(Part 3) Top products from r/TinyHouses

I am in process of buying land and working on a house design. I speak only for my local area (which is, funny enough, the same county the guy plopped his tiny house in from the "Tiny" documentary). IANAL ETC ETC YMMV.

> So are some areas tougher on building code than others or is it the same across the board in the same country or at least same state/province?

In general cities are much, much less forgiving. They also tend to have much more in terms of regulations and rules, as well as fees. Rural counties tend to err on the side of "leave me alone" and are more forgiving. However, the least populated county in Colorado (San Juan) is near Telluride which is full of rich people, and some of the most restrictive county wide regulations that I have seen. The population of San Juan is 690 which makes 2 people per square mile.

> The goal here is to minimize total expenditure.

Then you should read The Earthbag Building because this is literally clay, sand, bags and muscle. Now my county has specific regulations about thickness and such but is one of the few counties I researched which did not have a minimum size for any building and did allow such designs. To get a certificate of occupancy is pretty simple, you need to have sanitation, water, electric, insulation done. That's not very hard to get to cheaply, especially if your goal is to just get that COS.

> Are there legal requirements regarding what sort of professional background or professional designation that you must have to be able to design a building? For example, do you need to be a licensed architect or a professional civil engineer with a stamp to do this work? Would architectural plans need to be approved by a professional or can you approve your own design? Hiring an architect or a civil consulting firm costs money. Easily couple grand each or more.

In my experience you will probably need any unusual design stamped by a PE. However, if you present plans to a PE it will be relatively cheap to have them stamp it.

In some cases your county building department will be pretty good and help you a lot because you're doing something really interesting, and quite frankly their job is boring as shit otherwise. I am lucky that my county is more on this side, and I expect to have very few problems once I finish getting land and get serious about permits and building design.

> What about various aspects of the construction work? Are there certain aspects of the physical home construction process that must be done by a licensed professional as a matter of law? For example, electrical work etc? Again, hiring an electrician costs money. If you can buy parts and do it yourself it costs less.

It is extremely difficult (I can't say impossible, but it's damn close) for a county to force you to hire a licensed contractor. In fact it would be the exception. Generally if you do the work yourself you've probably tried to adhere to the code more than most contractors anyway, and often inspections will be easier on the owner-builder than on the contractor. Obviously there are always exceptions.

If you follow the code, and you follow permit procedures, they will have a hard time saying no. If you run in to this situation it is often cheaper to take your plans to a PE and get them stamped.

Also, don't be afraid of doing electrical or plumbing yourself. It isn't that hard, and with electrical you just need to make sure the power is off. Otherwise it's all easy.

> Suppose the area doesn't have water and sewage and a septic tank and water well needs to be build and drilled respectively. I suppose a septic system will have health and safety implications and so perhaps there are local authorities that oversee this and are extra stringent on approved methods of septic tank construction?

Counties will typically have to follow state law at the minimum. In my county it is possible to do a number of crazy sanitation things but they all come with restrictions. For instance if I wanted an outhouse I could not get a well permit. Well permitting is done at the state level, but the county will not allow a well to be drilled with an outhouse. My county will allow compost toilets, they will allow other interesting situations, but quite frankly a septic system is a lot easier to deal with than a lot of the other restrictions.

You do run in to offsets and concerns with neighbors when you put in a leech field and drill a well. This just is what it is and you can't do much to skirt it.

> What other info regarding doing-it-by-the-book can you add on the subject of design & construction?

Read all of the land use regulations and county building codes you can before buying land.

Read lots of different books about design, including design books that may make you uncomfortable.

Try to design solar heating and the power of the sun in to your house as much as you can. This will save you a ton in heating costs.

You can have anything done in one of the following three ways:

1. You can have it cheap and good, but it won't be fast
   
2. You can have it cheap and fast but it won't be good
   
3. You can have it fast and good, but it won't be cheap
   
   There are four main cost categories that go into a house:
   
   

• land
  
• permits/Inspections
  
• labor
  
• materials
  
  Assuming you have the land, we will ignore this.
  
  Permits:
  ---
  These are typically a set price, so these can be ignored too; regardless of if you build or contract the build, the permits will be the same.
  
