Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials: Inspiration for Constructing Tiny Homes Using Salvaged and Reclaimed Supplies

by Ryan Mitchell

Join the tiny house trend!
 
The tiny house movement is a big trend with a very small footprint. Extremely small house, with less than 1,000 square feet of space, are environmentally friendly, less expensive than typical homes, and often movable. Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials is full of ideas for using reclaimed materials and upcycled goods to construct a tiny house that is good for the earth and truly unique. Ryan Mitchell, author of The Tiny Life blog, shows you how to repurpose everyday items to create your new home, including shipping containers, salvaged barn wood, and reclaimed shingles.

Featuring profiles on tiny house owners with photographs and floor plans of the homes, ideas on where to find materials, and what to look for and avoid when selecting reclaimed materials, Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials is a unique book perfect for your biggest DIY project yet!

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Green, Architecture, Sustainability

156 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2016

Reviews

[Megalion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essentially two sections. The first one talks about what tiny homes are and then talks about the ins and outs of trying to match up your house plans to recycled materials. Whatever you are able to find that is. It includes tips and advice about finding the right kind of materials you need.

The second part is many examples of tiny homes built at least in part from recycled materials. A handful of pictures and several pages about the making of.

Examples are easy to find online with the same amount of photos and brief stories to go with them. What makes this book stand out is that a comprehensive utilities checklist accompanies each example. That's always a question I have when I look online. What all was done for the utitilies?? Rarely is there any complete outline of that.

This isn't a comprehensive cookbook of how to design or build a tiny home. It is a useful read though because of the discussion on recycled materials and how to find and then work into your house design. The example houses are good for getting ideas from.

Easy recommend as supplementary reading for tiny house enthusiasts who are interested in trying to incorporate some green into their build.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some more inspirational little houses, built from recycled material, some on foundations like the 70 square foot cob house (tiny!). There's an example of a family of 4 living in a 200 square foot home, whoa. I've used recycled wood for smaller projects, if you need utilitarian or funky, it's a cheap or free resource.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!
Plenty of creative inspiration here.
Fits in exactly with a couple of backyard projects I have, though I’m sure the realisation will take a while...
Good, practical design tips and advice and great photos.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

a goodreads giveaway book won. another non-fiction with five stars. very insightful book on getting and finding recycled material plus homes that already been erected and their stories and the people that built them. I have always liking something smaller, yet I am looking to make it as a tree house.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some people may like it, but it would be kind of tiny for me to live comfortably in it..

[Matte Resist · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really not sure what to think of this book. I checked about about 20 tiny house books from the library trying to get some inspiration for the tiny house I'm getting ready to build. This one seemed like it would better align with my ideas for building a tiny house, but I'm not sure that it did. I found it rather discouraging in fact. There were a number of short pieces about different tiny houses that people had built with recycled materials, but these people had spent 3 years and $20,000 building their tiny house! With recycled materials! (I had to return the book to the library, so this isn't necessarily accurate, but more the impression I got about most of the houses in this book.) I got some ideas from this book, but nothing that really jumped out and grabbed me. Perhaps part of where it fell short for me is that I've been building with recycled materials since I was a kid, and very little of this was new to me. I did like the idea of having a tool kit always in the truck for those times you find things on the side of the road, but maybe just want hardware or certain pieces. That just means that I'll have to start locking my truck, because it gets rifled through pretty regularly. He showcases a lot of his own builds in this book, and I understand wanting to show off unique builds that you've done, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. I guess I was hoping to see more of the basics of tiny house building than stories about a plexiglass house on stilts or whatever.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has me so excited to build my tiny house.

I’ve been obsessed with tiny houses for a few years now, and now that I’m in the transition stage of becoming an adult its been having me thinking about it more and more. Tiny houses are so smart. They’re sustainable and eco-friendly. They’re cheap so I wouldn’t have to have a 30 year mortgage. They’re easily moveable (if you have it on wheels). It just seems like the PERFECT option for me for a first home. So, I’ve been reading up on them more and more.

I love the idea of using reclaimed materials to source a majority of the things I would need to build a tiny house, and this book had some amazing tips when it came to finding and using reclaimed materials. This not only makes the build MUCH cheaper, it’s also so much more eco-friendly and sustainable because you typically are keeping a lot out of landfills.

There was one home in this book that really inspired me with the decor and layout. I want reclaimed wood flooring, a loft for the bedroom, and pretty much white everything. I love how light and bright the space looked!

They’re literally just the cutest things ever and I want to create one :)

https://pointextaken.com/2019/03/02/r...

