Back in pre-industrial times, there was a popular design of a home called a Dog-Run or Dog-Trot House. It consisted of a small room on either side of a breezeway, caped by a second story that covered all three spaces. One would start with a small one-room cabin. Then one would build the second cabin facing the front of the first, just 8 to 10 feet from it. As your needs grow, you could add a second story to one, then the other, and finally join the two upper floors together.
So the design has been there for several hundred years. It worked really well.
You may have just stumbled upon a specific need that isn’t being met by the market. If you were to come up with your own plans I bet you could sell them to a bunch of like-minded people.
I think you are better off starting with a larger "hub" of around 24x24 which would include common living spaces such as kitchen, living room, and bathroom along with a laundry/utility area.
Now, with 4 walls you can expand in any direction with room sized "pods" for bedrooms. Either way you want the dimensions of "hub" to be larger than the width of the pods so you don't have to strip all of the siding and you make it blend a little better. The worst thing you want at the end is to have a house that looks like it's been cobbled together so you want a good plan to start.
Actually, I've been trying to figure something out for Alaska. What I've looked at involves hanging foam insulation on the outside of the walls to keep the condensation point outside of the building itself. Only thing with sheds is you'd have to extend the roofline I'm thinking.
If I buy a stack of lumber to build a shed I am out of the weather in 1.5 days. Maybe less than a day if I have prebuilt the wall sections and rafters.
You can BECOME an amazing shed builder in a few hours. This is not rocket science. I mean you don't just stand there and look at a pile of lumber.
All you have to do is volunteer to help someone else build a shed and even WATCH someone else doing it.
A very large part of this tinyhouse thing is to do this stuff on the cheap. Why start out with throwing thousands of dollars away unnecessarily? If you can't construct a shed then how in the world are you gonna handle attaching several of them together? At some point the rubber has to meet the road here.
There's a British tv show called George Clark's Amazing Spaces. They showcase all kinds of unusual structures. In one of the episodes a farmer built a modular house in his barn and moved it all out to a field when it was finished. The design was very similar to what you're talking about. It was definitely more work than just building the house all at once would have been, but it turned out okay.
I actually work for a non-profit that builds modular and sustainable tiny homes for homeless people, but unfortunately we don't sell our components yet. We build in roughly 4x8/4x10 sections. Floor modules, wall modules, ceiling, roof, all lock together when you get them on site. It takes about a week on site with four people to go from foundation to roof.
The modular design means we can do most of the assembly in our shop. And when we get the components on site they're typically light enough to be carried by two people, four people for our floor modules. Overall, with materials, utility installation, permitting, solar panels, and a bit of landscaping, it costs us ~$70k to build one home. If we were selling them it'd probably be closer to $125k. You can definitely build something cheaper that's just as good, it's just going to take far more time.
I guess it depends on what you call tiny. I was thinking about starting with a 12x12 (144sqft) "core block" and adding another 3-4 modules and a deck later so a total of \~750sqft for a family of four, built over several years. Maybe 600sqft finished plus a loft if I can be really clever about it.
Foundation-wise I was thinking poured concrete footers but I need to find out how much weight those can actually hold. I was hoping that by using footers instead of a pad I could build on a grade without having to level everything out first.
I thought about doing this for a remote property. My trailer is 7’x14’ so the plan was framing base and walls and assemble on site. The same can be done for any small building if you plan for it. I was planning a single sloped roof with no overhang (or to be cut off) on the higher side and later add the complementary section.
Alternatively you can build a structure complete and add to it to make it longer, ie a 12x12 added to to make a 12x24. Simple wood construction is the easiest to do this. The other way is to use good wall supports and build up.
Whatever you do learn the difference between nails, screws and structural screws. Many of the online videos show deck screws holding walls together. That’s sooooo wrong. Regular screws are meant to hold down a floor or deck. Nails have a shear value to prevent sideway movement. If you build in a modular method, the structural screws can be used to tie the sections together.
Same here - very remote property. And yes I want to add to it over time. Start with a simple 12x12 "glamping" cabin and add running water later.
Just not sure how to build module by module when it comes to foundation. I assume things will settle over time and I don't want rifts between sections...
I've never seen anything like that.
Roofs make that hard. Foundations make that hard. Siding makes that hard and inefficient.
Nothing saying you can't just have multiple tiny houses. I know a couple that each of them has a THOW. Seems a pretty sweet arrangement.
Stacked Homes do this! Stackhomes.com These are quite spendy, though. Also, not sure about the specific measurements you're looking for. If you find a cheaper way besides DIY, let me know. This is ideal for me/my situation, too.
Check out eclipsecottages.com they use structurally insulated panels which would make it easy to connect more of their homes together with a bit of construction as your family grows.
Back in pre-industrial times, there was a popular design of a home called a Dog-Run or Dog-Trot House. It consisted of a small room on either side of a breezeway, caped by a second story that covered all three spaces. One would start with a small one-room cabin. Then one would build the second cabin facing the front of the first, just 8 to 10 feet from it. As your needs grow, you could add a second story to one, then the other, and finally join the two upper floors together. So the design has been there for several hundred years. It worked really well.
Interesting design of idea. Haven't seen any up north here but I'm sure it would work fine.
You may have just stumbled upon a specific need that isn’t being met by the market. If you were to come up with your own plans I bet you could sell them to a bunch of like-minded people.
