Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast

Contracts, Evictions, Housing Law. These topics might make your eyes glaze over, but they are becoming big issues for the tiny house movement. My guest today is Jody Gabel, a trial attorney with 25 years of experience in mobile home park law, RV tenancies, landlord/tenant and housing law, and local government issues. On the show, we’ll explore the challenges and solutions facing tiny house dweller...

If it has wheels, chances are someone has made a moveable tiny house out of it. On today’s show, the “it” I’m referring to is a 1985 Railroad Camp Car. My guest is Hannah Doss, who converted said railroad car into a gorgeous moveable tiny house in just 3 months and for less than 9000 dollars. Full Show Notes and Images: https://www.thetinyhouse.net/ 148 In this Episode:  What is a railroad camp ca...

I love looking at tiny house plans. Just seeing how other designers solve the space-related challenges of a tiny house is inspiring. That’s why I was super excited when I discovered PinUpHouses, the international design studio run by my guest Joshua Woodsman. PinupHouses sells digital plans for over 150 small and tiny houses, cottages, and sheds, and they’ve been doing for many years. Today, I’ll...

Rocket Mass Heaters are a very popular DIY in the cob, natural building, and permaculture world, but is only starting to get traction in the tiny house movement. Today, Chris McClellan AKA Uncle Mud is here to explain how Rocket Mass Heaters Work, how to build one of your own, and most importantly, his design for a tiny rocket heater, called the Cottage Rocket. Full Show Notes and Images: https://...

Daniel Ott is one of the first tiny home builders in Ontario, working to change the housing market by designing and building legal tiny homes (which is no small feat under the Ontario Building Code, one of the strictest codes in North America). Using his unique UpSizeDown Method, Daniel and his team at True North Tiny Homes not only design your tiny dream home, but they also help you get prepared...

Did you know that cob is one of the oldest building materials around? According to my guest, Dave Olsen, most cob houses are tiny houses because they take so long to build! Cob is a mixture of clay, sand, straw, and water that hardens into a thick, load-bearing, structure. Think curved, earthen walls and whimsical building shapes. Dave Olsen has been building with cob for over 20 years and has dev...

If you’ve been following the tiny house movement for any amount of time, there’s a good chance you’ve come across a story about someone getting ripped off by a tiny house builder. Heck, I’ve interviewed several people on this show whose builders have gone bankrupt or not delivered on what they promised. This week, I’m interviewing Frank Olito, the resident tiny house expert at Business Insider. Fr...

Meet Melissa and Jon Block, the sister-brother team behind San Diego’s first ever tiny house village called Tiny House Block. In this interview, Melissa and Jon will share the journey that they took to go from a couple of backyard tiny homes, to a dedicated piece of land with 25 tiny houses. Surprisingly, the majority of their homes are rented long-term, and they’ve had to figure out how to manage...

Deek is Back! After kindly agreeing to be a guest on the second ever episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast, Derek Deek Diedricksen is here to talk DIY Treehouse Building. We’re not talking about 50,000 tiny homes in the trees. No, we’re talking about DIY, backyard treehouse building anyone with some tools and some trees, and a dream. Deek has built many, many treehouses, and he’s got tips, t...

If you’ve been listening for a while, you know I love to feature new and innovative ways to build tiny homes. Well, today, I’m featuring something that could be considered a very “old” way- Timber Framing! Clara and Edwin Bobrycki not only designed and built their timber frame tiny house- but they also cut down all the trees and milled the lumber for the entire frame. It’s no easy task, but Edwin...

When it comes to designing tiny homes, Vina Lustado is the real deal. Her iconic Sol Haus and Sol Pod homes are beautiful, light-filled examples of high tiny design, and Vina has lived tiny for many years and in several locations. As a California resident, Vina has seen the destructive and traumatic effects of wildfires and has answered the call in the best way she knows how: By designing a pre-fa...

Living off-grid is especially challenging when you're on a 50-ft sailboat in the middle of the ocean. My guest today is Rick Moore, whose sailboat, the Sophisticated Lady, is fully set up to live off-grid for months at a time, with solar and wind power, a water desalination unit, and even a garden on board. Rick walks us through his systems and helps figure out how we can apply them to tiny h...

