After Incarceration, a Changed Man Finds Freedom in His Off Grid Tiny House
Disclosure: At no additional cost to you, you can support FLORB by using the affiliate links below
When Josh was 9 he went to juvenile for the very first time. He was supposed to be in a 30-day program, but didn't happen that way. He wound up being there for 18 months, because nobody came to pick him up. He spent the rest of his juvenile life in and out of group homes, foster care, institutions, and it was rough. He got stuck on a cycle, he spent a lot of time doing the wrong thing in order to gain. Once you get behind bars it's very hard to not stay there. When you take an individual and you put them into an environment with the downtrodden of society, it doesn't make them better. It doesn't rehabilitate them and it surely doesn't correct that. It teaches you how to be worse, you have to actually want to be better. The hand was formed and it was mighty and it was around his neck since he was 9 years old.
He got off probation in October of last year. It's his first time not being supervised since he was 9. He didn't have to report to anybody, he didn't have a master. It was always material gain, the material goal, that he needed ‘this’ to be successful. ‘This’ car, ‘this’ couch, but you really don't. When he realized that you really don't, it made a difference in his life. He completely disavowed himself from the routines, the structure, and he said, "I'm not going to follow your rules anymore.” So he decided to build a tiny house on an old camper trailer that he’s since named ‘Little Red.’ He took nothing at all and he turned it into something, and when he turned it into something it was like an explosion. It gave him a sense of, not only freedom, which is always good for a man in his position, but also a sense of wonder every morning.
Little Red is a 100% eco-friendly and self-sustaining structure. She was originally built on a 1962 Apache pop-up camper frame, which he stripped all the way down to the frame which was refurbished and reinforced and rebuilt new from the ground up. All the exterior framing and electronics, all the systems inside are brand new. All the interiors, all hand-finished, refinished wood. With a unit this size he doesn't have to worry about DLA, HOA or Do2 restrictions. It’s only 11’11” long and 5’6” wide and designated as a utility trailer.
He has 12 ply tires which can handle 6,000 pounds, while the frame can carry 5000 pounds. The entire unit weighs less than 3000 pounds. He went for overkill because he didn't want anything to come apart while he was on the road and he wanted to be as low maintenance as possible. He has a personal investment into this at $9,100. On the outside he has LED lighting as well as a three camera security system. The door actually took him two and a half weeks to do. It’s completely steel-reinforced and has a steel plate backing with electronic and magnetic locks, so you're better off sawing through the wall than trying to go through the door.
This handle gave him a little bit of pleasure because he actually poured this when he was 9. he was a young man and an entrepreneur sculptor. It's been around with him for a long time so he uses it as a feature point on the house. He also has a high gain HDTV antenna for the television inside, but it's attached to the side of the house. It essentially turns the entire house into an antenna. He can get anywhere between 70 to 150 channels.
On the back he has the on demand hot shower which works great. It runs off a 20 pound propane tank that he’s only had to fill it up one time in the last six and a half months, so it's very efficient. The biggest feature on the outside would be the window which he personally hand etched. That took him actually three tries to get that right. The solar system is quite unique. He did it all by himself. It's 520 watts of solar panels up top charging a 420ah battery bank.
Inside the space he has a monitor for the three camera security system, as well as a thermoelectric 2.1 cubic foot fridge-freezer combo. In front of the refrigerator is the wet shelf which he’s found invaluable for tiny house living. One of your biggest problems is dirt, the second is water, so a wet shelf makes isolating these problems from the rest of space easy.
Anything he doesn't know where it goes it goes into the cargo net he mounted on the ceiling. Come back from the grocery store, you got all those bags? stuff them up top. Got dirty laundry and don't feel like doing the laundry today? stuff the clothes up top. No worries, great thing to have. He has dual pane windows which do a great job and keep the inside comfortable temperature. He actually got all his windows reclaimed, excluding the one that he etched.
He has a shortwave radio which he considers a game changer. He has found more primitive spots with the shortwave radio than he has on any app, and if you get in trouble and get stuck out in the middle of nowhere it's a great thing to have to let people know, "hey, he’s stuck." The other must-have in his tiny house is obviously velcro, all that stuff that you'd normally lose or that normally jiggles around or normally gets lost inside of your couch cushions he can stick on his wall.
Up top he has a ceramic heater. In about five minutes this heater has this 66 square foot so hot you'll sweat out of it. It's all R34 insulation all the way around so it stays comfy. He’s had it in New York in the winter and Arizona in the summer with no problems. He also has a compost toilet, which he thinks is a phenomenal invention. It produces no smell, no waste, and dumping it isn’t as big a hassle as a conventional rv blackwater system.
The sink has instant hot water on demand and runs from the 40 gallon tank up front. His house has a GE water filtration system on this sink too so that he can get hot, cold, and clean water for drinking. By far the best idea he has ever had was putting a washer and dryer in there. While it might seem like a superfluous use of space to a lot of folks who would otherwise rely on laundromats, Josh wouldn’t have it any other way. He thinks paying $7 a road at a laundromat is ridiculous. For cooking he has a three burner Coleman propane stove and the NuWave induction cooktop. Up top he has his spice rack and a jar rack. He cans food once a year and he usually eats the preserves for about five or six months after. Underneath the bed storage area he stores his battery bank and all his electronics.
For his ceiling, he decided to put a corkboard. He wanted somewhere to be able to put all of his memories from his time on the road. It has his personality in a nutshell that makes him smile every time he looks at it, which to him is the most important thing.
He enjoyed the process of building his home so much that he had decided to make a business of it. He's a fully tooled contractor that travels to the customer and on their site. While he’s there building he stays there, giving the added advantage of actually having the builder on-site for the entire time to build. The Little Red as she stands is fifteen thousand five hundred dollars completely off grid outfitted to your taste. The interior he can do however you desire but the structure, the electronics, and the systems are tried-and-true. More information about this venture can be found on this instagram.
Watch the Full Video Here:
