“…It’s a move from mass-consumption. When you live in a small space, it forces you to think what you need and don’t need.
Noel Higgins will raise a glass to his tiny, wooden house-on-wheels on Mar 17 to mark the first year of a radical lifestyle change.
Noel’s 6,000-Euro transportable home is part of a downsizing trend — the tiny house movement.
The ethos is simple living, free from debt, with reduced running costs. Tiny houses are a move away from consumption, as there is no room for clutter. The upside is lower living costs, no property or water tax, and less maintenance.…
An electrician, it took Higgins eight weeks to build his 16ft x 8ft foot home, largely from salvaged materials. The stud wall is made from white deal and is clad in Irish-grown, western red cedar. The corrugated tin roof came from an old shed and he used sheep’s wool for insulation. The floor boards, the windows and doors were salvaged, and the kitchen is carved out of a fallen tree.
He crafted a wood-burning stove from an empty gas cylinder, which doubles as a water heater. For fuel, Higgins chops trees for landowners and takes blocks to burn as payment. Higgins’s only outgoings have been food and mobile phone and internet. “There are no real running costs,” he said.
A 50-watt PV panel, charging a 12 volt battery, has provided power for light all winter and a charge for the laptop. He recharges his phone in his jeep. Higgins’s next project is a wind turbine to charge the battery.…”
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i like many things about this home. a couple – the kitchen out of a fallen tree…— sort of has a soul satisfying connection to the earth. also, that stove he mad sure has character (looked on the site).
one thing i was surprised, he comments that so far as he can tell, there are no small home builders (small like his) in Ireland. thought Ireland would be a natural for this type of home. .. the land of the "wee small folk" and so on.
I love that he found so many ways to build his house from salvaged and cut materials instead of just going to a box store like Home Depot and buying those chemical ladden materials.