Off-the-shelf 12ft Tiny Home Build

[ChiefRedskins]

I'm thinking about building a tiny home on some waterfront property. I thought I'd design the house on a 12ft common denominator. 12ft being the boards I'd buy at home Depot or Lowes ... the provided pre-cut lengths. Selecting 12ft 2x6 for the roof trusses (joined together for an overall width of 24ft) and let that dictate the width of the home with appropriate soffit overhang (not sure of the appropriate pitch for the roof which would ultimately dictate the width of the house). Likewise for the foundation, I'd like to use 12ft lengths to comprise a total length of 36ft (I'm assuming add 6' when put end-to-end so total length 42ft flooring). Height of the home would be dictated by 2x4x10 (9ft ceiling).

 

Poorly explained, yes? You're right. However, what I'm trying to accomplish is building the house on a design of common lengths. 12ft in this case. I'm curious if this off-the-shelf design has been done with pre-existing lengths in CheifArchitect for perhaps a large shed or a tiny house. Overall, in other words, I'm curious if a tiny house can be built (for the most part) by piecing together common off-the-shelf lengths to achieve a roughly  18' x 36' x (9ft ceiling) tiny home. All this with about a 2.5 to 3ft crawl space.

 

 

Again, this approach(experiment) is based on putting the pieces of the puzzle together, per say.

 

[Alaskan_Son]

In my experience this is a nice sounding idea that a lot of well intentioned people think will save time/money or make things easier but it never works and isn't even remotely worth the effort. No doubt people the world over will keep trying it but it's really an excersize in futility IMO.

[Gawdzira]

Do some research into O.V.E. framing methodology. That can save you about 30-40% of your lumber.

 

One of my professors in school had designed some housing with nearly zero waste. Every rafter cut matched up to another jack rafter, etc. The roof was hip style and the pitch of the roof and size enabled each off cut to be used.

 

Fast forward to today, I usually order rafters min. 2' longer than needed due to the poor quality of wood available.

[BrownTiger]

Most of the "tiny houses" are not legal in many jurisdictions. Less than code min.

There is a creative way to declare them as a cabin or something else to bypass jurisdiction requirement.

 

Studs sold at big box stores many times are not a construction grade ( Grade I, or Grade II ), but utility studs. 

Lumber supplies can beat big box stores, lumber sold 2' increments 10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24. Nine foot studs are available, so no reason to cut 10' 

 

Grades of common 2x10 or 2x12 not always known. (No way for building inspector to ok and verify spans of "SelectChoice" lumber)

It needs to have stamp of species of lumber and the grade. I would also look for ACA rated OSB.

 

Any structure is very efficient as long as it is built on 2' increments. Most of structures at 2' identically efficient.

If you are trying to get interior wall to be exactly 12', exterior wall will be 12'-8", not so good for hardi sold in 12' length.

 

Most subs [prices] do not care one bit IF structure is material efficient or not. The price is per sq ft.

 

You are better of posting these questions on gardenweb build forum or chatroom.

 

Good luck with your project.

[Gawdzira]

Here is an article that just came up in my Facebook feed:

 

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2016/07/06/building-lean-strong-walls

 

Also, with O.V.E. methods, any window or doors 36" or less don't require structural headers.

[ChiefRedskins]

Gawdzira and BrownTiger - Wow, you guys are awesome! Thank you so much for the info!