smallest practical home

If it was me I would get a used cheap trailer and then build the house I really wanted as the money came in.

edit.. just read your last message. If the time period is short and then you are going to leave then just go with the trailer. Shoot, why not splurge and get two if you need the extra space.

My grandma sold her trailer for peanuts and it was a real nice double wide. A lot cheaper then building.

I use a space of about 14X 16 (living room) and 6X5(bathroom) in a 24X 36 mobile home. When i was looking for a sailboat to live in I found 30 footers t o be spacious they would have a main room of about that size and then a outdoor cockpit about the half that size.
a few clues
Carefully leval your building site its small so its should be easy to get the whole thing within a inch of level.
with a trencher cut a 6 inch trench around the out side then line it with 4 inch foam insulation about 4 feet deep.then with a shovel dig about6 inch wide and a foot deep around the outside of that lay in rebar and fill with concrete now cut 4 " deep inside lay in rebar and finish a floor build ttwo walls One on the outside one on then in fill with Insulation very easy to heat and cool!
later if ya get time dig under the floor and put a wood stove underneath near the middle load it once a day and let it rip it will heat the house evenly all day and no woodsmoke in the house!

Sounds like you have the perfect site for an underground house. Mostly concrete, so they are cheap to build.

I would second the idea of a used single wide MH. I did this at our weekend place in the country. My cost was $3000 for the MH and $1400 to move it, for a 14x70 in good condition. That comes out to $4.50 per square foot, and I don't think you can even build a bare bones cabin for that. And we got central heat and air, fridge, stove, dishwasher, carpeted floors, 2 baths, and plenty of room. Fresh coat of paint inside and out and it looks great. When you are through with it, sell it. They are out there if you look for them.

it may not be a concern for you but it turned into one for me..the number of bedrooms and getting financing..I only wanted one bedroom but my finance company made me have 2 for the resale value of the home(got around this by putting a closet in the loft so it could count as the second bedroom)..my advice is to check all zoning and subdivision rules as well as (if you must finance) what the financial institutions require... :waa: they got me on the termite treatment too!

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" As needs-MUST!!"--- in other words..a gal does what a gal has too!

Anything is possible... We (2 adults, 2 children--11 &12) live in a 750 sq ft. home. 2 bed 1 bath kitchen and living room. DH thinks it is too small but I am fine with it. Kids would like bigger rooms but are dealing with it. If you can only afford a small home there would be no problem with a family of two or even more. (We keep 1 large dog and 1 small dog in the house.) I would suggest that you make the kitchen and living room one large room as opposed to two smaller rooms. It makes it feel bigger. Also bay windows help as would a screened porch but we have neither. I think it is very comfortable. We started with an 1100 sq ft home then moved to a 2000 sq ft and now we are in 750.

I would tend to think if you are only going to be there for 10 years or less. Go for small or moble. Buy a RV or mobile home. When you move you can take your RV with you.

Good Luck


Susie

I have a husband, seven children under 13, 2 dogs and 2 cats. We're living on our land while we build. We're building out of pocket. We moved onto our property last June in our 30' travel trailer w/ pop-out and added a 16x24 and 2 lofts just as winter was coming on. We're using the trailer for the kitchen and bath and extra sleeping space. The "cabin" is for the office, referigerator & pantry, W&D, livingroom, masterbedroom, playroom, and nursery.

We're having a blast. It's only temporary. We should have more space by next fall. It's all in your attitude and what you want. Look for the book Mortgage Free by Rob Roy.

Tammy in AK

WOW!!!

You definitely have some very strong faith in something.

My mom is the 14th kid out of 15 (catholic mexican family) who all lived in a small house. When I talk to my mom about it and ask her about space and crowdedness etc... she says she never even noticed it. I am sure they spent a majority of there time outdoors, I know I would.

Good luck and have fun with the building.

We (hubby, myself, 2 dogs, and sometimes two children visit) have lived in our 2 story 16x16 cabin for over a year and a 1/2 now. It is comfy, cost less than $5,000 and was prevously a one story shed when we lived in Okla. City, it was built with screws instead of nails so it could be taken apart to move, so it could be done for a lot less $$$$ than we did it.

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Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. I'm not much into design architecture. but I did purchase some plans of a cabin we really liked. What I'd like to do is add a loft or second floor but have no idea how to work up the plans. If anyone is interested in doing this I can scan what I have for you to work with.

It should be easy to expand I did the plans for ours, by copying a storage building at Home Depot. Our lower floor is just a box, the top of the upper floor is 8ft above the lower one, I even did the stair stringers myself, 12 steps for the 8ft rise. Upstairs is a loft, with a gambrel roof. It feels bigger than it is.

__________________
Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}

Thumper
Is your place like the 16 x 16 2 storied gamble roofed storage sheds they have out in the Home Depot parking lots for about $6,000 built on your lot? I go in those and dream all the time. They do make those larger and a couple of other layouts. there is a web site, but it's bookmarked on my computer at work, and not on this home computer.

When I get land.......

A girl can keep dreaming......

AngieM2

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"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

the plans I have are for a 16x20(4' of which is porch so actually 12x20 livable space). I'm not sure where I could put a stair case (much less a kitchen and bath.

Put the staris so they go up the side wall and over the bath and kitchen, keep the bath and kitchen close so you don't have to pay to run plumbing pipe. Place waterheater in bathroom closet or hall closet. Just half loft over back part of the room and keep the rest open. There are lots of web site to look at and you can get good ideas from them. Lots of plans are more sq ft. just make it smaller.

pcdreams we are 50 miles North of you we started out with a structure 20X20 have built on a couple times.At first it was me the wife and Son,now it is just us.

What we have is pretty sound,just we're wanting just something that looks a little better.Which we're thinking along the line of 24X24 with upstairs.

You are more than welcome to come visit,maybe get some ideas.Just PM me if intrested.

big rockpile

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I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

Yes, AngieM2, it is exactly the large shed at Home Depot, I went a measured and took pitures of it, then drew out plans to our needs , we needed it to be modular and easy to take apart to move, each wall comes apart into an 8x8 ft section,(or used too) the front is in 3 sections because of the door, (double dutch doors 6x6ft, we recently saw an ad for this type door for something like $800 per side!!!) we used ondura roofing so it could be reused as well and neoprene (sp?) washers to seal the screws in the low part of the channels, we have had no leaks so far in 1 1/2 years here, and over a year in the city, and that is with reused roofing! all the holes where used again or filled with roofing tar, the panels themselves are made of asphalt so works perfectly. Our stairs are along the back wall and the toilet is under there. I'll try to get some of the pictures in the album, of the inside later today, hubby is at this moment waiting for me for me to get off the computer so we can get to town.

__________________
Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}

so what happened guys - everybody forget about Mike Oehler?

"the $50 & up underground house book" - ISBN 0-442-27311-8

Wow Thumper - what a place and the animals!!!
Anxiously awaiting inside photos....

AngieM2

__________________
"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

Wow Thumper - what a place and the animals!!!
Anxiously awaiting inside photos....

AngieM2

__________________
"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

I got the inside house photos up and running.

__________________
Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}