights, stoves, plumbing for rv-style bathrooms, composting toilets, I have even read about methane gas for cooking. I hear that can be quite a booming adventure.

Homesteading. downsizing, packaging, air-conditioning out of cardboard. You name it I have done some investigation. Secret doors, pit-setting a house, Gazebo conversions.

In short just because I might not have know how to design a Huge Tiny House when I decided to do so. It does not mean that I don't know now.

Start with square footage how much can you live without? Everything else is decking. With 20 acres why would I waste time indoors?

Once you decide that make a bunch of drawings.

Compare:

 Re-imagine:

 Consider:

Explore:

Learn something new:

Design:

                             

Count the boards:

Keep gleaning, use what you have until its done:

Make it so:

Never let anyone say it's not possible. Ingenuity is the name of the game. 

There will be more pictures of the actual build once I remember to take the camera out with us on the next trip out. 

 http://desperateforhousing.blogspot.com/2014/07/clearing-up-few-misconceptions.html


Tina Bjorkland of Spokane Voice has started a Go Fund Me for us even a dollar would help. http://www.gofundme.com/cbmxq0

Doubters Take Note - The Huge Tiny House Is Mortgage Free So Were These Windows!

O MY GOSH I have never ever thought I would ever have to listen to someones negative lip service over our proving a point by building this little Huge Tiny House by gleaning used materials for free. So what!!!

There is nothing demeaning about hunting down all the materials for free.

It is not exactly free you know.

First we have to find it, then we have to arrange to go and get it.

Fill the gas tank, drive to the site of the free materials.

Then there is the time involved, no one is paying us to drive, sort, clean...

So, sort, and pick out the good stuff. Or take it all and sort out the good stuff and pay to throw out the useless stuff. Sometimes it takes hours to reclaim the used wood.

Nails are great to hold things together but when you have to pull twenty or so out of a 2' by 4'...it's a ton of work. A few hours  in fact. Still, time is less expensive than spending dollars.

Plus we have to then drive the 26 miles to the property to get the materials on the site.

Then there are the surprise finds like below:

:

These have a Pella sticker on them. Certainly they are older but they are still a cut above your standard old windows. They average $268.00 to $299.00 for the big double ones, new. These have the screens and the storm windows that go along with them. It cost about an eighth of a tank of gas and and hours worth of work to pick them up.  Oh and my husband got a cut. Poor baby.

You can call me names, you can call me offensive, you can look down your nose at me, you can call me a beggar, but so far we have just about enough materials for a half a house. Yes, it will be about 300 square feet on the inside. Com[pact and easy to clean. When we are done it may not be huge but it will be worth at least $30,000.00 additional value to our property, and that is not including the land that we own outright that will be under it, that is free and clear already. So far we have spent $167.00. I imagine we will spend around $1000.00 in actual cost. We were challenged to both build it green and build it by gleaning. This is what we are doing.

When it is done, we will not have a mortgage. We will be rent free, comfortable, and living out in the woods where the air is not filled with noise, no pollution, limited fear of crime. I will be able to run naked through the woods scaring the crap out of the wild animals.

 Don't expect an invitation if you think its going to be so awful. Everyone else will be invited though.

I have a strong feeling that what we are doing is not stupid. We just look that way to some people. This Huge Tiny House is going to be great, a veritable castle.


 http://desperateforhousing.blogspot.com/2014/07/clearing-up-few-misconceptions.html

When You Build A Huge Tiny House You Still Have To Have A Toilet

Toilets, Toilets, Composting Or RV?

Lets just get past this composting toilet right away, no I'm not ready to go there. I'm sure its considered green, but all I see is brown. In the morning my tummy is not alt all ready to be digging in the dirt so to speak. My mother did composting when i was a kid, I'm thinking..putting egg shells and coffee grounds in too? 

I have done a massive search on toilets and frankly, its leaving me a bit flushed.

