A woodworker since I was 12 (1970), my mom's husband was a wannabe Contractor, but was never a tradesman (a scab). Our garage was a shop filled with his tools. I used it for fun and necessity; we were poor so anything I needed I built. Soon he realized my talents and guilted me into working Summer months for him for free. I moved out the Summer after my Junior year in High School so I did not graduated then; never went back for my Senior year and all the perks of that experience.

My first job was working for a guy in his shop, building waterbed frames that he sold at his little Indie retail furniture store. He took custom orders for peripherals (end tables, drawers, headboard, etc.) and if not too complex I'd build them too. Later I got into home building on a Framing crew; I preferred working outdoors.

My step–bro had moved from the KC Metro to the LA Metro; he was a union carpenter and once I learned of the money he was being paid (3X me then), off I went in 77. My experiences, and his insistence I qualified, got this (then) 20 year old a Journeyman's card. I skipped their entire apprenticeship program. We also did side–gig remodeling jobs that were mostly add on projects.

But one Holiday visit to KC I met my future wife; she moved to LA with me, but a parent died soon after, and she returned to KC, not wanting to return to LA. I moved back to KC and (at 27; 85) started a construction business building new homes; my crew and I framed in good weather, and trimmed in bad; if we had the time we hung drywall too. I built our first home myself; later she decided doing her male coworkers repeatedly was worth our eventual divorce (I've been dropped twice; I quit).

I built over a hundred conventional homes; so many I soon got bored doing it. Advertising for other projects, I got requests to build retirement and hunting cabins in forested or lakeside settings; most were one large room; no structural interior partitions; all sat on a post pier beam dual–run elevated foundation, @ 16' X 32'+ w/a single pitch 3/12 roof that extended over a large deck and/or sun room greenhouse.

When it went over both sides (deck on one end and sun room on the other), the resulting 16' by 56'+ long metal roof served as a rainwater catchment for storage. The space under the cabin allowed short wildlife to traverse under, though if dogs were present they'd often inhabit that space.

I enjoyed the natural environment, though it did not pay as well, and sometimes with much travel. Eventually I moved back to CA. No one wanted cabins in the City's by the Bay, and I missed building them. All Left Coast Carpenter's Unions by that time were all Commercial; I did little Residential for a long time there.

Skipping ahead, by the 21st century, the cabin got a new name; tiny homes. Then, people started popularizing travel trailer rebuilds as tiny homes too: That was/is hilarious for us carpenters! By the Great Recession, I was burnt out on the Building Industry in general. I needed a change.

Being in Santa Clara installing Labs for the University and some Medical Tech entities, as well as finishing out 5 Star hotels, I got interested in the Tech Industry. But I was a dropout carpenter; not much need for me in Tech; that didn't stop me from asking probing questions. So, like every other thing I learned in life, I self taught (Autodidacticism); more details of that at my page, Linux Geek.

But though I went car–light then car–free when becoming a Conservationist and Environmentalist, I always kept an interest in building cabins; I mean, tiny homes. I recall counseling a neighbor (88) who remodeled his aging long–ass travel trailer, but I encouraged him to demo it to the floor and start over; the outer walls were thin framed and would not be suitable to live in during winter.

By the time he was done with it, it looked like (yep) a cabin on wheels! Wood siding, window planter boxes and all! The local news came out, took pics and ran a piece. My guess is, that's what kick started the current phenomenon. At least, that's the story I'm sticking with! 😋

I recommended the 16' width because anymore required larger boards, floor and roof, or more foundation. For that span we used 2" x 8" x 16' (@ 16" on–center) for floor joists; they only needed to span the 14' in between the post & beam runs, as they'd cantilever over both sides by a foot, which protected the foundation unit runs from the sun & rain.

The round form footings were 12' apart from each other and out of the ground by 6" to 8"; there were 8 in all for a 32' length; we'd recommended an additional 12' (16' x 44') if more space was needed; materials size better in 4' increments, eliminating waste. Then there would be a 6" x 6" pressure treated post in a poured–in bracket; they'd be triangle supported.

If it was for a couple the 32' was ample; if it was to be shared, the kitchen and living rooms would be in the center, and bedrooms on the outer ends. They'd have covered decks on each end. Now, if one is an indoor person, a tiny home in the middle of nowhere would not be fun. Most who do this, are outdoor people, so the inside space did not need to be big or fancy; it was mostly for eating, sleeping, and escaping bad weather.

The walls were all 7' tall (cut from 14 footers); this allowed the wall sheathing to go from top plate and over the floor joists in one run. The back (north facing) wall remained at 7' with a single 3/12 pitch roof (2" x 6" x 20' @ 16" on–center). The front (South facing) wall, from the 7' up, would be a structure of all 4" x 4" beams, and in between them would be dual pane class; similarly on the ends too, but at the higher half there would be slider windows that open; here's a similar roof example.

At each end we'd use 6' sliding glass doors (with screens of course) so air flow and natural light was excellent in this open interior design. Any requested interior walls were 7' tall partitions capped with a planter run. With a table saw always on the job, interior partitions would not be studs & drywall; we'd dado a 3/4" grove into 2" x 4" clear pine and insert 4' x 7' finished 2–side birch plywood panels, in between a clear pine stud with dado; all was stained (or clear coated) to match other wood–works inside.

The entire ceiling would be wood also; typically a v–cut tongue & groove soft wood, also finished to match. Outer walls would be drywall. We ran no plumbing or electrical in–wall; this prevented freezing pipes; the plumbing was concentrated in an area designed around the 3" toilet run, hidden by cabinets or other functional build–outs. Electrical was surface from base to switch or plug box; long runs would be in metal conduits cornered at the floor and wall, just under the drywall; the 1" x 4" base board would have a dado to accommodate it. A Wiremold system is another option.

When I designed for off–grid, I'd build a system, not attached directly to the home, but within a nearby rainwater harvesting barrels and tool shed, sharing the same concrete slab with the wood burning boiler; a solar panel and mini–wind on a battery array (combo example).

another paragraph coming...