Accessory dwelling units (ADU) are small homes that can be built in the backyards of larger homes, in cities where they’ve been approved.
They’re also sometimes known as carriage, coach, or laneway houses.
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Image © Colin Perry and Lanefab
Micah, Jana, and their son Silas moved from Birmingham, Alabama to the San Francisco Bay Area for a work opportunity but they weren’t prepared to pay the high price tag to rent an apartment.
Instead, they contracted a tiny house building company, American Tiny House, to build their tiny house and the family has been vlogging about their experience on YouTube.
Image © Exploring Alternatives
Adam from HoneyBox INC. built this off-grid shipping container cabin on a mountain top in British Columbia, Canada. The structure uses three 20-foot shipping containers, with the middle container bolted to a cement block foundation using twist locks and the two outer containers cantilevered using lashing rods.
The cabin was designed as a demonstration studio showcasing how shipping containers can create unique living spaces. The entire front-facing wall features panoramic windows for mountain views, and the structure operates completely off-grid with solar power, propane, and rainwater collection.
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Image © Exploring Alternatives
Mat and Danielle from Exploring Alternatives spent a day at the Storstac Inc. shipping container yard in Toronto, Canada to learn the ins and outs of building with new and used shipping containers.
While building with shipping containers is not necessarily cheaper than conventional building, it does have advantages because containers are modular, mobile, durable, and they have a unique, modern look.
They can be do it yourself friendly if you’ve worked with steel before, or if you find a company to take care of the steel work for you so that you can focus on framing and finishing it from the inside.
Image © Storstac Inc. and New Old Stock
Here are 3 of their key takeaways:
This is an earthship home built by Jordan.
Jordan from Earthship PEI (Prince Edward Island, Canada) shares great tips and advice on how to build a stunning earthship-style home using recycled tires and earthen plaster made from clay, sand, and straw. He built this beautiful green building with a ton of help from his girlfriend and friends.
Related: Taylor & Steph’s $10k Earthship Home
Image © Exploring Alternatives
Nicky and Judy decided that a tiny house on wheels would be the ideal solution for the next stage in their lives: retirement. The low cost of living a minimalist lifestyle in 175 square feet allows Nicky to work less (Judy is already retired), and it allows them to enjoy living in their dream home with the option of moving to a new location if they desire. The couple’s tiny house, which they call “Tiny” for short, was built by Matt from Howling Dog Construction in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Image © Exploring Alternatives
This off-grid treehouse has a hanging rope bridge that connects it to a magical treetop deck. It was built by Dior and Sylvain from Les Toits du Monde (“Roofs of the World” in English), which is an eco-resort in Nominingue, Québec, Canada — less than 3 hours from Montreal and Ottawa.
The treehouse has a solar panel for the lights, a propane cooktop in the kitchen, a portable solar shower and 5-gallon bucket toilet with sawdust, a wood stove for heat, and they deliver drinking water in jugs that are filled from their well at the main house.
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Image © Exploring Alternatives
Zola Molotov, a fire dancer, converted this 24 foot school bus into a functional mobile home on wheels that runs on free waste vegetable oil collected from restaurant deep fryers.
Following a freegan philosophy, she attempted to reuse and scavenge many materials for the skoolie conversion, including the sink and propane stove that were given to her in exchange for demolishing an old trailer.
Zola and a diesel mechanic installed a waste vegetable oil system that allows the bus to run on diesel, or on waste vegetable oil.
Image © Exploring Alternatives
Ma Maison Logique‘s second tiny house design, the Novio, is a 210 square foot minimalist stunner with an open concept floor plan and massive picture windows. Their first tiny house is here.
The Novio has clever space-saving features like a composting toilet in a drawer, a shower in a closet, and a ladder tucked away in the wall; in addition to thoughtful touches, like the skylight in the loft for stargazing. Some people may not enjoy the idea of a toilet hidden in their clothes closet, in which case the closet could easily be repurposed as a bathroom storage space for toilet paper, cleaning products, etc.
This tiny home was designed as a guest house for their clients, who have access to electricity year round. It is heated with 2 small electric baseboard heaters and has high performing insulation and a heat recovery air exchange ventilator (HRV) to help manage heat and humidity in the small space.
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Image © Exploring Alternatives
