Timeline breakthrough: SIPs

Once people understand that Sam and I are serious bout this and are actually going to build and live in a Tiny House, the next question is usually about our timeline, and the fact that it's remarkably short. We want to go all the way from planning to move-in day in about 5 months. Most people think that's crazy, and I have to admit that up until this week I was a little bit in agreement with them- especially when you consider the fact that we want to get most of our actual build done in just about one month, and included in our 5 month timeline is a 2 week international vacation. Realistically, I had no idea how we were going to make this happen, and so I was hoping to just get the exterior watertight before potentially heading off to Cambodia for two years- any thing after that would be icing on the cake. But this week I stumbled across two blogs written by individuals who built their tiny houses using a building method called SIP paneling, and suddenly our timeline became a lot more reasonable.

SIPs, or Structural Insulated Panels are best described as large plywood-insulation sandwiches (technically SIPs use oriented strand board- OSB- rather than plywood, but the idea is the same) which take the place of traditional dimensional lumber framing in a build. You order the SIP panels in exactly the dimensions you want from the SIP manufacturer, and they come to you ready to assemble like some giant ginger-bread house kit. Building the tiny house with these panels will take framing, sheathing and insulating the walls and roof from a weeks-long job (at best) and turn it into something that can be done in a weekend!

The best part of this is that using SIPs will not only save us time, but will also result in a better finished product than we could produce on our own. When amateurs like Sam and I build using SIPs, it's practically guaranteed that the final house will be more square, tight and structurally sound than it would have been if we built using traditional stick framing methods, and on top of that it will be better insulated because the SIPs are a class II vapor barrier, and thermal bridging is minimized by avoiding the use of studs and rafters. 

Sam and I are over the moon in love with this building method, and are looking into ways that we can get our very own Tiny SIP House. Stay tuned for more updates on that process. In the mean time, if you're interested in hearing from other people who have built Tiny Houses using SIPs, check out these two blogs: Tiny SIP House by Art Cormier and Long Story Short House by Joe Coover.

My Top 5 Tiny House General Research Resources

The first step in our Tiny House Build was for me to do copious amounts of research. Like, research that has taken over my life for the past several weeks. I dream about Tiny House construction techniques. And while my research quickly delved into the specifics of choosing materials and designing systems, the initial research phase was probably very similar to that of other Tiny House self-builders. So I thought I'd compile a list of the information sources I found helpful during this portion of my own research. The criteria I used to select these sources were very simple: first, I had to have found them helpful in determining the size, scope, and general components of a Tiny House Build, and second they had to be free. Without further ado, here are my Top 5 General Research Resources.

Tiny House Giant Journey: The Time lapse videos of this build gave me my first solid understanding of what it takes to build a tiny house- it gave me good insight into how much time it takes and how much effort is involved. Most importantly, it made me think, "yeah- we could do that!"

Tiny Home Builders: A very helpful technically oriented blog. Reading through his blog from the beginning gave me a good sense of each step along the way of a tiny house build. I found this blog so helpful, I later purchased the author's, Dan Louche's, e-book on tiny home construction and subscribed to the how-to videos offered on the website.

Tiny Refuge: Not the most helpful in terms of construction details, but one of the only Tiny House blogs that specifically addresses the questions of cold-climate adaptations to house systems. (Unlike many Tiny House Stories which take place in California, the Pacific Northwest or Southeastern states like Georgia or the Carolinas, this build is happening in Canada, so you can bet that when the author says cold, she means *cold*)

Gone With The Wynns: Not actually a Tiny House blog, but this couple live and work full time from their RV, and they have some fantastic videos about RV plumbing and electrical systems that can be easily applied to Tiny Houses. It also has the most reassuring videos about composting toilets available on the internet. Seriously. These videos are why I'm okay with the idea of pooping into a bucket.

And finally,

Tiny House Chat: In my opinion, this is the best Tiny House Podcast out there. Or at least, the best one I found. I challenge any one to come up with a more informative program. Seriously, if you find one, I want to know about it.