U.S. student lives in tiny house he built to save money

U.S. student builds tiny house to save money

By Special to MoneySense on August 18, 2015
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

The home is 96 square-feet

This article is 9 years old. Some details may be outdated.

tiny house — Rob Dunn’s two-storey, 96-square-foot home sits in the woods in Poultney, Vt. Dunn, a Green Mountain College senior from Henniker, N.H., has lived off the grid for about a year in his tiny home powered by two 100-watt solar panels. (Anthony Edwards/Rutland Herald via AP)

POULTNEY, Vt. – A college student in Vermont is living in a 96-square-foot house he built to reduce his carbon footprint — and save money. The Rutland Herald reports that Green Mountain College senior Rob Dunn has been living in the two-storey Poultney home since August 2014. The home is powered by two 100-watt solar panels. A rocket mass heater built from a cast-iron stove insulated with a mixture of clay, sand and straw allows for cooking and heating. The home cost Dunn about $3,000 to build, and the landowner is letting him live rent-free. He says that will help with the high cost of college. The Henniker, New Hampshire, native says living in the home is the “most raw experience that I’ve ever had.” Shipping container houses offer cheaper alternative »