Staying Cool With The ClimateRight DIY Ductless Mini Split AC

I’m not typically one to write about a product or stump for any particular entity. Granted, I literally wrote the book on making a brand of yourself in the tiny house market, I advocate for shameless self-promotion over any sort of product endorsement. Sometimes though a company and/or a product comes along that you feel really deserves not only your attention but the attention of others. I believe that product has been introduced and I want to share it with whomever is not looking forward to an uncomfortably warm summer brought about by El Niño, La Niña, or whatever other extreme jet streams are crossing our nation next! The product is the ClimateRight DIY Ductless Mini Split AC (CR12000SACH) and to my opinion it is a cost effective, practical and energy efficient to heat and cool your 100 to 550 sq.ft. space.

Now you may remember the name ClimateRight because back in 2012 the Tiny r(E)volution team installed a ClimateRight CR-7000 Heating and Air System in our 240 sq.ft. tiny house on wheels.

That CR-7000 Indoor/Outdoor Portable AC and Heater was an awesome addition to our tiny house and succeeded in keeping us cool in the dry heat of eastern North Carolina. While that unit is now outdated it has been somewhat replaced by the ClimateRight CR10000ACH, which sits outside of the enclosed space and is ducted in with two (2) 5” diameter houses, couplers and a quick connect snap and lock system. It gives me a bit of AC envy just looking at it online. And I might add that the 2016 CRTHERMO is compatible with the unit and sense the temperature inside the space as well as controls the unit from inside which effectively means no more having to peak outside to fix the temperature! Yes, the struggle was real!

When my initial heating and cooling unit arrived it was of solid construction with easy-to-follow instructions for set up and use. The same is absolutely true of the ClimateRight Ductless Mini Split. It comes packaged efficiently with just 3 parts:

• Evaporator (indoor unit)
• Condenser (outdoor unit)
• Remote Control

With sales of ductless mini split air conditioning and heating systems increasing in the United States by 14% to 18% per year and the inclusion of this type unit in a number of tiny houses (due to energy consumption and space requirements) the ClimateRight mini split is more than an obvious choice. But consider – as I did – that the unit runs as needed between 4,000 and 12,000 BTUs using inverter technology (the method used to control the speed of the compressor motor to drive variable refrigerant flow in an AC system to regulate the conditioned-space temperature). This particular split air conditioner and heat pump (which I am only days away from adding to my own space) is well suited for most rooms from 100 to 550 sq.ft. (up to 4,000 cubic feet maximum) provided there is adequate insulation.  Did I mention the unit is eerily quiet (42 decibels inside and 53 outside) and requires only a Philips head screwdriver (or drill with bit) and a 2-3/4″ hole saw? Oh, and did I mention that once you uncoil the refrigerant line and drain line, slide it through your new hole, and connect them through the condenser unit, all you have left to do is plug the refrigerant line in, secure the lines, plug in the outdoor unit to a 115V outdoor rated plug, and turn the unit on!

But don’t just take my word for it take a look at the installation video. You can also download the Owner’s Manual online.

For three years now I have been advocating ClimateRight products for your tiny house, man cave, garage conversion, treehouse….heck, I even retrofitted our old pop-up camper with a ClimateRight system. I encourage you to check out this revolutionary company and revolutionary product. The ClimateRight DIY Ductless Mini Split AC really is an easy to install and easy to use solution to those less than comfortable summer nights. (Oh, and be on the lookout for my video on installing my own system….)

By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]

 

How To Hide TV Wires For A Cord-Free Wall

While our recently-finished bonus room upstairs was never intended to be a dedicated “media room” or “theater room,” we always knew it’d make a great spot for special family movie nights. But in adding a television, we didn’t want to create Cordfest 2016 up in here. So we thought we’d break down the 4 steps that we took to eliminate every visible cord on our new TV wall.

All-in-all, the four steps cost us less than $75 and none took more than an hour-ish to execute (a couple only took a few minutes). They were:

1. Mounting the TV to the wall (we used this $18 mounting hardware from Amazon)
2. Installing an in-wall cord system (we used this $40 all-in-one DIY kit from Home Depot)
3. Getting our power strip off the floor (we already had one, so this step was free)
4. Adding an infrared receiver (we used this $14 IR receiver from Amazon)

But before we could worry about hiding the TV wires, we had a couple of things to check off our list first. Like buying the TV itself. So let’s back up for a second…

There was really only one wall that made sense for the TV in this room, since it was just about the only windowless and slanted-ceiling-less wall in the space (it sits across from the built-ins we shared last month). Plus, as we’ve learned after the fact, it’s nice that it faces away from the room’s door because you can’t hear it down the hall (thanks to the thick insulation in that wall, you really only hear it once you step into the room).

