The whole world is my living room

[David Thomas]

Speaking of my own neighborhood: "You gotta love a place where the houses have wheels and the cars don't."

[HkNewman]

@Roger

Those small homes are pretty basic. Modern regular home building in the Sunbelt is done by crews of "undocumented guest workers". Some relatives get work installing plumbing in new homes (still a union job) and remark on the mistakes made by commercial building crews, .. namely running water over electrical lines and vis versa. Luckily most plumbers or electricians will call that to the contractors attention. One positive about DIY small home building is less "house guts" to worry about in the standard plans.

If someone wasn't around when their home was built (of any size), they really don't know what lurks behind drywall until it is taken out…

ed: br

[David Thomas]

That said, here in Alaska, we see a lot of active, retired couples who live 6 to 12 months of the year in a motorhome. They travel with the seasons – north in the summer, south in the winter – and drop in on the grandkids as they go. They can plan their travels around sporting events or festivals to attend, or fishing and hunting opportunities around the country. While many are in massive RVs (sometimes towing a Geo Metro), I'd start with a lighter-weight vehicle that has some load-carrying ability like those Sprinter vans and add low-weight fold-down bunks and high-efficiency lighting, etc. We who can provide all our needs in under 15 pounds, should feel luxurious in such a rig.

I talked about the economics with one couple doing it full time and since they don't have a house, they don't have a mortgage, property tax, landline, cable bill, electric and gas, etc. Even the campground fees can go to zero if they are campground "hosts" at a state or national park. If they want to be one city all summer, some school districts site RVers on campus for reduced vandalism. Pick a state "of residence" for tax reasons and use a relative's mailing address when needed.

[Link .]

Ian don't let the negative remarks get you down,I became interested in tiny homes in the 90's when I saw Tumbleweed Homes ,you can purchase the plans and build it yourself or have them build and deliver it to you(A Lot More Expensive). PAD Portland Alternative Dwellings sell plans and has workshops, Dee Williams who works for pad has done many interviews over the years from her home in Olympia and works for PAD, This is another couple from Portland who decided to build and live in a tiny home :) I hope you enjoy it !

[BlackHatGuy]

"I talked about the economics with one couple doing it full time and since they don't have a house, they don't have a mortgage, property tax, landline, cable bill, electric and gas, etc. Even the campground fees can go to zero if they are campground "hosts" at a state or national park. If they want to be one city all summer, some school districts site RVers on campus for reduced vandalism. Pick a state "of residence" for tax reasons and use a relative's mailing address when needed."

You're talking my language David. I plan to retire within two years – even though my retirement income won't be much – and after 'setting up house' in a tax friendly state, travel around in a camper van, staying for a few months in various places. I plan to do that for at least a couple of years as a way to see where I really want to live in retirement.

[Ian]

Thanks Anna! This is something I've been researching for a while; with less than nine years left to retirement and with kids in school, it's impractical for us to make the move right now.

While I like the style from the OP's link, I'd prefer something slightly different for a few reasons. One of them would be to incorporate a thermal mass heater which I suspect would be impractical on a trailer due to size and weight.

I'm really interested in building a house out of two storage containers. I'd (theoretically) have them overlap by ~ 20' where I would build the common area including a modest kitchen. I'd probably use one the additional area closest to the kitchen for my bathroom so all of the plumbing is in one area (separated by a studded wall obviously to keep assorted odors where they belong) and the other area would be for a bedroom (may leave this as a studio).

It's unlikely that I'll be able to convince my wife that a bucket full of sawdust is an acceptable toilet so there will be some compromises made along the way. The permitting process will be complicated as well which will likely preclude a thermal mass heater.

Maybe we'll look at a small straw bale house. Maybe just an RV. Still very much in the infant stage of this future project. I'll have to do much more research when it comes time to buy the land to find an area where this will all legally work.

[David Thomas]

"You're talking my language David. I plan to retire within two years – even though my retirement income won't be much – and after 'setting up house' in a tax friendly state, travel around in a camper van, staying for a few months in various places. I plan to do that for at least a couple of years as a way to see where I really want to live in retirement."

Well, if you're going to be parked in my driveway for 2 months a year, at least get a decent-looking van. (Can't get more tax-friendly than Alaska). Better yet, use one of my chainsaws, drop a few spruce and back into our forest a little ways so you're out of sight / out of mind.

