Most people think of a tiny house as glorified trailer, or small shack on wheels. We are building neither of those things. Instead we’ve opted for a small footprint of 450sf and cement foundation. So it won’t ever move and it is slightly larger than the traditional max of 400sf.

The walls and roof are made up of SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) which have great insulative properties and are less wasteful than their “stick frame” counterparts.

There is also 4″ of rigid foam insulation below the cement floor and 2″ all around. This the insulation will thermally decouple the cement from the colder soil. The idea is that then it will act as a heat battery of sorts.

One last thing I want to mention is how I stubbed out the bath drain to use the greywater for irrigation. It’s not a very greywater friendly area over here, but I’m working with some groups to change that. Hopefully I’ll be able to use that water one of these days. Better to have it ready than to have the pipes buried in cement!

More to come on this as the project moves forward…

Here are some of the photos of the progress so far:

Till next time

The post Our Tiny House Build appeared first on The Greenman Project.

First, let’s catch up (AKA you can skip ahead to the content). I’ve let this blog go without updates for far too long! Been busy with moving to a new place, building a tiny home, a new job, and the list goes on… There has been lots of new thing I hope to share and fun projects/adventure. But more to the point of this post I, recently, joined a local group that tries to tackle the subject of degrowth.

I’m only on my second meeting and am already feeling my Eco-warrior batteries replenishing! Which takes us to the actual post…

Degrowth and Space

The definition of degrowth I’ll be working from…

Degrowth is an idea that critiques the global capitalist system which pursues growth at all costs, causing human exploitation and environmental destruction. The degrowth movement of activists and researchers advocates for societies that prioritize social and ecological well-being instead of corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption. This requires radical redistribution, reduction in the material size of the global economy, and a shift in common values towards care, solidarity and autonomy. Degrowth means transforming societies to ensure environmental justice and a good life for all within planetary boundaries.

I think we all can agree on what space is, right?

How does space affect growth/degrowth?

I could easily go down a rabbit hole on this. Centralization vs. De-centralization, which is good when? Or Capitalism vs. Socialism… But I do have other things to do this week

So let me put a container on this and keep it to living spaces. One of the things that appeals to me about degrowth is the idea of enough, or even eco-sufficiency. We all have a propensity to want comfort, but often confuse that with more, better, newer, faster… How big do you really need your house to be? Turns out not very big at all.

Consider shared spaces with your neighbors. More access to books (shared library), tools (shared workshop), or food (shared pantry) could easily be a part of your life with some time and effort. This would allow everybody more access to these things while minimizing wasted space, saving money, and fostering more human connection. I, fondly, recall Mark Lakeman of City Repair speaking about this very thing. Neighbors in a city block knocking down their backyard fences to create a more socially engaging sense of place. I realize that this example creates more, not less, space… But, here, we are talking about retrofitting. What would it look like if city blocks were designed with co-habitation in mind?

There is also the concept of space and time. Do we really need all of (single-use) the rooms in a house? Not one laundry machine per home but several in a shared space. How about multi use spaces (this can apply just as well for single family dwellings or co-housing scenarios) such as a meeting room that can also be a kids play area, then a “movie theater”, and a guest sleeping area. All depending on the time of day. Like a watering hole, it is used by different creatures at different times, but almost never un-visited.

Same with garages… Ever been to a garage sale? If you are like me and peek at the garage, they very often have the same things. Lawnmower, clothes washer/dryer, work bench, collection of tools, bicycles, maybe a kayak, and all sorts of other items. How often do all of these get used? I guess that’s why garage sales exist. To get rid of the, wanted but not often used, items. What if there was a shared “garage” space? Several families could co-own a few of the said items, instead of each owning their own? Here at the EcoVillage, we have a wood shop. It’s got all the things I could ever want, but it’s shared. So we don’t have to all own these expensive, not often used, items. But when we need them, there they are! Same with our washer/dryers, we have a set of four used by around forty people.

One last idea I want to touch on is that these ideas (co-housing and sharing resources) are only valuable to people who could not otherwise afford housing, or cars, or have access to tools/food/books. Something on a kin to: “Sounds great for ‘them’, but not ‘me’, I don’t ‘need’ to do that”… It is very helpful in those scenarios, however, it is not just a good idea for the purpose of “lifting all boats”! What would it look like if everybody saw the benefit of this way of thinking, living, and sharing? Maybe less “I, me, mine” and more “we, us, ours”. How much of an improvement would our quality of life, environment, and social health see?