  Labor
  ---
  Figure out what labor you can do yourself and what you can't. Some people are real good with the framing and can do plumbing, but electrical scares them, so they contract that work.
  
  Some people can do all things but need extra hands for some heavy lifting; many times laborers can be hired specifically for helping to raise walls and steady sheathing for attachment. Roofing is one that usually requires some level of hired help.
  
  Most people do, and should, hire a contractor to prepare a proper foundation.
  
  Materials
  ---
  For the work you do yourself, you will be getting the materials yourself. When house plans are purchased, many times they come with the material requirements for the framing in terms of linear footage: every exterior corner needs 3 studs, every 16" of wall needs a stud. Every wall needs two top plates and a bottom plate. Every X sqft of floor needs y amount of plywood sheets. Many contractors have formulas that automatically figure this stuff out, but you will have to do it yourself.
  
  Anything contracted comes with the materials included in the final price.
  
  Buying in bulk is cheaper and many contractors have deals with their suppliers for lower-priced materials due to volume expectation and business history.
  
  All that said, the median price for home construction including an unfinished garage is $155 per sq. ft. the low end is $125 per sqft.
  
  For 850 sqft, that's about $106K to 131K.
  
  This involved contracted work at every level, so everything you do yourself knocks off a chunk of that cost.
  
  The first step is getting the plans. If you want to do this, buy the plans and build the house in sketchup or similar.
  
  Learn the codes for building; Internet searches can help with this immensely and there are a few layman's guides for home inspections and code-adherence. This book helped me out a lot too.
  
  Your house plans include the following:
  
  
• Cover Sheet
  
• Foundation Plan
  
• Floor Plan
  
• Roof Plan
  
• Cross Sections
  
• Exterior Elevations
  
• Construction Details
  
• Electrical Plan
  
• Furniture Plan
  
  This makes things very easy because it tells you how to arrange the foundation footings, how to lay the beams and joists, and how to frame the walls. A simple count of things will give you a cost break down for the materials, then add 10-15% of that for a rough estimate.
  
  Next factor in contractors for things you can't do yourself. Remove the materials from your materials cost and then add in the contractor cost. This is your new estimate.
  
  From experience I can tell you that framing is about the easiest part of the whole job. It's labor-intensive, but it's very easy to do. I recommend a nail gun unless you are an experienced carpenter or framer; those guys can drive a sinker in with a single whack... my money is on you taking at least 8 whacks, per nail.
  
  I don't see this taking $50K or less. Price estimates look like this, for all non-framing:
  
  
• Foundation: $8300 - $13,200 depending on type
  
• Electrical: $5100 - $6800
  
• Plumbing: $3000 - $5000
  
• Roofing: $4000 - $8000 (assuming high-end of NC work. Your roof is pretty flat)
  
• HVAC: I have no idea.
  
  Electrical plans for new home plans are usually pretty light (pun) on the illumination options. Many new homes don't have a light in the room at all except for the kitchens and bathrooms. With your electrical cost, plan for adding additional lighting like recessed, pendant, sconce, etc. Plan for ceiling fans
  
  Dry wall you can do yourself easily. Hire experienced tapers to do the seams.
  
  Painting can be done yourself.
  
  Flooring can be done yourself, tile is harder than wood, is harder than laminate. Good tile guys can knock a floor out pretty fast.
  
  Trim work can be done yourself. mind the studs.
  
  Windows can be done yourself, but a set of guys hired to install the new-construction windows can pop them in in a hurry.
  
  Hire someone to do the front door hanging; leaks are a bitch and front doors are heavy. Do the interior doors yourself.
  
  Exterior siding is a big job. If it's stucco or brick, hire a contractor, especially for the brick. If it's vinyl, that's easy. Wood is about as easy as vinyl.
  
  If you ever wonder what should or should not be done by a contractor: go here

>What's are some good frugal tips for building a tiny home?

Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials: Inspiration for Constructing Tiny Homes Using Salvaged and Reclaimed Supplies
Ryan Mitchell
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DMQ0TEK/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

>salvaging old campers for their propane fridge/stove combo.

Personally I am forgoing RV appliances completely. If you choose to use solar power you will have to wire your home for DC and AC electric, and to use less watts choose new appliances after 1993. Once household appliance manufacturers had to disclose how much energy an appliance consumed all of a sudden the appliance use of electric was cut in half.

