In the past, no one ever thought that people could move towards tiny houses for their survival or even for fun. However, as time goes by, people are moving towards minimalism. They are choosing to live in smaller homes. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is that people are now trying to avoid huge debts and live a carefree life.
Apart from this, building a tiny house involves lower expenses as compared to building a full-sized house. Its energy consumption is also low, and its maintenance expenses are also quite low. If you want to live a simpler life and appreciate the little things that come along the way, then we suggest you make your own DIY tiny house. This can be a fun project to do in the summer. If you love traveling, then you can also build your tiny house on wheels for your tours!
In this article, we are going to focus on the ways you can build your own tiny house.
How to Build A Tiny House DIY?
Building a tiny house may sound difficult. But as compared to building a bigger house, the building of tiny house involves little effort, money, and time. It can take a few days or weeks, depending on the time you spend on this project. Some people also hire external help if they don’t have any prior experience in this field. However, it may cost a lot of money.
We suggest you do the major work by yourself. You can also take the help of your family, as this can be a fun family project that can have various advantages afterward. Your whole family will enjoy working on this project and you all would surely love the result.
Here are some of the basic steps to build your own tiny house:
STEP 1: Select a Tiny House DIY Plan of your choice
Selecting a tiny house plan is the first step towards building your own tiny house. There are many different types of tiny houses and you’ll have to consider your requirements while selecting the best house plan for you.
As it’s the first step, it might seem overwhelming at first. Even if you already have an idea in your mind, you’ll still face difficulty in choosing the right plan. There are so many styles and options available. So, we suggest you write down your requirements and then lookout for a house plan according to those requirements. When you know what you really need, the search process becomes a bit easy.
If you prefer, you can design the house plan yourself with the help of your imagination and creativity. On the other hand, you can also look out for tiny house plans on the internet. The internet is full of these house plans and you might be able to find exactly what you are looking for. We have listed some of our favorite Tiny House Plans later in this article.
STEP 2: Get the Materials
The second step to building your tiny house is to get the required materials. Some materials may vary according to your house plan but the basic materials that you must get to get the structure ready are listed as follows:
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- Framing
- Windows
- Doors
- Roofing
- Roofing Underlayment
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- Siding
- Insulation
- House wrap
- Bathroom and kitchen fixtures
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The above-mentioned materials are some of the most important materials that you’ll be needing. Other than these materials, you can get any other fixtures or decoration items to make your house more presentable.
STEP 3: Assemble the Structure
Once you have a house plan and the required materials, the next thing that you need to do is to assemble the structure. You might need some professional help in this step if you don’t have prior experience in making houses or DIY projects.
If you have prior experience, then you are good to go. There are some essential tools that you would need to assemble your tiny home. These tools are listed below:
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- Power drills
- Circular saw
- Nail gun and air compressor
- Sawzall
- Staple gun
- Screwdrivers
- Hammers
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- Crowbars
- Speed Squares
- Pallet tool
- Line Level
- Ladders
- Sawhorses
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- Snips/ Mental shears
- Tape measures
- Caulk gun
- Posthole digger
- Paintbrushes/ rollers
- Other basic tools
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Above mentioned tools are some of the essential tools that you would need to frame your tiny house. You might need more tools depending on the design that you chose in the first step.
STEP 4: Décor and Fittings
Once the structure of your tiny house is assembled properly, you can go for the essential fittings and the décor that you want. The fittings might include bathroom fittings, kitchen fittings, or even the furniture that you bought for the tiny house.
You might be thinking that I don’t need to buy new furniture because I will simply move my normal furniture to my tiny house. But unfortunately, that is not possible keeping the fact in mind that your tiny home is not suitable for your normal-sized furniture. However, you might be able to reuse some of the furniture from your old house such as chairs, etc.
Once you’re done with the fittings, you can paint your house in whichever color you want. You can also decorate it with as per your preferences. You can use different decoration pieces, wall-art, lights, etc. We would suggest you paint your house in bright colors as the bright colors provide you with an illusion of a bigger place.
Tiny House DIY Plans
The internet is full of different tiny house plans and tiny house floor plans uploaded by the users. Most of them are free and you can pick any design as per your needs. You might come across various tiny house plans, but we have listed some of our favorites below:
Quartz Tiny Home
This tiny home is designed and constructed by Ana White. After looking at the house plan of this tiny home, you will fall in love with it immediately. This tiny house is built on a 24' long and 8'6" wide trailer. The small details that have been added to Quartz Tiny Home are breath-taking. You can view the materials used, house plan, and other instructions here.
8×12 Tiny House
As the name depicts, the dimensions of this tiny house are 8′ x 12′ along with a 12/12 pitched roof. The best thing about this tiny house is that you can also build it on a trailer. So, if you ever dreamed about a tiny house on wheels, simply follow this plan and you’ll have the house of your dreams. Please keep this in mind that some minor customizations will be needed to add the wheels to your home. You can view complete information on this tiny house here.
Tiny House DIY Kits – Amazon
If you don’t want to experience all the hassle that comes with a DIY project, but you still want to have a tiny house then you can go for tiny houses available on Amazon. Yes, you read that right! You can actually get kits from Amazon that you can use to assemble your own tiny house without any extra efforts. With the help of these tiny house kits from Amazon, you can have your own tiny house for just $19,000. Moreover, it takes only two days to assemble the tiny house for living. More details about the tiny house amazon kits can be found here.
Quick Recap
In the end, here is a quick recap of the things that you will need to do to build your tiny house DIY. The list below can also serve as a checklist for you while building your house.
- Select the tiny house plan of your choice
- Get the required materials needed to build your tiny home
- Gather all the tools required
- Assemble your tiny home with the help of experts or your family
- Decorate your tiny home according to your taste