How to Build a Tiny House

          Sometimes a little is enough. That is the motto of those planning to live life on the smallest, taken word for word. This is a concept that has spread over the world in the last decade and comes with the philosophy of owning only the necessary but living life to the fullest. This concept embodies itself in our houses too, and gives birth to the tiniest homes one can imagine. These have only the necessary furniture, little or no decoration, with spaces created in a way that is useful in everyday life, to serve your comfort, nothing more. So, if you think it could be for you, get started: build yourself a tiny home! In this article I will guide you through some important steps towards achieving this goal. Here are my tips!

There are various tiny homes: Skoolies, remote cabins, shipping containers, homes on wheels, backyard tiny homes, A-frame tiny homes, yurts, just to name a few.

Skoolies and transformed vans

These homes are made of school buses, this is where the name comes from, and they are widely used in the States. Europe comes with the variant of changing cargo vans and lorries into homes. It has a cute look. When looking at it, you kind of get the feeling of wanting to live in such a home made from scratch, be free and travel the world.

Remote cabins

They are those kinds of tiny homes that give you shelter and the feeling of cosiness in the woods, somewhere far from the madding crowd. We have all seen photos that are taken from a huge bed that is placed in front of a large window that is looking at a beautiful mountain in the sunrise. The cabin gives you the feeling of such a home.

Shipping containers

Everybody knows them! These are homes that actually have been used as homes for long, but on construction sites by the men working there. These houses can be modulated so they can also grow into large compartmented houses if you should reconsider living in a tiny house.

After having presented a few of the options, just to give you an appetite, let’s get to building tips. To be sure you are served the best tips I called on the experts from https://ecotiny.house/.

Framing the walls and building the floor

First you should start by framing the walls. After measuring around, make the structure of the house from metal bracing. This will hold the lumber that will serve as walls and will serve as hidden channels for the wiring that will stay hidden behind the walls. Don’t forget to install the utilities (tap water and wastewater). After the framing and the wiring is done, the insulation should also be done, then it can all be covered with standard lumber or plywood. Standard lumber, plywood and also the metal from the framing are all very cheap materials that can be found in every construction store. Not only do they have to be cheap, but also light, if built on vans or any other vehicles. If you transform vehicles you should take into consideration the total mass that the type of vehicle you are building on can carry.

Insulation

With insulation you should take into consideration the fact that you will need materials that assure a constant temperature, but they should not be too thick to take up from your space. It is also known that heat naturally rises. The walls, the floor and the roof, all have to be insulated. As for the materials to be used for this purpose, we would recommend as follows: rigid foam boards, expanded polystyrene, open-cell spray foam or polyfoam if we talk about homes on wheels. These are also not expensive materials and can be easily built in.

External insulation and sealing the house from rainfall

Wrap the house on the outside with insulation material, similarly as you did on the inside, but here you can go thicker with the insulation materials if you like. Then, you should use materials to seal it from rainfall. Use breathable materials so as to make sure that it keeps the moisture out but it will still keep the interiors dry and protected from the elements. After the insulation is finished you can start by installing the windows and doors.

From here on comes the interior design and that comes first with the painting of walls, then putting in the laminated floor, installing the lighting and furniture, plumbing together with building the bathroom.

Again, we are talking about a tiny space, that means we ought to plan our space well. Open spaces give you the feeling of more space, such as the bright colouring of the walls. Big windows will connect you with nature and will also give a wideness to the interior. They can also let the sunlight in, which will warm up and brighten your house, but it will also be eco-friendlier by not using so much electricity or other heating. Think of hidden spaces that can offer you storage space: under stairs, beds, galleries. Let your imagination run wild!