The TV was actually purchased way before the room was even finished. Back during the holidays we scored a 20% off Target coupon for one item in the store (and it didn’t say “excluding electronics” – woot!). We chose this 50″ Vizio television since we’ve liked our Vizio downstairs and this one was also well reviewed. Three cheers for a simple selection process.

With that critical detail out of the way, we continued the theme of “well, if we like our downstairs set-up so much…” and stumbled upon this 9-drawer mid-century dresser on Craigslist for $120. Sold to the couple with a thing for dressers-turned-media-cabinets!

Our original hope was to refinish it with stain just like the one we have downstairs, but when we saw it in person we realized that wasn’t a wise plan. We had no trouble sanding off the painted details, but the giant oval sections of wood putty behind each of the 6 outer knobs was never going to blend well (such large portions of wood putty just don’t take stain the same that wood does). Plus, the middle drawers were a noticeably different wood grain, so all signs pointed to just paint the darn thing.

On a happier note, all that sanding got us a little giddy and soon those drawer liners had us both channeling Willy Wonka saying “the snozberries taste like snozberries” and laughing like only parents who have watched that movie 10,000 times can.

After all the sanding dust cleared, we applied a coat of tinted primer (leftover from painting our guest room) and then painted it Folkstone by Sherwin-Williams. If we couldn’t stain it, at least we could give it a deep rich color, right? Here it is awaiting its second coat of paint, while being inspected by a member of our household quality control.

And here it is after the second coat. You can see that we had our old bedroom rug in there at one point, but it was too small so we knew it’d just be temporary.

Once we gave the dresser four full days for the paint to cure (it’s annoying to wait, but more annoying to get a bunch of dings and marks from lack of patience), we added hardware (this pull and this knob from Target) and plopped all of the technology on there. Pretty, no?

Exactly – no. No, it isn’t pretty. Especially those weird little bird feet the TV sits on. There’s one thing you don’t see when you’re viewing it mounted in the store. Which brings us to step 1…

1. Mounting the tv to the wall

The first order of business was mounting the TV to the wall. I realize this is far from a new concept, but it’s actually the first time we’ve ever mounted a television. AND. BOY. WAS. I. NERVOUS. After reading ten billion online reviews to calm/exacerbate my fears (as online reviews tend to do), we decided to order this $18 mounting hardware.

And apparently in all of my nervousness I took zero pictures of us actually installing it. But that’s also because it was very easy and very straightforward (shocker). The back of the TV had holes to screw the two mounting brackets right into it, making that part a no brainer. And then you just screw the backplate into a couple of wall studs, making sure it’s super secure. The TV was surprisingly light, so it was easy to lift onto the bracket and lock it into place too. No wonder so many people have done this without crushing themselves or smashing a brand new boob tube. In short, I highly recommend it.

2. Installing an in-wall cord system

The next issue, obviously, was the power cord and HDMI cable spilling out from behind it (we’ll get to the situation under the dresser in step #3). So we walked down the A/V aisle at Home Depot (we’ve probably only been in that aisle 3 times in our 5,793,023 trips), and stumbled upon this $40, highly-rated In-Wall Power Cord & Cable Kit.

It basically guides you to drill two holes – one behind your TV, another behind your media console – and snake a narrow plastic tube behind your drywall, essentially creating a tunnel for all of your wires to feed through. I used some rough Photoshopping below to show the approximate installation spots so you can pretend to have x-ray vision.

The kit even includes the hole saw attachment for your drill so you can make sure your holes are perfectly sized. We chose a spot right within the mounting hardware plate to drill our first hole, that way we’d be sure the TV would hide it. Then we drilled another hole about 3 feet under it, behind the media console.

The instructions cover all this, but before you start shoving tubes in your wall you have to cut it to the right length. Fortunately the plastic cuts easily with a small utility knife.

The toughest part was wrestling the tube through the wall since I had to shove some insulation aside to make it go down smoothly. I recommend cutting your hole close to a stud (but obviously not directly over one) so that your tube can slide more easily against the side of a 2 x 4. You’ll also note a white cord rubber-banded to the black tube. This is the in-wall power cord that the kit provides, which will make more sense in a moment.

The top end of that white in-wall power cord looks like an outlet, and it nestles nicely into the upper half of the hole (the white part), while the lower/clear part attaches to the top of your tube and becomes the entrance for all of your other cords. These both tighten to the wall using the screws provided, just like any old work fixture box would. So you’re left with a nice recessed spot to plug in your TV behind the mounting bracket:

The kit also comes with these white plastic covers that snap on top to give everything a tidier look. So here’s what the top-portion of ours looked like once all was said and done. The two black cords you see dangling attach to the back of our TV, so they’re also hidden behind it when it’s hanging on the bracket).

The steps are virtually the same down below, behind the dresser. Drill a hole, connect the black tube & in-wall power cord to their lower counterparts, and secure it to the wall with the provided screws. The in-wall power cord has a plug on this end (unlike the outlet above) and the kit also comes with an additional white power cord so you can connect it all to your wall outlet.

