Chapter 1 - Different Types of Tiny Houses

Tiny homes may all be small, but that’s one of the few things they have in common. The truth is that there are almost as many different types of tiny houses as there are people looking to live in one. Builders may construct these homes from many different resources, used in various ways. Floor plans, too, are becoming ever more unique and innovative. In this chapter, we will describe the various materials and methods used to build tiny houses.

 

Pre-Manufactured Tiny Houses

Building a conventional house can be very expensive, especially if you design the home yourself and loaded with all the features you want. Many people will never have a house built to their specifications. Selecting a prefabricated wooden house will help in keeping your costs down, but it still may be out of reach for many homebuyers. It is certainly a much more attainable goal when you start looking at tiny houses.

Materials prices are going up without pause, and banks are starting to loan money more stingily since the economy is well on its way to recovery. The smartest solution, if you want everything done your way, to truly live in your dream house, may be to go small.

 

How Small Are Pre-Manufactured Tiny Houses?

Prefabricated tiny houses are becoming more popular. Getting back to nature and reducing their carbon footprint is presenting an attractive solution for some homebuyers. The smallest of tiny houses built from plans is usually about 100 square feet. By comparison, a “studio” apartment with no bedroom is about 300-450 square feet.

In a world where lending rates are trending upward, tiny homes appeal to more and more homebuyers. You can be the king or queen of your castle without a mortgage, if your “castle” is a tiny house.

Advantages to tiny houses on your wallet are many, even though living “small” will mean making many changes in your expectations and in the way you live. However, you will have smaller utility bills, smaller property tax bills and your home can be set up on your lot in much less time than it takes to build a conventional wood-frame or brick house. Your home can be quite energy-efficient, and you can maximize your investment.

 

 

Tiny House Blueprints

Modern tiny houses come in many styles, configurations, materials, and many are built on wheels. Builders make them with new materials or reclaimed materials from other homes and sources, to lower the cost.

Even in tiny house blueprints, you may have a functional-sized kitchen, with traditional sized appliances, and plenty of room for storage. Tiny house blueprints may include furnishings that double as places for storage, and a fully functional bathroom, although you may need to adjust to a composting toilet rather than a flush toilet, in some models.

A 200 square foot house can feel spacious and open, with taller ceilings than you would expect. Some have 11-foot ceilings, and you can often add amenities you wouldn’t know were available in these diminutive homes. Even blueprints for houses that are small enough to be legally trucked on roads can allow plenty of living room.

Tiny home plans are ready to build, and they are professionally drawn and engineered. Architects design many tiny home building plans for the novice builder, and they can be assembled using basic techniques and innovative, new engineering.

 

Basic Features in Tiny Home Blueprints

 

Designers offer basic features in blueprints for some tiny houses, including:

 

A typical tiny house blueprint has specifications that include:

 

Non-Traditional Tiny Houses

Workers may not pre-fabricate or build tiny houses with conventional materials. This next section covers some of the more unique ways you can build a tiny house.

 

Shipping Container Homes

You’ve seen shipping containers before, although you may not have ever thought about using them to build a home. Transport companies use them on ships and trains, and many of them are left sitting empty at ports on both coasts of the United States. These can be recycled into eco-friendly, stylish housing that is very cost-efficient to build, as compared to conventional construction.

 

How Shipping Container Tiny Homes Have Evolved

People originally used cargo containers for emergency housing. Wealthy, green homeowners have used them for vacation homes. Today, they are less fringe homes and are more in the mainstream of tiny houses.

Corrugated steel storage containers can be used for more than simple houses. Workers clean and paint the containers – they are often treated with chemicals when built– and they may be used for single-family homes, senior housing and even apartment homes. Depending on the size needed, various numbers of units are used in the construction of each building.

 

What Is the Worth of Storage Container Homes?

Viewed from outside, shipping container homes often range from 150 to over 3,000 square feet. Obviously, the latter are not tiny houses. They may appear similar to tract homes, and the boxes are covered with skins (special finishes) and enhanced by the addition of large windows and custom paint.

Inside, storage container homes may have bamboo or other elegant flooring and appliances that offer you the best of energy-efficiency. Insulation is important, since the metal can get quite cold in winter and very hot in the summer.

 

Shipping Container Tiny Houses Become More Viable

Tiny homes made from shipping containers do take some preparation, but their average cost to convert into homes is about $85-$200 per square foot, as compared with the $250+ per square foot cost for traditional homes.

Architects state that container houses are at least 20% cheaper to construct than houses built using traditional methods. You can build very basic homes for less than $100 per square foot.

 

How to Think Inside the Box

Since the United States imports more than we export, there are hundreds of thousands of empty containers sitting empty in port cities. Builders can purchase these containers for low prices, usually between $1,000 and $2,500. The price depends on the condition, location and size.

With the prices for steel and lumber rising, shipping containers are a virtual bargain, and their standard height is 9.5 feet, which gives them clearance, so they don’t look or feel like storage sheds.