We already have an old RV toilet, if we make a throne it would be quite charming. Certainly I will deck it out with curtains, arm rests, a coffee mug holder and whatever else I can think of that would make it a pleasant place to visit. Most likely as a joke, I might even guild the thing to give it some class. However, I'm not so sure company will figure out what to do when they enter the potty arena.

I could always make the men folk go out and use a tree but if we are there for 20 plus years that poor tree would probably wither from all the toxins.

Disposing of  the offerings, we have determined that we will use a carry away method initially by using a holding tank just like RV's use only with wheels. I say we but I do mean the 'Royal We'  That's on of my husbands nicknames. I tell him what to do and he does it.

No this is not my husband, I took it off an advertising for one
of these pull-a-longs. Although the guy seems to have great technique.
(He is pulling the thing and I don't have too.) 

I dream of this lovely item, you don't even have to touch it to flush it! You all can dream of a genie but I will take one of these any ol' time over a genie. You only get 3 wishes from a genie while with this you get them one right after another, every day. 

Thetford 31650 Aqua Magic V White Foot Flush Low Profile Trailer Camper RV Toilet

Part Number Thetford 31650


Ultimately, to go green and be passive you need to have alternative solutions to the regular method of disposal for bodily functions. 

Will I go with a composting toilet down the road? Probably. If so I will chose something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sun-Mar-Dry-Toilet-Non-Electric-Waterless-Toilet-for-use-with-Centrex-Composting-Toilet-Systems-in-White-SUN-MAR-DRY-W/203503062?cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-203503062&ci_sku=203503062&ci_gpa=pla&ci_src=17588969

And this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sun-Mar-Centrex-2000-Non-Electric-Waterless-High-Capacity-Central-Composting-Toilet-System-in-Bone-CENTREX-2000-NE/203503050?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1-4-_-NA-_-203503050-_-N

But this is ridiculous, who the heck can read while using the toilet-paper:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-Pedestal-Stand-for-iPad-with-Roll-Holder-PAD-TSB/204413156

Clearing Up A Few Misconceptions - Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Building a Huge Tiny House just does not happen overnight. Especially when its done the old fashioned way. With hammer and nails. Did I mention there is no electricity on the property yet? Sure the pole is in, and the wires are on it but it needs a new electrical box as well as an inspection and all the other things necessary to begin the process. It will come, but we need to gather everything we need first and get a big enough storage unit out there to keep everything dry and to keep it from getting pilfered.

It will look a bit like this below, only clad in some type of exterior that will keep it dry inside as well as to hold heat. We are seriously considering old tires cut into shingles as well as #10 cans but we shall see what we can glean. It will also be twice the size and the roof will be canted at a 45 degree angle since there is a bit of snow in the winter to deal with.  We will need a total of 180 pallets for the storage unit as well as 4 4 by 4's cut for supports off the ground and a few dozen two by fours's. The floor will be unique too but that is a different blog. So far we have about 45 pallets and few 2 by 4's and they keep coming every few days.

When you glean it takes a dedicated effort every day to take a trip or two around town, hit facebook, and craigslist, as well as all the other places to look for salvageable wood or ask friends if they know anyone harboring a used 2" by 4" uselessly hanging around the garage. 

The gas alone is an addition to the daily costs, $7.00 to $20.00 dollars a day spent running down the pallets, leftover wood, metal roofing materials and all the other things we will need to build the house. 

But we have been asked some very interesting questions too. 

Why?

There are several reasons. 

1. We were tired of living in temporary quarters, I could not paint much there was not enough room, as an artist that is the hardest thing to work around.  

2. I didn't have windows, I did have a kitchen sort of. A microwave and a two burner tabletop hotplate and a sink. But that does not make a kitchen. I still don't, we have a 14' foot trailer that someone felt the need to break into steal everything including the propane tanks and trash the remainder but it is better than what we did have.   

3. Selling the land has proved difficult, banks will not loan on under-developed dirt. Most buyers interested in the land have not been able to qualify. Banks prefer to make loans on things people can live in.