While I am building I plan to use a friend's yurt to live in and have an outdoor kitchen/bathroom. So possibly you could use the combo for a while after the Tiny house is built until you have the interior finished!

Keep in mind RV appliances were designed and built for a couple weeks of use a year and regular household appliances were designed to be used 52 days a year.


My two favorite youtube channels are these :

https://youtu.be/oK_MDCPFYpA he's very informative but doesn't overwhelm you.

This guy is far more detailed, he even made his own windows: https://www.youtube.com/user/danny16p/videos peanut is the cutest urbane cultured dog ever, Dan would be much more enjoyable if he didn't drink booze so much. A slimmer waist line on him he'd be buff.

In regards to buying salvaged products you don't have to salvage the material yourself: https://www.habitat.org/donate/?link=271&source_code=DHQOW1407W1GGR&iq_id=61484080-VQ6-81398378715-VQ16-c&gclid=CLiKvvmqmtECFcq2wAodXhMFAQ habitat for humanity resell store in your state, find it.



Tiny House Design & Construction Guide Paperback – Unabridged, May 1, 2016
by Dan S Louche
https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-House-Design-Construction-Guide/dp/0997288701/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483046655&sr=8-1&keywords=tiny+house+construction+and+design thats the best book as a primer. get it.


Tiny House Floor Plans: Over 200 Interior Designs for Tiny Houses Paperback – February 22, 2012
by Michael Janzen
https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-House-Design-Construction-Guide/dp/0997288701/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483046655&sr=8-1&keywords=tiny+house+construction+and+design I found the page which the floor plan outlines and the cut outs for furniture, printed them on transparencies and have it taped to my desk. If you are planning to use salvage materials have 4 prototypes planned to the hilt and have those plans in sketchup http://www.sketchup.com/download have two alternative plans that are very vague and not built to use as parts of the building you can swap out with the other 4 plans.

Most states require you to have a primary dwelling started (think septic tank and foundation for a house) then your Tiny house can be your accessory dwelling.

For wiring which might complicated if you choose to use solar: http://thetinylife.com/shockingly-simple-electrical-for-tiny-houses/ that will help.

Then another of Ryan Mitchell's books: http://thetinylife.com/cracking-the-code-updated/


I hope this helps. setting aside 2 years to plan and research before starting would be an excellent idea.

Thanks for the thoughts! I read a great book with space requirements for comfortable living called Residential Interior Design so all walkways and entrances are at least 2.5 feet. Your comment made me think that I could maximize the bedroom entrance with a 3 panel slide door, or having a wall in half the space so entrance can be more like 3.5 feet. There's some storage underneath too and I'm scratching my head at how to make that easily accessible.

I think the closed off bedroom is a strong requirement. Maybe there's still someway to make the top area still useful? There is 5-6 feet height in that area so I'm guessing it would be comfortable as a gaming/movie/computer den. I could have a small couch up there too.

Was thinking the dining tables can be flipped up or down depending whether you needed them. Even when they are up, there is 3' 9" of space because my kitchen counters are thinner than standard ones. The reason the dining tables are against the wall is so that I could have sliding windows that open with tables on the other side. Tiny House Basics has a design like this: https://www.tinyhousebasics.com/our-story/

Really appreciate the feedback.

​

Timber framing is not the same as 2x4 construction, but a timber frame may use 2x4's to fill in the gaps. The main difference between a timber frame and "stick-built" (2x4) structure is that the timbers are the main source of structure or "skeleton" of the building. Once the frame is built, you just have to fill in the empty spaces. You can do this with dimensional lumber like 2x4's, or you can do cordwood, which is cement and logs (looks amazing). There are a number of other option for filling in a timber frame that your book probably covers. Timber-framing is a bit more involved and physically demanding than 2x4/stick built framing, but it is also much more beautiful and will last much longer. I've timber-framed a few small cabins and I can tell you first hand that it is an incredibly fun and satisfying way to build.

​

Edit: this is also a great resource https://www.amazon.com/Timber-Frame-Construction-Post-Beam/dp/0882663658/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=timber+frame&qid=1563287101&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I can't tell what the relationship is between the first photo and the second are. Two instances of the same type of space? What are the dimensions? Is there a bed? Is there a heat source (depending on what climate you live in)?