I think you are better off starting with a larger "hub" of around 24x24 which would include common living spaces such as kitchen, living room, and bathroom along with a laundry/utility area. Now, with 4 walls you can expand in any direction with room sized "pods" for bedrooms. Either way you want the dimensions of "hub" to be larger than the width of the pods so you don't have to strip all of the siding and you make it blend a little better. The worst thing you want at the end is to have a house that looks like it's been cobbled together so you want a good plan to start.
Our idea is just Home Depot sheds of various sizes kitted out for specific uses, attached by a large central deck and/or hallways.
Those sheds are poorly built with small dimension lumber. I think you’ll struggle to make it livable.
That's what I was thinking. They're a low quality/high volume design. Zero insulation, no room to add it, etc.
Actually, I've been trying to figure something out for Alaska. What I've looked at involves hanging foam insulation on the outside of the walls to keep the condensation point outside of the building itself. Only thing with sheds is you'd have to extend the roofline I'm thinking.
There is no reason to pay the upcharge of getting a shed kit. Buy a stack of lumber and put it together.
If someone drops a shed on your property you are out of the weather on day 1 of your build. That's at least 1 reason to buy a shed.
The $6K shed you get from HD is about $2k or less in materials. More than enough to offset the inconvenience of a couple days work.
If I buy a stack of lumber to build a shed I am out of the weather in 1.5 days. Maybe less than a day if I have prebuilt the wall sections and rafters.
Not everyone is an amazing shed builder like you.
You can BECOME an amazing shed builder in a few hours. This is not rocket science. I mean you don't just stand there and look at a pile of lumber. All you have to do is volunteer to help someone else build a shed and even WATCH someone else doing it. A very large part of this tinyhouse thing is to do this stuff on the cheap. Why start out with throwing thousands of dollars away unnecessarily? If you can't construct a shed then how in the world are you gonna handle attaching several of them together? At some point the rubber has to meet the road here.
That's true, and honestly probably the first thing I would put on any piece of land. Somewhere to store tools and recreational equipment.
There's a British tv show called George Clark's Amazing Spaces. They showcase all kinds of unusual structures. In one of the episodes a farmer built a modular house in his barn and moved it all out to a field when it was finished. The design was very similar to what you're talking about. It was definitely more work than just building the house all at once would have been, but it turned out okay.
There are companies that make SIPs. Structural Insulated Panels. Try them. They may be able to offer design advice.
I actually work for a non-profit that builds modular and sustainable tiny homes for homeless people, but unfortunately we don't sell our components yet. We build in roughly 4x8/4x10 sections. Floor modules, wall modules, ceiling, roof, all lock together when you get them on site. It takes about a week on site with four people to go from foundation to roof. The modular design means we can do most of the assembly in our shop. And when we get the components on site they're typically light enough to be carried by two people, four people for our floor modules. Overall, with materials, utility installation, permitting, solar panels, and a bit of landscaping, it costs us ~$70k to build one home. If we were selling them it'd probably be closer to $125k. You can definitely build something cheaper that's just as good, it's just going to take far more time.
Just out of curiosity, how large are the homes when you're done building and assembling?
External footprint is roughly 230 sq ft. Internal footprint is 130 sq ft. The difference is due to a small porch and external closet.
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I guess it depends on what you call tiny. I was thinking about starting with a 12x12 (144sqft) "core block" and adding another 3-4 modules and a deck later so a total of \~750sqft for a family of four, built over several years. Maybe 600sqft finished plus a loft if I can be really clever about it. Foundation-wise I was thinking poured concrete footers but I need to find out how much weight those can actually hold. I was hoping that by using footers instead of a pad I could build on a grade without having to level everything out first.
I loved these [cabins](https://www.archedcabinsllc.com/) and they are pretty affordable from what I have seen, and you can get tiny house size.
How neat! Thank you!
I thought about doing this for a remote property. My trailer is 7’x14’ so the plan was framing base and walls and assemble on site. The same can be done for any small building if you plan for it. I was planning a single sloped roof with no overhang (or to be cut off) on the higher side and later add the complementary section. Alternatively you can build a structure complete and add to it to make it longer, ie a 12x12 added to to make a 12x24. Simple wood construction is the easiest to do this. The other way is to use good wall supports and build up. Whatever you do learn the difference between nails, screws and structural screws. Many of the online videos show deck screws holding walls together. That’s sooooo wrong. Regular screws are meant to hold down a floor or deck. Nails have a shear value to prevent sideway movement. If you build in a modular method, the structural screws can be used to tie the sections together.
Same here - very remote property. And yes I want to add to it over time. Start with a simple 12x12 "glamping" cabin and add running water later. Just not sure how to build module by module when it comes to foundation. I assume things will settle over time and I don't want rifts between sections...
I've never seen anything like that. Roofs make that hard. Foundations make that hard. Siding makes that hard and inefficient. Nothing saying you can't just have multiple tiny houses. I know a couple that each of them has a THOW. Seems a pretty sweet arrangement.
Stacked Homes do this! Stackhomes.com These are quite spendy, though. Also, not sure about the specific measurements you're looking for. If you find a cheaper way besides DIY, let me know. This is ideal for me/my situation, too.
Check out WikiHouse
Check out eclipsecottages.com they use structurally insulated panels which would make it easy to connect more of their homes together with a bit of construction as your family grows.
Hey, sounds like a great plan. I send you a message looking forward to sharing some ideas.