This post showcases a modern prefab 13′ by 14′ structure that can serve as a backyard micro studio, office, or just as an accessory structure. At just 182 square feet including the porch I think you’ll find it has a minimalist look and feel to it with its elegant and compact design inside and out.

All of the windows in this unit push out like an awning. The relatively large sliding glass door gives you plenty of natural light inside and opens you up to the outside world. You’ll also notice that there’s plenty of covered porch space with a 4′ overhang. The floor plan for this design includes enough space to work, lounge, and prepare your snacks since there are plans for a refrigerator and microwave near the desk. There’s also overhead storage to put your stuff away whether that’s work or living related. In addition, I also noticed that there’s more room for storage by the porch (outdoor closet) that can be used for stuff or maybe an air conditioning system.

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Modern Prefab Backyard Studio

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Meet Brendon and Akua who built a 500-square-foot small house in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The home was designed and constructed with the help of Smallworks Studios / Laneway Housing in Vancouver.

A while back we featured Paula and Skip’s 500-square-foot home from Smallworks Studios which you may also like. Brendon and Akua went with Laneway’s West Coast Loft model which features a loft bedroom, luxurious kitchen, living area with balcony, and a garage. They built it in Brendon’s parent’s backyard so they didn’t have to buy additional land. Since it has a flat roof you can easily add solar panels or even a living roof.

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Couple’s 500-Square-Foot Small House

Photo Credits Brendon and Akua of http://buildsmall.blogspot.com

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It’s always exciting when Michael Janzen is up to something and he recently announced an aerodynamic tiny house design that he’s working on.

The purpose of a little home like this is so that you can enjoy more of the benefits of a traditional travel trailer which are lighter in weight and more aerodynamic in comparison to the stick built tiny houses on trailers that we normally talk about.

So Michael’s idea with this design is to not only make it aerodynamically shaped but also make an effort to lower its weight by using lighter materials to build with.

He’s going with a 20′ trailer to support it and it will still include an entry porch so you can stay dry during the rain while fetching for your house keys. Michael mentions in the article, “I do plan to offer framing plans of this sometime in the near future – but no ETA at the moment.”

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Michael has more information as well as photos of the exterior and interior for you to look at along with the original SketchUp files that you can download. Click here to read the complete original article.

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More Like This: Tiny Houses | Horse Trailer Turned Micro Camper by Capable Carpenter | THOW

Guest Post by Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings

About a week ago (July 22), a friend of mine (Kim Langston) had her little house caught up in a large barn fire. The house was in the construction phase, and while it wasn’t quite complete, it was close enough that she felt certain she’d be living in it by September or October.  It was completely destroyed in the fire and Kim didn’t have insurance to cover the loss.  I’ve attached before and after photos which, if you’re like me, will drop you to your knees.

I’ve been so racked by this incident… so sad.  And its brought up a couple of things for me: one is that I’d like to learn more about what sort of insurance options are out there for little hand-built structures.  Houses on wheels or built on the ground. I’ve done some searching and it seems there may be some tools but the loopholes are intense; you aren’t insured, for example, if the structure is on the highway or not insured if you don’t personally own the property where it sits.

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Article by Laura LaVoie

This post will show you some basics regarding ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible tiny homes in case you or someone that you know has special needs. We recently had this question as a comment on a post about container homes:

“I rather like the ideas for container housing. What I need is a home that is electric wheelchair (and associated medical equipment) friendly. With an inability to use lofts, the need for a handicapped friendly shower and bathroom. Turning radius issues of the chair and widened door/hall openings the housing I need probably won’t fit in the “tiny” range. Shoving a bed into a corner won’t work either as you cannot get the wheelchair between the bed and the corner to make the bed. I’m trying to determine the balance between space enough to move around effectively and comfortably without a lot of unneeded space. Does anyone have any leads on something like this. Those of us needing this type of housing often are trying to live on disability and cannot afford a “full sized” house.”

Wheelchair-Friendly Tiny Homes

Image © Tiny Idahomes

Alex and I both thought this was a worthy topic to discuss here at Tiny House Talk. There is no reason that a small house or other alternative building can’t be modified or designed to fit the needs each individual customer. So I began some research.

By the way, to explore more helpful tiny house articles like this, join our Tiny House Newsletter. It’s free and you’ll be glad you did! We even give you free downloadable tiny house plans just for joining!

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Meet and Margy and Wayne Lutz who live in a 675-square-feet small float cabin in a placed called Hole in the Wall in Coastal British Columbia.

It’s completely off-grid with water access only. They used a combination of solar power, wind, and thermo electricity for power.

Their home is the third cabin that their friend John built and they purchased it for approximately $25,000 in USD back in 2001.

Next to the home, is a beautiful docked boat that Wayne enjoys using to write and use his laptop in which has a solar panel on it as well for power.

In the video that you can watch at the bottom of this post he’ll explain the complete set up which uses two golf cart batteries to store power collected from panels, wind turbines, and the heat generated by their fireplace.

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One of the latest owners of tiny house on a trailer seems like they purchased it to fix it up and resell it.

They updated the trailer by upgrading the axles, tongue, brakes, springs, some of the framing, and even replaced the tires. This was back in 2010.

Since then they listed it over at Tiny House Listings and put it up for sale for $45,000. It’s no longer available and I’m actually not sure if it actually sold at that price.

This 144-square-foot house on wheels actually has two decks. One by the entrance and the other one for your utilities like propane tanks and such. There are also two lofts in the home, one for you to sleep in and the other for storage.

Now that shower that you’re wondering about- which you’ll see in the photos below- is a beach mural covered in plexiglass. I thought that was a unique way to give the house a vacation-like touch.

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I wanted to share with you this reader question on parking a tiny house in your backyard.

It’s interesting because it covers two ways of building and using a tiny home… One as a backyard shelter or granny flat. And the other as a recreational vehicle parked out back. So here it is…

Hi Alex,

I called the city I live in yesterday, and for us to build a granny house and live in it, (aka Tiny House) our lot needs to be 10,000 sq. ft and it is only 6880 sq ft. So, when I asked about if we had a mobile home (aka your Tiny House on wheels) could we park it in our backyard on our corner lot, and he said, yes, but we could not live in it. In case a nosey neighbor reported us … oh well, this should be the worst of our troubles…

Any suggestions? We are still interested, but don’t want to spend the time and money on a Tiny House if we could get in trouble… ugh so frustrating, because this would be wonderful to have our college grad in a year? son live in it, and he would love the freedom it would offer as well. I would appreciate any suggestions to deal with the permit/city people you might have. I live in the San Jose, Ca area…

Thanks,
Joni

Hi Joni, thanks so much for your question. I’m sure this is something that a lot of people considering tiny homes have similar concerns on. And lots of areas around the country might fit into a similar situation.

It’s too bad that you weren’t allowed to build a granny flat because of the size of your lot but interesting that you’re still allowed to park a structure there if it’s on a trailer. I’d be interested in finding out what the rules are for camping in the tiny house while it’s parked in your backyard.

If that’s a possibility, then how many days are you allowed to consecutively camp in it? If anybody else has any ideas, please share them in the comments. Thank you!

If you enjoyed this you’ll LOVE our Free Daily Tiny House Newsletter with even more!

You can also join our Small House Newsletter!

Also, try our Tiny Houses For Sale Newsletter! Thank you!

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