Building Gypsy RoseNext up: The Equipment Shed
We built the greenhouse last winter for the combined purposes of growing vegetables and providing a covered work space in which I could work on building projects out of the weather. At the time, we considered building two more of them – one to house our tractor and implements, and another to provide shelter for the fleet of boats I use for my business. Rather than covering them with greenhouse film as we’d done with the first frame, we decided on opaque tarps for the two buildings.
While pondering where to site the additional structures, I decided that I didn’t like the idea of temporary tarped shelters multiplying across the landscape. I abandoned the thought in favor of a more permanent consolidated solution – a timber framed equipment shed.
Our long-range plans include the construction of a 24’ x 36’ Monitor barn that will include a bunkhouse, a woodworking shop, and storage space. That larger project will undoubtedly be a couple years distant, but I worried that an equipment shed could become redundant once the barn is completed. A closer look at what we’d originally planned for the barn revealed that our space needs are more than I’d originally thought. (A dozen and a half seventeen to twenty-foot boats take up a lot of space!)
When factoring the storage costs we’ve incurred since Marion’s move to Vermont last year we realized that the payback will be less than two years if we add a loft to the equipment shed that we can begin using before the barn is complete. An additional benefit of the shed will be the development of the timber framing skills I’ll need for the larger barn project.
Last February and March I took to the drawing board. I passed many a winter’s hour working through engineering formulas and joinery considerations before coming up with the final design shown in the images above. The plans I came up with are based on 10-foot bays – three wide and two deep – giving the overall structure a footprint of just over 20 x 30 feet. It will be framed and sided with rot-resistant native hemlock and capped with a metal roof.
Given that the six months from May through October are when I earn the majority of my income, it’s hard to predict when we’ll have a completed building, but we broke ground in June with hopes of putting weekend hours into the project between now and when I have more time available in the colder months.
In the process of locating the equipment shed we drew up a site plan for the orchard meadow that includes the future barn project. I’m very pleased with the way the buildings integrate with the trees. I’ve kept the height of the equipment shed to 14 feet at the peak with the intention that it be at an appropriate scale among the trees.
After removing the topsoil and leveling the site we laid out the foundation. The shed will be built on 12 reinforced concrete piers (set below ground) on ten-foot centers.
Last weekend, Marion and I set the pier locations with a series of batter boards from which a grid of mason’s line is stretched. With the location of the lines marked on the batter boards, I can move the lines aside, dig the holes for the forms, then reattach the lines at the marks and center the forms (cardboard tubes).
Time to dig!
Comments
How many watts is your solar setup? and what kinds of appliances do you run.
Posted by: Adam Lambert | August 7, 2009 08:34 PM
Adam,
Our solar panel is 135 watts. We operate almost exclusively on 12v, but Gypsy is wired for 110 as well. We use an inverter or a Honda 2kw generator when we need ac. In addition to laptop computers, our electricity needs are primarily for lights which are very efficient LED's. The fridge runs on either propane or electric. We run it on propane (until we increase the solar by another 135w and have enough to run it on electric).
The biggest draw comes from power tools used when building. The generator works great for that as it makes no sense to power the house up to that level for the occasional useage.
For us, the key to living off the grid is reduction. Most of what consumes electricity in a contemporary U.S. home is simply not necessary. I will agree with those who say that solar is expensive, but only if the attempt is to provide power to the typical inefficient home. When used to power a small efficient home, solar is quite cheap. The total cost for our complete electrical system was under 1k. Spread that over the warranty period for the solar panel (25 years) and it works out to about 3 dollars per month (not including the generator which cost an additional 900 dollars).
All the best,
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin | August 8, 2009 07:19 AM
Thanks a lot Kevin me and my boyfriend are going to start building one of the tumbleweed designs next spring and we are planning on moving out to Vermont. We live in Massachusetts right now and we are trying to do as much research as we can.
We are going to build where there is on site power so I was planning to get enough solar power to run a refrigerator and lights. and some small appliances. I was thinking one 200 watt solar panel.
Thanks again for your time.
Adam
Posted by: adam | August 11, 2009 06:07 PM
where can i see more photos of your gypsy rose? i would like to see larger photos than the small ones at the top of the page and more please if you have them posted. what kind of sink fixture do you have for the two sinks? thank you, rosemary
Posted by: rosemary | August 31, 2009 01:50 AM
Rosemary,
If you look through the archives (links on right side of the page) you will find photos of the entire building process.
We do not have fixtures on the kitchen sink as yet. I will not be installing them until I build the kitchen cabinets and the permanent countertop. For now we have temporary shelving and a plywood countertop.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin | August 31, 2009 07:49 AM
Hi,
Thanks for being a trail/sod breaker in tiny houses!
