Kevin of Cozy Home Plans

Our team at Cozy Home Plans has one main goal: to combine decades of experience to make each new Cozy Home the best and well thought out home possible. From concept to design to construction, they constantly strive to fill a niche in the various plans and designs that have become part of the Tiny House Movement. Cozy Home Plans consists of small but completely functional stock plans, Cozy Steel Kits and custom home plans.

Just a few years ago, Kevin downsized from a 2,700 square foot home getting rid of about 90% of his possessions to move into a 280 sq. ft. 5th wheel trailer. At the time he was researching alternative building techniques and, as many, stumbled onto the tiny house movement. He decided to start a website and blog to showcase his small home plan ideas.

“This tiny lifestyle I was living gave me back serenity,” Kevin said. “This was something that had been sorely missing in my life for a very long time. I just wanted to share my experiences.”

His goal with Cozy Home Plans is to add a few more feet onto tiny homes to make them more livable.

“Can a person live in 100 square feet? Absolutely, but can they share it with guests or a partner full-time? How about a larger kitchen, washer/dryer capabilities and storage for extra stuff in such a small space? Answering “Yes” to these questions became more difficult in such a tiny space,” Kevin said. “My solution was to add a few more feet to each house.”

UPDATE: Congratulations to Chelle Samaniego (@BC_Chelle) who is our prize winner today. Chelle will be working with Kevin to perhaps come up with some tiny house plans of her own! Chelle, please email us or PM us on Facebook and we’ll be happy to hook you up with Kevin. Thank you so much for your continued support. Oh, and if you didn’t win this week we’ll be back Monday for five more tiny house community recognitions and five more prizes! See you then…and have a GREAT weekend!

Photo courtesy of Kevin Hoth

Christopher and Merete first encountered the tiny house movement in 2007, when they saw a photo of Dee Williams’ 84-square foot home in Olympia, Washington on the cover of Yes! Magazine. But it wasn’t until 6 years later, when Christopher impulsively bought a plot of land in the Colorado mountains and decided to build a tiny cabin of his own, that they began to dive into principles of creative design and simple living that characterize living small and the tiny house movement.

Storytellers by trade, they decided to document their own building process and the lives of other families who live in less than 200-square feet, in a short documentary called, “TINY: A Story About Living Small.” The film has been in production for the past year and is scheduled to be released in late spring of 2012.

To find out more about Christopher and Merete and to view the trailer of their film visit any of the BIO links below:

• Facebook: TINY: A Story About Living Small
• Twitter: @meretemueller -or- @Christopher_C_S
• On the web: TINY: A Story About Living Small

Not only are Christopher and Merete wonderful friends and supporters of the r(E)volution, they are also quite generous. To say thank you and to show their appreciation to the Tiny House Community they are giving away a signed copy of their upcoming film on DVD. That means one of you is going to get a FREE copy of TINY: A Story About Living Small directly to your doorstep upon release! Only one winner will be chosen but you can enter as many as 4 times by doing each of the following:

1. Comment on this post by putting a note of thanks to the kids over at TINY
2. SHARE this blog post on your Facebook profile page
3. Tweet this post link and include the hashtag #THAW2012
4. Comment on the Facebook status update regarding this blog post

The winner will be chosen at 9pm EST tonight (via random.org) so hurry up and start socializing our digital thank you’s.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Heather Greeson, our winner today. Heather will receive a FREE, signed copy of TINY: the movie upon its release.

If you didn’t win today, there are more prizes tomorrow (and ‘morrow and ‘morrow and ‘morrow…..) See you in the morning!

Just what does make a community? Is it a group of people with common interests or experience?

Perhaps, yes. But let’s face it. The commitment level of individuals within the group will range from highly engaged to slightly interested. The group membership will be fluid as folks ebb and flow.

So it’s a group of people with just a little in common?

Well, if you are like me, you are not just interested in tiny houses but also in homesteading, in technology, and in food sourcing. So perhaps this is not the main community for some. Perhaps it isn’t even the one with which they feel the strongest connection. People’s interests change over time, as circumstances change. But there always has to be a few that remain committed – né, passionate – day in and day out. They have to see past the slow days and the challenges and continue to find the drive and the excitement.

