Tiny Houses are All the Rage

[Blue Crab 2,472]

Because "house trailer" or "camper'' is just tacky.

TINY HOUSES

Off-grid tiny house doubles up on doors to let the outside in   ------New Atlas

[Ventucky Red 1,116]

Been the rage sine who knows when

[steele 202]

Tiny houses were big around here a few years ago, but seem to be declining in popularity. The making do with less and inexpensive lifestyle part does appeal to me, but one issue is where to put them. Most owners seem to be hoping to find a free spot somewhere to park them for long periods, but land is not cheap and they are not easy to move. Based on shows and articles it seems a lot ended up in some relatives backyard, kind of like being an adult and living in your parents basement.

[SloopJonB 12,653]

My daughter and her husband got into it in England a while back - then out of it. The Free Parking Spot comment above is spot on.

I noticed that the psychology of the whole phenomenon closely mirrored that of the ferro boat craze decades ago.

[SloopJonB 12,653]

32 minutes ago, Ventucky Red said:

Been the rage sine who knows when

The Trailer Park Boys version of Habitat in Montreal

[inneedofadvice 235]

This looks liveable.

[justsomeguy! 1,034]

My tiny house is my boat.

[SloopJonB 12,653]

I tried to tell my kid that - she lives in Southampton.

But did she listen?

Nooooo.

[chester 1,256]

1 hour ago, Ventucky Red said:

Been the rage sine who knows when

I believe that was a movie set but frankly i think it's brilliant...I'd live/camp there!

[slap 995]

1 hour ago, inneedofadvice said:

This looks liveable.

If it's good enough for the richest man in the world........

[chester 1,256]

1 hour ago, steele said:

Tiny houses were big around here a few years ago, but seem to be declining in popularity. The making do with less and inexpensive lifestyle part does appeal to me, but one issue is where to put them. Most owners seem to be hoping to find a free spot somewhere to park them for long periods, but land is not cheap and they are not easy to move. Based on shows and articles it seems a lot ended up in some relatives backyard, kind of like being an adult and living in your parents basement.

My Daughter built one back in 2011 when the trend was just developing.  She had the plans from a site/that was pretty front and centre in the "movement".  She initially believed she could put it on a lot but i quickly disbused her of that notion, at least in cities but she built it anyway.  She struck a deal with the provincial trade school's carpentry program...they built it on the trailer she provided as training.  then she put it in my back yard and finished it.  All together they did a very nice job and it is a nice little space with loft bed, kitchen, bathroom with composter and main room with a built in couch at the windows up front, built in closet and shelves, fold down table all heated by a Dickson marine propane heater.  all in all  i think she lived in it about 24 months over a 36 month period.  some in our back yard but she also had it at an other back yard site in the city.

Yes, typically city lots will have nothing to do with tiny houses and zoning doesn't like them as accessory suites without servicing for water and sewer. You aren't suppossed to live in an RV on residential propery either and these/this is essentially an RV.  It now resides in the back yard of her real house about a block away from our place.  She uses it as a knitting studio and a home office.  since she is not living in it and you can store RV's in backyards she's good that way.  She has had offers to buy and offers to rent and she's just like "no thanks, i built, i like it, it's mine".  She good probably air bnb it but she's all "no thanks, i like my tiny house and spending time there"...that's my girl!

[slap 995]

2 hours ago, Blue Crab said:

Because "house trailer" or "camper'' is just tacky.

TINY HOUSES

Off-grid tiny house doubles up on doors to let the outside in   ------New Atlas

I half expect to see the Road Runner and Wyle E Coyote to go running through that.

[Willin' 1,723]

I've lived in some pretty small spaces over the years, and some larger ones. I applaud the minimalist concept of tiny houses but have found the thing that makes long, cold, dark winters bearable is having a home that I'm happy to spend long periods of uninterrupted time in, and that requires space.

Even if it's just to watch TV or read in a different room, or listen to music downstairs while my wife does her thing upstairs, or to go down to just futz in the shop.

