Why the obsession with "tiny houses"?

the home I built inWV was 16x24, with a 10x16 loft. I built the walls 12' and the kitchen (under the loft) with a 7' ceiling, so the loft would have plenty of room. I added a 24x12 porch in front and a deck on the end. There was a lot of room in the cabin and it didn't feel cramped. The plan was to add a 12x24 extension on the back later, which my ex has since done. that added another bedroom, storage space and a bath/washroom. Luxurios at 912 sq. ft..

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Vicker
If you're born to hang, you'll never drown.

Now, that's something that never made sense to me. Unless you have a large family or entertain a lot, what's the point? It's just more maintenance/upkeep, more cleaning, more taxes.......more work.

The government, in there all-seeing, all-knowing wisdom, has made it challenging or impossible to build a practical tiny home anyway. That's why many are built on trailers (assuming its even legal to park a trailer on your property). I frequent a number of home-building forums, and know the codes well.

Among other issues, there are strict codes about stairs, minimum ceiling height, minimum room size, minimum door and window sizes, clearances around plumbing fixtures and appliances, and any number of other rules. Some areas even require fire sprinkler systems in new construction. Although you may not have local inspections, all states have code laws, so you might get away with it, but will have broken the law.

I'm not saying I agree with all of the above; it really bothers me that I can't build what I want to on MY land. Our 7 acres is un-zoned, but I still have to comply with all of the current building, plumbing, and electrical codes.

Many areas have minimum square footage requirements, also known as 'anti-shack' laws. In this era of 'green' living, I wonder if someone with deep pockets and a good lawyer could successfully argue against such laws. In a similar situation, FL passed a law that outdoor clotheslines are allowed in every neighborhood, over ruling HOA covenants that ban them.

I read somewhere that 500 square feet per person is comfortable, and have found that this is about right for us. Of course we could get by with less, but the house I'm building right now is so tight and well insulated that it wouldn't make much difference as far as energy usage is concerned. The added cost of building such an efficient home will likely not pay back in my lifetime anyhow.

I was only kidding a little with my comment about a tiny home with a 2000 sq ft storage shed. I'm building a large great room at one end of my barn which will be finished. We'll use this room for large gatherings, and as a guest house on occasion. It will only be heated or A/C a few times a year. I think a building like this makes a small or tiny home a lot more practical.

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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley

Ya know, i once tried having 2 gf's in a big house, it was all good until they found out about each other. I would hate to try it in a small house.......lol.....

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U.S. Constitution -10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

My Grandmother lived in a tiny house when I was a kid.
And it was tiny... maybe 500sq ft...
It was prefect for her, and everything was down sized for her height... almost 5' tall.
But even as kid for me... it was just too tiny.

Have lived in places that were only 800sq ft, three stories.. with 3 people it was ok.
Back then we didn't really have furniture or such. Nor was I spinning or doing the level of Art work I am now.

The current house I have is 2500sq ft, it is the biggest house I have ever lived in and I have to say, I love it!
I now have my own Art Studio and have room to do the stuff I love to do.

Now for the tiny cottages... I think they would make a cute get away place... or even another studio on ones property. But I won't want to live in one, at least at this point and time.
Seen a lot of cute ones on FB.

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Shari

Unless you plan on store buying all your food and doing minimal scratch cooking. 200-300 Sq. Ft just isn't enough. Adding a garage as storage or work space? Why not connect it and keep the door closed to heat/cooling when not in use? If on the north side it will help keep the heat in the house. A big three season room on the south side will keep out the sun if that's your big issue. This is how houses were built years ago. You had a "core" area. Generally the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Then doors could be opened as needed. For instance, in our house Sq Footage for heating can be limited to as little as 550 SQ ft, but it's space is actually near 1100. This is all accomplished by design and closing doors.

As for children and the need for space. This house is 170 years old. It has hosted a few large families in it's time. Larger than todays...

When we bought our place, we went from less than 900sf to 2400sf. After living in 900sf for 6 years, we were so...lost! It took me probably the better part of a year to "spread out", so to speak.

