Shack / Tiny House

stevo

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I love all that Tiny House stuff. People building small houses and shacks. (google "Tiny House Movement")

I have this garage that is built similar to my house so it looks like a small house, with weather boards and tile roof. It's been used for many things over the years, car storage, tool shed, living space - a fella use to live in there a couple years ago.

Recently someone expressed interest in moving in as they needed somewhere to live, so the transformation started about a month ago. I could have left it "as is" but everyone involved was pretty keen to do the Backyard Blitz renovation thing. It measures about 8metres long by 3m wide on the outside.

This is how it was a month ago. I had started to remove junk. Once everything was out I took the carpet out.

The rough plan was, lounge at the front, kitchen in the middle and bedroom at the back.

shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_shackreno1.jpg


I bought a second hand kitchen for $180, new sink $100, tap $100, wall cabinet $130. We built the dividing wall, added a breakfast bar to the kitchen bench, and built the little book shelf under the breakfast bar. This took a couple of weekends to get done....

shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_shackreno4.jpg


This is what it looks like from the outside, and here's the electricians putting in some led downlights, outside sensor light, light switches and powerpoints.

shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_shackreno5.jpg


Here's the finished result. Kitchen all done, tiling for the splashback, second hand carpet in, wall mounted cupboard, all freshly painted walls and ceiling....

shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_DSC_6291.jpg

shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_DSC_6287.jpg


below shows the bedroom at the back, that's a double bed, and there's also a cupboard in there so it's not a bad size area.
shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_DSC_6276.jpg


All up this cost under $2000. (excluding microwave, fridge, lounge)
This is something I can see myself living in and making it fully offgrid, but for the moment it's all ongrid for practicality for the person using it.

So I now have a Tiny House ... i'm not living in it, but it's still kind of cool I reckon.
 

Mark

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Top job Stevo your shack looks great mate. It's such a logical move to make use of a spare space like a garage for extra living or granny flat.

When my grandparents retired (early in their 50's) they went for a weekend trip to Lightening Ridge to see the opal fields.

Long story short they got the opal bug and purchased a claim lease for about $50 per year. On that piece of land they sunk several shafts and started digging for opals.

Their home was back in Toowoomba but they wanted to spend a good 6 months each year living with their prospecting hobby and didn't want to buy another house in town so my grandfather built a shack on the claim site. So did lots of others.

He was a trained carpenter (old school) and an ex farmer so pretty handy at building stuff.

What started as a weekend trip ended in a 25 year stay and their shack would be forever cemented fondly in the minds of their children and grandchildren.

I have awesome memories of staying at the shack it looked a bit like the one out of Grissley Adams and it withstood anything the weather threw at it.

I have my grandparents to thank for many of my self-sufficient interests including shacks.
 

Steve

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Nice little reno job Stevo. Very well put together. Congrats.

And cool little story from Mark too. My grandparents inspired me too to get in the garden. I reckon that's the best present they can give. Inspiration.

Thanks for sharing fellers.
 

armysnail

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I am now inspired to build one. I have been you tubing these for a few months but I need to make a start.
 

stevo

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I am now inspired to build one. I have been you tubing these for a few months but I need to make a start.

Are you going to make one on a trailer, on a block of land or in your backyard?

Here's one I saw the other day, being another country and probably cold I don't think you'd need the insulation/wall thickness here and they seem to have a lot of extra weight, but despite that it looks good. http://vagabode.blogspot.mx/p/step-by-step.html

and I think this is the same size as my shed!
 

armysnail

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Make it on my land. I wanted to build a library but after seeing that blog a spare room would be good. Do you think it would work if set up 100% solar and tank water etc? Could be a good project to research.
 

stevo

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Do you think it would work if set up 100% solar and tank water etc? Could be a good project to research.

yeah easy I reckon, that's what I'd do if I was using it, depending on what you want to run. You could build a "offgrid retreat shack" and have people pay to come stay there :idea:
 

stevo

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on Sunday I built the frame for the front roof, though I'd not sure what to put on it, either colorbond corregated iron, or some kind of transparent roofing to let light in, and either slats on the front or shadecloth for some privacy.

The foremost post is set inwards and the roof beam overhangs, so I can still get a trailer in to the back yard.

shackers.net_images_photosother_theshack_shackreno_8frontroof.jpg
 

Mark

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That's a cute little area to sit under cover with a :tea: :twothumbsup:

So that little area behind the kitchen could it possibly be a small shower/bathroom one day? And maybe squeeze in a toilet?
 

stevo

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cheers, "cute" .. yeah it's small :oops:.. I hadn't planned to put a table and chairs there, it was meant to be more of a privacy screen and side access pathway.

That's the bedroom at the moment, but I was thinking about putting in a shower on the back of the shed. Only issue is getting hot water, but we could get one of those little gas heaters mounted to the wall and have a gas bottle. I think a toilet could be lot of work and expense, not sure yet.

What did your grandparent do for hotwater? and I assume the water just drained out to the garden or ground?
 

stevo

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What about a long drop in the back yard?

I'd be happy with that, but I'm not sure about the tenant. It'd have to be smell free so not to freak the neighbours out when the breeze blows :quiver:

out of interest...
I guess with only one person it's probably not too bad?
Got any info on building one?
depth? or do you just make it up?
How long does poo take to break down?
do you use saw dust or dirt or doesn't make a difference?
 

Mark

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My grandparents shack did have a separate shower room but we're going back 30 + years now and it was just a simple camping bucket system (boil your own water if you wanted a hot shower).

Their toilet was a typical outback thunder box. My grandfather got bitten on the balls by a red back once as he sat on the dunny he said it was one of the most painful things he ever experienced - we all made sure we checked and double checked for spiders before going to the toilet at the shack.
 

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Scott Mac

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Funny stories on the thunder box. We had a short drop tin can on edge of clearing with no building. If it rained, it was hard to wipe and not drop the brollie. That was for two years till I built an out house with a flushing dunny and shower, 8 years ago. We still only have the outhouse for showers and laundry, yet we now have a dunny inside the house.
 

stevo

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Here's a nice Tiny House in New Zealand. A good roof design gives more room inside. Although he says he doesn't want to be part of "The system", you can't really get away from it as you've got to park the trailer on someones property or pay rent somewhere.

 

Mark

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I like it but it really seems like a caravan/motor-home to me...

He's done really well as a DIY and made some top cost savings. The upstairs bed is a great idea but the overall height of 4.17 m is just below legal limits for roadtrains in Australia so it's pretty high and he'd need to be careful towing it.

you can't really get away from it as you've got to park the trailer on someones property or pay rent somewhere.
You're dead right, I'd buy a small cheap block of land out in the boondocks somewhere to park the house whilst I'm not on the road.
 
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