We have often come across this prejudice: Tiny houses are not THE solution for affordable living space. And then we said: We don't want to be THE solution. But in places where no living space would otherwise be created in the immediate future, it is better if a living space is created instead of no living space. Hello everyone, welcome to the Tiny PopUp project. I'm Jonas. And I'm Felizia - also co-founder of Tiny PopUp. As you can see, our self-built tiny house is in the background. We live in it, but we also do environmental education here on our beautiful grounds. And in one of the most expensive areas in Germany, they provoke the question of whether less can be enough. This is our self-built tiny house, the TinyDahome. We built it ourselves and planned it ourselves. Ecological raw materials were important to us, i.e. wooden facade and hemp-jute insulation inside. We also tried to ensure that we used as little material as possible. The whole thing is built on a trailer, which you can't see here. You can see the drawbar on the other side. But she has already moved twice. We simply added balcony boxes to the facade. We got them from a hotel where they were discarded. Here are our strawberries that are just turning red. We have an irrigation system so that you need less water and can get there more easily. They are old Euro pallets that we used to plant things in. I always find that really nice. Up on the terrace is the solar system - for most of our electricity. There are two more panels on the roof that actually produce the electricity we use for most of the year. What do we still have? Exactly. Maybe we'll get to the balcony door and your own entrance later. This is very practical because you don't have to bring the dirt directly into the living room. We heat with wood - that's why the small wooden beige color here. With what wood is left because we didn't need much in the winter. There is another very exciting point on the page. There is our plant-based sewage treatment plant and facade greening. That means we clean our process water, i.e. the gray water. So the water, something from washing up, from the shower and so on - but without a toilet. The toilet we have is a dry separation toilet - something different. The water is pumped up, runs through the green facade and is cleaned through a filter system. So simply through the soil and on the other hand through bacteria that are at the root. And when it comes out, it is actually cleaned like it was after a sewage treatment plant. And you can use it again for watering. And here you may have asked yourself what this is - this is a solar air collector. This means that when the sun shines on it, it heats up - and it then blows the warm air into the house through a sensor. At the old place where we stood before, there wasn't enough sun on the facade in the morning. And so I was able to use them better. I built it myself - that was all the leftover material that was still there. That probably cost me a total of 10 euros. You can also buy this for maybe three to 500 euros - depending on the technology. It works really well. It's getting really warm in there. That's a really cool thing. How did the tiny house come about? We have already expanded our own van - and have been traveling like this for a long time, in a small space. We were inspired by the van conversion or the first van that we converted ourselves. We watched YouTube videos, Pinterest pictures, Instagram and so on. There were the vans that were shown to us - and then there were pictures of American school buses. From there you moved on to the tiny house. We found that really exciting. I was totally fascinated by it. That's how we actually came up with the idea and very quickly said to ourselves: This is our thing, we want to try it out. Let's just do this. In addition to all these chic Instagram pictures, this topic of tiny living also has a lot of political explosive power. Here in Munich and the south of Munich it is of course the case that even with a normal income you will hardly find anything affordable as rent. We're not even talking about property right now. Of course, the topic of tiny houses is also very much linked to self-determination - because you simply reduce your monthly costs so much that you can buy back a bit of freedom. That's the issue: it's affordable - but then there's also this ecological aspect when it comes to tiny houses. It's up to you how you build it. And the use of ecological materials, but also the fact that there is no need to seal the soil with this way of living, is actually very, very great for us. And also being able to produce your own electricity with the tiny house. The issue of flexibility is always a big point for us, which is why we decided on tiny living. That was of course a very strong point, especially at the beginning, to simply say: Yes, okay, cool - we can build our house, we can do that and we don't have to know where it's going to end up at some point. So we'll stay here in the Bavaria region, maybe we'll go to Switzerland or even the sea - that can still change now. You never know. And you don't have to commit to a property in that sense. So you keep all your options open, even though you have your own house. Then come in to our 18 square meter villa - via the terrace, where we love to have a leisurely breakfast. And then we're right in the living room. Here you can see the couch, which we can also turn into a guest bed. This room actually has many different rooms in one - this is actually the office. You can store the mess there - but it's also great for working. I can fold my desk up or down here and fold away the clutter. I have so much storage space. Here we have the couch - we can also turn it into the guest bed. We can simply put the stools there, take the cushions from above and then there will easily be room for two people who can sleep in the guest bed with us. Above - very important - is our reading and chilling loft. Unfortunately we don't get to do it