This is my story of how I built a tiny house DIY over the course of a year with a 15k total cost. The house was built with many reclaimed materials and most of the work was done myself with hired help for electric and plumbing work. Building a tiny house DIY is a lot of work but totally worth it in the end.
Why should I build a Tiny House DIY?
I built my tiny house for many reasons. Mostly I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. The home building skills I would learn along the way would be valuable. I wanted to build an efficient sustainable place for me to live. The structure is an expression of who I was at the time when I made it. This house is not only a home but a piece of art. Using reclaimed wood was prioritized during the tiny house DIY build. I wanted to have an option of rental income in the future if I rented the tiny home out.
Building a tiny house DIY is not easy and is a major investment of time and money. You want to make sure this will be a worthwhile endeavor before starting. It will be at least a year of solid labor to complete. Building a tiny house is not easy so don’t get caught up in the hype. If you are thinking it will be easy to resell the tiny house, think again. Your motivation should come from wanting to provide housing for yourself and not too much trying to impress others.
How do I get started building a tiny house DIY?
The first question is where are you going to put the tiny house. Do you have land? You will need a place to place the house or at least a place to build the house if you are planning on building a mobile tiny house. If you have land how much space do you have to work with? Do you a place in mind on your property for the tiny house?
If you don’t have land where do you plan on parking the tiny house? Is your area friendly to tiny houses or are they outlawed. These are very solid questions you must answer before you can even start planning. I personally had land to build on and a spot in my yard I was planning on building it. I measured the available area in my backyard and figured these dimensions into my design.
What foundation should I use for my tiny house DIY?
The next thing to figure out is if you want the tiny house to be mobile or on a permanent foundation? If you don’t own land you will need to build mobile so it can be easily moved around. The reason you want to figure this out first is because the design layout of the tiny house and height of the tiny house will be impacted depending on if its mobile or on a foundation.
A mobile tiny house will need to fit on an 8ft wide trailer chassis to be towable by a truck on roads. The tiny house will be permanently attached to the 8ft wide trailer chassis. If it is a mobile tiny house it must be at a height that is low enough to pass under 14 ft highway underpasses including the height of the trailer and wheels.
What foundation did I choose for my tiny house DIY?
My tiny house was a bit of a hybrid as it was built on a pier and beam foundation but has skids for the option of jacking up and loading on a trailer bed later. I built my house 8 ft wide and under 14 ft so it meets road regulations. My tiny house is bolted onto the piers using simpson strong ties. This gives me an option to take the bolts out later if I want to jack the house up and move it. I will provide more detail on that later.
How did I design my Tiny House DIY?
As I mentioned before I measured the available space that was buildable on my land and determined my tiny house size and layout from there. I also wanted the house to be built on skids for the option of transport later so I needed the house to be 8 feet wide. I wanted 200 SqFt as an optimal amount of space for my needs.
At an 8 foot width that means I would need a 25 foot length to meet my requirements. However building the house with studs placed 2 foot on center would make a 25’ length weird as 25 divided by 2 isn’t a whole number. So I rounded down to 24 foot length to make it evenly divisible. This is how I chose an 8’x24’ layout.
From this 8’x24’ layout I made a sketch of the house I was going to build that included every piece of framing lumber needed. This sketch also included the allotted spaces for the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Here is a good resource on tiny house bathrooms. If you are adding a lofted bed and closet click here.
How do I create a lumber inventory?
I used my blueprint of the house to count how many 2x4s, 2x6s, 2x10s, 4x6s I would need. The floor joists were going to sit on top of 4×6 posts that were bolted into the pier and beam foundation. I framed the house with studs 2 feet on center in the walls, ceiling, and floor joists.
Estimating wood for four walls
This means that each 24 foot wall would have 13 studs in them. Each 8 foot wall would have 4 studs in them. The floor joists would line up with the studs in the 24’ wall so there would be 13 floor joists. Same with the roof joists they would line up with the wall studs and floor joists. However I planned were 4 foot overhangs on either side of the house so this came out to 4 extra studs for the roof joists. 4 studs plus the 13 studs came out to 17 total roof joists.
Then comes the bottom and top plates for the framed walls. I counted how many 2x4s I would need to run the length and width of the building for the bottom and top of the wall. I would need framing for a dividing wall between the bedroom and kitchen. There was also framing lumber needed for the 3’ by 6’ bathroom. I calculated how many 2x4s I would need to build these partition walls at a 10ft height.
Estimating wood for the roof
In my design I also have a slanted shed style roof meaning the front facing wall will be 10ft and the back facing wall will be 8ft to create the pitch. I used 8 foot studs on all sides of the house to create the 8 foot wall. On the taller front facing wall I built a 2ft addition that framed in space for smaller hopper vent windows. This came out to a final building height of 11’ 5” which was just what I needed if I wanted the house to towable on a trailer. I estimated how much wood it would take for this 2ft addition on the front facing wall.
After considering all design elements and looking at the blueprints I was able to determine how much lumber I would need. Below are the totals of numbers of lumber needed in categories and dimensions. It also includes price per unit in November 2021 prices. This is the amount I saved by acquiring my lumber from reclaimed sources.
| Dimensions | Length needed | Numbers needed | Price per unit | Amount saved |
| 2×4 | 8 foot | 80 | $3.92 | $313 |
| 2×6 | 8 foot | 46 | $6.98 | $321 |
| 2×6 | 10 foot | 17 | $10.33 | $175 |
| 2×6 | 12 feet | 4 | $12.25 | $49 |
| 2×6 | 14 feet | 4 | $14.92 | $59. |
| 4×6 | 12 feet | 6 | $29.78 | $178 |
| Total Saved Cost | $1095 |
How do I create a window and door inventory?