As for the tiny houses, I think they'd be great for a single person or for a weekend retreat, but 200sf is a bit small (IMO) for day-to-day living unless one is a pretty serious minimalist. Having said that, however, we could live in one if needed.

I guess the appeal is that you will have less of everything. Oprah did a show on the happiest people in the world. I am not sure which country it was in though. A girl on there made a comment when Oprah asked her why they have such tiny houses. Her response was beautiful, "Less house, less stuff, more life!" I will never forget that.

Dh and I live in a modest 1,100 sq ft. ranch style house. It's small, but we love it. It works for us, and it's what we can afford. IF there were anything we would change it would be the size of the kitchen. We love big kitchens! However, it's not something we dwell on.

I say do what works for you, and don't worry about the latest trends or the Jones'.

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/cottage

We built our tiny cottage (252 sq-ft) long before I had ever heard of the tiny house movement. We built tiny because that was what we could accomplish in the two months we had before winter was going to hit. We just made it. That was seven years ago. We're still loving it.

The five of us fit well in our tiny cottage. It works for us. It might not be the right thing for some people.

Because a mobile home or RV has very poor thermal performance and won't last. The cost of heating one of those is almost as much as what we spent to built our tiny cottage. Our cottage uses less than 0.75 cord of wood a year to keep it toasty warm and will not freeze even if not heated despite our living up in the mountains of northern Vermont. We have 100,000 lbs of thermal mass inside the insulating envelope - this keeps the cottage very thermally stable. Many of the techniques I developed for building the cottage we later used to build our on-farm butcher shop. I wouldn't want to do either in an RV or mobile home.

It doesn't need to be so expensive. Our cottage cost $7,000 in materials to build - we provided all the labor and design. It is a tiny price for a tiny house. There is no need for it to cost a lot. Since it is so small we were able to use nice materials. Even then though it still didn't cost much. As a nice side benefit the tax appraisal is also very low so we have very low real estate taxes on our house.

We had existing land, existing electric, existing spring water and existing septic. This things would normally run $50K to $150K depending on location. Do the $28K to $45K you have seen include the land and utilities or is that just the house itself?

We do extensive canning in our tiny cottage. I designed with that in mind since we've always produced and canned a large amount of our food. Just about everything is built in - we have almost no furniture. Most all spaces have multiple functions as well.

Go outside and split wood, feed the livestock, weed the garden, work in the woods, go for a walk, use headphones... I think a lot of what you're thinking of there depends on working out how to be together. Our family works together on the farm so we have a lot of experience with that. A lot of it is about respect.

I think that varies with the family. In our case there are five of us all in 252 sq-ft of interior space and millions of square feet of exterior space.

We have a full bathroom with bathtub, shower, toilet, shelves, space for an aquarium, planter divider walls, etc. It is all custom built by us, no off the shelf fixtures in the bathroom. I used ferro-cement and other masonry techniques. With careful design and construction one can have a very nice space that feels big. The bathroom is only about 7'x7' but it has corners that you turn so it feels larger than that.

Research where you buy land before you start buying or building. We have no zoning. I specifically bought in this town because there was no zoning. We are also not required to follow code in our state when building non-public buildings. Research these issues ahead of time and know the rules and regulations better than the regulators. I know code, I've read all the code books, and I follow it where it is useful - e.g., safety. Code actually does allow for exceptions - written right into the code.

Our tiny cottage is just for us, just for indoor stuff like sleeping, cooking, reading, homeschooling book work, etc. We spend much of our time outdoors since we farm. Theoretically the livestock stay outdoors although occasionally in the worst of winter a piglet, lamb or chicken does get brought. Mostly though our farm animals stay outdoors. We also have our butcher shop, that's not in the house and it's not for household use. It's for processing our livestock. We have storage buildings and other sheds for farming. Those are separate from living space. Home is home.

It is very doable. It all depends on how you design things. We grow most of our food and can a great deal. We have a pantry. Our cottage at 252 sq-ft has very little wasted space - there are no hallways and such that waste a great deal of space in most homes.

We have no garage. We do have our butcher shop - but that is commercial space. I don't think most people would count their employer's manufacturing space as part of their home...

