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Allen’s DIY Tiny House in Colorado (Part II)


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This is a guest submission by one of our readers, Allen Davis, who’s sharing some recent photos of his 8′ x 12′ tiny house on the prairie from May of 2015.

Back in June of 2014 he shared with us how he built it after buying 35 acres in Colorado in an area with no building codes.

I think you’ll find Allen’s tiny house inspiring since he was able to build it in Colorado even though he lives in Alaska!

Related: Alaska Man Builds Tiny House on 35 Acres in Colorado

Allen’s DIY Tiny House in Colorado (Part II)

Allen Davis 8x12 Colorado Tiny House

Images © Allen Davis

Hi Alex, wanted to send a brief update, I’m the guy in Alaska building in Colorado once a year annual trip. I am calling it a tiny ranch. We have gotten a fair more done inside, including pine wall covering and one side in white bead panel for more light.

A local craftsman made us a beetle killed counter top. We visited local antique dealers for the cubbard and wood door I turned sideways and hinged to the wall for a table. Also have installed flooring. Will hopefully have septic installed this summer, build a bath house so we have more inside room.

 

Allen Davis 8x12 Colorado Tiny House Allen Davis 8x12 Colorado Tiny House Allen Davis 8x12 Colorado Tiny House Allen Davis 8x12 Colorado Tiny House

Images © Allen Davis

My plans are to have it rental ready for someone who wishes this lifestyle on 35 beautiful Colorado acres, as well as a place for maybe one tiny trailer to park if wanted.

We have mostly finished a small corral also. Still pluggin along, Allen Davis (cabindad at hotmail dot com)

***

“I became interested in tiny houses a few years ago after reading Lloyd Kahn’s Tiny Homes. I can do a little cowboy carpentry so decided to buy some land and give it a whirl. Our tiny house is 8 x 12 feet built on a 6 x 6 treated pier foundation. It is tall enough for a small loft, I lowered the ceiling height to 7 feet below the loft to give it an extra foot of head space. It has a small deck in front and a small troll bridge across the gulley in front, kinda hard to see, yeah I said troll, not toll. We put the windows in to both take advantage of the sun and the view.

We built a small fence around it to keep the cattle out, as this is all open grazing area. Oh yeah, we live in Alaska and this has so far been done in two trips totaling about 15 days of work. I mainly say this to let folks know you can do something long distance if you want it bad enough. That is where the internet really helps. Anyways here are a few photos too. Thanks, Allen Davis”

Source: https://tinyhousetalk.com/man-builds-tiny-house/

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 17 comments… add one }
  • Teresa
    June 5, 2015, 12:33 pm

    Hello! You mentioned that this is in the prairie of Colorado and that you may be looking for renters. Where might you be located?

    Thanks!

  • D. Lowery
    June 5, 2015, 12:41 pm

    Could you please provide the area of Colorado you have built in? Am currently living in Colorado Springs and anything like this ranch house would be near impossible without jumping through too many hoops like zoning and/or covenants than I want to bother with? On the other hand…I have been looking at acre lots in the San Luis area between Walsenburg and Alamosa for some cheap land (as well as in Texas)…but the listings I have looked at don’t provide much information than the utilities which might be available there. Any information and links you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

    • Patricia
      June 5, 2015, 4:11 pm

      beware of Walsenburg , our open scenic land and farm area we settled in 15 years has now been re-zoned for multiple Pot Commercial Grow operations, 3 approved right on top of us so far with 15 more pending.. Plus the Plans for some open pot event right up our county road from us, for 4 days turning out 24000 people. I didn’t matter that it was residential and opposed.. We didn’t stand a chance in keeping the pot out and away from us.. Open land is prime for the Pot Industry…..

  • Karen R
    June 5, 2015, 12:48 pm

    Keep following your dream . . .

  • Nicole
    June 5, 2015, 12:49 pm

    Wonderful and inspiring thank you for sharing. We lived in Ft. Collins for many years and miss the beauty of CO. Is there any more land for sale nearby, maybe other tiny housers could grow a community and be your neighbors. 🙂

  • Chantal
    June 5, 2015, 3:34 pm

    Did he build it in 15 days of work???

