RRR Tiny House Updates
- Aug 5
- 9 min read
Updated: 6 hours ago
RRRuTH is my challenge to build a tiny house entirely out of reclaimed, reused, re(up)cycled materials! Can it be done? We'll see!
This page will be a rolling journal with updates from each week. Drop back and find out what's new, check out RRRuTH on YouTube, or sign up for updates, including a chance to join the build!
Week Beginning 10th August
Hours: ~10 hours
Progress: 9.5 of 27 tasks
Road bumps and hurdles. That’s the theme at the moment. Partly financial – because I mean who isn’t struggling right now, especially when it comes to the cost of housing? But also sourcing materials.
The Long Road to a Solution
The idea for RRRuTH – at least the reclaimed, reusable materials part – came from seeing the enormous waste in the construction industry. The contribution to landfill is enormous. I saw a post on Instagram this week about a new build that had defects with the brick work (partly structural, but also with the finish!!), that was going to be demolished to start again!! Crazy. Not that I’m looking for bricks for RRRuTH, but ya know.
I did do a call out to builders & trades for a conversation about a mutually beneficial solution to their waste issues (offcuts, over orders etc), but literally got NO bites. Hmmmm. I also got to the tip shop over the weekend, but didn’t find much useable stuff, and certainly not structural timber. You can't just use any old timber for the frame, and careful checking is essential. I can source doors and windows there maybe, but they haven’t been stored properly and the weather is causing more damaged to already weathered stock.
Did you know....when using salvaged materials, it's advisable to source your windows and doors prior to designing the house frame. Why? Because the sizing of old windows & doors is very unlikely to match modern standard sizes, so you want to be able to build around what you procure. No moving studs later!
Good News Stories
In the fantastic news, I learned of an MP in Tassie who is championing the cause of tiny houses and creating legal pathways for them. There seems to be a lot of goodwill. Meanwhile, tired of waiting, the ABC’s Your Say series did a piece on people coming up with their own solutions to the housing crisis.
Speaking of that....
I caused a stir (unintended…cheekiness doesn’t translate in a Facebook comment) about mini mansion tiny houses. I have some concerns about the trends of ever-increasing footprints. Not so much because big = bad (some people really do need a lot of space), but because of how it simply replicates the problems that got us into a housing crisis. Read more about that view here (which links to a broader discussion posted by the Tiny Homes Expo crowd, and my accidentally controversial comment about 'ruiners').
Great News Stories
I spent this week chasing donations for the Live Like Her Challenge, and thanks to the generosity of so many women in the She Bangs community, I’ve managed to break through the $1000 mark! Hurrah!!
This week I have also arranged the Buy Nothing workshop. 5 women are coming along to a mini ToolSchool session to learn to use some basic power tools. For me, this offer is more about connecting than anything to do with D-I-Y, but certainly I am thrilled to be introducing some more women to these simple acts of self empowerment!
The Money Story
She Bangs was a thriving business in Melbourne. In fact, I had more work than I could handle solo. But it all came to a grinding halt with the #SheCanVan engine failure, which led to a decision to relocate to SE QLD (a great choice!), and really the end of an era. I didn’t have the energy to start again from scratch to re-build my business here, and with money so tight for many people, workshops weren’t selling out like they had been.
This represented an opportunity to properly focus on the dream of building the tiny house, with workshops and the online course, and the whole dream. But what about money? How do you pay for a house?
All my savings are gone. I have been looking for work, but would you believe I can’t find a job? Of course you can believe it! An older woman seeking a job in construction? Nobody will hire me….for anything. Doesn’t matter my skills, experience, qualifications, commitment, enthusiasm… apparently a younger, and/or more male applicant will do it better. You can read more about that on my ‘Gram feed.
So, how to fund this project? Sell my unit in Melbourne? Maybe. I vacillate on that option constantly. In a housing crisis where I don’t have another home, and no job + a truncated business, and no prospect of a mortgage at my age, is it wise to give up the only security I have to fund this build?
At the same time, nothing changes if we don’t make changes. Even a low budget, self-built tiny house using reclaimed materials costs a lot of money. I actually haven't created the full budget yet, which is somewhat remiss of me. But I estimate around $50K all up. That's doing all the labour myself (electrics and plumbing excluded), rescuing and reusing as much material as possible, buying seconds, as well as doing the full design myself, framing plan and all.
While I work on resolving this giant finance hurdle, I’ve been keeping myself busy reading about energy efficiency and passive solar in particular (a favourite topic, as far as energy topics go!). I ordered an inter-library loan of the bible on composting toilets; The Humanure Handbook. Small steps and a little faith is still progress, right?
That's it for this week. Till next time. Bang on!
Week Beginning 3rd August
Hours: ~20 hours
Progress: 7 of 26 tasks
BIG WEEK! I have made some fantastic progress this week on a number of front:
Materials
Community building
Framing design
Materials
What do you know about yakisugi? It’s a traditional Japanese technique, literally translating as grilled/charred (or ‘burnt’) cedar (Crytomeria japonica). I lived in Japan and have deep ties extending back to early childhood, and I love a lot of Japanese design and architecture. I made a visit to the Japanese Garden here in Toowoomba and they have a pavilion on the lake with a yakisugi ceiling. Apart from its beauty, for me, the most important reasons to use this technique for my exterior cladding is for the building science of it all. So, that decision has been made. I just need to decide whether I’ll do it the traditional method (see here), or just use a blow torch.
