TEENAGER Builds OFF-GRID TINY HOUSE (80% Recycled Material)
When Jesse was a teenager, He really enjoyed spending a lot of time outdoors. As he got older, He decided he wanted to make a small log cabin to better embrace nature in his day to day life.
This was before the tiny house movement. He didn’t even call it a tiny house initially, he simply referred to the project as his little cabin. a few years later as the idea of minimizing to pursue a simpler lifestyle became more popular jesse heard about it for the first time.
While a lot of tiny house builds aim to create a modern spaces that resemble conventional homes shrunk down, Jesse’s approach was to make a space that felt a lot more rustic. Most of the build consists of recycled and reclaimed materials, and he is completely off grid. Taking care of the property is a manual process, using tools like a scythe instead of a conventional lawnmower. While some might see this as a lot of unnecessary work, it the manual tasks that drew Jesse into this project to begin with.
“Every time I walk out my door, I have to walk through the woods to get to my car, and when I come home from wherever I am at the end the day, whatever's going on in that day, I have to get out of my car and walk through the woods to get to my house. I love that.” For Jesse, it allows him to be more intimate with his surroundings.
He Hand build everything instead of hiring professional contractors, getting help from friends and family along the way. The end result is a space that is entirely his own, with amenities that are simple and uncomplicated. He has a hand pump water system that consists of a five gallon grey water bucket that he manually empties AS NEEDED. He has an efficient 12 volt chest fridge that he powers using his small solar system. He even has a Fourdog Woodstove that is actually designed to go in tents.
Electricity isn’t always a given though. “Once in a while, if there's a lot of rain, I just have to not work on my computer anymore and take a break and light a candle. I don't mind that.”
ALTHOUGH THE SPACE IS SMALL, IT HAS EVERYTHING THAT HE WANTS AND NOTHING MORE. “I kind of lived by the philosophy of no matter how big your backpack is. you're always going to fill it up.” Since the house is small, Jesse says that it encourages him to be particular with stuff he keeps.
He has a home office where he is able to work/edit as a freelance Videographer and photographer, a personal library of books, a mudroom to store additional food and clothes, a sleeping loft, and even a catwalk to close a high up window that would otherwise be unaccessible.
A lot of people aim for a level of precision when building a home for the first time that ends up discouraging them. jesse advises against this. “Try to not worry about it being perfect and just go with it. It's amazing how things can happen if you just say, "Well, I don't quite know what I'm doing, but I'm just going to give this a shot". Part of the charm of Jesse’s home is the handmade quality of it.
his advice to new builders is too not get paralyzed by the fear of doing something incorrectly. “If you go examine (this house) with a tape measure and a level you're going to find that there's some little crooked bits here and there and there's some joints that don't quite line up, but the darn thing hasn't fallen over yet, and I don't think it's going to in a hurry.”
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