Skoolie SketchUp Lay-out and Video

Sketchup Model Bus

LOVE sketchup! 
In my minds eye this is my bus, we'll see how it goes... 
I have a unique idea for a shower in the back but for now I've left it open.

The Lazy Gardener's Amazing Chicken Tractor

The obvious benefit of chickens on the homestead is fresh eggs, less obvious is their use in the garden. Chickens are awesome at cultivating soil with their scratching, catching bugs, feasting on weeds, and fertilizing your garden, if they are contained. But free to roam they will wreak havoc to your garden quickly. Containing them in a moveable pen with an open bottom allows them to scratch and work the soil.

Key benefits of chicken tractors in the garden: 

• Pest Control: The chickens will eat insects and dig up grubs. They also consume diseased plant residue.
• Weeding: Weeding occurs as the chickens peck and scratch the soil. This process removes all plant matter, and seeds; thereby, clearing the pen of current and future weeds. The soil stays relatively weed free for about 2-4 months.
• Fertilizer: Chicken manure is a great fertilizer for your soil which is able to supply the nitrogen needs of a small garden. Phosphorus, and potassium found in their feed, are also in their manure. The soil is ready for planting in two weeks after moving the chickens to a new location. The waiting period is necessary so the excess nitrogen can bind with carbon in the soil otherwise you will burn your new plants. This initial nitrogen burn also helps clear the plot of weeds.
• Food: The hens will supply you with a steady stream of fresh eggs.

It's enclosed in such a way that protects them from weather and predators 

while leaving the bottom open.

 

Chicken Tractor

'The Girls' on bug patrol.

Deluxe Lofted Barn Cabin

There's a little place that sells Derksen portable buildings in Dayton and I always have a hard time passing it by, without stopping to roam thru the cabins and sheds, whenever I venture to town. Last week we stopped by again and got more information about the options and pricing of these little darlings.

This is a Derksen Deluxe Lofted Barn Cabin. This one is 12'x30', the smallest of their 'Deluxe Lofted Barn Cabin' style which come as large as 16'x32'. It's the most expensive style with the unique corner porch and bumped out windows, but also eats up more interior square footage than the others.

The price is $7,925 before tax, free delivery within 50 miles. It comes standard with 2 lofts, but the lofts are high and have little headroom above them. Optional extras to make the lofts more usable would cost extra. 8' walls are $500, lower loft (which come standard at wall height) $100 each. You can add more windows, 2x3's are $75 and 3x3' windows $100, a 2nd door is $200. So there's lots of options.
I was asked to check the 'rent-to-own' deal, so here's how it works. Monthly payments would be apx $360 for 36 months. Each month $260 of the payment goes to pay down the principle and $100 goes to 'rent'. I believe the down payment was one month's rent, and there is no penalty for early pay-off.

I found it difficult to arrange an interior lay-out that functioned well for us. It's hard to use that bumped out space. Possibly a kitchen/eating area, maybe a large built in window seat and extra bed. You'll notice I don't have ladders or stairs figured out. The door being so far into the cabin is awkward as well, in my opinion at least. 

 These are photos of the same style cabin only 4 feet longer at 12x34. They can be finished out really nice. The bathroom is behind the kitchen, and bedroom beyond at the end of the back of the cabin.

Nook in the front of cabin

The Kidd - A Teeny Tiny Texas House

Just when you thought Tiny Texas Houses couldn't get any smaller, meet 'The Kidd' - Brad Kittel's smallest house to date. 'The Kidd' has a footprint of only 65 sq. ft.

It was the focus of a TTH workshop I attended last summer, and I'm really proud I got to work on it. 

Sweet slim profile on this teeny tiny house will remain at Tiny Texas Territories as guest accommodations.

His next prototype will be slightly slimmer and built to lay flat and slide into a cargo container for ease of shipping.

Large windows, antique door, and a covered deck on two sides. 

 

A cozy place to spend a weekend.

It's got a really large sleeping loft.

Great windows for light and breezes.

Awesome porches add to the available living area.

A Village and Salvage Market - The Mountain Video

Post by The Mountain in Canton Texas.

I think this is pretty cool. You could live above your own little shop.

Barn Loft Guest Apt - Collage

This a collage of the studio apt we built in the loft of our barn. It's just one part of a whole 'off-grid backyard retreat' we're working on. We'll be adding a bathroom to the barn and a funky greenhouse/outdoor shower that can use conventional or solar hot water. Someday we plan to build us a tiny sustainable off-grid home, so in the meantime we're learning and trying to become more sustainable here. We've been hit by two hurricanes since we moved here - both times going more than five weeks without power. We'll add a few more tiny cabins/sleeping quarters that use solar and other alternative energy. In the aftermath of another hurricane and power outage we'll move out of the big house, and into our backyard retreat, where we can efficiently generate enough renewable energy to keep our tiny cabins lit, cooled, completely functional with or without city utilities.

More photos here...

I love Pickmoney it's a photo editing site. You can create collages and nice Pinterest pins too. Here's another using the same photos.

My Ice-Chest A/C For Tent Camping

It's easy to make a cheap air-conditioner for your camping tent. Cut one hole in the top of the cooler to match the size of the small fan you plan to use. Expecting electricity on my trip to Tiny Texas Houses in Luling, I chose this small fan which lay face-down on top of the hole. The air is pushed down, past frozen water bottles or frozen ice packs placed inside, cooling and condensing it as it circulates before being pushed out the 2nd hole you need. Mark carefully around the 'vent' you choose. I used a PVC elbow joint, cut my 2nd hole and pushed the elbow in place, now I can direct the flow of cold air coming out onto me instead of straight up.

Plan A - The Idea

I was anxious to put it together to prove to my skeptical family it would work. They just smiled politely as I explained to them how it would work but said very little. I plan to cut 2 holes in the top of the cooler, one to snugly fit the 4" pvc elbow, and another just a bit smaller to fit this little $8 fan placed face-down over it. The fan will push the air into the ice chest past the frozen water bottles and out the pvc elbow. Only because I knew it was going to be flimsy to transport did I decide to wait till I actually got to my destination to cut the holes and put it all together and I'm glad I did. 

Plan B - The Reality

When I arrived with my tent, I couldn't resist the generous offer to spend my week there in a tiny house, even if it meant having no electricity to run my fan. Luckily I had decided to wait until I got there to actually make the thing because I simply cut a much smaller hole to fit the little battery powered personal fan I had brought with me as well. It worked like a charm! I saved the piece I cut out for the elbow, and kept it to plug the pipe and saving my ice when I wasn't running it.
When I got home and used my electric fan it worked even better.

Plan C

I'm planning to build another one using this old ice chest. I'll add some baffles to ensure the coldest air gets circulated well before exiting the vent. At first I planned to place 2 of these 4" elbow vents on this one, but having had a discussion at TTH I now realize I need more air to come in than can come out to further condense and cool the air. I may place two much smaller elbow vents on this one. Thank's guy's! So that's the plan... I'll update with the reality soon....

The Essay House at Tiny Texas Houses

It felt strange to pack my truck for a week-long workshop at Tiny Texas Houses. It was the first time I've been anywhere alone in a long time. I looked forward to attending the building-with-salvage workshop in Luling by Tiny Texas Houses and also some time just for me.


Though I packed my tent prepared to camp, Brad offered me the little writer's cabin they call the Essay House for my stay. It's a sweet little cabin in the back and like all his tiny houses - it's built with love and 99% pure salvage.

I woke that first morning imagining this is what it must have felt like to be a settler on the Texas frontier. A fog had rolled in during the night, I could just make out the faint shape of deer taking advantage of the cover the fog offered. 

The cabin has no electricity or water right now, though it's fully equipped for it when it finds it's final resting place. I enjoyed sitting and napping on the porch. It feels especially remote tucked in among the Prickly Pear Cactus and Mesquite trees, shrouded in morning fog.

A ladder leads up to the loft and bed. Everything you could need packed into a tiny space that still managed plenty of room to move around.

It has a kitchen and a drop down table for writing or meals.

A shower and a tiny sink of course. There's a shuttered pocket door to hide the the bathroom while still allowing a sweet cross breeze thru the house.
It was very easy to imagine living in this tiny house. A simple life unburdened by all the non-essential 'crap'. A home like this would beg you spend time outside too.

'Little Red' - 8'x16' Cabin

Here's s another version of  an 8'x10' cabin that fit's Tiny Texas House' newest "Loopholer" design. I finally figured out how to get the arched roof on this one, not exactly right yet but close. The total height from floor to roof peak is 12' 4". I understand a cabin of this size can be loaded onto a 16' trailer (or even built on it) and transported yourself, without permits. This is only the first phase of a house to be constructed in three phases.
The second phase of construction will be adding a downstairs bedroom wing off one side, and the third phase a larger living area off the other side. What will at first be used as living area in this cabin now, will become a large kitchen and dining area after the next two phases are complete. I need to work on it more, and don't have the actual framing in this model, but I imagine it should be designed and framed up in such way that the windows will become interior doorways to the other sections when complete.

SketchUp Link:

 Tiny Red - Loopholer Cabin

I tried to stay as close as possible to Brad Kittlel's floor plan of his latest 'Loophooler' design.

Just enough room for a small kitchen, full bath, and 10'x8' living area.

The sleeping loft is apx. 8'x8'.

I made a 'Gypsy Wagon' type roof for the cabin, it gives lots of space in the loft above.

A tiny old fashioned kitchen fits well, but I think I'll forgo the stove, and use a crock-pot, induction plate, and toaster oven in my cabin.

A three piece bathroom fits in the corner. 

The arched roof gives the loft a height of just over 5 feet.

Cute platform for a bed, made with wood pallets.