None of that is possible if your kitchen is your living room, your living room is your closet, your bedroom is a loft and the only other partitioned room is the bathroom.

That's camping, not living.

[Fah Kiew Tu 3,258]

3 hours ago, SloopJonB said:

My daughter and her husband got into it in England a while back - then out of it. The Free Parking Spot comment above is spot on.

I noticed that the psychology of the whole phenomenon closely mirrored that of the ferro boat craze decades ago.

We've often considered buying a ferro boat and putting it in a big hole in the yard. Instant guest accommodation. Win-win.

Or possibly lose-lose.

FKT

[sunseeker 460]

1 hour ago, Willin' said:

I've lived in some pretty small spaces over the years, and some larger ones. I applaud the minimalist concept of tiny houses but have found the thing that makes long, cold, dark winters bearable is having a home that I'm happy to spend long periods of uninterrupted time in, and that requires space.

Even if it's just to watch TV or read in a different room, or listen to music downstairs while my wife does her thing upstairs, or to go down to just futz in the shop.

None of that is possible if your kitchen is your living room, your living room is your closet, your bedroom is a loft and the only other partitioned room is the bathroom.

That's camping, not living.

Two tiny houses connected by a porch/sun room might save a bunch of relationships. 

[SloopJonB 12,653]

3 hours ago, chester said:

My Daughter built one back in 2011 when the trend was just developing.  She had the plans from a site/that was pretty front and centre in the "movement".  She initially believed she could put it on a lot but i quickly disbused her of that notion, at least in cities but she built it anyway.  She struck a deal with the provincial trade school's carpentry program...they built it on the trailer she provided as training.  then she put it in my back yard and finished it.  All together they did a very nice job and it is a nice little space with loft bed, kitchen, bathroom with composter and main room with a built in couch at the windows up front, built in closet and shelves, fold down table all heated by a Dickson marine propane heater.  all in all  i think she lived in it about 24 months over a 36 month period.  some in our back yard but she also had it at an other back yard site in the city.

Yes, typically city lots will have nothing to do with tiny houses and zoning doesn't like them as accessory suites without servicing for water and sewer. You aren't suppossed to live in an RV on residential propery either and these/this is essentially an RV.  It now resides in the back yard of her real house about a block away from our place.  She uses it as a knitting studio and a home office.  since she is not living in it and you can store RV's in backyards she's good that way.  She has had offers to buy and offers to rent and she's just like "no thanks, i built, i like it, it's mine".  She good probably air bnb it but she's all "no thanks, i like my tiny house and spending time there"...that's my girl!

Nice story.

There were some ferro successes too BITD.

[Mrleft8 3,574]

WOW! My ex-GF was right! The outer banks really does live 15-20 years in the past!

[Ed Lada 5,151]

10 hours ago, SloopJonB said:

Nice story.

There were some ferro successes too BITD.

 

[Ed Lada 5,151]

What constitutes a tiny house?

Here in Poland I know people that live in apartments that are from 200 to 300 square feet.  My wife grew up in a 700 square ft apartment for a 6 person family.  Pretty typical here. 

[Ed Lada 5,151]

15 hours ago, Ventucky Red said:

Been the rage sine who knows when

That must have been fun for you when you were growing up.  You were raised in a jungle gym! 

[ShortForBob 2,962]

It's f

28 minutes ago, Ed Lada said:

What constitutes a tiny house?

Here in Poland I know people that live in apartments that are from 200 to 300 square feet.  My wife grew up in a 700 square ft apartment for a 6 person family.  Pretty typical here. 

It's funny how different people have different ideas of tiny.

My daughter just bought a tiny flat. Kitchen is 1.7x 2.6 mtrs.

Looking for refurbishment ideas online, seems like "tiny" is very subjective. 

[Ed Lada 5,151]

3 minutes ago, ShortForBob said:

It's f

It's funny how different people have different ideas of tiny.