Darin Dinsmore is the urban planner and landscape architect behind the amazing Tiny Camp Sedona, a small pod of tiny houses available for nightly rentals outside of Sedona, Arizona. Darren is just getting started applying his skills as a developer to tiny house communities. He’ll let us in on the projects he’s working on now, how he approaches developing tiny house communities, and what he’s excit...

If you’re hoping to move around a lot, a moveable tiny home isn’t always the best option. While vans and school bus conversions take the spotlight, my guest Tom Roszko set his sights on a medium-duty ambulance. In this conversation, we’ll learn why used ambulances actually make a fantastic starting point for a conversion, how to find them, and other tips for a DIY, super mobile tiny home. Plus, To...

There’s something enduring and timeless about the A-frame. It seems to fit into any landscape and instantly says “cozy”. Today, I’m interviewing Michael Romanowicz, founder of Den Outdoors, which designs beautiful, easy to build A-frames and sells plans. In this conversation, we’ll explore the popularity of A-frames, the advantages and disadvantages of the design, and learn about what’s in store a...

Moving a tiny house is no easy task. As the movement grows, so do the tiny homes, making each move more complicated. Today I’m speaking with Taylor Tefft, a professional tiny house mover. She’s here to discuss the ins and outs of moving a tiny home. We cover pricing, insurance, how long it takes, and even moving tiny homes that aren’t on wheels. The post How to Work with a Professional Tiny House...

Baylie Carlson made a splash in the tiny house movement with her tiny house home birth story. She has lived in both a moveable tiny house, a luxury skoolie, and has lots of insight to share when it comes to raising kids in small dwellings. Baylie is also involved in a really interesting YouTube competition called Outlast Homestead, where the winner gets the title to the land.  The post From Moveab...

Permaculture is one of those words I hear batted around a lot in conjunction with the tiny house movement, but have never taken the time to learn what it is. Kenton Zerbin is the perfect guest to help explain it. In this conversation, we’ll learn that Permaculture isn’t some technique or life hack- Rather, it’s an entire way of thinking: A design philosophy that pairs beautifully with tiny homes....

Dan Fitzpatrick is the Director of Government Relations and president of the Tiny Home Industry Association and has made a name for himself as the go-to guy for tiny home legalization. This info-packed conversation does not disappoint! We talk about the importance of calling our homes “Moveable Tiny Homes” instead of “Tiny Homes on Wheels”, The current status of Appendix Q, and how to do tiny hous...

Lloyd Kahn’s first interview on the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast is the most downloaded episode to date, so I knew I had to have him back on to talk about his wonderful new book, The Half-Acre Homestead. We talk about the benefits and limitations of homesteading in the present and future. While Lloyd is a bit dubious about the viability of living in a tiny house long-term, I think that the lifesty...

Dylan Magaster started his YouTube channel at the age of 21 with only $1,000 in the bank. He backpacked for 6 months, converted a van, and lived in it for close to 2 years. Then he decided to move to the Mediterranean and buy a sailboat with only 7 days of sailing experience with 2 strangers that he met through the internet. He has now sailed over 6,000 nautical miles and visited 27 countries. In...

Figuring out the right insulation for your tiny house can be one of the most confusing things about designing and building your own home. And if you’re working with a professional builder, there’s no guarantee they know what they’re doing either. That’s why I’m excited to introduce you to Brad Cook. Brad is an energy efficiency professional who offers a wealth of knowledge about insulation and ven...

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about steel framing so I thought it would be timely to invite Jay Leopold on the show. Jay is the chief engineer and designer at ThinHaus, which exclusively builds steel framed tiny homes. In this conversation we’ll battle it out over Steel Framing vs. SIPs, talk about the building envelope requirements for a steel framed home, and take a deep dive on certifica...

Andrea Burns is here to tell us the story of her resilient and innovative tiny house, the Tomato Box. We discuss what it’s like building your tiny house while living there, how Andrea designed multiple systems for reheating and cooking, and her incredible recycled greywater system that allows her to reuse water over and over again. The post Designing a Self-Contained, Recycled Greywater System wit...

Sometime around March of 2020, I went to the grocery store to stock up on some things and discovered that most of the staples like flour, rice, beans, and toilet paper were out of stock. You may be able to relate to my experience, but my guest Matt Gabriel cannot. Matt is a Prepper who specializes in outdoor survival skills, and he’s here to help us get into a prepper mindset so we can learn to su...