My wife, while looking over my shoulder said, "It's nice." She likes to browse floor plans online, so that's high praise. :-)

My suggestion would be to try to draw this in SketchUp (it's free). It'll help you flesh out more details of your design because you're working in all 3 dimensions. I'd be happy to give you better feedback on a SketchUp drawing.

Two books I'd recommend before taking on such a project: Homing Instinct and Building for a Lifetime. The first book gives a good grounding on what to build and the broad strokes of what you would want to consider. The second gives an idea about sizing spaces and accessibility.

I drew my house and built it from a SketchUp drawing. I acted as the general contractor and did most of the work myself. It can be done.

Dont know the background/skill level/target audience you are looking for, but I found this pretty invaluable over the years:
Complete Do It Yourself Manual
It’s a pretty good walk through on all home systems in general. May be more basic than what you are looking for. I’ve got some pretty ancient books on carpentry and framing as well, the general concepts have changed little.

Cool design!

I highly recommend taking a look at the book “Green From the Ground Up,” it provides great insight into making an affordable, healthy, and quality home, and would apply even better to a tiny house!

https://www.amazon.com/Green-Ground-Sustainable-Energy-Efficient-Construction/dp/156158973X

You're right that metal framing is more commonly used for commercial buildings than residential. Also true that the metal studs they sell at big box stores are for interior framing -- they are not load bearing. However, it's absolutely possible to buy metal studs that are load bearing for residential purposes, you just need to find the right retailer. We used 18 gauge load bearing studs (43 mil), which are perfectly appropriate for building a house. Here's a great resource for more information: http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Frame-House-Construction-Timothy-Waite/dp/1572180455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451616249&sr=8-1&keywords=metal+house+constructions

I am a contractor. I have only seen one book from tumbleweed and was not impressed. This was years ago, so perhaps later editions improved, but the one I saw had almost no detail and certainly not anywhere near what a novice needed.

If you have no experience building, I'd suggest The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling. It has detailed photos and drawing.

If you're still interested in some construction books, Renovation is written for remodeling, but it has some really interesting work-arounds.

For an idea of land, check out http://www.landwatch.com/

I browse that site quite often looking for land here in Oregon. There is a lot of "cheap" land in Southern/Central Oregon. Seems to always be many listings for Christmas Valley area and land in Klamath county.

For example, here is 1.5 acres for $2,500 in Klamath county, http://www.landwatch.com/Klamath-County-Oregon-Homesite-for-sale/pid/204457419 This is just a random cheap listing I pulled up. This is raw land, however, in which case there is usually not power, water, septic/sewer, so those would be other costs, which may not really be feasible. You really need to do your homework when buying land for living on.

One thing I would really recommend is buying this book, Finding & Buying Your Place in the Country http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0793141095

It seems to pretty much be the bible, even though the latest edition is 13 years old. I bought one over a month ago but tracking info has it in Alaska ??? I don't expect it to show up and I'm waiting for the seller to either refund my $ or send me another copy.

Also keep in mind Oregon has mountains to high desert so you should really figure out where you want to live first, then start researching land in that area. There is a huge difference between living in western and eastern Oregon. As an example, you could go from 10" of rain a year to 150".

This is slightly different, but growing up my mother had The Not So Big House books which focused a lot on the living small, less than 1,000 feet (or just downsizing period), but not necessarily tiny.

You're quite right. Books like this one discuss in some depth just how normal it used to be for families to all sleep in a single room, and how activities like sex and having to take a leak in the night were tolerated and accepted.

You all may enjoy the book Atchafalaya houseboat : my years in the Louisiana swamp by Gwen Roland.

Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities is a good reference to start with.

Have you read Walden on Wheels? If not I suggest giving it a read. It won't really help you with logistics, but it's a well written memoir and will give you a bit of perspective on the experience as he did exactly what you're thinking about doing.

And if it is trying to replicate mobile homes, I say it is way behind. First step... read Wheel Estate.

The complete visual guide to building a house. I used this book for a tiny house building course in college.
The Complete Visual Guide to Building a House https://www.amazon.com/dp/1600850227/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2TFlDb2E722XM