Alf Tiny Home # 1

Alf's tiny homes

These tiny homes are intended to be free standing and energy independent.
Each is based on what I call an ultra sturdy floor.
Large Timberlock screws AND the standard metal hangars create a floor joist framework out of 2 by 10s or 2 by 12s. Locktite glue and screws secure 3/4 inch pressure treated plywood permanently to this frame. This provides a very, very rigid base. The home can be dumped from a dump truck or lifted with a crane or helicopter.
The tiny home can be lifted into a foundation or a flatbed truck, and can be configured to stack on top of a lower story and provide roof power for a larger structure.
With no exaggeration, this tiny home is also a house boat waiting for some empty 55 gallon drums.

Every tiny home will arrive fully wired and with a carefully tested solar energy system.
This makes it ideal for homesteading an off grid property, or adding a powered outbuilding that is not convenient to an electrical hookup. If scaled properly, the solar energy system can allow further construction of buildings, charging of tools and vehicles.
The tiny home can be connected to the grid in several different ways, but the power gathered from the roof and stored in batteries [included] is independent of the grid.
When grid power is interrupted, you will not know it until you see the other lights go out, or hear generators start up.

Tiny homes are well suited to rooftop water capture. Like stored solar power, roof water becomes very important when anything happens to the well pump or its power supply.

Since a tiny home encloses a volume that many times smaller than a giant home, it is easier to include high end appliances, expensive insulation, and the finest windows and doors. The same goes for in floor heating, solar hot water, and other systems that integrate well with modern solar energy equipment.

This particular manufacturer of tiny homes has a policy:
I favor small cottage industry, in which locally sourced materials are assembled by neighbors.

Renewable energy will be used in the construction, and eventually, in the delivery of the tiny homes. This way of working and living with sunshine rather than fossil fuel may seem like a hardship at first. It will not make perfect sense if the calculations are made in dollars, and without regard to quality of life and to future costs. But this collection of cottage industries hopes for a future where fossil fuel is not combusted for energy. We intend to work on plug in motor vehicles as well. Photovoltaic equipped tiny homes go with plug in electric vehicles like ice cream goes with pie!

So, I plan to construct these independent buildings near Carlton Washington, and install them in the valleys until the burned homes are replaced. I prefer to show up with the tiny home and an 'installation kit', and put it in as part of the delivery process. The solar electric and passive solar heating systems will function as expected if the builder orients the tiny home in the right direction and tests each system before leaving the site. I can arrive with a back hoe, and love to dig!

I hope that you will think about supporting local cottage-based industry.

We will not be able to out price or out feature mass produced sheds or motor homes. But, we can provide and install a small and sturdy home that is meant to be nimble in the face of disaster. It is a lifestyle choice for both builder and buyer. The buyer would like to see if they enjoy making their own energy from the sun, and using some passive solar heating in winter. The buyer has come to terms with the American dream, and has chosen NOT to support a gaint warehouse full of un-needed possessions. The builder is willing to work 'off the clock' at their own home. The builder has already turned to the sun for the power needed to live and to work. They are skilled and individualistic artisans, who might not flourish in a corporate environment. Tiny home construction is ideal for the partly disabled, taking place at the shop belonging to the worker.

As far as quality, I have a simple system. Being tiny, the home should exceed any rational code for a regular home; attempting instead to emulate the permanence and strength associated with public spaces and industry. One example is the use of oversized wire in the walls, and commercial quality electrical fittings. This allows a tiny home to distribute power for a sizable project, or to power another outbuilding.

I have developed a timber rack that makes it easy to remove the tiny from its trailer. I was able to free tiny # 1 from it's trailer in an afternoon, and without assistance. # 1 is the 8 by 12 foot 'farmer's market wagon'. If you are interested in creating or buying, I suggest that you see tiny # 1 and its trailer at 239 Twisp Carlton road in Washington. It is slightly more than a plain business. Tiny homes are a sort of movement, linked to renewable energy and the concept of planned communities. I have created a series of tiny wood stoves [yes, I love to weld!]. I am currently working with tiny furniture and tiny kitchens. Last year, I converted an ATV from gasoline to plug in electric, and tested it with hundreds of 15 mile trips. The ATV plugs into tiny home # 0, which is the prototype. Its batteries rapid charge from the much larger battery bank in the tiny. This is how the Tesla charging stations work.
You needn't worry about my funny concepts though. Feel free to bring a heap of money and your own trailer, and depart with a tiny home behind your truck. Or purchase tiny home trailer # 1 [not yet licensed], and you will see just how easy it is to load tiny home # 1 onto it!