My daughter just bought a tiny flat. Kitchen is 1.7x 2.6 mtrs.

Looking for refurbishment ideas online, seems like "tiny" is very subjective. 

My house in Poland is 140 sq meters.  The kitchen is 3x3 meters.  

People in Poland ask us why we have such a big house for only 2 people.  People in the US ask me why we have such a small house.  It's all relative.

 

[The Q 795]

The smallest true house in the UK  not a mobile home.

Is 10ft by just under 6 ft but of two floors, so 120square feet, there's stairs squeezed in there somewhere as well.. 

 

[ShortForBob 2,962]

10 minutes ago, The Q said:

The smallest true house in the UK  not a mobile home.

Is 10ft by just under 6 ft but of two floors, so 120square feet, there's stairs squeezed in there somewhere as well.. 

 

Luxury!

I wuz born in matchbox on side o' t' rawd..thur weer 10 o' us

[ShortForBob 2,962]

It's a tardis

 

[chester 1,256]

5 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

My house in Poland is 140 sq meters.  The kitchen is 3x3 meters.  

People in Poland ask us why we have such a big house for only 2 people.  People in the US ask me why we have such a small house.  It's all relative.

 

our house is a 1064 sq.ft bungalow but the basement is another 1064 so it's a fuking mansion!!. I have no need for more

 

Nice place Ed!

[chester 1,256]

1 minute ago, chum said:

I built this tiny house for my kids. They wanted a treehouse, but with our wind I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I made them a house in the trees instead. The door and loft are 6’1” so I wouldn’t knock my head. It makes a great drone control tower too, with good  line of sight signal on the hill. Complete with air conditioning.

 

but what's the square footage? a bike garage at ground level, you could rent that out when the kids are gone!!

[The Q 795]

7 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

My house in Poland is 140 sq meters.  The kitchen is 3x3 meters.  

People in Poland ask us why we have such a big house for only 2 people.  People in the US ask me why we have such a small house.  It's all relative.

 

 

Our current house is about the same size, however our previous 3 bedroom house was about 30% smaller.. the two small bed rooms were 6ft 6inches by 7ft...

My dad was brought up in a, 2 up 2 down,  ( 2 rooms upstairs, 2 rooms down stairs, outside toilet, no bathroom,) my grandparents , and the 5 brothers...

That house in the trees for the kids built by chum, would require planning permission and comply with building regulations in the UK.

[SloopJonB 12,653]

3 hours ago, chum said:

I built this tiny house for my kids. They wanted a treehouse, but with our wind I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I made them a house in the trees instead. The door and loft are 6’1” so I wouldn’t knock my head. It makes a great drone control tower too, with good line of sight signal on the hill. Complete with air conditioning.

 

An air conditioned play house!

Mine didn't even have windows, just openings.

And you had to climb the tree to get to it.

[SloopJonB 12,653]

Not really tiny but only 6' wide - the Sam Kee building is the narrowest building in Vancouver.

I can't remember the story but it was built as some sort of "fuck you" to the city bureaucrats after they screwed Sam Kee in some way.

The dark brick wall at this end is the full side of it - the bay windows on the second floor give it some more space up there by hanging over the sidewalk - I guess "air rights" weren't a thing then.

[BurnsideStyle 12]

Kurt Hughes Lunar Lander Tiny House

 

http://multihulldesigns.com/designs_other/sp_lunarlander.htm

[shaggy 1,096]

23 hours ago, Willin' said:

I've lived in some pretty small spaces over the years, and some larger ones. I applaud the minimalist concept of tiny houses but have found the thing that makes long, cold, dark winters bearable is having a home that I'm happy to spend long periods of uninterrupted time in, and that requires space.

Even if it's just to watch TV or read in a different room, or listen to music downstairs while my wife does her thing upstairs, or to go down to just futz in the shop.

None of that is possible if your kitchen is your living room, your living room is your closet, your bedroom is a loft and the only other partitioned room is the bathroom.

