With every passing day it seems, the tiny house movement
is gathering momentum.
Living small brings with it so much freedom that people simply
cannot wait to jump on board.
And with this next project you'll
be able to, as we design, then build
a tiny house on wheels using as many off-the-shelf materials as
possible.
Yes.
Look at that.
Fully constructed, we'll tour the tiny house
across the city to see what Kiwis
think about the possibility of living small.
The house is really amazing.
I want to build one myself.
So I do feel inspired, definitely.
[THEME MUSIC]
Starting a project of any size can be a daunting thing,
and budgets are always at the forefront
no matter what the price tag.
So how do you keep costs down, and manage all the variables
that a project like this can throw at you?
Well, hopefully I'm about to find out.
So, Stan, I am super excited.
Talk me through it.
Well, the main principles of it, I
think it's got to be spacious and, of course, affordable.
But with any tiny house it has to be livable.
The spaces have got to work, haven't they?
Absolutely.
That's the main thing about these tiny spaces.
Every single little part counts.
OK, mate.
Can you sketch it out?
Yeah.
So the first thing is that we're going to be building it
on a heavy-weight trailer.
I'm working to the NZTA rules.
So I can't go above 4.3 metres.
So what I'm going to do is maximize our space.
Our trailer is 700 mil high.
So what I'm going to have is 3 metres at the back.
And we're going to put a 15 degree kick on there.
I really like that, because it's not just a kind of box.
It's got a little bit of style to it.
It looks quite dynamic.
And the good thing about that also
is at 7.2 at the bottom, that makes it 8.2 at the top.
So we get a lot more living space in that mezzanine floor.
We're going to have a nice, big ranch-slider three-pane door.
It's going to slide back this way.
We're going to have a mezzanine floor come across here.
We're going to have a shower, generous-sized toilet,
and a hand basin.
Stan, one thing that you have to think about is storage.
Even on a normal house, people will
say more storage, more storage.
But on a tiny house, it's super important.
And you know, I haven't built too many of these tiny houses.
And obviously, you're the master.
So, you know, I would appreciate a fair bit of your input.
The other thing I would do, if you can,
is try to keep the internal finishes quite light.
It just lifts the whole space.
You don't want it to feel too claustrophobic.
I cannot wait to see it finished.
Thanks, mate.
Fantastic.
You've got your work cut out.
I'll leave you to it.
Cheers.
The defining feature of this tiny house
is that it's on wheels, being built
on a heavyweight trailer that measures 7.2 by 2.4 metres.
The floor will be fixed to the trailer using
heavy-duty screws.
Next, timber framing-- and a lot of it-- for additional support
while traveling.
Ceiling rafters, building wrap, cavity
battens, and then ply cladding, again for extra bracing.
Inside, the interior walls of exposed ply
will be a deliberate feature.
The mezzanine will sleep two, and underneath will host
the lounge and dining area.
A surprisingly generous kitchen inclusive
of large sink, fridge, oven, and washing machine;
leading to the bathroom, with its full-size shower
and self-contained composting toilet.
There's also a few technical marks
to hit with the tiny house.
Even though it's on wheels, all aspects
will be built to the building code
and meet local counsel requirements.
You do have to be really smart with your design
and your layout.
I think the New Zealand public, when
they come inside our tiny house once it's finished,
they'll be pretty surprised at how spacious it is.
We've got all those luxuries that you'd normally
have in a standard-sized house, but in a very
compact situation.
Now just because our tiny house is on wheels,
that doesn't mean that we have to use fancy materials.
We're just going to use stock, standard building
materials that you would do in a normal house-building
situation.
By doing that, we're going to make it cost-effective
and very easy to build.
Now it's really important that you know about 95%
of what materials you are going to be using on the site.
When the builders turn up, you've
got to make sure all the materials are there.
Time is money.
So I've had a really good look around the store today.
I've got some great ideas for all our finishing aspects.
I just can't wait to get stuck into the build, now.
Rightio, Jodes.
So this is what we got.
Helping Stan get the job done will be qualified
builder Jodie Curtis.
Between the two of them, the tiny house
should be finished and on the road in under a month.
We've already got our trailer frame here.
So what we want to crack onto straight away
is lay our flooring.
And then we'll start preconstructing our frames,
and stand it up like we would a normal house.
And we're going to use materials essentially that are straight
off the shelf of Mitre 10.
So anyone that wants to build one of these can go into store,
pick all the materials, and start building it themselves.
All right.
Let's get onto it.
So what I'm doing is attaching our plywood flooring
to our steel frame using these nice little steel,
self-tapping screws.
[DRILL]
Now we can just drill straight through the ply with our impact
driver without even pre-drilling.
But it's a lot easier if I just go
and pre-drill the hole first.
These can actually snap off into our steel frame,
and we don't want that to happen.
Jodes, see there's quite a big gap in between those.
Yeah.
Let's take the sheet off and give that
a buzz down on either end, aye?
[DRILL]
[PLANER]
Look at that, mate.
So much better.
[DRILL]
OK, mate.
What do you think about this idea?
Because our trailer frame walls are not
square-- we've got 15 degree on one end;
we've got three degree fall on the roof
to allow for our roofing.
If we just mark out the shape of our frames
on the floor using a chalk line, and then we
just lay our framework within that,
it will be a lot easier for us to work out that shape.
I like it.
OK.
Give that a ping, mate.
Nice.
And stay there, and we'll ping all the way down.
We're going to use just standard timber framing, because I
can get a lot more insulation in the walls, which
is going to make sure that this unit is really nice and warm
as well.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once the external frames are laid out,
the next step will be to mark out
the window measurements, which is an important detail
to get right.
It is actually a really good tip when
you are building off the plans.
The plans may say one thing, but it's always good,
if you've got those windows on site,
to actually physically measure the windows.
Because as my boss said when I was an apprentice,
you're not putting the plans into the frame;
you're putting the window in, so that's the important thing.
With the frames complete, the next job
will actually be to get them up onto the trailer.
Whichever way you cut it, this part of the process
relies solely on brute strength.
OK.
That'll steady us for now.
Put our other end on it.
It is a DIY project.
Obviously a build like this would be a lot easier
with someone else.
You've got some frames you've got to lift up.
So having an extra set of hands is always handy.
Whether it's speeding it up, or just
for advice and moral support, it's a great thing.
Yep.
That's good, Stan.
Right there.
Thanks, mate.
The frames will be secured to the steel trailer
using heavy-duty bolts.
It's a time-consuming job, as a millimeter mistake
at this stage could throw dimensions out
by much more further down the track.
I think that's pretty good, mate.
Frames are up.
It's always a good visual, because you actually
get to walk around and start to feel exactly what it's like.
Doesn't matter how many 3-D models,
or what it looks like on paper.
When you actually get those frames up,
you really do get a sense of layout.
You can sit here looking out at the ocean.
If you want to make changes, now is the point to do it,
before we start putting in cabinetry and that.
Because you've got that elevation there,
it feels quite good, aye.
At this stage I'm pretty happy as the way the shape of it
looks.
All that we've got to do now is everything.
All we've got to do is everything.
That's exactly right.
It looks like we've done a bit today.
But really it's only a tiny amount.
So we've got truckloads to do.
Hey, mate.
Whew, looking good, mate.
Imagine this, parked up at the bridge, checking out the surf.
Yes.
Good pie.
Ka pai.