The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company has given away a lot of Popomo plans this week, available with the purchase of the Small House Book. I’m curious to hear what people thought about the quality and value of these tiny house plans. So, if you bought the book and got the free plans, please tell us all what you thought. Just add a comment on this post. Thanks!
(If this is news to you, learn more about this free house plans offer at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.)
sorry, i didn’t buy the book, but regarding the plans:
the bed, being almost enclosed, would seem hard to make. a solution might be eliminate the solid wall at the foot of the bed, replacing it with a privacy curtain. this reduces weight & cost too.
then, leaving the curtain open increases the visual size of the interior.
the bed could also be used as a sofa, eliminating a chair. one could sit and lean back comfortably against a big pile of cushions, or a fold-out plywood back rest (and a few cushions.) when used in this mode, the bed linen could be folded into the area at the head of the bed, and hidden by another curtain perpendicular to the length of the bed.
I had exactly the same thoughts!
Bruce, wouldn’t a simpler solution be to buy a duvet?
Jay, How high is the ceiling? Will it accommodate a Murphy Bed?
Also, is it possible to switch the toilet and shower so the shower is closer to the water heater? Less distance for the hot water to travel.
Thanks, Gerrie
Don’t know about ceiling, but switching the toilet and shower has other benefits aside from the hot water run. Usually, with trailers you need to separate the black water (toilet) drain from the grey water (everything else) drains. With the toilet where you sugest, this becomes a lot easier.
by all means use a duvet d’oie but one must replace mattress pad & fitted sheet from time to time.
I am just getting started with tiny houses so haven’t seen many comercial plans but I was a little let down by the Pompano plans that I got when I purchased the Small House Book. The framing plans and elevations seem good but there is so little additional detail (water system, electrical system etc.)that basically all you are able to build is a shell. As I progress in this area I may find that this is par for the course or that these subsystems varry so much that detail would be pointless in such a plan set but…. I would be nice to have at least a baseline of what is necessary to build a complete home.
My husband i live in a compacted house now we love and love the ideals you have also we would love to one day build a house like yours
This sounds like a terriffic idea but there is no information on where to purchase the book or how much it cost to build one of these tiny homes. I would like to get specifics if you please. Where do you get the land to settle on? the running water, electric, and things like that?
Hi Deb,
The answers to your questions are here and Jay covers some (if not all) in his book. Here’s a link to the book: https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=310308&c=ib&aff=36978&cl=19762
Typically cost can range from a few thousand dollars to 20K-30K. Jay’s homes are some of the nicest and can cost even more. But like most things you can offset price with sweat equity, and many people are doing this.
Finding a place to build or park a house can br tricky but there are many places that are friendly to alternative builders. A good guide for this is available: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2010/07/06/no-building-codes-ebook-by-terry-herb/
But most people I’ve written about have simply parked in backyards, campgrounds, raw land, orchards, farms, and simply plan to move if there is trouble. But I’ve yet to hear of such a situation.
Most portable tiny houses have something similar to an RV setup, although many people use composting toilets including the loveable loo. http://humanurehandbook.com/store/LOVEABLE-LOO-Eco-Toilet.html
I regularly write on these topic so stay tuned.
Thanks!
Michael
How do people find the land to put the house on that is economical? I can’t imagine you can just plunk one down just anywhere without someone bugging you about taxes or fees or whatnot.
Hi Catherine,
You’re right, building anything non-standard is tricky. The short answer is that if it can sit on a trailer and meets the road size limits (13.5′ tall and 8.5′ wide) it typically is labeled a custom RV trailer and no subject to codes. It will be subject to ordinances, like camping on private property, which is not always allowed. If it’s on a foundation codes do apply and the square footage minimum can be tricky to work around.
You could also find a place without codes, or few codes. Here’s a great ebook that can help point you in the right direction: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2010/07/06/no-building-codes-ebook-by-terry-herb/
Thanks!