Does it depend on a few people making a lot of noise?

No. It doesn’t. But it does strengthen the community when there are outspoken and adventurous advocates. These are people who walk the walk and talk the talk. They are folks that live, eat, breathe the topic. They help others come closer to the dream of the community. They are movers and shakers. They are also listeners and supporters. They can lead a tribe or they can march alongside.

And based on the standards above I think it is fair to say we have a dynamic, strong, encouraging, forthright, and respectable, tiny house community. And so from today until the end of next week (May 24 – June 1) Tiny r(E)volution will be acknowledging those who lead the charge (or at least make a lot of noise!) Each day will focus on another specific person or team or group or website that showcases the best of the tiny house community. While not all will be recognized it is not because they are less significant than any other. In fact, if I could I would focus on a new entity each week; highlighting all they stand for, all they do, and all they have accomplished. No, this list comes from those that I follow most closely, share late night chats with, and just generally want to expose you to!

As an added bonus each day will have a give-away sponsored by the “appreciated” for the post. That means by the end of THAW (which coincidentally will be our Twitter hashtag for the week – #THAW) we will have given away at least 6 very special prizes. So please, come back each day. Find us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Check us out on Google+. Just show up and show some love for some very special members of our tiny house community!

This past weekend we have the wonderful opportunity to meet and be interviewed by S. Heather Duncan, a journalist for The Telegraph out of Macon, GA. She wrote a wonderful article about our family and our project. I do hope you will click on the image below and take a moment to read her words. We are most appreciative for her finesse and skill as well as her ability to portray our ideas so accurately!

This is going to be quite short. I am literally exhausted. My eyes are not opening completely. My fingers feel a bit numb and my lips are chapped like I can’t remember when. But other than that? Today was an amazing day.

The morning started at about 6:10am as I woke up, had my coffee, spent a few minutes with my dad, and then headed to the porch to grab my overalls and get moving.

By 8:45am I had the first stud tied in to both the top plate and the bottom plate. I could tell it was going to be a productive and satisfying day.

Without the step by step (I have chosen to spare y’all) I can safely say that our tiny house is framed. All 4 walls are built, in place, and secure. Window frames and door frame are cutout. It is an entirely different looking rig this evening.

I am giving more of a blow-by-blow throughout the day on our Facebook page if you are interested. Otherwise, please feel free to enjoy a few pictures gathered from today. You can see them on Flickr here.

There is something so nostalgic and picturesque to us about an older farm house enveloped in metal roofing; metal roofing with a slight patina even. It evokes memories of growing up in rural America, seeing small homesteads dot the countryside, and the sounds of happy families being thankful for their own little spot of dirt. There is something calming and peaceful about the gentle tickle of rain on the roof when clad in corrugation and mated with metal. It is no surprise then that residential metal roofing has proven to be the fastest growing segment of home construction and improvement – more than quadrupling its market share over the past decade alone.

What most don’t realize though is that the history of metal roofing can be traced back to 970 B.C., when the temple in Jerusalem was outfitted with a copper roof. Their history is more founded in the Virgin Island though around the mid-19th century. Metal roofs were valued for several reasons. They were strong enough to resist earthquakes and the strong winds of tropical hurricanes, while presenting a visually satisfying appearance. When coupled with the Dutch-style peaked roof and a decent drainage system, the metal would purify water which could be stored in a container for household use (early rainwater harvesting, in fact). The metal had the added benefit of being fire-resistant.

Robert L. Merwin & Co., a St. Croix Island based business, was founded in 1892 to import corrugated metal for buildings. They made the product cheaper and much more widely available, which served to increase its use and establish metal roofing as a much more practical and versatile alternative to clay tiles. Popularity for metal as a roofing material has continued to rise rapidly.¹

With the steel boom of the early 1900s came a number of advances in the automation of metal manufacturing. Construction projects using metal roofing and siding began to dot the American landscape and further help develop the “machine age.” The latest techniques, including automated roll-forming, coatings, sealants, and fastening systems, have dramatically lowered the cost of steel roofing and only increased its versatility as the variety of colors, textures and styles has multiplied.

