Resources
I have been asked a few times of any helpful books I have used along the way, I thought it was about time I put together my version of my most helpful resources.
What I would like to inspire is confidence that, really, with the right mindset anyone can build their own tiny house. There is nothing magical about any step along the way, with a little research and a lot of patience and persistence, and reaching out to others along the way when needed (HERE is a good list of others to contact for any specific questions). Also on that list you will find several FAQs listed about a lot of different builds, you can see, there is more than one solution to every set of problems, all are valid. [Also, if you happen to have a tiny house and want to give me your FAQs, please download THIS form and shoot it back to me at mizacy@gmail.com, I’d love to get your build listed as well! ]
My point is that even without previous building experience it is completely achievable. Here is a list of my best resources,
My number one suggestions to start designing/building are my eCourses. This will give you an overview of all the decisions along the way and has suggestions to get started designing! There are four parts, which aren’t dependent on each other, and a bonus class of how we went on a year long road trip in our home built camper.
‘Codes and Foundation Selection‘
‘Full-Time Travel’
These are literally just a compilation of every single question I have been asked over the years and their answers. Along with a fair bit of general knowledge. You can find more detailed info HERE.
- Tiny House Scaled Component Cut outs – This is a basic set of simple (hand drawn, nothing fancy!) scaled cut outs of the most common tiny house components. You can save yourself some time, download, print and cut out your own needs and arrange and rearrange them in a way that works for you. There are blank sheets for custom objects. Available HERE.
Other great resources here:
Overall:
- Tiny House Magazine which Kent Griswold has been putting out is awesome and ever changing. They have been running some great articles in there, I have even got to help write a couple!
- Dee Williams of course has a GREAT read of her own story and her life living in a tiny house for 10+ years! The Big Tiny
On Design:
- Ethan Waldman wrote a great book called Tiny House Decisions, it goes over all of the big questions you need to ask yourself, systems and personal experiences, it’s well researched and should help you figure out what you want to do and also WHY!
- Dan Loche has a great book called Tiny House Design and Construction Guide, packed full of great information!
- Andrew and Gabriella put out a set of four ‘How-To’ DVDs which is phenomenal! TONS of great info over all aspects of tiny in those!
- Books like NanoHouse are great to flip through and pull ideas from. Not as much for reading but looking through for ideas at all the pictures. I personally get a lot of ideas that way. That one is more ‘modern’ in style, but there are others. I am assuming you may gravitate that direction though if you like my house . Some other great flip through books I have got enough out of to purchase are Small Eco Houses, Off The Grid Homes, and The Big Book of Small House Design.
Codes:
- For questions about any code issues (which may seem overwhelming in and of itself) Ryan at thetinylife.com put out a great little ebook called Cracking the Code. There just always seem to be questions from others and that book clarifies the main issues so you can at least talk back to those critics without letting them overwhelm you with doubts like critics tend to try to do . It’s not so much about ‘design’ in the traditional aesthetics sense but great info that is highly recommended.
Construction:
- For actual construction details on specifically attaching to a trailer Go House Go is highly recommended (I found this very helpful even if very technical, and not so much about the ‘design’ side as much as the necessary side of things). Depending on your area there are a lot of good moisture protection details in there too. Dee Williams put it out and she lives in the rainy Pacific northwest, that may or may not be helpful but it’s great info to know about at least.
- For electrical and plumbing: First! Ryan came out with a great E-Book specifically for tiny house electrical called Shockingly Simple Electrical for Tiny Houses, I wish it was out when I was building, it’s a GREAT resource and as always very well done! Back in my day before that was available ;), I went down to home depot and snagged some basic wiring and plumbing books. I liked the Black & Decker ones (Plumbing, Electrical) but I’m sure any of them are great, it’s really pretty basic information that you need to know and fortunately tiny houses aren’t usually big enough to get too complex if you don’t want them to! Ryan’s book is great because it weeds through all that others stuff you don’t really need to know for you!
Hopefully those resources cover most of the big issues, I will certainly add to it over time, please let me know if you’re looking for some other resources, I am happy to suggest any leads I have followed.
read read read. did i mention reading? get to where that when you see something in a home you will know what it is, what it does and why you do or do not need it. buy quality books. you will need them when you build. to refresh your memory and to show helpers what YOU want not what they have on their mind. you don’t want them to hurt themselves. joke.
by the way homes are for people. houses are for chickens, hogs or ? you can have your dream. you can make mock ups with kids chalk on the street or abandoned parking lots. use your imagination. i would avoid your garage. hard to make adjustments. cardboard cutouts are better for me if you can find the cardboard.
another thing is that in construction a lot of stuff has a “nominal” measurement. that means they don’t know. just close. almost always appliance or unit will be “slightly” larger. i’m laughing, what can you do? i have been on a lot of jobs to get appliances but usually showers and/or plumbing drains installed, then i was gone. pays well, very well. different is neat. very neat.
one rule i have is that everything has to be on site. appliances, cabs, stool, counters tops and onward. lumber and whatnot is available. if you are building on cash flow at lest go and measure stuff. i want to be able to finish the job now. what you do may very.
i am a 69 year old master plumber, licensed electrician and drain cleaner. dc is where the real money is at. no license required here. please don’t pick on my grammar. i was a double math major with a physics major. i did pass english, really. i do use spell check.
macy. so you are an architect? do you sell stamped plans. that would help with code appeals i would think. i will re-frame any stories and/or jokes. be a good one.
peaceup raz
I’m curious….those who are looking to put their tiny house on private land owned by someone else, what do you require? As far as electricity and water – is everyone off the grid?
no, rarely are others off grid though it happens, requirements vary by house, I personally require a potable water hose (I have, so really a hose connection) and a 15 amp electrical cord plugin. Some require more, some require less, could be septic hook up if you choose a flush toilet, could be totally off grid, it is unique to each home and something to plan for in design as a tiny home owner, having easily accessible options will open up parking opportunities, having a pretty extensive septic/electrical will lower opportunities.