Michael
Hi,
After reviewing some of the information, how are the tiny homes any/much different than pull-along campers? To me, the blueprints are very similar in the use of space and furnishings. Just wondering..
Hi Luann,
They are similar in scale and in some cases function (like wet bath, water tanks, etc), but they are built like houses so four-season living is comfortable. So the end product is just like a house. The trade-off is weight. Travel trailers are made to be on the road, tiny houses are meant to be parked and lived in. The trailer ‘foundaton’ also provide a way to avoid some building codes, in some areas.
I would like to work with your company and also build one of your houses for my family and I. Please respond at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, John A. Penman
I am interested. I am a divorce mom with two small sons, and my dream is to once again own my home sweet home. I was looking to buy a foreclosure home , but I will love to have Tyni House for us.. Simplifying our life is wonderful.I live in Coral Springs, where can I have my Tiny house here???
Thank you
I like you tiny house it would work for me because I am single and I can move next to my mom on the edge of her yard. About how much would a house like your cost a person.
Jay estimates that the house in the video will cost about $20,000 to build yourself, and they can do it for about $46,000.
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.net/houses/epu/
But there are many people building for less, it just depends on the level of finish, especially in the interior.
It was nice to get a freebie with the book and get a sense of actual building plans look like.
That said, I was a bit disappointed. If I didn’t know Jay had designed it, I would’ve said someone unused to small spaces had drawn up the plans because the design didn’t use every square inch and the layout feels cramped to me.
For starters, I would do away with the deck because it eats up a lot of the square footage. And doing away with the walls separating the kitchen, great room and bedroom would make the house feel more spacious. I would also use a Murphy bed or sofabed in a space this size.
Furthermore, I would probably halve the size of the bathroom and just have enough space for a composting toilet and sink. That’d allow for a roomier kitchen. I would move the shower outside; when parked, it’d be easy to provide privacy with a tarp or even have walls that open up like shutters from the side of the house.
Oh, and instead of having a built-in closet maybe have one that is on wheels so it can be moved at night to accommodate unfolding the sofabed or Murphy bed. (Or doing away with it entirely. Most people living in tiny spaces like this probably don’t have a lot of clothes that require ironing and probably only need drawers and shelves to stow their wardrobe. Maybe have two old chests/trunks on casters, filling one with bedding and the other with clothes.)
I have to agree with others who’ve questioned the sleeping accommodations. There is just too much precious space wasted under & above that bed with the wall enclosure blocking everything but one small drawer. And the walls themselves plus the full-height closet will make the spaces on both sides far more claustrophobic & stuffy than they need to be.
If the cabin’s height is such that the bed can’t be lofted to provide access to more efficient storage & perhaps even a desk underneath (the way they make loft beds for kids with study & play area beneath), then the wall bed someone mentioned above makes a lot of sense. Especially if it’s horizontally oriented as it is currently designed, but with with cabinets in whatever space is left above & there’s a flip out table built flush into the outward face of the bed platform when it is in the up position. That would be handy for day use where the pull up chairs could be used for dining, working on the laptop, hobbies etc. At night the table would flip down & click flush with bed ‘wall’, the bed wall would then flip down to reveal your cushy solar-powered Sleep Number mattress outfitted with freshly laundered lavender-scented Frette linens & viola, your table becomes a bed fit for a princess! Gee, I sure wish I could make the desk I’m typing on right now do that.
The bedside window of the Popomo would have to be moved to one of the longer walls though.
I also agree with getting rid of the inset deck. A simple fold-out porch overhang or roll-out canopy attached on the outside would do the trick just as well and those square inches could come back inside where they are desperately needed.
But BRRRR, let’s keep the shower inside, Claudia! I like the idea of a wet room as designed here. They have these in boats. As long as you have watertight storage for the TP & towels,(any boat supply catalogue has ‘em) they’re fine.