But I also headed out to an industrial goods reseller, NKF. They have loads of steel, which I will not be using for the most part, but one iconic product I will be using is corrugated iron - ideally a little rust-coloured! (And not actually rusted). This is also for the exterior wall cladding. It’ll just be regular Colorbond on the roof.
My errands also took me to Deano’s Timber Yard, which is much more than timber. They’re connected to a demolition company, so they resell a range of salvaged materials – especially doors, windows and VJ panels. I’ll definitely be back.
There was a garage sale at a lady named Pieta’s, who is moving to Brisbane to be closer to family (sounds familiar!) and had loads of stuff to sell. I managed to bag myself some freebies (just curtain rod holders), a metal bucket (purpose TBD) and a set of drawers made from papier mache, making them extremely lightweight!
Community Building
Buy Nothing is this whole worldwide movement aimed at reducing consumerism (mostly for environmental reasons), and encourage resource sharing amongst neighbours. I’ve done a lot of that stuff previously, and recently I started reading the book (I got from the local library, of course!). I joined a local Buy Nothing group on Facebook, and made a post offering a free tools workshop. I’m kind of hoping that it may help me make new connections in this town where I know almost nobody! Who knows; maybe they’ll be keen to help me build RRRuTH when the time comes.
I also launched my fundraiser with The Forgotten Women to do the Live Like Her Challenge in Brissie. For one night, hundreds of people will sleep out in their cars (or van in my case), to raise awareness and must needed funds for homeless women over 55. If you’ve seen the RRRuTH page on my website, you’ll know this wicked social problem was behind my desire to teach women how to build tiny houses in the first place! Me included. 😊
Louise Southerden is the author of Tiny: a memoir she wrote about love, loss and a little house she built with her partner during COVID lockdowns in northern NSW. It’s a great book, and after reading it I connected with Louise. She kindly invited me to visit her tiny house, and we had an hour long phone conversation in advance of my visit in September, chatting about all things tiny house, living simply, finding your tribe, ATHA, tiny house advocacy, upcoming expos (more on that in another update), and the issues with finding land and renting from other people which leaves you exposed to changes of plans. Louise has just been informed she needs to relocate again from her fabulous spot. Finding a new, more permanent location is a challenge, but the costs involved to prepare the site (eg: excavation and adding road base etc), tow and connect to power etc, makes it a very expensive proposition.
THIS is why tiny home owners need land, and the ability to live in small communities on properties they own.
Framing Design
Once again I found myself at the Toowoomba Library, perusing books to help inform my decision-making about the frame. I am focused on the shed pod right now, but with an eye towards RRRuTH and how one absolutely must tie in with the other so maximise efficiency and minimise resource and material use. I read loads of shed building books – it seems to be a theme in a largely agricultural region like the Darling Downs!
I also turned to my building books I own from my time at TAFE studying construction, and the Alan Staines House Building Manual gifted to me from Tow Sheds Bega. I spent some time reviewing Build Sum videos on YouTube, checking for span tables, access to Australian Standards, reading about baffles and how they help with insulation performance, and checking the Vehicle Standards Bulletin 1, Section 22.1 about doors on caravans and trailers!
Fred’s Tiny Houses has been contributing to this industry in Australia for a very long time, but this weekend (8th-9th August), they’re running their very last ever workshop! I went to along in 2021 (when I knew bugger all about building!), and I dug out my old notes from Fred, including his Unified Construction Method, and refreshed my memory about some great framing tips to protect against things like uplift and vibration, as well as keeping the weight down.
I spent a day in the shed re-measuring (measure twice, cut once and all that) so I can start putting pencil to paper and design the shed pod. Plus I’ve made some decisions about the frame, which will help me create a take-off (or materials schedule), so I know what I need to acquire.
I’ve decided on a modified version of skids as the base, so I don’t damage the slab floor in the shed. The shed pod is temporary, so bolting it to the concrete is entirely unnecessary, and the damage is easily avoided. I need to do some further research about the regulations around tiny houses on skids more generally, because this would save a HUGE amount on the cost of a trailer.
I’ll build a platform floor, although I am not sure if it’ll be plywood or yellow tongue. The latter is not reuseable, so I’d have to buy new. On the other hand, the ply can be reused for the underside of the tiny house trailer.
A skillion roof – this isn’t a new decision, but I was reviewing the building requirements. I think I’ll build to 2.4m high, which is really about the maximum in the shed, although I may build it higher on the right hand side (away from the mezzanine) to accommodate the skillion pitch.
And, the biggest change is the shed pod will be built to 2.5m wide. This is the maximum legal road limit for a trailer, but many people say that building to this size (rather than the more comfy 3m) definitely makes things tighter. I figure it’s a great starting point to get a sense of how it feels and whether RRRuTH should ultimately be built to 3m wide, which demands a tow truck for moves. It could work fine if I end up building RRRuTH on skids, because that has to be moved on the back of a flat bed truck anyways.
So, a very productive week all round! Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll try to answer them below. For the latest YouTube updates, head here.
