Tiny house, big ambition: teen builds a little place of his own

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/10/2020 (2142 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

His house, his rules.

Noah Jonker, 15, built a 96-square-foot house in his family’s backyard in the RM of Springfield and now he’s sleeping in it.

Marleen Jonker, Noah’s mom, said she showed Noah a video of someone in the United States building a tiny house out of reclaimed material. That was all the inspiration he needed to build a tiny home of his own.

The house is fully insulated, shingled and runs on solar power. Noah has a couch, coffee table, bookshelf, kitchen counter and cupboards to hold his snacks and batteries. There’s a ladder that leads to the loft with a wide couch where he sleeps most nights.

“It’s basically just a small version of our house that I can hang out in, sleep in and do homework and stuff in.”
– Noah Jonker, 15

“It’s basically just a small version of our house that I can hang out in, sleep in and do homework and stuff in,” said Noah.

“And have your own rules,” Marleen jumped in with a laugh.

Bentley, the family’s 12-year-old chocolate lab and Charlie, their three-year-old rescue dog aren’t allowed on the couch in the main house, but Noah lets them lounge on his couch in the tiny house.

“The dogs learned and are pretty happy about it,” joked Noah.

Noah started the project in May 2019.

He said he got a lot done during the summer because COVID-19 kept him at home. Noah added that mudding the entire house was the hardest part and it took a long time due to changing weather in the summer.

“My husband and I were super impressed with how he just ran with it,” said Marleen. “His confidence totally took off. At first, he was nervous about doing anything without his dad’s help, or no help… by the end, he was out there doing his own thing and not scared to screw up, so to speak, and fix it.”

The house is built with mostly reclaimed material: wood from the demolition of a deck, windows that came from a neighbour, and a couch that was being sent to the dump. Noah also said he helped the neighbours take down their Christmas lights, did a lot of yard work and spent time babysitting to earn money to put towards his tiny house.

“You think of the life skills that came out of it and even learning just the cost of things. Buying drywall and kind of figuring out how much that cost and how we all have to earn our money and decide what we’re using it for. We’re super proud,” said Marleen.

“You think of the life skills that came out of it and even learning just the cost of things. Buying drywall and kind of figuring out how much that cost and how we all have to earn our money and decide what we’re using it for. We’re super proud.”
– Noah’s mom, Marleen

Noah said it’s nice to have his own place to sleep and he’s sure his family is thankful he spends the majority of his nights in his own home now.

“I listen to really loud music when I go to sleep. So, I don’t bother anybody else out there,” said Noah. “I’ll wake up everyone else in the house if I sleep inside.”

Before the pandemic, when Noah’s house wasn’t finished, he and his friends still hung out in it.

“His friends are all very jealous. All my family and friends are always like, ‘wait, your 15-year-old moved out? What!’” said Marleen. “He comes back in for food, though. He’s a teenager, let’s be honest. Although he does have a drawer of snacks out there, that was a priority.”

kellen.taniguchi@freepress.mb.ca