enough, but theoretically it would be there. You can climb up there with a rope. This is actually the living room area. When we do a cheese fondue with over 10 people, we have a folding table here - which is very practical. It fills up the entire room here, but it can easily accommodate 10 people. It's a bit cozy, but it's always a nice atmosphere. In general, it was important to us when planning, as it is a very small room with an area of 18 square meters, that it is very bright. And it doesn't seem so restrictive because of the many windows. Thanks to the tiny house and the possible low trailers, it's good that you can plan a second level. This also makes the room even higher. The sleeping loft and on the other side the reading and chilling loft - this makes the room even larger. In any case, there was always a lot of research work. We haven't done this ourselves before, we have the experience of converting vans, okay. This is a small project in comparison - and it takes a lot of time to research. What do I even want? What is important to us? We found a lot relatively quickly, also thanks to our experience from the van. But after that: What is a wall structure like? How should I approach things? Where do I get the material? There's just a lot there. The challenge was that a lot depended on each other in terms of delivery - and then that was already planned, but the window or the boiler wasn't there yet. Or the oven wasn't there yet, but winter was coming - things like that. But we managed everything somehow - and yes. What was actually quite good is that we took the time and always built on weekends and on vacation. And if things didn't go any further, then I didn't do anything to the tiny house for two weeks. When time comes, advice and action come. Then we had friends who knew what to do next. Or we had craftsmen who helped us - and then everything was somehow solvable. The big challenge was actually finding an area. Because we thought - at the beginning it was clear that we wanted to move to the Munich area or the city of Munich. Then we just started looking for properties that were vacant. Municipal, state, but also private. And then we naively thought: If we show the city enough vacant space, then we can definitely use it temporarily. That wasn't the case. It would be a shame if the area wasn't used - the city actually has to see it that way. Oh well. Yes. Now we have actually moved from the living room into the kitchen. It became relatively large because you have to manage a lot. Very important, in general - lots of storage space. You actually have to use every square centimeter as storage space. Here are the classic stairs that we used for drawers - for the groceries. Here is a shapeless space for the oils and spices. This is otherwise rarely used. There's another drawer, because you always have a lot of stuff in the kitchen. This raised floor is a double floor - we also have storage space in there, bowls and so on. And of course very important for our dog, “Nerva”. She has her little kingdom here where she can just get away. It is always very important that the dogs have a place to retreat. She has it under the stairs, she loves it. Then - how do we cook? We thought there would never be enough electricity for cooking. That's why we initially installed a gas plate, but we don't actually use it anymore. When we realized how much electricity we were producing with these few panels, we bought an induction plate. We actually use them mostly for cooking. In winter we heat with wood and need around two meters of space per year - that's very little. But then it's there. When there is warmth in winter, we cook on it. We produce our hot water using, among other things, a very old method. But it works very well for us. With the waste heat from the smoke pipe from the wood stove - this is a so-called flue gas boiler, we use it to make hot water in winter. Solar thermal energy is used in summer, spring and autumn. But in winter it's just incredibly powerful. We wouldn't have thought that either. We built the kitchen ourselves. Jonas did a really great job of dealing with the drawers. I'm not precise enough. A dishwasher was also very important to me because we both hate doing dishes. That's why we like to turn this on. We have often come across this prejudice: Tiny houses are not THE solution for affordable living space. And then we said: We don't want to be THE solution. But in places where no living space would otherwise be created in the immediate future, it is better if a living space is created instead of no living space. You can't come up with THE total solution. Because they don't exist on the housing market. And when it comes to tiny houses, it's clearly a niche solution. Not everyone should live in a tiny house. But where nothing else happens anyway - whether for a short time for one to five years on an interim basis or under leasehold for a longer period of time, because nothing happens there on these reserved areas. It makes a lot of sense there - and we've now gotten to the point where politicians understand it. But at the beginning, where we were looking, the arguments weren't there yet. It was more like: No, no - we don't do tiny houses. It is now very clear, hence a niche solution. Not as a replacement for a high-rise building, of course, not at Marienplatz in Munich. But in all the single-family home areas you can easily build up density with tiny houses. The second thing was that no one felt responsible. So you were sent from one place to another. And no one really knew what to do with it or who was responsible. And no one wanted to lean too far out of the window. That's why it's better to say no than to do something that I shouldn't have done. The image of Asterix - where he goes from one thing to another. Passport A 38. Something like this. That's pretty much how you feel there. I think a lot has happened in the meantime - also through political work by associations. For example, the “kleinunform” association, which