To create my sketch accurately I looked up the standard size for windows and doors. I also looked the size of these small hopper vent windows so I could build around their dimensions. Its important to acquire all of your windows and doors before you start framing so you can build according to these specific sizes.
How do I create a sheathing inventory?
Next up was sheathing. I knew the house was 24 foot long and 8 foot wide with 10 foot height on on side and 8 ft height on the other. The roof would be 28 foot long because of the overhangs and 10 foot wide for a foot long overhand on the front and backsides. Typical sheathing sheets are in 4’ by 8’. I calculated the square footage of all sides of the house that needed sheathing and divided that number by the square footage of a sheet of sheathing that was 4×8 = 32 SqFt. I chose to use Zip System sheathing which comes with the vapor barrier already built in.
| Back wall SqFt | Side walls SqFt | Front wall SqFt | Roof SqFt | Total Square Feet Sheathing Needed | Number of sheathing sheets needed |
| 197 | 138 | 225 | 294 | 849 | 29 sheets |
I needed sub flooring sheets to sit on the floor joists. The dimensions of the subfloor were 24’ by 8’ for 192 SqFt of subfloor needed. Subfloor sheets should be at least 3/4 inch thick to support the weight of items in the house.
At this point I had a sketch of the house I wanted to build and rough estimate of how many 2x4s, 2x6s, 2x10s, 4×6 posts, sheathing sheets and subfloor sheets I would need. I took my numbers at added 10% to all lumber needed to have a buffer for mistakes. Now that I had my design and material list all I had to do was acquire the wood.
How did I acquire my lumber?
I wanted most of the lumber for my tiny house to be reclaimed for free. I did this by looking on craigslist, facebook marketplace, offerup, and neighborhood facebook groups. I also went around to house build jobsites in my area and saw if they were throwing away any wood. Typically when they are demolishing a house there will be lots of free lumber.
90% of my lumber came from one craigslist lead. A gentleman had just acquired a warehouse property and the previous owner was a lumber hoarder. This warehouse had thousands of pieces of wood strewn about in huge piles and since it was covered most of it was in good condition. I made multiple trips in my tiny car and the owner was happy because I was helping clean out the warehouse.
Check for damage to lumber!
Its important when acquiring reclaimed lumber to check for rot and termite damage. Damaged pieces wont be able to hold weight and will be a risk to your buildings structural integrity. However pieces of wood that are snarled a bit or have nails sticking out are perfectly fine. Be careful and wear gloves. Bring a drop cloth so your care doesn’t get too dirty.
If you cant find it, buy it
The only lumber I wasn’t able to find reclaimed was sheet lumber like plywood and sub flooring. I also wanted to use Huber Zip System sheathing for ease of installation and higher quality vapor barrier. The sub flooring and sheathing was the only lumber I had to buy to build the house. I could have used an alternative siding or subfloor but I wanted the house to have rather high efficient with heating and cooling so I went for higher end products.
It took me 2 months just to acquire lumber and stockpile it for future use. I would recommend gathering all necessary lumber and building materials before beginning any construction. Store your building materials in a sheltered area.
How do you build a Tiny House DIY Foundation?
I built my house on a pier and beam foundation on skids so I had the option for moving later. When building a tiny house DIY foundation you have 2 options:
Mobile tiny house
A tiny house is considered mobile when it is attached to a chassis with wheels that can be towed by a truck. This is the best option if you do not have land and plan on moving the tiny house from rented space to rented space. The chassis must meet all of the requirements to be towed on the road. These chassis frames are 8 ft wide so they can fit in a standard car lane.
This 8ft width will affect the design and layout of the house. The chassis also must have enough strength to hold the weight of the house you are building. Check the weight limits of the frame. The chassis must also have turn and brake signals to be road compliant. Make sure the frame is free of rust and structurally sound. When buying the frame make sure the seller has the title to ensure its not stolen. You need the title to get plates and make sure its road compliant.
Permanent foundation
If you have land and want to have the tiny house in one location for its life you should considerer a permanent foundation. This will allow you to build a tiny house that is larger and a different layout than mobile versions. Generally you can build the tiny house on a pier and beam or on a slab foundation.
Pier and beam foundation
A pier and beam foundation is built by drilling holes in the earth with an auger and using pier forms to hold poured concrete. I would personally recommend a pier and beam foundation because it doesn’t require a concrete truck and can be completed with less digging.
The pier holes will be drilled in a straight lines in a grid formation. Make sure the pier hole is at least 3 ft deep in the ground or whatever the frost line in your area requires. The holes are then filled with pier forms which are cardboard molds that hold the poured concrete.
Slab foundation
Another permanent option is a slab foundation. In my opinion this is a bit more difficult for a DIYer to pull off as you will need to excavate more and hire a cement truck. If you live in an area that has clay soil or has a deep frost line a slab foundation will be less durable as movement of the soil with the seasons can crack the slab. I won’t go into detail about slabs as I think they are a bad idea for tiny house DIY and I don’t have experience building them.
Planning is crucial when building a Tiny House DIY
When you are building a tiny house or anything the first step is always planning. Create a preparation outline in your head and translating it to paper in the form of a sketch or blueprint. Make sure your sketch is made to scale so you can visualize the future structure. The sketch should include a piece by piece breakdown so you can create an inventory. After an inventory is made start acquiring materials in preparation of construction. The next step is surveying.
Next Step: Surveying the Land
More resources: https://tinyhousetalk.com/tiny-earthship-cabin-with-solar-power/