I could see building a system of hooks or shallow shelves on the outside of the Bathroom door to provide extra kitchen storage for canned goods, spices & utensil though. And maybe a modified waterproof overdoor hanging system (like the compartmentalized ones they make for shoes) to stow toiletries on the shower side of the door.
I really like Claudia’s idea of rolling storage which can be moved to accommodate the space requirements of different activities & even serve as temporary table surfaces instead of that closet permanently fixed in place which chops up the space & blocks sight lines. Mobile &/or stacking storage offers much more versatility.
That little table in the plan is too small to be worth anything except getting in the way of the view or of egress through the slide & fold glass doors. Better to hard wire a couple of reading extension reading lamps or boat bunk lamps into the walls above the chairs (chairs also with casters, please!) which could each stretch over to serve as task lighting for the bed & kitchen, maybe attach some of those fold up cup holders onto adjacent vertical surfaces & then you could trade the table in for one of those small leather storage cube ottomans instead. Equipped with a built in champagne bucket, of course, to ice down the Moet following a hard day of swabbing down the cabin after your morning shower, lol!
Seriously, I hope all you wonderful tiny house people are checking out boat supply catalogues & online yachting stores for ideas on space savers & ingenious storage ideas. EVERYTHING below deck has to pull double & even triple duty on a boat. Liveaboards in particular have got the art of tiny-space living down, and they can even do it it in 17 foot waves!
Leilani, good point about how an outdoor shower might not be ideal in the wintertime!
I like the ideal of shallow built-in shelves for tins and/or toiletries. That would take much space at all, but would provide lots of storage. And I would absolutely agree that hooks are a great way to store items. Spices can go into magnetic tins that can go on the fridge.
The more I think about it, the less convinced I am that I personally would need a closet. Most of my clothes could be stored in drawers, with bulky coats going on hooks.
Jay recommends using a gateleg table, which is a good choice since it can collapse to practically nothing when not in use. And I would use stackable chairs made of material that can be used outdoors as well as indoors.
If the bed is a sofabed, then you’ve got a place for yourself or visitors to lounge. And the storage ottoman Leilani suggests could serve as a chair, a foot rest or a coffee table (just add a tray).
When it comes to tiny kitches, my preference is to have open shelves (based on the assumption that the house would in one place for long stretches of time; if that’s not the case, cupboards are definitely more practical) and I would also have a hanging dishrack so as not to waste precious counterspace.
Also, as someone who lives along a fault line, I would strongly recommend against shelving above a sleeping area unless you confine yourself to only using it for small items that wouldn’t hurt if they fell down on you
Leilani, good point about how an outdoor shower might not be ideal in the wintertime!
I like the ideal of shallow built-in shelves for tins and/or toiletries. That wouldn’t take much space at all, but would provide lots of storage. And I would absolutely agree that hooks are a great way to store items. Spices can go into magnetic tins that can go on the fridge.
The more I think about it, the less convinced I am that I personally would need a closet. Most of my clothes could be stored in drawers, with bulky coats going on hooks.
Jay recommends using a gateleg table, which is a good choice since it can collapse to practically nothing when not in use. And I would use stackable chairs made of material that can be used outdoors as well as indoors.
If the bed is a sofabed, then you’ve got a place for yourself or visitors to lounge. And the storage ottoman Leilani suggests could serve as a chair, a foot rest or a coffee table (just add a tray).
When it comes to tiny kitches, my preference is to have open shelves (based on the assumption that the house would in one place for long stretches of time; if that’s not the case, cupboards are definitely more practical) and I would also have a hanging dishrack so as not to waste precious counterspace.
Also, as someone who lives along a fault line, I would strongly recommend against shelving above a sleeping area unless you confine yourself to only using it for small items that wouldn’t hurt if they fell down on you
I purchased the book this past week. It was interesting and informative. I am in a w/c and Tiny is a different concept for me than most others. I do, however, like the floor plans and plan to build 2. One for each of my Grandchildren that will be heading to college in a year and a year and a half. One male now 17 and one female now 16. I think it will be great for each them to start out in! Composting toilets, Rain water system and solar power with LED for lighting should help them thru learning how to be self sufficient and individualy responsible. I am very excited!