I helped found in Switzerland. Or the Tiny House Association Germany or our active work here in the Munich area, that awareness has become much greater or The clarity also came as to how things can work, and there is more and more. And you are no longer sent back and forth so much. We not only invite school classes here and do environmental education, but also for politicians, architects and engineers. That the advantage is highlighted, that something is happening there. Most of the inquiries we receive from private individuals are always about this property issue. That's why we started for people who are really seriously considering using it as their first home and not as a holiday home - because we don't see the ecological advantage if you need more living space. But for people who really think about it seriously, we now do intensive exchanges where it really comes down to paragraphs. How can I get that done? Then we come from the kitchen to the bathroom. It's very cute. But we can even brush our teeth in there as a couple - which is probably new for some people. What is probably new for some people is to see a compost separating toilet. It works completely without using any water. Simply by separating the urine and solids from each other, there is much less odor. We also have a fan that blows all the stinky air outside. And we save 40 liters of drinking water per person per day. The sponsor of today's video is "Trobolo". When I bought my weekend house, there was no conventional toilet in it. It must have broken somehow. But since I'm not a fan of water toilets anyway, because 10 liters of drinking water per flush is simply too much, I decided on a dry separation toilet from "Trobolo". For two reasons: It is extremely high-quality workmanship and the "TinyBloem" from "Trobolo" does not have a urine canister that sometimes overflows - if you are not careful. Everything already happened. This pipe leads directly underground to the sewer system. If you are not familiar with the system of a dry separation toilet - here is a short explanation: Liquids and solids are separated and so there is no smell - especially because the built-in fan simply blows bad air outside. I collect the solids in a collection container and then later turn them into humus with microorganisms - and then bring them back into the cycle. The setup was super easy because there wasn't actually one. I was really happy that I could use it almost straight away. And to be honest: Of all the dry separation toilets that I have seen and used so far, the "Trobolo" is actually my number 1. It is extremely high quality and simply unbeatable in terms of design. We have a normal shower and a small sink. Storage space for cosmetic items. And actually everything else you need. What we thought about when planning the bathroom - how long and how often a day do you spend time in the bathroom? Where do you spend most of your time? Least of all in the bathroom - that's why we're completely okay with the bathroom being so small. And the living room and kitchen, where you spend more time during the day, simply take up a larger space. Because you go there often. I am someone when I brush my teeth - I then take my toothbrush and sit on the couch or walk around the house. We are actually very happy with the bathroom and also with the dry separation toilet. I actually had very big reservations about it at the beginning because I couldn't imagine that it wouldn't stink. If this bucket with the solids is in the tiny house and then sits there for a few days before it is emptied, it is completely unproblematic thanks to the separation of solids and liquids and the fan. It is composted for two years and then I have humus for flowers or zucchini that I can then grow. We've already tested that, there's really no problem. We also work with "Kompotoi AG", which produces ecological dry separation toilets. And they also confirmed to us that it was really unproblematic to do it that way. Basically, even if it's basically mobile, if I want to live in it, I have to comply with everything, just like with a property - although we always say it's movable. Yes, a movable is a mobile house - but you still have to comply with everything. This means that it goes from points such as boundary distances that are given to development lines and development plans. So in what kind of area something can be done. This can be a requirement for a roof shape or the height of buildings that is or is not accepted in the area. These are all such points - including development figures - i.e. how much of the property can actually be built on. That's a big point. Where we see that TinyHouses can use remaining space that can otherwise no longer be used. This is a huge advantage because they are too small for a normal house. Depending on the situation, it may still be enough for a tiny house. Nevertheless, there are regulations - so with too little space it is not enough. Because then I might no longer be able to maintain the limit distances. There is a lot to consider - we have created a checklist together with a club, which we then go through step by step in the intensive exchange, for example. There is a 75 cubic meter regulation in the Bavarian building regulations - and we have now felt a big advantage here in Pullach. And if you're under that volume of space, then you have a simplified process. Of course you have to comply with everything, but the administrative effort is lower. This also means that the municipalities have less effort to create this affordable living space. Because they can regulate this directly with the local building authority in the municipality and do not have to involve the district office. And that's why it happens very quickly. Of course, a tiny house can also have over 75 cubic meters, then you have to get a building permit and then have to involve the district office. That doesn't make it impossible, but it does mean more administrative work. And we are actually on the topic that they need less administration and fewer regulations in order to simply make building and living cheaper. Simply a return to simple construction - also when it comes to ecological building materials, in order to become affordable again. Here in town, in discussions with the community, it was very clear that, in addition to the border distances, there was also the obligation to connect. I didn't mention earlier that you have to be connected to the sewer network. Above all, it is clear where the wastewater goes. This is something that is extremely important to the community. We had that done, we are connected as normal. That was one of the points where it was really clear that we had to implement this. This is our sleeping area, our bedroom - where we actually feel comfortable and often have breakfast. We are often here with a view of the garden and enjoy the view. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a minimalist here because I have a lot of stuff. But just briefly - where is what? Jonas and I always try to accommodate my books somehow and somewhere. Then here are actually the two boxes with our clothes. Here is the wardrobe that we also built from scrap wood - where everything always has a place and the clutter can always be nicely hidden, like with the desk. That's always fine with me. Yes, the children are always amazed when we give tours - that we have a television. But then they always ask us where our Playstation is. Of course, they always miss that - or a huge television. Yes, that's true. The two things that kids often mention that they need to bring into the tiny house are a huge TV and a Playstation. Otherwise it's just a very comfortable place. There is actually a lot of space. And very important again - to create plenty of storage space. In terms of planning, we have already considered whether we should make the bedroom downstairs or whether it should be upstairs. But it's just very cozy upstairs - because of the heat in the summer, it's obviously warm here in the summer. But we have roller blinds that we can use to darken things. Then we can actually keep the heat out for a very long time. And through this skylight we can actually transport the heat out very quickly. We also have a roller blind here, so we can darken it again. Then you keep the heat outside for a relatively long time in the summer. In winter it is again an advantage to be at the top - because it is of course the first to get warm here. What we didn't consider is that the wood stove will make it very hot at some point. Then we have a sauna in here - hence this heat curtain. We then take it out and it actually works very well so that we can leave the heat from the wood stove outside in the winter. You can also sleep comfortably because it gets to 30 degrees in here relatively quickly in the winter. A small room heats up very quickly. Then it actually works very well. Where we really need to change something is with the roof window. We simply made the mistake of looking at the price - and as many people probably know: cheap ends up being very expensive in the long run. We need to replace this skylight soon. At the beginning it wasn't planned that we would open up like this. At the beginning we just wanted to live. It just happened over time because we realized that a lot of people are interested and the topic of tiny living affects a lot of different groups. Many come into contact with these environmental protection issues or resource conservation issues for the first time through this tiny house. Because the tiny house just looks so cute. These are people who haven't thought about it before. It's just really exciting to see the exchange that takes place there with a wide variety of target groups. We also have school classes there. That was simply a concern because Jonas is also a primary school teacher - to also go into environmental education. And we should start with the younger generation, for whom there is still hope - who are simply understandably concerned about the environment. Yes, for them it is very clear that we have to protect the species, that we have to think about how everything works with waste, with water, with electricity. For them it's a given - that always gives us hope. Then of course we also have the formats in which we pass on our knowledge regarding tiny living. Also for people who are also considering this living space and this way of living. It's just the case that we have a lot of women who hold their pension notice in their hand for the first time and then start to think. And then they think: How much is my pension? How much do I actually pay in rent? And then they realize: Okay, I'm actually paying more rent than I'll get in pension. Then you're forced to look for alternative ways of living that you can somehow still afford. Here is the herbal spiral. What I always think is really great is when you cook pasta and then can harvest your own herbs. We have actually grown a lot here that we also like to use ourselves. We do not claim to be self-sufficient here. I don't have that requirement with this dry soil and these dry summers - but I do have a few things that you just like to use in the kitchen. So grow your own zucchini, a few pumpkins, peas, beans and, most importantly, the herbs. There is also a freshly planted herb bed here that will soon become an insect hotel. So at the top there are herbs and a few flowers and at the bottom we will fill it as an insect hotel with various cavity materials so that we can attract a lot of wild bees. We put up the raised beds - with lettuce, nasturtiums, chives. Arugula is still in there. Here we still have sugar snap peas, which I always like to add to the salad or to a rice pan. You can see that here. There are hill beds here. Here we're just testing out which perennials are heat-resistant - not this faded hydrangea. It just needs too much water. Now we'll just see what comes through. The goal is actually to have a perennial garden that we don't have to do much