Laura LaVoie on Tiny House Talk

The Many Options for Showers in Tiny Houses

by Laura LaVoie on May 20, 2013

When you’re building a space that is 200 square feet or less your bathroom is probably going to be quite small. Considering half of the space will be taken up with a toilet, composting or otherwise, a very small shower will be imperative. As it turns out, there are more options than you might imagine from the most basic solutions to decorative ideas.

For our tiny house we chose a 30X30 fiberglass shower stall. Since this was our first building we wanted something that was easy to install and put together. We built our bathroom walls around it to ensure that it fit properly. It may not be the most decorative option but it is simple and functional and we can spruce it up with a nice shower curtain.

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Photo by Laura M. LaVoie

Click below to read about more tiny house showers.

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How to Choose the Right Siding for Your Tiny House

by Laura LaVoie on May 13, 2013

In this post I’m going to show you how to pick the right siding for your tiny house because when most people think about tiny houses they focus almost entirely on the interior finish of the house.

It’s easy to think of all the ways you would decorate your tiny house. I had many plans for the inside of our home before we even put up the first wall. In spite of that, I believe that the exterior of your tiny home is as important as what you put indoors. Now I’m really glad we put so much thought into how our siding would look. I’ll explain why below..

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Photo by Laura M. LaVoie

Click below to read more about our house and other siding solutions.

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Cracking the Building Code on Tiny Houses with Ryan Mitchell

by Laura LaVoie on May 6, 2013

I had an amazing time at the Relax Shacks workshop in Wilmington. I was able to meet so many bloggers and builders that I have known online – including Alex from right here at Tiny House Talk. I also had the privilege of spending more time with Ryan Mitchell of The Tiny Life – we even shared a condo for the weekend. At the workshop, he announced the release of his eBook “Cracking the Code: A Guide to Building Codes and Zoning for the Tiny Houses.”

As a blogger, and someone who built a tiny home of my own, I am so grateful for the existence of this book. It is not overstating it to say it is an invaluable resource. I am often asked questions here on Tiny House Talk, over at my own blog, and on Facebook, about permits and codes. I had always felt powerless when faced with these inquiries as the answers aren’t so simple. Thankfully, Ryan Mitchell has come to the rescue by putting together years of research on building codes for his own house and releasing it as an eBook guide. Mitchell shares insight on how to work with your local government and how civil disobedience might be the best option for some tiny house builders.

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Cracking the Code by Ryan Mitchell

Click below to read more about Ryan Mitchell’s eBook.

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Tiny House Codes And Zoning: Taking Matters into Our Own Hands

by Laura LaVoie on April 3, 2013

In the tiny house community we are often talking about the various building codes around the country, and the world, and how they affect tiny spaces. Tiny house bloggers often get asked the question “do you know the building codes in [my city]?”

Building codes are so location specific that they can vary greatly mile by mile. The only way to know for sure about the building codes in your area is to talk to the local government. Unfortunately, you can’t be surprised when they tell you that you can’t live in a tiny house where you want.

Fixing Tiny House Codes and Zoning

Tiny house builders do many things to get around this issue. Some will pick a location because of the friendly nature of the building codes. Some will build on wheels so the house can be moved if it ever becomes a problem. Some will build on unincorporated country land that isn’t likely to strictly enforce codes.

There is one more option that I’m not sure any of us have really considered.

Running for local government.

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photo credit: Will Merydith via photopin cc

Click below to read more about my crazy ideas for extreme tiny house code reform.
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How Frank Lloyd Wright Influenced Our Tiny House Design

by Laura LaVoie on April 2, 2013

I just got home from a week long South Western vacation. The entire week was topped off by a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, Taliesin West.

I started studying Frank Lloyd Wright in college. It was something that Matt and I had in common before we started dating a billion years ago. While we were still both at school we would often travel to Frank Lloyd Wright buildings local to Kalamazoo, Michigan (there are quite a few, surprisingly). We’ve been all over the country to see his buildings: Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania. Now I can add Arizona to my list.

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FLW’s home in Scottsdale, AZ. Photo by Laura M. LaVoie

His buildings had a greater impact on me than I had even realized. Click below to read more.

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Tiny Nomads On the Go: A Modern Yurt Alternative (Teal Panels)

by Laura LaVoie on March 18, 2013

Could this be the yurt alternative that we have been looking for? Were we even looking for a yurt alternative? Do you want to build a tiny house with just a screw driver? If you’ve ever wanted a plastic yurt this might be the answer for you.

Teal Panels from Teal International Corporation may not be the prettiest things to look at but they are simple and easy to construct. But what about the cost? Each panel costs around $200 so it really depends on how large you want your structure. For those of us looking to go tiny, it could be completely cost effective.

teal panels Tiny Nomads On the Go: A Modern Yurt Alternative (Teal Panels)

Image by Teal International Corporation

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An Extreme Tiny Home Makeover: Ugly Tiny House Potential?

by Laura LaVoie on March 15, 2013

Recently I was made aware of a tiny house page on Facebook called Extreme Makeover: Tiny Home Edition.

I thought the concept was interesting at first but really didn’t think much about it at that point.

Next thing I knew I noticed some horrifically hateful things on the page that made me think twice.

Several people were referring to her page as a scam, “these people think that I’m trying to commit fraud with regard to the original ABC-TV show, using the show’s name to scam people out of their money. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” the page owner told me.

I emailed Sally Schrock, the tiny homeowner, to find out more and while I am sure I don’t have the whole story I do feel as though I know enough about her tiny house situation to speak confidently.