3. Getting the power strip off the floor

While that took care of all of the visible wires above the media console, we still had that mess laying sloppily on the floor below it. You know, all that extra cable that has nowhere to go except where gravity decides it should be? This is where we employed an easy solution (don’t let the length of this post fool you – our favorite cord solutions are the unfancy, uncomplicated ones).

Ever notice how all of your powerstrips have slots on the back of them? That’s so you can mount them somewhere and get them off your floor. I always do it just below the bottom of the furniture if it’s up on legs (so you can still push it against the wall without hitting the power cord), which also creates a little shelf for cramming all of the extra cord. All it took was two screws and about 10 minutes.

Side note: You may notice that we repainted the walls slightly lighter in the midst of all this (more on that here).

4. Adding an Infrared Receiver

After mounting the TV, installing the in-wall cord tunnel, and getting everything off the floor, our last bit of cordy business was hiding the cable box. Just like we did downstairs, we relied on one of our favorite little pieces of technology: a $14 infrared (IR) receiver.

Downsizing Our Lives and Upscaling Our Adventures with Zack Giffin

Fresh off of Steve Harvey’s stage, still bouncing from his party with Lil’ John, and waiting for his next flight to somewhere; Zack Giffin finds time in his jetset schedule to chat with the podcast crew. Somewhat reluctant to talk much about tiny house type, but really enthusiastic to talk about the environment, Zack puts the passion in passionate. He tells us about his early days spent ski bumming with friends near his hometown of Gold Hill Colorado, and what led him to carpentry, minimalism, and then finally building his own tiny house. His ski sponsor then made a movie about his tiny, ski, adventures and that led him to where he is now; the most well known tiny house carpenter in the world.  When you’re done hearing this week’s episode, you might be a bigger Zack fan than Michelle is!

See more photos at the Tiny House Podcast website.

Building Your 1-Acre Homestead (or not)

 

On a trip to the bookstore some years back I stumbled across a well-known magazine that completely caught my eye. My wife and I were living on my parents land in rural, middle Georgia and we were gardening, raising chickens, cooking in an Earth oven, taking solar heated showers, etc. We were trying desperately to become more self-sufficient so that headline that spanned across the front cover was a sign of affirmation to me. Start a self-sufficient One Acre Homestead, the cover proclaimed. Again, the magazine was a reputable one so I picked up a copy and headed to a cafe table to have a read and start to rethink what we were currently doing and how we could do this instead.

As I excitedly flipped to the article inside I came across a beautiful little illustration (see above) that showed everything I had been thinking about. There was a house, a cow, a pig, chickens, food plots, and even fruit-bearing trees. We had access to just over 1-acre so clearly this would work for us.

As I started to read though my mind starting noticing some stones left unturned, so to speak. I first noticed that while the cow was happily grazing in a green pasture there was no barn or milking parlor for her. Granted we were in the South it could still get pretty chilly and of course it rained some days. Where would we feed the cow then? Where would we milk her? I looked past it though thinking I could just eek out some space for a small barn.

Then I noticed in the text of the article that it suggested to plow the sod every 4th or 5th year. How would I go about doing that? A tiller from the Tractor Supply would bust up the Earth but it wouldn’t eradicate the grass roots that lurked beneath. For that I’d need a real tractor with a real disc implement. I couldn’t afford one and no one I knew had one I could borrow. And even if they did I don’t know if it would fit on just 1-acre having to make turns and such. I started to become suspicious of the feasibility of this diagram.

That is when the house caught my eye. Why was it so small? Why did the artist take a Mary Engelbreit cottage and plop it down on a 1-acre homestead? It was terribly out of scope and perspective. Maybe it had two rooms? I’m not sure but I remember thinking it was a joke nonetheless.

Within just a few minutes I closed up the magazine and put it back for the next person. I walked away feeling a bit defeated but realizing that there is no magic equation to homesteading or being self-sufficient. In the tiny house community we like to separate ourselves into two distinct groups: the urban dwellers and the rural folk. The rural folk often dream of having a tiny house on a plot of land where they can raise some animals, grow some food, and live a simpler life. NOTHING is that simple. In fact, since we built our first tiny house we have had 3 different main food gardens, multiple smaller gardens, herb beds and boxes, and kitchen “crops” like sprouts, herbs, etc. We’ve composted on different levels with successes and setbacks. We’ve raised at least 6 flocks of chickens. We’ve raised hogs. We’ve talked about goats and even a milk cow. We’ve made and used an Earth oven. We’ve had a solar, outdoor shower. We’ve broken tools, fixed tools, traded tools, begged to borrow tools, and worked till the calluses on our hands had calluses. None of it was easy and none was summed up by a cute little illustration in a magazine. We’ve also had animals get sick, animals die, crops be destroyed by both disease and pest, and our share of spoiled food meant for preservation. Starting your own 1-acre homestead takes time, determination, effort, and dedication. But it is possible. You just have to look beyond the storybook equations and tips and get to know your 1-acre and what truly is possible.

