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After owning a conventional home and feeling stressed by the pressure of paying a large mortgage on her own by mortgage arrangers, Natalie, a Canadian woman in her mid-thirties, decided to build a tiny house on wheels.
Starting with plans from Tumbleweed, she adapted the design for extreme winter weather by installing spray foam insulation, a heat recovery ventilation system, electric in-floor heating and a propane heater. Natalie built the house with the help of a contractor and the whole project, including labor, cost approximately $36,000 CAD (although the roof still needs to be shingled).
The tiny house is currently parked in a suburb of Montreal, Canada where she has been living in it for a year and a half. She plans to live in this house forever and, with a little bit of work (i.e. taking down a portion of the backyard fencing), she can take her home wherever she goes.
Woman Ditches Mortgage and Builds Tiny Home
Images © Exploring Alternatives via YouTube
Images © Exploring Alternatives via YouTube
Video: Natalie’s Tiny Home on Wheels
Natalie blogged about her tiny house building process here:
https://tinyrefuge.wordpress.com
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Latest posts by Mat Dubé (see all)
- Woman Ditches Mortgage and Builds Tiny Home - December 20, 2015
Alex, I really enjoyed this video. A nice mix between the house itself and the motivation and feelings about living tiny. Thanks for sharing, Natalie.
Thanks Marcy I’m glad you enjoyed it too! 🙂
Nice little place. Would have liked to see more of the bathroom, as that’s a pretty important part of the lifestyle here. I’m left to guess that she uses a composting toilet. Personally, I’ve come to the conclusion that for a house on wheels to be a place i want to live in for the rest of my life, it will have to have pop outs pretty much the whole length of the place, AND have the top pop up so one can stand in the loft. OR, have the place looking enough to where the bedroom can be on the main floor. I also think an incinerator toilet is the way to go, literally, (see what i did there?), if it’s possible to address the smell issue, which i understand is not so great. Maybe Poo-Pouri? Seriously.
Sounds like you’re talking about a regular small two story house.
Not really. I currently live in a 10’x27′, single story, cottage. Not on wheels. Perfect for one person, considering I have a garage with laundry room in it I can use, and a shed for “stuff”. I have no “living room”, but being one person, I don’t care. I would much prefer another 2′ deep and another 3 – 6 feet wide – 12×30 or 12×33, (396sf to keep it under 400sf for tax purposes). A little more room at the end of the bed and a bigger bathroom to fit a tun/shower instead of the 30″x30″ shower stall, which is pretty tight. Perhaps a loft, with stairs, with a pop-up top, for a living room… assuming the loft doesn’t count in the square footage, tax-wise…
Say, wondering if I could get a lead on the “Luno C2” vent system.
Not sure I spelled it right since I couldn’t find such an item on the web. Thanks, Mark
google lunosE2 http://www.lunos.de/en
orhttps://foursevenfive.com/product-category/ventilation/lunos-e2-2/
they are sold in the US by a company called foreseven five
Was wondering about water pipes freezing up in extreme cold weather when she’s not home. Also, maybe change the outlet cover outside to one of those bubble looking ones to prevent snow buildup and creating a mini ice dam on the cover…small changes but really effective.