Utilities in a Tiny House
June 22, 2009
This is an excerpt from my new book.
This is a six part post. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 … more to come.
Utilities
Like the rest of the house, utilities and appliances were designed with simplicity
and sustainability in mind. They met my modest needs but would be
considered primitive by conventional American standards. These rudimentary
utilities certainly would not appeal to everyone interested in living in a
small home, and it should be made clear that living small does not require
deprivation. Hot and cold running water, a microwave oven, and cable TV are
all available options.
Water: Tumbleweed was supplied by a simple, gravity-fed plumbing system. A two-and-a-half-gallon pot sat on a metal shelf just above a horizontal section
of stovepipe in the overhead kitchen cabinet and drained into either the
kitchen sink or shower through a Y intersection in a short stretch of rubber
hose. The water was kept warm as long as the heat stove was on, and it
could be made hot by setting the pot directly on the stove or a burner. The
pot was filled at a nearby spigot. Gray water drained directly into the garden.
Heating and Cooking: The best source of heat most structures can use is that of the sun. I installed windows on all but what was intended as the north wall of Tumbleweed for good solar gain. A covered porch on the south side kept the heat of the high summer sun out while letting the lower winter rays flood the house with their warmth. A gas heater kicked in on cloudy days and cold nights. I chose a gas stove over a wood one mostly because gas stoves only require about one-sixth as much clearance from flammable surfaces. This, in turn, allowed me to have pine walls without having to put my heater right in the middle of an already tiny room. The cleanliness of gas also seemed to make sense in a small space, and I liked the idea of precise control with a thermostat rather than the frequent stoking that a small wood stove requires.
The propane tank that fed the heater also supplied an R.V. cooktop. It is upon
this same double burner that a camp oven was set for baking.
Toilet: My composting toilet amounted to little more than an airtight bucket, a can of sawdust and a couple of compost piles outside. Sordid story short,
the bucket was used as an indoor toilet and sawdust was put into the mix
to absorb odor and balance out the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. This bucket
was emptied onto one compost pile or the other every so often, then rinsed.
(Please see J.C. Jenkins, The Humanure Handbook, for details on this and
other methods of composting human manure.) While the idea of carrying
one’s own poop (or anybody else’s for that matter) to a compost pile off
away from central living quarters may sound both inconvenient and plainly
unacceptable to most Westerners, its appeal for more than a few will be its
absolute efficiency. Without electricity, running water, or waste and only small
inconvenience as its price, a cleaner environment and soil-building compost
are made available.
Electricity: By now, these description of rudimentary plumbing and a plastic chamber pot may have made it sound as if my house was more derelict than
homey. But, as I have said, these utilities were of my choice, and for me,
choice is, in itself, a luxury. In fact, there was plenty of room for modern conveniences.
The integral CD player, TV, and VCR disqualified the house as
an ascetic’s shanty. These appliances, along with six lights, two fans, and a
radio, were all powered by the sun through a single solar panel. I chose not
to mount the panel on my roof but kept it separate. This allowed me to situate
the house in a shady place during the summer while collecting energy at the
same time.
The Small House Book
by Jay Shafer
Price: $36.95 
Happy Trails
May 29, 2009
I’m writing from Cheyenne, and I’ll be in Boulder by lunch time. Thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm. I get recharged every time I pull into a city and see all the smiling faces or get the thumbs-up from other drivers. Special thanks to Ginny, Sheila and Judy for letting me stay at their place in Salt Lake, and to Mark, Jodi, Scott and the good cop for spontaneously coordinating the parking and all.
I meet so many good people through these open houses. Thank you all.
Happy Trails.
Jay Shafer
California Nevada |
Utah |
Utah again |
Wyoming |
Fencl Coast to Coast Tour
May 29, 2009
Jay left Tuesday on his Coast to Coast tour and is taking the newly built Fencl to show tiny house enthusiasts across the country. This is the first completed Fencl built from Jay’s plans.
Jay is having over 14 open houses and and several workshops along the way. Here is the Open House schedule and you can view the workshop schedule here.
Tue May 26 – Reno, NV 6:00 pm
Wed May 27 – Salt Lake, UT 6:00 pm
Thu May 28 – Cheyenne, WY 6:00 pm
Sat May 30 – Boulder, CO 5:30 pm
Tue June 2 - Omaha, NE 6:00 pm
Wed June 3 - Des Moines, IA 12:00 noon
Wed June 3 - Iowa City, IA 6:00 pm
Sat June 6 – Chicago, IL 5:30 pm
Mon June 8 - Indianapolis, IN 6:00 pm
Tue June 9 – Cinncinati, OH 12:00 noon
Tue June 9 – Columbus, OH 6:00 pm
Wed June 10 - Pittsburgh, PA 6:00 pm
Thu June 11 – Philadelphia, PA 6:00 pm
Sat June 13 – New York, NY 5:30 pm
Get the locations here.
If Jay is stopping in your home town or is close enough to drive to, be sure and go visit him and see this beautiful home.
Kent Griswold publisher of the Tiny House Blog has his readers taking pictures and giving descriptions of the open houses between San Francisco and New York. You can follow the links below to get the full story. Below is a sampling of the pictures from a few of the stops so far.
Jay at Reno Open House
Jay and visitor at Reno Open House view from loft
Part of the Salt Lake City Group out to see the Fencl
Reporter in Cheyenne, WY with others visiting the Open House
Visitors at Boulder Open House
Visitors at the Omaha Open House
Kevin and Jay in Iowa City
Grant in Chicago
Living Large in Small Spaces
April 23, 2009
This is an excerpt from my new book.
This is a six part post. Part 1 | Part 2 … more to come.
The Airstream
I have been living in houses of fewer than 100 square feet for nearly twelve years. The first of my little abodes was a fourteen-foot Airstream. I bought it in the summer of 1997 for three thousand dollars. It came as-is, with an aluminum shell as streamlined and polished as what lay inside was hideous. The 1964 orange shag, asbestos tiles, and green Formica would have to go. I began gutting, then meticulously refurbishing the interior in August, and by October, I was sleeping with an aluminum roof over my head. The place looked like a barrel on the inside, with pine tongue-and-groove running from front-to-back and floor-to-vaulted ceiling.
I settled in on a tree-lined ridge at the edge of a friend’s alfalfa field. It was a three-minute walk to Rapid Creek Road and a ten-minute drive from there to Iowa City. I carried water in from a well by the road and allowed it to drain from my sink and shower directly into the grass outside. I carried my sawdust toilet (i.e., bucket) out about once a month and took it to the sewage treatment facility in town. My electrical appliances consisted of a fan, six lights, a 9-inch TV/VCR and a small boom box. A single solar panel fed them all. It seemed that this simple existence would provide all I needed.
Then December came. I had reinforced most of the trailer’s insulation, but some areas remained thin. I spent over a half-hour each morning, from Christmas until Valentine’s Day, chipping ice and sponging up condensation from my walls, floors and desktop. This went on for a couple of winters before I began construction on the tiny house I have since come to call “Tumbleweed”.
The Small House Book
by Jay Shafer
Price: $36.95
Small Cool Contest
April 21, 2009
I think that if smaller houses are really going to catch on, then they will first have to be understood as not merely sustainable and affordable, but as cool. Maxwell Ryan and the other folks over at Apartment Therapy are helping to make this clear with their 2009 Small Cool Contest. A couple of friends alerted me to the competition via Facebook just hours before submissions were due. Now my house is among the finalists.
To cast your vote (or simply to see a lot of very swank little spaces) visit http://contests.apartmenttherapy.com/2009/small-cool/.
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