  • Heather
    June 5, 2015, 5:39 pm

    Hello Allen,
    My name is Heather and my husband and I currently live in a Tiny house on wheels in Florida. My family lives in Fort Collins, CO and we are looking for a place to rent (or buy) near them. This intrigues us because we also need to have another small building on the same property that I can use as an art studio, and I LOVE the view! What area is your property located and how much are you asking for rent? We look forward to your reply. Thank you.

  • Dee
    June 5, 2015, 8:40 pm

    Allan Davis,
    Like much of our viewers here on the tiny house community, I would also like to know where in Colorado did you build? I’ve been looking to buy some land but most building codes and covenants don’t allow tiny homes. Most of the requirements for square footage tend to be way ove 600 square feet.

    Thank you for reading this..

    Dee.

  • Allen Davis
    June 5, 2015, 9:07 pm

    Ok folks, I have been a bit hesitant to say exactly where it is for obvious reasons. This county in south central Colorado has no building code. If you build an accessory building 100 sq ft or less, no permit is required. Ours is 96 sq ft. Like most anywhere now, a septic system is required to habitate a dwelling. No well is required here, water hauling is fine, believe it or not most places do not legally allow that either. Its all open grazing, you must fence the cattle out if you dont want them around. We actually have an HOA, mainly for road upkeep. Its no where near ready for renters yet, hopefully within a year or so, I wont be asking much, I am not greedy. Thanks for the nice comments and interests, I just personally like a permanent tiny house as opposed to the trailers. So far in land and structure we have approx $25,000 into it.

    • June 8, 2015, 4:25 pm

      Ah, obvious, obvious. not to me. No, wait! AH HAH! You don’t want us to crowd you out by buying the 35 acres next door. Spoil your view by putting our tiny houses nearby. Totally understand, our bad, we’ll just hang out somewhere else.

      I would be greatly shocked if anybody noticed and/or cared enough about what you were doing out there to even issue a habitation certificate. As long as you’re paying your HOA fee for road maintenance, you could probably wander around in the nude and nobody would say boo. Even if there Were cows around.

      Having lived rural myself, ‘legal’ really means ‘what we enforce if you cause trouble’. I think you worry too much. What’re they going to do, drive a bulldozer all the way out there to vindictively flatten your little house because you’re using a composting toilet? The idea makes me giggle it is so absurd.

    • Alex
      June 8, 2015, 6:34 pm

      David, great points on the enforcement of HOA… I think you were just joking but just in case I want to say hey, come on, let’s just respect Allen’s desire for privacy and be grateful he’s sharing this much, right? Thanks all.. I appreciate you.

  • SaturdaySportsman
    June 5, 2015, 10:51 pm

    Imagine waking up to that view every morning!

  • Allen Clarke
    June 6, 2015, 6:13 am

    I am in Australia and how do you store water. My wife wants to know where is the toilet?

  • Susanne
    June 6, 2015, 7:42 am

    25,000 for the structure AND land? That has to be a typo?!

    • Candide33
      June 6, 2015, 8:17 pm

      Probably not a typo, we just bought a couple hundred acres in Colorado for less than $800 an acre. Look on Landwatch, there are a bunch of 35 acre lots, the smallest they sell in rural areas for about $300 an acre.

  • Nancy
    June 6, 2015, 10:19 pm

    So glad to see a followup, thanks Allen/Alex.
    Please post again when it’s complete, I’d like to see the sleeping loft and the wash house.
    Interesting there’s an HOA, seems odd for such a rural location.
    Why not live there yourself?

  • Allen Davis
    June 7, 2015, 12:21 am

    Not a typo, remember its all off grid and likely always will be, roads get muddy in hard rain, etc. No toilet yet, no water, will have either a catchment system or small gravity fed water storage on the hill above. We dont live here because its not liveable. Still a work in progress. Its hardscrabble land mainly good for jackrabbits and cactus, but we like it. The HOA is odd but also gives some protection against some junk issues.

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