Please let me know your thoughts I’d love to hear them…

I’ll leave you with some resources shared with me, till next time

TreeHugger.com:
Efficiency Without Sufficiency Is Lost.

EnergySufficiency.org:
The energy sufficiency project is a three-year eceee project primarily funded by the Copenhagen-based KR Foundation. Other agencies and partners are involved in specific workshops and are listed when applicable under each national workshop presentation.

Resilience.org:
Strategies for Cultural Change: Degrowth and the Use of Space

Energy sufficiency as alternative renovation approach for buildings:

The post Space appeared first on The Greenman Project.

The Boxes

Boy have we been busy! Turns out the U-Haul boxes, we hoped to have delivered by the time we made it to Port Townsend, were still in Southern California when we called . Luckily for us the place where we are staying has all the accoutrements we could want, since we are staying at a friend’s place while he is away.

After two+ weeks of not having any of our stuff, the boxes arrived. We were then torn between happiness and loathing, as we now find ourselves living amongst boxes. Little by little we are sorting plans out and getting things setup for the next phase.

Home Sweet Little Home

What is that phase, you ask? Well since we joined the Port Townsend EcoVillage, we’ve been designing our home there. In a couple of months we hope to have the plans approved and the building started.

We decided to go with conventional building, no cob or straw bale, because the permitting alone would take too many resources and time. Guess I’ll have to get my kicks with a cob bench or shed! The walls will be S.I.P.s (Structural Insulated Panel) which have many possible advantages:

• Quicker build time
• Higher insulating properties
• Lower heating/cooling operational cost
• Less wasted building materials

Common House

We are also in the middle of the common house build in the EcoVillage. Been going at this for a couple of year and it’s looking more and more finished. I’ll share more details as things progress, but here are some photos:

Till next time, keep it fun!

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Went to Astoria, in the morning, and now wishing we would have stayed a day there as it looked like a fun place to hang out. But we really wanted to get to our destination, so we crossed the Astoria-Megler Bridge into Washington after a coffee and little snack.

We drove all day through some beautiful views but decided to move on through as this parts will be visited again in the near future. Lake Crescent was the last thing we saw before the dark and it was quite a site! We are very excited to explore the area and learn all about the plants, animals, and people here.

When we got to, our friend, John’s place it felt a little like Christmas. We had several welcome gifts and notes from our new friends/neighbors. We are staying at John’s while he is on a road trip and while we finish designing and building our small home here.

Now to catch up with old friends and make new ones…

The post The Big Move pt. 5 appeared first on The Greenman Project.

On the way out of Arcata, we stopped at the incomparable Redwood Curtain Brewing Company. Where they filled my growler so we can enjoy on the road, obvs not while driving. Truly one of the best in the West!

After a brew and breakfast, we headed to Fern Canyon. This place was amazing!

I’ll spare you the dizzying video I took of the drive back out to the highway. Well worthwhile, but yikes!

After that awesome hike, we zipped up the coast to the first rest stop we could get to in Southern Oregon. Had another great breakfast view early the next morning, then tried to make some good progress.

Didn’t make it too far without getting to Clausen Oysters in North Bend. What a welcome site that was. I love eating in Rusty, but a nice meal here and there?

We are now in Seaside, about 20 miles from the Washington border. Oregon passed by fast, drove nearly 300 miles today, which is harder than you’d think in a VW bus. We may make it to our new home in Port Townsend tomorrow, but likely we will stay the night at Forks and take it nice and easy.

The post The Big Move pt. 4 appeared first on The Greenman Project.

Went past Petaluma and Sebastopol, where one of my favorite clients are based. Daily Acts is a class act, do look them up and engage with them if you live in the area!

This trip would be out of sorts for us if we didn’t stop at some breweries, so… Stopped at North Coast Brewing and picked up a bottle of barrel aged Old Rasputin that should be a nice treat later.

Had a great roadside meal and are now about to leave Arcata towards the Oregon coast.

But not before fixing a road trip snafu… A pebble found it’s way to Rusty’s windshield, so quick pitstop.

No trip through this area would be complete without a stop/walk in, the easily accessible and amazing, Redwood Park.

Onward and upward!

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