Drawing A Tiny Home With Google SketchUp: A Complete Video Tutorial Series

Prolific tiny house designer, Michael Janzen, has made a seven part video tutorial series for YouTube that is all about how to use Google's free 3D drafting software, SketchUp, to draw tiny house plans.    He's actually using SketchUp Pro, but I didn't notice too much difference between that and the free software.

SketchUp drawing by Michael Janzen

He draws as though he was actually building the tiny house, making sure that it is properly framed, sheathed, sided, and so on.  The thickness of the various materials, air spaces, gaps, flooring, etc., are all drawn very precisely so that there won't be many surprises when the real building occurs.  

I did a post quite a while ago that featured Michael narrating a tour and describing his clever 12'x24' house plan in a YouTube video that you can see by Clicking here.  

At the bottom of the post, after all the videos, I've included a link to download Google SketchUp for free.  His seven part SketchUp video tutorial series begins immediately below.

Rochester Greenovation Tiny Home for the Homeless Project

I recently attended the first meeting in a ten part series that will ultimately result in a tiny house prototype for homeless people.  It was facilitated by Rochester Greenovation in Rochester, NY rochestergreen.org.  The idea is to build a tiny home from salvaged materials such as pallets and old windows.  The first meeting involved brainstorming with members of the group and sharing ideas about the design.  In ten weeks, we should have a prototype.  This installment of my blog is intended as a resource for group members, but it could be useful to any other individuals or groups contemplating similar projects with similar goals.    


I will try to update this post as I find additional helpful material.  I'll start with a video about pallet types and how to break them down. 

Nine people attended the meeting, including me.  I enjoyed meeting everyone, and I thought there was a good discussion.  Some of the talk caused me to think of some work by the tiny home designer, Michael Janzen. What follows is from his website http://www.ninetinyfeet.com

Clever 12' x 24' House Design Video

Michael Janzen from Tiny House Design ( tinyhousedesign.com ) of California came up with this clever and efficient design.  It's 576 sq. ft. with a full loft, or 432 sq. ft with a half loft.   It would be very inexpensive to build due to it's diminutive size, basic shape, and simple foundation.  I asked him yesterday if he'd finalized the design, but he said that unfortunately he's put this one on the back burner for awhile.  Perhaps posting it here today will help move it back to a front burner so he can finish it up and make those plans available.  Many people, myself included, find this to be a very appealing design.