work with - instead of sowing flowers now that we have to take care of them every year. Let's see, it's freshly laid out now. There are also a few flowers here, sunflowers. We always like to use mint for tea. We hope that it works well. And what else you see there, this freshly dried hay, lies on this bare earth that we don't have to water as much or actually don't have to water at all. Because I'm a lazy gardener. And thanks to this mulching, that's what it's called, not as much water evaporates from the ground. And additional nutrients enter the soil. And I also save myself work - and few weeds get through. It's actually three in one. Then the zucchini-squash tunnel is relatively freshly created here. Here it's a bit permaculture-style - so there are beans in the middle that release nutrients. To the left and right there are zucchini and pumpkins, which extract a lot of nutrients and complement each other and rank so high here. Of course I did the math without the snails. They caused a lot of rage here - now let's see what's left. But a little something is already blooming. We are always asked the question of what we are missing - and I never know what to answer. Because I actually gained a lot more through this project and the tiny house. In terms of contacts, of great experiences - and I can never really think of what I'm really missing. Because I see it as added value, what I can experience and how great it is - simply having my own electricity, producing it, using water carefully and simply living so holistically. And I still don't miss or miss anything. I gained my hobby - gardening. Which I never would have thought - because I never actually knew how to work with plants or it was never really important to me. But at some point you'll be hooked when your first zucchini arrives, and it tastes really good. And if you can harvest your daily herbs - then you're addicted and then you just keep going. I've gained more rather than missing anything. With you? I'm always asked - and I couldn't say that I'm missing anything, quite the opposite. We have already thought about creating a list or a blog post about everything we have learned through the project. This goes much further than just building a wall - how do I do that or how do I build the tiny house? But: How do I discuss with politicians? How do I build a homepage? How do I deal with the press? These are a lot of topics that were new to us through the project and are extremely exciting. This is brand new - our geodome, a geodesic dome. That's the way the thing is constructed. We've actually designed this to become the resource pavilion. I've seen this a few times. We were surfing in Portugal and went to a place that had one of these. And I found it a totally fascinating type of construction. I then thought a bit about how to do it myself - that you could dismantle it and reassemble it again. The foils are from a nursery that you no longer need. We use this thing now when we do tours, have workshops here, and have school classes here. If it rains - because you just can't get the whole school class into a tiny house. So you can use the space here and still have an outside space that can be put to good use. All the resource posters that we once made for an exhibition - they are shown off quite well here. It's really exciting to use this as a resource pavilion. Visions - that's one thing for us, that we can now continue to pass on topics that are important to us through our project. So what we started here and what we do - the school workshops or sometimes when a company is there. That we can pass things on, that we can perhaps do more of them. Politically, it also means that things will continue in the area of tiny houses. This is well on the way. A lot has happened there in the last few years. That everything becomes clearer - how to do it. That it will be easier. That we can do our part when it comes to housing in general to draw attention to issues. Exactly, so this topic that when it comes to housing, affordability is no longer played off against ecological aspects. But that it is thought together - because that is possible. It is also important that it is done - and for this we have to find simple solutions - how to live simply. Without compromising on comfort - this is possible. It doesn't always have to be the highest technical standard, it doesn't always have to have five additions to every DIN standard. But we have to go back to low-tech, to simple construction - to make ecological and affordable things possible together. When we arrived here - or before we arrived here, it was very important to us not to let the door fall into the house or let the house fall into the garden - but rather to inform the neighborhood well. We posted flyers in the neighborhood saying that it would be noisy one day because we had to install a sewer connection. Of course, one day is nothing compared to another building. And above all, we have the neighborhood directly, so half a week after we arrived, we are invited to a small welcome drink. That was also very well received - they were happy to come and were of course excited to see what was to come. There was some skepticism in the neighborhood. But that soon subsided because we simply approached people openly. Some were involved right from the start - and it actually went surprisingly well. So we noticed that a tiny house like this somehow brings people together. And it brings the neighborhood together. So maybe a few of them got to know each other through us. Because we helped out and got to know each other at the mulled wine meeting before Christmas. That's exactly what the neighborhood is all about - that you are there for each other and know the people and can then help. Whether it's clearing snow or bringing something with you while shopping. And then you are there for each other - because nobody lives just for themselves in their island, in their house. It's also important to look after each other and not leave anyone alone.