4. It's an asset underused. If you have seen some of the pictures so far it is beautiful, who would not want to live out here.

The road in and out. 

5. When we bought the land we had a dream, build a small house and then build a bunch of other smaller houses to make small temporary homes for homeless vets where they could recover from being homeless and get back on their feet and re-enter regular housing once they got caught up.

6. Last but not least, I teach art to disenfranchised* children. I've been quietly doing so for the last 8 years. I don't charge them, I pay for the supplies myself. I need a space to continue to do that, what better then out in the woods in the fresh air? The parents can come along and have a nice day out too. In a space creatively put together showing how art affects the world in small ways as well as large ways the child will grow to use their creative side to answer their own issues in life.   I don't currently have enough space to do this in the store.

This is the Pallet House by I-Beam Design, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z7WI2v1Mh8
We were gifted a set of plans for this house. We will add to them. 
They originally designed this Palletr House for a contest on temporary or emergency housing. 
We will make the art studio/classroom a bit like this using their fabulous
award winning design as inspiration. Our version of this building will take
about 150 pallets as well as 4" by 4" and 2" by 4"s.
Pallets and the wood that they are made from are
America's most wasted materials. 

With the last two whys;

Number five, we had to think long and hard if this was something we wanted to attempt. A few years ago we felt we should move into town and give up the idea when we started our business. As it evolved, so have we, and our focus is on the used, as well as is on restoration projects. As the news brings such unpleasant issues surrounding vets we can see that the dream not only should be considered but is very possible based on the business plan we are working out. Think inexpensive, safe, clean and open air.

Number 6, that's pretty much a necessity, it makes my soul sing to help kids that get less opportunities because they can use what they are taught to brighten their own world. 

So, stage one, get a large enough enclosed storage area built that will put us out there on the land every day in-between working hours. 

Stage two, build the Huge Tiny House.

Stage three, prep the different areas on the acreage to accept the layout of the temporary houses, all tiny themselves, get the permits, licences etc  and begin to build them one by one. Yes, we will glean for those too. If we spend very little money, there is much less to recoup. No bureaucracy just get it done. 

The key is using reclaimed everything. This is not going to be some swanky get away, this will be bare bones passive housing and classroom. Warm or cool and inviting all year round. 

The last two reasons: We were told we couldn't, it is impossible, you don't have enough money, you don't have the proper credit. We were told we were losers to even consider it.  Did I tell you we started our current business with $65.00? We were told we were stupid for trying that too. The business is more than 8 years old now. Don't tell me we can't do something if we are prepared first to dream*, but then to make the dream come true.

*Yes, we are dreamers but everything we have ever dreamed we have made happen. This too will be fact and not a dream.

OK! So, the first thing we have to do is get a storage unit up where all our things will go as well as 'house' us the first winter. It's much easier to build if you are on the property. With that we have a tiny, tiny trailer 14 feet by 8 feet, man that is larger that what we had with the temporary 8' by 10' space, and the view is so much better! 

So far we have gleaned at least a third of what we need. Our total cash expenditures to date? $66.77, not including the gas. Certainly we will be spending more but the budget is tight. To build the bones of the storage unit we have a budget of  $300.00. To build the shell and finish it with cladding inside and out for the Huge Tiny House, $1000.00. 

We also accepted a challenge, no using credit. This must be built without incurring standard debt. When you see the list of off grid items we will need to make this a successful rehoming and classroom build, and if you have something big to offer, I will gladly trade one of my artworks, or even paint one for you in barter. This does not count against the challenge. 

This does not include the sinks, electrical, plumbing, permanent furnishings like a tub, shower, those things will be on another budget and we will try to get much of that for as little as possible too.

Anyway if you have a question just ask, we will do our best to answer. 

* ~ *

*Disenfranchised children means homeless, or poor, maybe one of their parents are in jail or mentally ill. Some foster children qualify. How do I choose the student? I don't usually, they choose me.