In fact, the benefits offered by today’s metal roofs allow homeowners to both build and upgrade their homes with products of lasting value. While other roofs quickly diminish in value as they age, metal roofs provide the following lasting benefits:

• Proven performance expectation of 50+ years
• Beautiful styles to match any home or neighborhood
• Interlocking panels for maximum wind resistance
• Fire resistance
• Energy efficiency by keeping homes cooler
• Low weight to help preserve structural integrity and life

¹ www.buymetalroofing.com/metal_roofing_history.htm

I am not sure if it is a result of a few of my formative years being spent attending a think tank for adolescents or if it is my penchant for conversation or even my inability to pay attention to anything for longer than about 3 minutes but I am a huge believe in stream of consciousness thinking. Some may call it going around your butt to get to your elbow. Others may call it taking the long road home. Whatever the case it is the exact method at which I arrive at most of my ideas and plans. And gardening as a tiny houser is no different.

So how does one get from tiny house to garden? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The foundation of the Tiny r(E)volution is stewardship. It is about being fiscally responsible, ecologically responsible, emotionally responsible, and relationally responsible. And somewhere between fiscally responsible and ecologically responsible is the idea of gardening and growing ones own food. It simply makes sense. It saves money on grocery bills while providing incredible sources of natural vitamins and minerals free of chemicals and pesticides. But then the questions arise. I live in a tiny house. I have no land. How do I grow a garden? This is the most logical point where my thoughts turn from traditional plot gardening to container gardening. Want the good news? Almost any vegetable that will grow in a typical backyard garden can also do well in a container. Some vegetables that are especially well-suited for container gardening are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, bush beans, lettuce, spinach, summer squash, radishes, and herbs. In the right environment others are cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower. See, here is the secret. You don’t need 40 acres or a tiller to garden. In fact, you need very little.

When deciding to abandon traditional gardening (for whatever reason) in lieu of container garden, you will need to think about many of the same things you’d be thinking about if you were gardening on a piece of land; healthy soil, sunlight, water, compost or fertilizer, and pest management. Of course, when container gardening, it is also important to consider what types of containers you will use. And so that is why I am listing below my Top 5 favorite ways to “container garden” when living in a tiny house.

A Planting Tower. Found on the The Casual Gardener blog written by my friend Shawna Coronado, the Planting Tower is a wonderful way to reuse old plastic containers or planters to create a cascading or ascending tower (depending on how you see the glass; half full or half empty) suitable for flowers, edibles, or almost anything in between.  Shawna also has a great video tutorial on how to make a tower on your own. So if you are wanting to grow up next to a fence, on a porch post, or even against your tiny house, this is a great idea and an easy one as well!

Bucket ‘o Food. Another good friend of mine, Mike Canarsie, writes a full-on container gardening blog and because he lives in LA has a lot to say about non-conventional ways to grow your groceries. One of my favorite (and one of the easiest) is his self-watering container garden. Comprised of 5-gallon buckets the self-watering containers are both easy to find and easy to make. Use your imagination by spray painting the buckets (with no-VOC paint or non-toxic paint) and find a spot to “landscape” them in.

Painted Cans. Last season I decided we were going to try an herb garden using gallon sized cans that once stored green beans. We got dozens of the cans from a local church who had just hosted a seasonal meal and had lots of tins and cans to be discarded. I got the idea from Gayla Trail’s book, You Grow Girl. If it is edibles you want to grow you may not want to paint them as illustrated but rather peel off the label, soak them in warm, soapy water, and leave them a wonderful aluminum color. You can also use self-tapping screws to screw them onto a fence, into a wall, or just place them on a ledge!

