Who Loves the Sun?

I once met a vegan who ate plants because they were closer to the sun. His reasoning: if plants get power from the sun, animals eat plants, and we eat animals or their byproducts, we get shortchanged in the sun department. By simply eating plants, therefore, he  figured would close the gap and be fortified with much more solar energy.

Luckily, the universe has finally come to its senses and allowed cheese-lovers like myself an opportunity to harness the power of the sun in a less calcium-deprived way: solar panels.

Soaking up the sun 

It's hard to think of a better way to power a tiny house. After all, you can get sunshine pretty much anywhere you bring your home. Install a panel or two on the top of your house and boom! Good to go! Or, you can try my personal favorite and use a plug and play system. This way, you can place your panels wherever you'd like.

(See also: A Tumbleweed in the Sun)

Given the small scale of a Tumbleweed, a little energy goes a long way. On a sunny day you've got yourself a pretty bright little space already, and you'll probably want to spend your hours basking outside on whatever gorgeous piece of land you're currently calling home. Then, when the sun moves on to power another hemisphere, you tap into your stored supply of solar juice, turn on a couple light bulbs, plug in your two or three necessary electronics, and live it up.

That said: yes, the sun is great, and with some smart investments, we should be able to do all we want electricity wise. But the first way to save money and help our earth is to scale down our usage in general. Just because the sun shines fairly reliably doesn't mean we should go crazy with it- after all, our usage of electricity goes beyond what's powering our devices. We have to think about who is making them and how, what they're contributing to on a larger scale, and if we actually need all of them on a regular basis.

Start by figuring out what uses the most power, then figure out if there's another way you can swing it. For instance, an electric water heater will use a good amount of electricity. Instead, why not try a simple passive solar water heating system? 

You can read about how Laura decided which appliances made the most sense here. 

In a tiny house, you'll probably find it easy to realize exactly how little you need- the rest will seem like clutter in no time. So live simply with solar power, and live simply with your solar-powered devices. But more importantly, get out and run around in that sun!

Have a good story about your solar powered tiny house? Submit it! 

Tumbleweed is Hiring

We're hiring in Sonoma and beyond! 

 

Join our team!

You're in luck- Tumbleweed is currently looking to fill the following positions: 

• Architect

• Sales Position

• House/Office Cleaner 

• Workshop Presenter

• Guest Blogger

For more information on working for our team, please visit our Jobs Board. 

Be our Guest! (Blogger)

Are you a writer with a love of tiny houses? Are you a tiny house enthusiast with a passion for writing? Are you just really smart and looking to share your brilliance with the world?

We've had some awesome guest blog posts recently, like Sicily's or Kendra's. We love having different voices on our blog, and we want to bring in more guest posters. We're especially looking for people with specific expertise. Are you a solar power buff? A plumbing genius? An interior design guru? Share your knowledge! 

Be our guest! 

If you think you have an interesting topic for a blog post that you'd love to share with Tumbleweed, please check out our Guest Blogger posting on the Job Board. 

We're looking to add regular guest bloggers to our Tumbleweed team, so if we love what you've got, we'll be in touch about future opportunities. 

Good luck, and happy blogging! 

Calling for Your Stories!

You might have noticed more activity on our blog, lately. We're making it a priority to share more stories of tiny house builders all over the world, and we need your help! 

Share your experiences. 

Open your tiny door to the world. 

The best part about working at Tumbleweed is getting to celebrate each and every individual step in the planning, building and finishing processes. The stories we get to hear from you are inspiring- we talk about them all the time in our office. From young, family-loving builders like Jonathan Black to aspiring Danish builders like Lone Hansen, everyone has a different vision, a different method, and a different end result. 

We love hearing your stories, and more importantly, being able to share them with the tiny house community.

If you're building a Tumbleweed now, have plans to do so in the future, or know someone who has a tiny house, please let us know. We'd love to have one of our writers get in touch with you via e-mail, phone, or carrier pigeon. 

Happy story telling! 

Going Metric: Lone's Plans for a Fencl in Denmark

Lone Hansen has some beautiful views about tiny houses. She lives in Denmark, and is a Buddhist, member of the Royal Danish Navy, and tiny house builder. She's shared the following details on her plans to build a Fencl in Denmark. 

I have a small plot of land on the island of Zealand in Denmark. This is where I would like to build a small house. Not just any normal house, but rather a house that does not impact the environment more than necessary.

Being a Buddhist, it is important for me to leave as small an imprint on the environment as possible. Since we are all interdependent, then there is no reason to bring any aggressiveness into our dealings with our environment.

I will build a small passive solar house with solar power and solar water heating. There will be a solar venting system on the roof. Off the grid. Small because it leaves the smallest footprint on the environment. It does not take much to heat it, since it will be well insulated with triple glazed windows (low energy windows) and thick layer of insulation under the floor, in the walls and roof. And easy and quick to clean ;-)

I've worked in the Royal Danish Navy for 3.5 years. So I got used to living in small spaces with one cupboard and one drawer. The interior design of boats is an inspiration for practical solutions to hold all the stuff that one can gather in a lifetime. The question is how much space one needs to be fully satisfied and content and how much stuff. If the space is well thought out, then it is possible to live in a shoebox.

Lone Hansen 

However, I needed inspiration for my small build. I looked all around the internet and came across Tumbleweed, The Tiny House Company. These houses seems to fit my needs very well, and are filled with practical solutions and ideas. I fell in love with the Fencl and Whidbey house and bought the plans.

When I got the drawings, I realized that they were in feet and inches. It is however almost impossible to get any kind of ruler with feet and inches here in Denmark, since our entire industry is based on the meter system. Recalculating all the measurements seemed a little daunting and could possible lead to mistakes, since I am not that skilled in the imperial system.

I contacted Tumbleweed to ask if they happen to have a metric version of the two houses. Shortly after, I received a mail, that they would be so kind and make metric versions for me. I've just got those yesterday. And they look just fine and seems correct at the first glance. So I thank Tumbleweed very much for doing the recalculations of the drawings. It has been a time-consuming work. 

Now I just need to make some redrawing of the house plans, so they are according to the Danish building code. This means that the Fencl will become a bit wider with more insulation in the floor, walls and roof. The Whidbey will be lower (too tall for the area it would be build) and also a bit wider with more insulation in the floor, walls and roof. Both will have 200 mm. minimum of insulation in the floor, 300 mm in the walls and 400 mm in the roof area. This might need some recalculation of the strength of the structure. I will add some extra big windows on the south elevation and roof to get more passive solar heating compared to the original drawings.

I expect to start building the Fencl next spring when the frosty weather is over!