The other day as we were driving down off of our mountain we ran into a part-time neighbor who lives in another part of North Carolina full time. He told us he is reading the blog (Thanks!) and had just one question. What do we do about water?
I suppose it kind of slipped my mind not to talk about our water system here in the tiny house. I'll give you a quick overview.
All of the water we use in our house comes from a spring on the land. The only exception is drinking water which we buy by the gallon at the local grocery store. For treating the spring water we use a Berkey water filter system. We could drink it, but we just don't. We collect water in large containers at the site of the spring and physically carry them up to the house whenever we're running low. If you want to know more about how we handle water here, you can check out my guest post from over at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Blog.
I've also spoken about our shower before. I am very proud of that device. We tried a lot of camp showers over the years. We had the submersible pump and gravity fed shower bags. They were all fine but none were perfect. Then Matt went out to New Mexico and met with someone for the project we were doing in South Africa. This person told him about living on a boat and using a garden sprayer for his shower. So we modified the design and it is beyond perfect. Once we moved into the tiny house we got a little shower attachment to hold the sprayer like this one to make the process even easier.
Our greywater (waste water from washing ourselves or dishes) is handled through an artificial wetland similar to ones used by the Earthship community out in Taos New Mexico. Stay tuned and I'll eventually do a post on how we constructed ours.
I suppose it kind of slipped my mind not to talk about our water system here in the tiny house. I'll give you a quick overview.
All of the water we use in our house comes from a spring on the land. The only exception is drinking water which we buy by the gallon at the local grocery store. For treating the spring water we use a Berkey water filter system. We could drink it, but we just don't. We collect water in large containers at the site of the spring and physically carry them up to the house whenever we're running low. If you want to know more about how we handle water here, you can check out my guest post from over at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Blog.
I've also spoken about our shower before. I am very proud of that device. We tried a lot of camp showers over the years. We had the submersible pump and gravity fed shower bags. They were all fine but none were perfect. Then Matt went out to New Mexico and met with someone for the project we were doing in South Africa. This person told him about living on a boat and using a garden sprayer for his shower. So we modified the design and it is beyond perfect. Once we moved into the tiny house we got a little shower attachment to hold the sprayer like this one to make the process even easier.
Our greywater (waste water from washing ourselves or dishes) is handled through an artificial wetland similar to ones used by the Earthship community out in Taos New Mexico. Stay tuned and I'll eventually do a post on how we constructed ours.
I just discovered your blog through the Tumbleweed site. I'm glad you are so detailed with your projects, I want to build my own tiny house soon. I also love the photos of Piglet! My sister is a vet tech and suggests that the acne on her chin could be caused by plastic food or water bowls. It happens to our cats as well. If you are using plastic and switch to ceramic, glass or stainless steel the acne should go away. If you have already tried this, I guess it's just her sensitive skin, being a sphinx. Just thought it might help. I look forward to more posts!
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica - I'm glad you found us! Keep me up to date on your own tiny house build.
DeleteAnd thank your sister for the acne advice. We do use stainless bowls for Piggy. Unfortunately, acne is pretty common in sphynxes but we keep it managed with strydex pads!
I love the Berkey! I was a Peace Corps volunteer and used a British Berkfield for years. I also love tiny homes and hope to reside in one someday :) Cheers
ReplyDeleteDid you ever get the artificial wetlands construction posted? Just found your blog and am very interested as my upcoming project will be off grid and where I grey water goes has been a big noodle twister for me :)
ReplyDeleteThe first picture down- is that the water tank?
ReplyDeleteIn a manner of speaking. That is our Big Berkey water filter. It does act as a holding tank for about 3 gallons of water at a time. You fill the top, which contains the carbon filters, and it gravity feeds into the bottom tank.
DeleteGenerally speaking what is the average cost of utilities in a tiny home (including heating & AC bills, water & electrics).
ReplyDeleteGreat question. Unfortunately, it is one that I can't really answer. Our tiny house is off-grid, so we don't have any bills for electrical or gas or water. Our power is solar and our water is from our natural spring. We do pay for some fuels, including propane and butane, but the cost is negligible.
DeleteI haven't ever lived in an on-grid tiny home, so I am not sure what it would cost to be connected to city services. I would also imagine that this would depend on a number of factors including the type of power systems a house has as well as where it is located.
I'm sorry I couldn't be more help on this one.