Get Wooly! Perhaps though you want to bring some of that delicious, edible, life into your tiny house. Perhaps you have a wall just begging for some living art. I can’t think of a better way to have a kitchen herb garden or even some sweet, seasonal berries than by using a Living Wall Planter from WoolyPocket. These amazing, mountable pockets are ideal for plants for a few reasons. They are easy to hang. They are easy to water. (In fact, you just water the back panel with a wine bottle or a long spout watering can. The water then wicks down directly to the roots.) They are self-watering. They allow for strong roots. The pockets are eco-friendly (Made from 100% recycled plastic bottles; PET).

A Pallet of Green. Fern Richardson is a published author, a fantastic blogger, a crafty gal, and an amazing balcony gardener. It was from her Life On The Balcony that I first saw pallet gardens. A bit more difficult to put together but still quite affordable and easy for tiny house spaces, the pallet garden is good for almost anything; flowers and edibles alike. With just a bit of stapling, some soil conditioning, and, of course, some plant selection and you can have the biggest garden this size of tiny with almost no effort!

As many of you know we have gained a wonderful sponsor in LP Building Products. Without getting into a long story but in the interest of disclosure, LP is sponsoring 75% of our tiny house exterior. They have provided us with 5 very specific products:

• LP ProStruct Flooring with Smartfinish 19/32″ x 4′x8′ No Groove, Square Edge
• LP ProStruct Roofing with Silvertech 19/32″ x 4′x8′ No Groove, Square Edge
• LP Smartside Panel with Silvertech 3/8″ x 4′x8′ 8″OC Shiplap Edge
• LP Smartside Reversible Fiber Trim 4/4″ x 3″x192″ and 4/4″ x 6″x192″
• LP Smartside Cut to Width Strand Cedar Soffit 3/8″ x 12″x192″

Masonite

By definition (albeit user-generated definition) masonite is a type of hardboard made of steam-cooked and pressure-molded wood fibers in a process invented by William H. Mason.¹

Invented in 1924 in Laurel, Mississippi, by William H. Mason mass production started in 1929. It gained great popularity though in the 1930s and 1940s being used for a number of applications including doors, roofing, walls, desktops, and even canoes. Post-war (WWII) it began being used for house siding. Similar “tempered hardboard” is now a generic product made by many forest product companies.

So How Is It Made?

Masonite is formed using the Mason method, in which wood chips are disintegrated by saturating them with 100psi steam, then increasing the steam or air pressure to 400psi and suddenly releasing them through an orifice to atmospheric pressure. Forming the fibers into boards on a screen, the boards are then pressed and heated to form the finished product with a smooth burnished finish. The original lignin in the wood serves to bond the fibers without any added adhesive. The long fibers give Masonite a high bending strength,tensile strength, density and stability. Unlike other composite wood panels, no formaldehyde-based resins are used to bind the fibers in Masonite.

So What Is The Problem?

On the outset, there is no problem. However, masonite swells and rots over time when exposed to the elements, and may prematurely deteriorate when it is used as exterior siding. In fact, in 1996, International Paper (IP) lost a class action suit brought by homeowners whose Masonite siding had deteriorated. The jury found that IP’s Masonite siding was defective.

T-111

T-111 siding is a wood based siding product that reached its height of popularity in the 60′s, 70′s and early 80′s, when a more natural, wood-grained look was popular. Its widespread use has dwindled as other siding materials, including steel, aluminum, composite, and vinyl siding have taken over the siding market. It is still produced though but is typically used for shed and barn projects.

Said to be the most environmentally friendly of siding products T-111 siding comes in two types. The first type is known as the T-111 plywood siding and the other is known as Oriented Strand board (OSB). T-111 plywood siding is more expensive than the wafer board sidings or OSB sidings.

So How Is It Made?

Quite simply, T-111 is made from engineered wood (wood products and other materials pressed together), and is a type of plywood siding that comes as T-111 wood siding, or T-111 cedar siding.

So What Is The Problem?

The maintenance of T-111 siding is very important as it has to be protected against water, sunlight, and heat. Painting or sealing is mandatory and must be repeated every few years. T-111 siding is strong and does have a long life as compared to other sidings. However, it is thought of as cheap in the building community, is considered a barn material, and has been shown to have a high moisture absorption rate on the edges after being applied.