[Jerry Adams]

If you live in small house, surface area is less so heating requirements are less. You can just use cheap electric heat like baseboard heater. Higher cost of a heat pump, for example, isn't justified. A real fireplace would overheat you. Maybe a stove like for a tent, or a pellet stove.

If you have plenty of window area it won't seem so claustrophobic, and you can get some passive solar heat.

I have a medium size RV and get sort of tired of it after a week or two. I can't see how people live full time in an RV, but many people are happy doing so.

[David Thomas]

+1 on everything Jerry said about heating. Any stove would have to be tent-sized, not house-sized. Anyone in a 12×12 cabin up here struggles to find a small enough wood stove to not over heat the small space. I'd be nervous about most tent-style heaters because they aren't airtight and CO could build up quickly in a small volume.

If you're on the grid or at a wired-campground, yes, cheap electric heaters are plenty (and needn't run while you aren't there). If you want to be off-the-grid, then look to what Airstreams, et al do: externally-vented propane units with external propane tanks. Far more than toilets and showers, that one item can really increase your comfort and extend your season. National Parks are really nice after the first dusting of snow when almost everyone else has left.

If building from scratch or modifying a cargo van, I'd make one side with LOTS of windows for the view and for passive solar heat gain. And then control solar input by how I parked.

[Ian]

There are obviously other ways to achieve thermal mass than the video I'll link below but I like the idea of how this works where I don't have to burn wood constantly to stay warm. I've seen (online) some versions where a platform for the bed is made out of cob and used as the thermal mass. The combustion chamber seems to do a pretty good job of keeping the emissions to a minimum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4usXIAoy9us

Another design that I really like which makes great use of passive solar and thermal mass is the Earth Ship:

http://earthship.com/

The only thing I don't like about the Earth Ship design is the upfront cost. I'm fairly confident I could buy some land and build a tumble weed style house on a trailer or shipping container for about 1/3 the cost.

Edit to add: This stove looks like a nice option as well for something more traditional:

http://www.unforgettablefirellc.com/kimberly-wood-stove/

[Jerry Adams]

Have you read Mother Earth News? Lots of info about homesteading including stoves, heating, alternate building materials,…

[Ian]

"Have you read Mother Earth News?"

I'll trip across an article of theirs here and there when I'm researching stuff like this. I read one from them earlier today about composting toilets when I was trying to find the humanure link.

[Jerry Adams]

I'll read Mother Earth News at library. I've subscribed before but I'm a cheapskate. Lots of good fantasizing about homesteading.

[Leigh Baker]

Wow, looks like this thread went viral while I was at work today :-). A very interesting topic though. I'm hoping to retire at the end of the next school year (2015)and on a teacher's pension, let's just say it's a good thing I'm a frugal person to start with. I started out thinking I'd build a small house; mine's 1000 sf and I could easily scale back to 400-600 sf, maybe less,which is what got me looking at the tiny house craze, but most of the truly tiny houses (100-200 sf) are just too small. I looked at a 17ft Casita a year or so ago, and realized I couldn't live in it.I love that a smaller house forces/allows you to spend more time outside.(I loved Ian's video of the gal with her freight car but loved her addition even more, loved the windows! But I can't decide where I want to live so I've actually been considering a van and traveling for a year or two, backpacking around, until I decide, similar to what Doug mentioned.

I ran into a retired guy 2 summers ago while hiking in the Rio Grande Gorge who had taken a high top commercial Nissan van and turned it into a solar powered home away from home. He later emailed me all the sources he used building his. While we were hiking he also mentioned the higher dollar Sport Mobiles that he used as a model for his, and the day I was leaving I ran into another retired guy with one who'd had his customized so he had a spot for his mountain bike to hang out of the way, his fishing rods were attached at the ceiling, and his waders had their own cubby as well. It was really amazing, but so was the price, and I like a challenge so learning how to turn a cargo van or such into a home suites me better. Oh and did I mention I'm frugal :-)

[Ian]

Funny but I watched a video series about DIY camper vans last night. This guy did a really great job with his Mercedes van which includes a garage for his enduro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m867RAgBLQ

Looks like a fun project. I've thought about getting or making a Class B but I think a small Class C is probably more our speed. Right now we have a four season Travel Trailer which suits us just fine but it'd be nice to have greater opportunities for stealth RVing.

[Author]

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