small house sketch

My 2008 cabin "project"



Which is the on site quarters for my 2009 project.

Pardon my asking, what wood stove did you put in it? I need a very small stove and piping for a small cabin that I am doing.

You could try looking at boat supply stores, some of them have really small stoves. There's one in my garden shed which came off a 45' yawl.

Hey, it's my job to draw pictures of houses! Ha! Lately there's been a lot of them under 500 square feet. Eventually the homeowners plan on building a bigger house on the property and then the small starter house would be small enough (under 500 square feet) to become a guest house later.

One of the fun aspects of small houses is getting them to conform to the Uniform Building Code so they can get a building permit. One of the cutest of the little houses was build by an Alaskan sea captain and it was modeled on the Methodist Camp Houses of Oakbluff on Martha's Vineyard. It's got pineapple motif gingerbread. A bedroom with sitting area and bath upstairs with living room and kitchen dining nook on the lower floor. Large porch and upstairs porches at each end. Added dormer windows for headroom on the upper floor.

Google the methodist camp houses on Martha's vineyard, they are small and really cute.

My strawbale I designed and it is 60 by 60 in the shape of a large C with a 20 by 20 section cut out of one side making the C. There are no hallways in the house and only 7 rooms including a great room (almost 1300 SF clear span), 2 big baths (my shower is 4 by 7 1/2), two huge bedrooms, a walk in closet that doubles as an office, and a laundry room. total liveable space is about 2800 sf due to the size of the strawbale walls.

"scrounged mostly 8x8 have under 400 into... i now have a wood stove in it "

How hot does it get with the stove running?? I'd bet you could heat it with a candle.

I was kind of thinking that myself. Especially if well insulated and sealed. I would definitely suggest a carbon monoxide detector!!! Small spaces can be dangerous if not well vented.

I was thinking about using a cab-over camper heater.

I was hoping for a lot more contributors to this small house idea , with different plans and thoughts about getting by with a lot less house

Thanks! I have about $5,000 in the house itself, but I haven't done the kitchen or bathroom yet. I'll do that as I wire and plumb the place. My objective this summer was to get it built, enclosed, and insulated before winter so I could move in. I was able to accomplish that.

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Well, it ain't rocket science, but it does require some thought and it can be somewhat location specific.

A few years ago, I felled some of my pine timber and had it sawed. Used it to build a 20x30 shop with a 10' drop shed down one side. The building was clad in 5/8" T-111 seconds, shingled with standard fiberglass shingles. It has one 16' roll-up door, one 36" door and two 3x5' windows. With the exception of finishing the slab, I and friends did all the work ourselves. Total cost =$3K.

It would have taken very little to transform that size building into a very liveable small house...you could have two small bedrooms, a bathroom with commode and shower, and a general purpose area for cooking, eating, etc. I built the roof 5/12, but you could have easily gone to a 8/12 and had more storage, or a sleeping loft. A few cheap cabinets (you can buy oak cabinets cheaper than you can build them), some scrounging to come up with some RV appliances (takes up less room) and you'd be set.

Just some thoughts....

Sorry, my last reply didn't address your question.

The cost was mainly in lumber, although there is maybe $500 in insulation, $500 in Windows & doors, and then a few hundred more for shingles & builders felt. That leaves only about $3500 for lumber. Lumber really adds up, particularly since the porch consumed so much decking.

Things seem reasonable on an individual basis, like the 14 foot 2x6 rafters only costing about $7.50, but I needed 30 of them. That ate up $250 real fast. Also, being off grid you have to include $6-8/day for generator gas to run the skillsaw & drill.

I didn't count the cost of the generator (~$500), three deep cycle batteries & inverter for evening power, the cost of the travel trailer, or the cost of other structures. In addition to the cabin I have three other structures; a 10x14 storage shed, a 4x8 power shed, and a 5x7 water shed (cistern & water heater).

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I'm not a great sawyer, but my little bandsaw mill cost about as much as Nevada's lumber bill, and I've already built a few things with the lumber. As time goes on I hope to be able to saw straighter and faster (by knowing to adjust the blade guides sooner and get a job site saw to rip edges). I've got other projects ahead of it, but someday I just might build that little cottage that I started this thread with. Or maybe I'll have thought up something better. Sawing takes time, but I have the logs, and I like working with solid wood and knowing where it came from.

I'll have to keep sketching things too. One hang-up I have is that I've been in a thinking pattern that says build on module. That's why the building is 16' square. But module doesn't matter so much when you aren't working with 4x8 sheets of plywood.