Reason #1: Taxes will go way up if buildings are connected and heatable. Unheated sheds for wood, etc get taxed at much lower rates. If they're pole sheds or otherwise removable then no tax here. Varies with the town and state.

Most families are no longer as large. I came from a large family but that is unusual.

After having had a tiny house for seven years I'm convinced it was a good move for us even though we are a family of five, not just a single person as some suggest would work in a tiny house. Our tiny cottage was what we could get built in two months for the money we had on hand ($7K) using our own labor. I wouldn't be surprised if we built more later for other purposes but for us this works. Different strokes for different folks.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

thanks highlands I remember your family building your home, but had forgotten which member did it. Can you show any interior photos?

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

Highlands, I LOVE your place!

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"What if I fall?" "Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?"

We all built it together. Even Hope, who was only three at the time, helped. Pretty much everything we do is a team effort.

There are several hundred photos, many of them interior, scattered throughout many posts. The page below about the cottage has links to some of those articles which will include some interior shots:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/home/cottage/

and see:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2009/04/01/p...mers-in-space/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2011/10/27/pantry-shelves/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2009/12/25/christmas-2009/

and the woodshed which is outside the cottage front door:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2010/10/22/launch-tubes/

This search pattern on Google will get you 'inside' both during the construction and since we've been loving in the cottage:

http://images.google.com/search?q=si...oCgCA&tbm=isch

Here is an interior panorama from during construction. I don't think I've done a similar one recently. I'll put that on my to-do list.

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/uploade...Pan-793709.jpg

An interesting comparison is that our van is the same length as our cottage and half as wide as the cottage while our butcher shop is six times larger than our cottage. The carcass chiller is almost the same size as the van but nearly three times as tall.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

High, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed that a lot.

Walter,

My point is that generally houses were much smaller years ago. Even then the space was used for function. IE big kitchen for preparing food for storage. Not a king sized master suite.

Taxes here are based on what it's worth. Not sq ft. An older home is worth less. Fixing an older home is almost always cheaper than new. As you note about the trailers; septic/well, driveway, electric are all included. We had little more of value here when we first arrived.

P.S. I've followed your exploits for years. Congrats on getting the meat packing house up. Very impressive. Your quite the inspiration. You in fact dare to live the life most of us just dream about.

I understand what you're saying, Stan. In our case we had an older (230 years old) farm house that we were looking at spending $100K or more to fix up. Even fixed up it would always be a bear to heat and not what we really wanted. Instead we decided to spend $7K to build a new smaller house. That was what worked for us. We're gradually tearing down the old house, salvaging the materials for building sheds and animal shelters. About half of that is now our butcher shop. By using the old foundation we avoided a lot of permitting issues.

Taxes here are based on assessed value too. Smaller houses are worth less so they get taxed less. I like that.

One thing I did before we built was read the assessor's manual so I would have some idea of what to do and not do so as to get the house we wanted yet not trip over any wires that would jack up the value too much. Highly recommended interesting reading. I got a copy at the town office. Now I think you can find these online.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

I went to a historical villafge once and toured some old houses. The ceilings were almost always low. Later I found out that the ceilings were made low intentionally so that the rooms would use less fuel to heat. There is a formula that you can use to fugure out how many chords of wood it would take to warm a room based on the cubic volume of a room. Lower ceilings and smaller houses cost less to heat.

highland, why diud you choose a cement roof rather then an insulated wood one?

Highlands, my husband really likes you right now--your tiny cottage is making me look at small houses in a very different way (we currently live in a 1300 sqft place). He might actually get me to downsize a little one of these days. Not to nearly so small as you all--I'm a musician, as is he, and harps and banjos and violins take up space--but possibly smaller, even with one, soon to be two little boys. Being in Virginia, moving a number of operations outside is quite doable for us.

thank you, highlands, for the links to the photos.

And I do think to do what you did, the whole family has to be of one mind, or it would not have worked as well.

I really appreciate the windows you've put in so the outside feels inside and less confining.

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

Highlands, what is your roof made of?

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Christie Acres
www.SequimForLife.com
http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
SequimLiving@gmail.com