Here’s 5 tips to get your started:

1. Split your land between livestock and crops. Livestock have to eat too. They also need shelter at times. Don’t sell them short and expect them to be high producers. If you are raising a milk cow learn what she needs and find a way to provide it.
2. Manage your grazing animals. There is nothing worse that having a goat with an insatiable appetite. Don’t let your animals graze and graze and graze in the same spot until it has turned to hardened Earth. Learn to rotate their grazing habits.
3. Learn about crop rotation or garden rotation. If you don’t know what the Three Sisters is, go find out.
4. Understand your water source. You can’t do anything with animals or crops without water. If you are relying on city water understand what your bill may look like each month and what your water is treated with. If you are using a well know whether it is a deep one or a shallow one. And if you are collecting rainwater understand how to purify it before use.
5. Be realistic. Growing a banana tree in Iowa probably isn’t the most realistic idea. But growing corn is. Be realistic in your goals and you are sure to find success.

Are you currently living tiny on a small homestead? Tell us about it. There is no recipe for success quite like inspiration from others!

By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]

My Tiny Earthbag House

that I built, so I could follow my dream of writing

I built my own earthbag home in Turkey, and now run The Mud website for earthbag and sustainable living from there. I’d love to be featured on tinyhouseblog.com.

I had little money and almost no building experience when I started my project. But making my own earthbag tiny home was one of the most empowering things I’ve ever done. The main structure was up in six weeks. The house has a diameter of 6 metres and cost about $5000 (US) to build. It is plastered in a cob mix and the interior is coated in lime. The roundhouse sports a living roof (which dies for about half the year), an outside kitchen, and an outside bathroom with composting toilet Yes, it’s exciting when it rains. It is 100% solar powered, and I use an ancient zeer pot fridge to keep my food cool.

I love the earthbag technique for a number of reasons: It renders Portland cement unnecessary, it’s inexpensive, you can create attractive, earthquake proof roundhouses, and the method is incredibly simple. Even I, with zero construction experience managed to create cosy home.The house has liberated me from a day job, and allowed me to become a full time writer.

The earthbag technique involves filling grain sacks up with damp mud, laying them end to end and tamping them flat. Rings of barbed wire are run between the layers to prevent the bags from slipping away from each other. If you’d like to learn more, a free earthbag building PDF is available from my website: www.themudhome.com, as well as plenty of other information on earthbag building and my simple off-grid lifestyle.

Also, until April 30th my ebook Mud Mountain – The Secret Diary of an Accidental Off-Gridder is available for FREE download.

Eco Cabins Park Model

Hey the latest issue of the Tiny House Magazine has just come off the ePress. Featuring Eco Cabins park model on the cover with a special insert telling more about them with even more photos.

There is so much great reading in the issue. A report from the Georgia Tiny House Festival, How to Level Your Tiny Home, Practical Steps for Going Tiny, The Perfect Accessory, and so much more. Over 80 pages of great reading in this months issue.

Purchase Your Copy Here

Tipi Glamping Retreat for Sale in Lake Tahoe

For anyone who has dreamed of living in (or running a glamping business from) a traditional tipi, there is one for sale on Craigslist. The tipi can be rented out on Airbnb, but owner Romyn Scarpulla is selling the entire business for only $4,500.

The business is currently run in Carnelian Bay, Lake Tahoe, but the tipi and all its goodies are moveable to any location. The package includes a custom designed tipi wth a moon phase motif that has been treated with mold and fire retardant. The traditional poles were also treated with weather stain and the whole tipi comes with an inside lining and rain cap.

Other items are included like the queen size platform bed with mattress, feather and goose down bedding, patchwork quilt and throw. Other items include:

• Blonde wooden side table with Edison lamp and modern vase.
• Large red rug with fringe.
• High quality iron-stove-styled electric plug in heater.
• Coffee and tea service supplies: Electric coffee maker, jars for coffee and tea, jar mugs for coffee and water, french press, water jug & stand.
• Unique designer floral shell hanging lamp.
• Galvanized ‘Hillbilly Hot Tub’ with custom-made oilcloth cover and ties.
• Fringed canvas patio-umbrella handmade in Mexico.
• Wood hammock stand and Guatemalan crocheted hammock.
• Two matching black canvas butterfly chairs.
• Gobo-cut fire pit with Wolf, Bear, and Woodsy-themed silhouette cutouts.
• Red metal bistro table set with two chairs.
• High end brand new extra large BBQ with tools.

I have a friend who lived out of a tipi in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the summer…so it can be done.

Photos by THATCH Vintage