Tiny Prefab Plans
You might have noticed that I’ve not been posting much the past two weeks. I’ve been working every night on this panelized prefab design and finally have the free plans ready for you to see. The ebook version of the plans will be available soon too. The drawings are all complete; I just need to finish writing all the descriptions and instructions. The ebook contains dozens of illustrations that show all the construction and assembly steps as well as an 8×12 and 8×16 versions. Once the ebook is online I’ll adapt the design once more for the 16×16 House for Khayelitsha.
I think this little 8×8 building would make a great home office, micro cabin, or even a tiny house for the homeless. In fact the idea of finding a simple solution for housing the homeless is what got me started on this in the first place; but now that it’s ready for public consumption it’s clear to me that this approach could serve an extremely wide range of needs.
Hi Michael,
It certainly looks like a clever design and you’ve put a lot of thought and effort into it. Well done!
I wish to make a few comments which I hope do not come across as critical. They are meant more to provoke thought and discussion.
When I look at your plans, I am reminded of two books which I have read recently.
The first is an obscure book I picked up at a second hand shop. It looked interesting but surprised me with its light hearted approach (it’s written in a comic book style) but persisting relevance, though written some 20 years ago. It’s called “Architecture for Beginners” by Louis Hellman. There is a chapter called “The Failure of Modern Architecture” which suggests, in a nutshell that buildings made for manufacturing efficiency ( ie: designed for machines)has never worked for people on many levels.
The other book, well known Thoreau’s Walden is worth rereading and considering his thoughts on charity and philanthropy. Do ‘homeless’ people want to live in homes?…
I’m reminded of a visit we made to Yucatan in Mexico a few years ago where the govt built everyone in this one village a concrete block kitchen house after a hurricane wiped out many of their vernacular buildings in the region. Only these locals completely ignored these new ‘modern buildings’ and instead quickly rebuilt the traditional stick and thatched roof structured buildings. The reason? While they seemed like a good idea to the bureaucrats and aid agencies who funded them they were overly hot and completely unlivable. Today they sit empty and unused and serve only as monuments to the innocence of those distant designers.
Which is not to say that your design is not suitable for someone, somewhere. It appears to be both flexible configuration as well as material possibilities. In New Zealand plywood panels are prohibitively expensive and you might use a rough sawn board and batten exterior instead.
Sorry to hijack the comments with so many thoughts.
Keep the ideas coming.
Steve
Steve
Thanks Steve… very good comments.
I’m not sure there is a ‘solution’ for homelessness because there are so many reasons for homelessness… it’s not always about the house. There are also those that simply don’t see having no home as a problem and prefer to live that way, although I suspect this is not the majority.
In any event I wanted to offer up a simply way for little houses to be constructed if someone was inclined to do it. For example with all the tent communities popping up around the USA with folks displaced by the economy it seemed like a simple solution could be useful. I can also see there being used as emergency shelters, cabins, and even backyard offices.
I’ll take a look at those books; they sound like good stuff. I guess what I’ve tried to do here was take a little from SIP homes and blend it with DIY framing. A SIP home is probably far more efficient but hard for a DIYer to build. This approach is also more materials intensive that normal framing. So what it provides is a simple to build and easy to transport (flatpack, pickup truck, etc) and quickly assembled in the field with a hammer or cordless drill.
Thanks!
I have been following your ‘panelized’ construction ideas with great interest. To some degree they run parallel to ideas I have mulled over for years, that is, a way to create modules in a garage that could then be transported to a remote site for quick assembly. I am concerned with the shallow roof pitch, though. I am from Canada and, of course, snow load can be a considerable concern for any structures. Have you given thought to alternative roofs with a steeper pitch? I am curious about whatever solutions you may have envisioned for northern climates.
Keep up the good work and thank you for your efforts. They certainly have rekindled my interest,
George
Hi George. The current roof is 2/12 and as you point out is a shallow roof pitch. I have been working on alternatives like that 12/12 on House for Khayelitsha. This approach to a roof is so simple that I wanted to offer it up first. Steeper pitches will require a bit more framing.
Michael,
Thanks for the response. I will look forward to your 12/12 option if and when you might publish it. I do understand the reason for the low pitch for starters.
I have also been curious about SIP alternatives and have looked to no avail for a DIY version and instructions. One of the things I had considered was a hybrid of your design with solid panels loose or glued within the framing of your components.
Thanks again,
George
George… I actually noodled over the glued-up self-fab panel idea too but since there was a lot of engineering there I kept these simple and leveraged a familiar construction method to make it potentially easier to get approved by more building/planning departments… but I think glued-up foam/sheathing panels would be a great solution. They’d be much more like homemade SIPs and probably perform similarly.
Have you priced this?
EJ… not yet but I’m certain it would cost more to build this way than conventional framing. The benefit here is that it can be assembled in the field with not much more than a cordless drill.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the response. I’m glad you took my comments the right way.
You are right, the landscape for temporary shelter is rapidly changing and this may be a good alternative to the tent cities. Since it is relatively low-tech, the manufacturing and assembly could also spawn its own small business and job creation ( or perhaps job substitution – keeping current builders in work by shifting to new products).
Btw, you might be interested in knowing that the moodular pre-fab panel method is already the current state of house building in New Zealand. These are not SIP panels though, just the wall framing. Framed panels are pre-built in factories for model X, arrive on a flatbed and the walls are erected on the foundation in a single day using a crane and a team of framers who nail gun it together. No sheathing is used( see previous comments on the expense of plywood). They put up house wrap and outside cladding. Insulation and wallboard added the traditional way.
I agree with Michael – as a former homeless person, I can attest that it is indeed “not always about the house.”
But providing low-cost, clean and decent housing villages would go a long way towards helping many retain their dignity and a roof over their heads. The current govt. approach towards homelessness is to give slum landlords $35-100 a day for hotels, some of which demand that the family (usually lots of kids) move out during certain day hours. The govt. could build a small home using about 3-6 months worth of federal housing allowances, if the land and utility connections were already in place. It would be much cheaper to build independent housing for those who want a safe place to stay. This does not answer the problem of how to protect those who are either willfully anti-social or through not fault of their own mentally ill (including violent drug users, who may fall into either category) and who are not, for various reasons, able to live independently or in communities without supervision and/or sanctions to keep them from hurting themselves or their neighbors. I was homeless for economic reasons, and it was (thank God) very temporary, but it opened my eyes to how often we stereotype the homeless without realizing, as Michael says, that it’s a complex situation.
[...] Tiny prefab plans [...]
It is a nice idea and I love it. I like the idea of having just what you need, and less clutter. i would have to have my own, seperate from my husbands..lol. and also where could you put it? a piece of land still costs you an arm and leg, and the other alternative is renting a lot in a small house version of a trailer part– still very pricy
Hi Michelle,
Land can cost a lot and be hard to build on, but it really depends on location. I think the hardest part of making the transition to a sustainable life is figuring out where and when to move.