Shipping container homes are easier to assemble at the building site than framed houses. This speeds up construction, which lowers your cost. They are quite sturdy, and builders use them for housing in earthquake and hurricane-prone areas.

The companies that retrofit shipping containers into “blocks”, or building units, are often located in port cities. Some blueprints contain three to five units for a typical single-family home, but tiny houses make use of fewer containers per home.

Some retrofitters of tiny storage container houses use the plywood floors found in the existing containers. If these floors or the containers themselves were treated with chemicals for use at sea, they will need to be painted or treated to ensure that they are safe for occupancy.

Builders can use shipping containers as the building blocks for many tiny house plans, with polished floors and large glass windows. The main living area is usually the largest room in the house, with bedrooms and bathrooms generally small. As far as building codes, your ability to get any type of tiny house approved, including storage container housing, depends on the codes in your area. Some cities and counties are open to the new ideas, and some are not.

 

Clean and Green

Some forward-looking cities are already embracing the idea of storage containers used for tiny houses, because it makes sense in a green way, and it creates affordable housing. These units typically go to waste, and putting them to use makes your home quite eco-friendly. Retrofitting storage containers into homes or office buildings takes about 5% of the amount of energy needed to convert the same units into scrap metal. With such an abundance of recycled building materials, it makes good sense to use containers in tiny house construction.

We will probably not see “cities” of storage container homes in the United States, due to the various building codes in place. In addition, even though you might think that this building idea is “cool”, many Americans prefer traditional homes.

One way this is overcome is by putting different materials on the containers, to change the way they look. Adding glass, stucco and brick is more expensive, but these homes may be more palatable for those who enforce local building codes.

In urban areas, where old industrial buildings are recycled into living space in the form of lofts, storage container tiny houses may have more appeal. One company that specializes in retrofitting storage containers into tiny houses and other homes had a waiting list of 10,000 potential customers when their website went online a number of years ago.

 

School Bus Tiny Houses

If you are not looking forward to signing reams of paperwork to buy a conventional house in a neighborhood full of similar conventional homes, maybe you’re one of the people who might consider building or living in a tiny home made from a school bus.

Depending on location, school bus homes may be equipped with wood stoves, which can keep this small area warm and toasty on the coldest nights. If it gets a bit hot, just open a window and natural ventilation will take care of it.

Designers may line with timber any retrofitted school buses made into tiny houses, for a natural look. They have the same types of shelving commonly used on boats, so that things stored on the shelves do not move around too much, if you travel in your tiny home. You can even get fully functional plumbing in a school bus house. Old buses are not very fuel-efficient, but no one said that you have to drive it, once you find a place where you’d like to live.

 

The New “Mobile Home” Tiny House

If you’re tired of shopping for homes that all look alike, inside and out, maybe a school bus is just the thing for you. Old buses are usually not expensive, and if you purchase them and retrofit them yourself, you can design them any way you like. An old school bus has room for a kitchen, sleeping area and bathroom. You can repurpose wood from older buildings for the floors.

One well-known tiny house builder is a college student who goes by the name “Hank” in his blog. He was tired of designing buildings for rich clients he would never meet, in architecture classes. For his Masters project, he bought an old school bus and converted it into a tiny house.

He admits it isn’t the most original idea, but he liked the concept of converting old, unused vehicles into affordable, flexible homes. In fact, the bus and all its improvements cost less than one semester of his schooling.

Hank also wanted to demonstrate the importance of making affordable housing, as opposed to spending hours drawing up plans that might never be used. Even if those plans were used, contractors would build them with top of the line materials, which is not very eco-friendly at all.

Hank and his friends designed and built the school bus tiny house in less than four months, in time for it to count for Hank’s final project. The design allows versatility in the center area, which can be used with a queen-sized bed, or for other purposes. The tiny bus house can sleep six people. Hank left the windows unblocked to allow for better natural light during the day. He converted two emergency hatches into skylights.

 

Plans for the Future

This innovative former architecture student wanted to generate more discussion about tiny houses and living in these smaller spaces. The tiny “home bus” idea may be converted to run on a biofuel, to make it more eco-friendly.

 

Other Innovative Tiny Home Ideas

 

SIP (Structural Insulated Panels) Tiny Homes

In Louisiana, they call their seasons “winter, almost summer, summer and still summer”. This area has many kinds of moisture problems, even in the winter months. Before electricity was readily available, architects designed homes to manage moisture naturally. They were un-insulated, which allowed buildings to leak air. This was the idea: that hot air would rise and escape.

Actually, though, most houses just stayed the same temperature as the outside air, which could be quite hot in the summer months. Today, most homes are air-conditioned, and are battling with the environment nearly every day.

Those are just two examples of dealing with moisture. However, the most effective design provides natural airflow when the outside air is comfortable, and a well-sealed shell, without leaks, when you need air conditioning.

