Comments on: Rethinking The Tiny Simple House

By: Carey Huffman

Carey Huffman — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:08:26 +0000

I love the idea of two trailers, one for living/eating and the other for sleeping/bathing. Most of these tiny homes are going to stay put for the majority of their use cycle, so the inconvenience of moving two trailers would be infrequent. It would also solve the feng shui problem of having the bathroom and kitchen placed next to each other as exists in nearly all of the tiny home trailers on the market.

By: More Sketches of the Tiny Simple House

More Sketches of the Tiny Simple House — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 08:46:11 +0000

[...] posted a few other drawings of this design concept so you may be familiar with the idea already. Basically it’s a simple [...]

By: ecomod

ecomod — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:51:37 +0000

I like it – it works. How about a asymmetric butterfly roof so rainwater could filter straight through to gray water use?

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:34:55 +0000

The SketchUp learning curve for the basics is not too steep really. Watch the tutorial videos though… very helpful for learning the tricks quick. All software companies should do these kind of tutorials.

By: Anne Lupton

Anne Lupton — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:53:44 +0000

Hey Mike,

I downloaded SketchUp a few weeks ago and have been intending to give it a try– just keep putting it off. How bad is the learning curve for getting around it? I suppose like any new program you just gotta putz around and spend time with it to get comfortable. It’s nice that Google offers this for free! I see the paid pro version is some good coin! At this point I’m still spending more time sketching my small house dreams on graph paper. Hey, at least I can still use it if the power goes out

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:16:20 +0000

Frank, Excellent idea! In fact maybe the way I should approach this is to draw up the building shells and then provide alternate interiors for different types of needs. Thanks!

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:05:37 +0000

How about this… You could start off with the bedroom and bath on one 16′ trailer. Then as funds permit, build the kitchen/living room on a second trailer and park then back to back. If you want to go on a road trip, you can just take half your house with you.

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:06:45 +0000

EJ… I agree, at $140,000 the miniHome is very expensive. I guess what I’m proposing here is an ultra-simple design an owner-builder could build for far far less. I’m not far enough along to have a materials list figured out but I’m targeting $10,000 in materials.

Love the Vardo workshop link… thanks.

By: EJ

EJ — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:45:13 +0000

8′ wide, pricey but very nice: http://sustain.ca/specs/

Vardo workshop: http://www.ptwoodschool.com/gypsywagons2009.html