I got the book and the plans and just now looked the plans over. I have only been a helper to my husband as far as building so far and he’s made his own plans and rather winged it so to speak so I’ve never looked at plans before. These plans look good to my unlearned eye. I hear everyone on saving space and removing walls and so on. The thing is, these are plans for a specific style tiny house. If you want an open square box home then build one. These plans are just a minimized version of a larger modern house Jay designed (which is still very small) and I don’t think trying for every possible squared inch to be used is his style. I think he maximizes both style and space-saving playing one off against the other for a feeling of quality and “home” rather than a space to try to fit every possible thing in. So as far as these plans go the only thing I would change is to skip the front door turning that space into a desk and turning the window wall into two large windows and a door giving the same effect but letting me have just that as an access door. I really love the look on the outside and if I built this one (I’m really looking more at the fencl though) I’d just have to have that siding!
What do people think about building this on a 24′ foot trailer instead of 20′? You could keep the floor plan basically the same and add a desk, etc.
is it much different pulling a 24′ trailer as opposed to a 20′?
After several years of following this (Blog?) system, I have came to the following. If you want a tiny home maybe you should think costs. Why not purchase a motor home for less than $2500 (craigslist.com) of 24′ or longer and remodel to your needs It already has most of the systems you need and is probably drivable to a site to do your remodel. Although I live in a 5th wheel now, I am designing Park Models for full time living and I come up with 200 sq. ft. per person if they are full figured people so “crazy cabin fever” is not in their future. True if you have been a boat person, you can survive in a smaller space. But why would you pay $35K for something 170 Sq.Ft. , thats over $200 a Sq.Ft.
A travel trailer would have to be winterized in most of North America. Even if your heating system had enough BTUs, the condensation would be a major problem. Also, the pipes can burst in below freezing temperatures. If I remember correctly, Jay Shafer’s first tiny house was an old Airstream trailer that sweated very badly in the winter, which led him to develop better alternatives. Also, metal frames and exteriors lose heat quite rapidly; fiberglass, too. There are very few of these home that would be able to withstand a harsh winter.
I did not buy the book with the free plans but a friend did. And all I can say is that I was on the bench with looking at spending the large amount of money on a tumbleweed plan set, but if this is the quality of his plans, I’ll pass. Almost no details needed for the hard parts is shown. The framing and outside is the easiest part of a build. If this is what he sells then it’s criminal for what he is charging. Tumbleweed needs to put in a lot more details before he can charge the huge prices he thinks his plan sets are worth.
I have looked at some of Jay’s drawing on the web and some are missing many of the needed details to finish the unit.
I look at plans to get ideas on how to better plan my build. I see ways to cut down on weight when building mine. Like making wood I-beam like TGIs for wall studs and rafters. 1/4 inch plywood is all you need for the web. You can also make your studs how ever deep you want them to be. Yeah so I’m going to spend a few weeks making my studs and rafters but I’ll have the then the size I want and they will be at least half the weight of a 2×4 or 2×6. And just as strong. The things you learn from building a home build Aircraft.
I’d love to see what you come up with Kristine! Lots of people would be interesting in new ways to make lightweight tiny houses.
After looking over the plans I had recently received for the popomo I cant help but feel the costal cottage found in this site is a much more “home” like option for myself and my kids. I did however also really love the idea of a ‘fold out’ add on shed that could be attatched to the side of one of these traveling homes. My idea is to add on legs that fold under the table area and as well add in a two part plexi wall window making it a add on room/ bed area for summer time in a pinch with guests. Just my thoughts >o</
I understand why most of you want to get of the deck; it eats space. I like the wall at the bedroom, though. My husband and I are not always on the same sleep schedule (he’s more of a morning person and I’ve always been a night owl), the door would block light when the other is reading, et cetera.