There is plenty of information available on the best ways to construct an energy-efficient, well-insulated tiny house. The elements required for energy-efficient buildings are:

These individual elements may consist of separate layers, or one layer, to provide multiple elements. Builders can solve all of the moisture and vapor issues and air leaks by the use of SIP panels for tiny houses

 

What Are SIP Houses?

If you have noticed the lumber in some older homes tends to bend and bow, you may appreciate building a home with Structural Insulated Panels. SIP walls are square, straight and plumb. A continuous wood surface is a sound base for all interior and exterior finishes.

Your SIP panel home may be one of the most clean, comfortable and quiet structures you can own. SIP panels have insulation built in, leaving few thermal breaks, and this greatly reduces moisture and air penetration.

SIP panels are straighter and stronger, when it comes to using them for your tiny house. They will begin paying you back with lower cooling and heating costs as soon as you move into your home. Contractors install the panels, rather than building them on-site, ensuring that the walls are plumb and straight. It is also a time-saver, so your labor hours will be lower.

The factory installs electrical chases in SIP foam layers, which eliminates the time and expense of drilling holes on-site. SIP panels are plumb and flat, so your drywall contractor can complete the work more quickly. Interior finishes are easier to install, since SIP panels have a continuous surface on which to attach cabinetry, moldings and floorings. There is no need for your installer to search for studs, since nails can penetrate properly anywhere on the SIP panel.

Contractors can easily build airtight structures with SIPs, since every surface is solid. Only one joint will need to be sealed. SIP tiny houses, by design, allow hot air to rise. Gable roofs allow workers to position windows high enough to provide passive vents.

Combining basic knowledge of cohabitating with the environment and adding modern technology allows the building of SIP tiny houses that are comfortable, and that minimize the need for air conditioning.

 

Teardrop Houses, also called E-Dens

These mini-cabins are unique, even when it comes to the world of tiny houses. The company that started these mini-cabins originally designed them for camping, but they come with a lovely interior, lots of storage space and a king sized bunk bed. The ceiling-placed window brings in natural light and any breeze that is passing by.

The covered front porch of an E-Den has a section of canvas that opens, allowing you to ventilate an on-porch barbeque unit. The windows are double-glazed and builders fully insulate every part of the tiny house. The inside measurements are a less-than-generous 11’ x 6’9” and the inside height is 6’9”. That is actually quite adequate, unless you’re a professional basketball player. The outside dimensions are 14’ x 8’ x 9’ high. The deck has plenty of room, at 7’ x 14’.

These E-Dens are marketed to property owners, for rental to campers. However, if you want your own getaway home and you have a lake or wooded lot, why rent a mini-cabin when you can buy one? Your friends will thank you every summer.

 

Tiny Pallet Houses

Pallets are versatile materials for tiny houses, from their use as cladding and interior walls, to entire houses built from pallets. Four billion pallets are in use today, and used pallets can be economical or even free to obtain.

Tiny pallet houses are as strong as conventionally framed homes, according to many residential homebuilders. In tiny houses, the pallets do not need to be staggered, as they do in larger homes. It is best to use pallets that are all the same size, or as close as you can get.

Once the foundation type is determined, cleats are secured and the pallets are slipped over the concrete blocks. Workers secure them with screws, and clamp each pallet together using C-clamps. Skilled workers will fasten pallets together with carriage bolts or screws, with the corners butted together. They will repeat this process along the foundation perimeter.

Some pallets are heat-treated and some are not. Most tiny house builders use only heat-treated pallets in their homes. They use all-natural materials to insulate tiny pallet houses, including straw clay. Then they add adobe plaster inside and out, for thermal mass and insulation.

 

Tiny Hobbit Houses

Hobbit houses are usually quite natural in appearance. The builders work with respect for the environment, and give homeowners a chance to live in harmony with nature. Depending on the builder, the only basic tools needed are a chisel, a hammer and a chainsaw. Some builders of tiny hobbit houses have no prior experience in home construction, but it is a good idea to have someone help you with the plans and the major work. Builders may dig these houses into hillsides for shelter and for low visual impact. When the ground is leveled, the mud and stone can be used for foundations and retaining walls.

Builders sometimes frame tiny hobbit houses with spare wood from the area, and the roof rafters are aesthetic and structurally sound. Straw bales are included in the roof, walls and floor, for ease of building and for effective insulation.

Plastic sheeting and a turf or mud roof are used for ease of care and low impact on the environment. Using lime plaster on the walls creates a breathable wall and, compared to cement, it costs less energy to manufacture. Workers make the fittings and floors from reclaimed scrap wood. Wood burners are often installed for heat, if the wood is locally plentiful. The flue for the burner goes through a lump in the plaster and stone, to allow it to retain heat and slowly release it.

Skylights in a tiny hobbit house let in natural light. Water can be sourced from a nearby spring and solar panels provide electricity for lighting, computing and music. The roof collects water in a pond for the garden, and using a compost toilet allows off the grid use.

As you can see, there are many types of tiny houses from which to make your choice. Depending on the materials available in your area, you can choose those that will make your home more cost-effective to build and to maintain.