I like your utility closet in your floor plan. Is it separated by a wall? We are trying to figure out how to get oxygen generators into a tiny house--well ventilated but still accessible from inside the house...
See our struggles at http://www.accessahut.wordpress.com
Posted by: Deena Larsen | September 20, 2009 09:50 AM
Deena,
Yes, the closet is separated by a wall, but it could easily be connected space. We chose to have it separate because it's where we keep the propane tanks which vent to the outside.
Best,
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin | September 20, 2009 05:07 PM
I wonder if you could have it outside and have a "window" or connecting door--we need to have the oxygen vent, yet still have immediate access inside--which is very much like a propane tank--you need it to vent to the outside, yet you need it inside as well. The only difference is we actually need to get to the oxygen machine--to change cannisters, adust pressures, etc... Your shed looks really wonderful!
Posted by: Deena Larsen | September 27, 2009 11:36 AM
Kevin,
I just read your entire blog from start to finish and all I have to say is: Damm my life is boring! Kevin you really know how to live life to the fullest. It’s inspiring to hear about people that live true to there values and aren’t afraid to step outside of the norm a little. Reading your blog has reaffirmed to me that my dream of living off the grid in a very small home is not only within reach, but also offers a better life along with it.
Gypsy Rose is one of the nicest tiny homes on wheels I have seen yet. I have followed a few other small house blogs and they all seem to have their interesting quality’s but Gypsy Rose is the closest to what I want to build for myself. There are a million questions I have about the building of Gypsy but I will try and bug you with only a few right now.
1. Was the trailer a lot more expensive than the pre made utility types?
2. I am 6’3” and have serious concerns about ceiling height. The custom trailer allowed you to place the sub-floor directly on top of the trailer frame by building the floor framing within the trailer frame. This is unique compared to all the other home’s I’ve seen and I’m assuming it gave you at least a couple more inches of ceiling height. So my question is: what is the ceiling height? If it is 6’4” or more that would make me so happy for the simple fact that it has solved the mystery of how to raise the ceiling without compromising other measurements.
3. How do you fill the water storage tank? Is there a water source on site?
4. What make of propane refrigerator do you have? Does it work well? How much propane does it go through?
Thank you so much for sharing this experience with the world. Your site has already been a lot of help for me. I have quite a ways to go before I will have enough money saved up to start my own build but there is a lot of research that I need to do anyway. I have no building experience so I am a little nervous about it but I’m pretty confident that I can figure it out. I know it’s a lot to ask, but If there was ever a time I could stop by real quick and take a peek at Gypsy, I would be forever grateful. Take care.
Justin Dotey jsd880@hotmail.com
Portland, Maine
Posted by: Justin Dotey | October 11, 2009 10:24 AM
Justin,
Thanks for your kind words about Gypsy Rose. Here are the answers to you questions:
1. I'm not sure what a utility trailer of a similar size goes for, but my custom trailer cost $2,600. That, however, was a wholesale cost. (I'm in the sea kayaking business and had the trailer built by a manufacturer that makes boating trailers.) I suspect that the retail price for my trailer may be closer to the $4,000 mark.
2. The height from the floor to the bottom of the loft floor joists is 6'8". The ceiling height (above the joists) is just over 7'.
3. We have four streams the flow through the property. We carry water from one of them in rather low-tech fashion - a 5 gallon pail. (The stream is about 150 feet from the front door.) In the long run, I'd like to either put down a well with a hand pump or set up a ram pump in the stream to lift water to a cistern next to the house.
4. Our refrigerator is made by Dometic. It operates on either 110v electric or propane. They do make a model that has three modes - 110v AC, 12v DC, or propane. If I had to do it again, I think I'd want to have both propane and DC so that I don't have to go through the inefficiencies of an inverter (to convert DC to AC). We have two 40 lb propane tanks mounted in the shed. They feed into the house through an auto-switchover valve, allowing continuous operation once one tank runs out. We run the fridge and the stove/oven on propane and typically get 3 weeks to a month of use from 40 lbs (9 gallons) of propane. Our plan is to increase the solar generation capacity to a level at which we can run the fridge on electric.
We'd love to have you stop by for a visit. During this time of year we are transitioning from the boat back to Gypsy and our schedule will be a bit erratic, but from Thanksgiving through April we'll be at Gypsy pretty much full time.
Best,
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin | October 18, 2009 08:41 AM
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the blog. I was wondering, now that you have been living in Gypsy Rose for a few years, would you still chose the same design? Would you do anything differently?
Thanks.
Posted by: Britton Cooke | October 24, 2009 05:36 PM