Aubrey Joy

[Eileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the ethos of recycled materials and it was interesting to see the layout of a couple of airstream trailers. Generally this book spent too much time on the owners' 'stories' where I would have preferred to see more details about the design/layout or more houses. If you already have something in mind (ground floor sleeping/no ladders or big lofts, for example!) you might turn pages thinking 'nope', 'nope', 'nope'. I enjoy paging through a book but finding what you really want online might be more efficient. It's discouraging to see how expensive it is and how long it took people to build even extremely modest dwellings. Maybe that reality check is part of the value of books like these. I have a hunch I'm going to end up figuring out what I can cram into my 20 square meter maximum design and mimicking a mono-pitch shed kit.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

So...this book is basically 34 pages long, because I didn't really need to "talk to tiny house homeowners". Not to mention that a majority of those owners have on-wheel houses, which I am not interested in. It did however feature a house from Wisconsin (where I live), so that was kind of cool.

But that's where my interest ended. Many of those homeowners had connections to various left-over job site materials, which I do not. So yeah, the first 34 pages were really the most useful and most likely could be found online.

So, why look at the book? Well...it does have some nice photography? And I suppose if you're looking for design/decor ideas, it might be helpful. But over all, wasn't really what I wanted in the book.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Check your zoning.
2. It is no wonder most of the examples are from the PNW
3. As a builder, I love the ideas and use of materials.
4. As a devotee of Human Dimension and Interior Space: A Source Book of Design Reference Standards, I just can not get behind this sort of living.
5. Any one of them would be fun for a writers' shed in the back 10 of a large piece of land, otherwise, quite depressing.
6. Imagine lockdown in one of these.

[Jarrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best of both worlds. This book opens with some of the benefits of working with recycled and salvaged materials and provides the positives and challenges of living in a tiny house. The last section of the book digs in to some of the variations on the theme and allows you to get a feel for all of the work and love that goes into the planning and construction phase.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, this book was more of a coffee table book than something actually helpful. I found several other books in this series much more practically useful. I did see a few ideas that I hadn't seen before, so that was good.

[Chanel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of tiny houses and tips on how to build one of them:)

[Tiquila Mcneill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful to get you started.

[Corey Harrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for any individual that wants to get inspired for environmentally conscious living.

[Adrian Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a must read if you want to build a tiny house and want to lower costs when building it yourself!

[Tamlynem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this book was a 360 view website.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was free on Kindle unlimited, good pictures and some key things were well explained, most information seems to be covered in other books.

[Sonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love tiny houses.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

LIke that each house has floor plans and info about along wth the text and pictures.

[Poppinka · Rating 3 out of 5]

#poppyreads2017

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part II of Tiny Houses Built with Recycle Materials is a must-read for any tiny house dreamer! There you'll find the stories of 20 tiny house owner-builders who used a large percentage of recycled materials in their houses. Each story begins with an exterior photo, a floor plan of the house, and a breakdown of its utilities. There's also a few additional photos worked in throughout the story. (I won't deny being a little disappointed that not everyone included interior photos.) While Part II is the star, don't overlook the wealth of information packed into Part 1, which gave me a solid introduction to the why of using reclaimed materials as well as the pros and cons of doing so. Lastly, don't miss the list of resources at the end of the book: Interviewee Websites, General Tiny House Websites, and Tiny House Books (although 4 of the 9 listed were also by Ryan Mitchell).

4 stars

[Sarah Capps · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautifully put together. Many people who are looking at tiny houses are not only hoping to find a lower cost of living there, but also to make a smaller environmental footprint. Mitchell and those who share their homes in this book share what they did as well as the pros and cons of both the process and tiny home living. Well done!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an informative little book on tiny houses. It shows wonderful ideas that can actually be used in any home. Tiny homes are a growing trend, and this book shows you that it is possible to create a home using recycled materials. It touches on everything that would provide for you needs and comfort in a tiny house.

[bibliotekker Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tiny house movement fascinates me because of its efficient use of space and recycled materials. It is a microcosm that provides inspiration to maximize bigger spaces. This book has great photographs in conjunction with 20 tiny house case studies that provide food for thought.

[Kim Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just obsessed with this book. Some really awesome homes are showcased! This is a fabulous gift for anyone interested in architecture or just unique spaces in general!

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun and creative!

[Cyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with lots of cute decoration ideas if you are considering building a tiny house.

This book would be a nice gift.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for those looking to actually get advice and ideas for a tiny house of their own.

[Marie Onyett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the inside views and bonus floor plans.