SmartSide

LP^® SmartSide^® products deliver all the warmth and beauty of traditional wood, plus the durability and workability of engineered wood. The SmartGuard^® manufacturing process actually improves upon nature, creating products that are engineered for strength, performance and protection against fungal decay and termites. The LP SmartSide family features four distinct product collections, all backed by an industry-leading 5/50 Year Transferable Limited Warranty.

So How Is It Made?

The manufacturing process of SmartSide ensures that all LP^® SmartSide^® products deliver outstanding strength and durability. The process begins with either wood strands or wood fiber. A zinc borate compound is then applied throughout the substrate to help protect against fungal decay and termites. Superior exterior-grade resins are used to create extremely strong bonds within the product. LP SmartSide Panels with SilverTech feature a finish-grade radiant barrier that resists flaking and peeling. The panels also help reduce the sun’s radiant energy.

So What Is The Problem?

There are a number of websites that boast “reviews” by builders, contractors, etc. that claim SmartSide is little more than an OSB and that the panels warp, weather, shred, etc. What I personally have come to find though is that the material is only as good as the installation. When put up with improper care (screws instead of nails, no caulking, exposure to direct moisture, etc) SmartSide – while still quite smart – is subject to a bit of stupidity.

Initially we were most interested in LP SmartSide Panels with SilverTech for several reasons:

• LP SmartSide products are made from wood – a renewable, natural resource.
• The entire log is used in the manufacturing process. All wood waste is repurposed or used to help fuel the LP mills.
• SmartGuard^® manufacturing process utilizes zinc borate to help protect against fungal decay and termites which ultimately means less pest control and potentially toxic anti-bug sprays.
• SilverTech coating acts as a radiant barrier.
• Panels accept all water-based paints which means they accept zero VOC paints with ease.
• Are strong enough to be attached directly to the studs meaning less material use and less weight on our tiny house trailer.

In Conclusion

The three products mentioned above all have their appropriate arenas. And it should be noted that as building techniques and experience on the American front progressed so did the materials; strength, absorption rate, look, etc. We are using LP^® SmartSide^® products because they make the most sense to us for all the reasons listed above. The true important nature of this discussion though is that each dreamer, each tiny houser, each builder, each DIYer, has to make their own decision about product integrity and product usability. We have made ours and we hope to have further opportunity to show why we feel confident in our use of the SmartSide family versus other possibilities.

¹ Masonite entry

One of the most talked about subject in tiny house building is the subfloor. Once a trailer has been chosen it quickly becomes time to decide just how the house will stay attached. And that is where the subfloor comes in.

Because we chose to use an EcoFoil radiant barrier we knew that would be one of our first steps. It wasn’t THE first step though. We ran essentially a string down the center of the trailer in between each cross beam. This serves as extra structural support as well as a way to hold in the insulation. Once we had the blanket of double bubble radiant barrier on the frame we added our floor joists. Each joist was constructed of 2″x4″ lumber and held in place two ways.

1) If the joist fell directly on a metal cross beam it was attached by a 4 1/2″ carriage bolt that is countersunk through the wood and then down through the metal, going through the EcoFoil and then tightened up by a washer and bolt.

2) If the joist did not fall directly on a metal cross beam it was attached via joist hanger which was attached by nail to the perimeter framing.

After our joists were in place and bolted down we then wrapped our remaining EcoFoil around the framing, stapled it into place, and prepared for the subfloor. Our subfloor is LP ProStruct Floor with SmartFinish – a durable overlay of beautiful, professional-grade substrate With no knots or voids. The subfloor is held into place by a bead of construction adhesive on all exposed joists and then 3 1/2″ framing nails around the top perimeter of the 4′x8′ sheets of sub.

And because I am not very adept at verbally describing things, here is our latest video on our tiny house construction.

We also encourage you to visit us on Flickr and see our expansive collection of still photos!