Lloyd House’s van conversion

lloyd house vanMichael McNamara sent this photo of Lloyd’s current residence. He extended the walls of a van to create this beautiful space. He was building it when I visited him a year or so ago. It was a cold day and we had some tea sitting around the little stove he’d welded up out of an old propane tank with a wok for a door. It’ll be in our forthcoming book on tiny houses.

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

12 Responses to Lloyd House’s van conversion

  1. So many questions. Is this built upon a usa type full size cargo van?
    Do the wood walls join the metal walls such a van would have, or did Lloyd H cut down the metal to form a well of sorts?

    More pictures please and a nice place in the upcoming tiny house book. When is that due out any way??

    PhilM

  2. That looks great, I can't wait to see more pictures—especially the outside. Your blog is looking good as well! Talk to you later… Alex

  3. Funny , I recently came across this ford van conversion while looking for someone to ask a question to . I feel in love with it as I knocked on it's door. Sadly Loyd wasn't home.

  4. a fellow has got himself a business renting out van conversions for 800 per month, in San Francisco

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/in-pricey-bay-area-some-turn-to-vans-for-cheap-living-quarters/2016/06/02/7568e696-eac3-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-realestate%3Ahomepage%2Fcard

    For the time being, San Francisco law specifies only where and when people cannot live in their vehicles. According to San Francisco Municipal Police Code, the “use of vehicles for human habitation” is prohibited from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m in streets, parks or beaches within the city and county.

    “This section is not often enforced,” Officer Albie Esparza said in an email

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