That's camping, not living.

Find the "Open Concept" house Craze to be much the same.  If I had to do it all over again, the 1200 sq ft great room with open concept kitchen would have me running...  Location, Location, Location though...  

[ROADKILL666 534]

I lived on a Morgan 24 for 6 months. So no thanks. 

[Fah Kiew Tu 3,258]

12 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

My house in Poland is 140 sq meters.  The kitchen is 3x3 meters.  

People in Poland ask us why we have such a big house for only 2 people.  People in the US ask me why we have such a small house.  It's all relative.

 

That's huge! My cottage is 8.4 x 12m so a bit smaller than yours. It's actually a fair bit bigger than I need.

I'm building a 7.5 x 4 studio ATM supposedly as a boat storage shed but it might become visiting cruisers' accommodation as I like cruisers but somewhat less than I like my privacy. I adhere to the 'guests and fish stink after 3 days' rule if they're in my space.

FKT

[Ventucky Red 1,116]

13 hours ago, Ed Lada said:

That must have been fun for you when you were growing up.  You were raised in a jungle gym! 

Wish we did...  would have been a lot of fun.

Here is the house I grew up in... Just sold for $1.2 Million - where is the effing money coming from?

 

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/669-Clovelly-Ln_Devon_PA_19333_M42927-98717

[billy backstay 1,703]

3 minutes ago, Ventucky Red said:

Wish we did...  would have been a lot of fun.

Here is the house I grew up in... Just sold for $1.2 Million - where is the effing money coming from?

 

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/669-Clovelly-Ln_Devon_PA_19333_M42927-98717

 

 

According to Credit Karma, our house is worth 130k more than we paid in February 2019.  But where would we go though?

[rstone 148]

Container Home

 

[Point Break 4,422]

3 hours ago, ROADKILL666 said:

I lived on a Morgan 24 for 6 months. So no thanks. 

Lived on our 42 for a couple years.....with a daughter.........a bird.........and a dog. No thanks............

[bmiller 1,152]

I actually have 3 tiny houses,

First one is what my wife calls the bachelor pad.

Second one is better suited to two people, pic from the same area, we like remote desert camps.

The third is a glorified tuff shed I have on a couple acres in Park County.

[SloopJonB 12,653]

2 hours ago, Ventucky Red said:

Here is the house I grew up in... Just sold for $1.2 Million - where is the effing money coming from?

Inflation.

When my wife & I were our kids current age we both had very good jobs and we made a combined high 5 figures.

Our kid and his S.O. have similar level jobs and make over $250K

[Willin' 1,723]

16 hours ago, bmiller said:

I actually have 3 tiny houses,

First one is what my wife calls the bachelor pad.

Second one is better suited to two people, pic from the same area, we like remote desert camps.

The third is a glorified tuff shed I have on a couple acres in Park County.

Long ago my then GF had a house her Dad had homesteaded on 5 acres up in Joshua Tree. Just a basic maybe 800sf ranch with only a partitioned bedroom, no water or plumbing, a tin woodstove, a 2 holer outhouse and a stunning view of the desert floor and the distant Copper Mtns. There was an AM radio for entertainment and a stack of old 60s magazines in the outhouse. Apparently her Dad was a uranium prospector because there was a lot of cool memorabilia around.

Just an awesome place to enjoy being quiet.

[IStream 3,426]

17 hours ago, Point Break said:

Lived on our 42 for a couple years.....with a daughter.........a bird.........and a dog. No thanks............

I lived on our 50'er with spouse, 3 kids, and dog for a year while we remodeled the dirt place. Four cabins, four heads, and a greenhouse around the cockpit during the winter. And hydronic heat. It worked well considering it was <300sqft. 

[Remodel 840]

On 11/26/2021 at 10:14 AM, Blue Crab said:

Because "house trailer" or "camper'' is just tacky.

TINY HOUSES

Off-grid tiny house doubles up on doors to let the outside in   ------New Atlas

I think they screwed up the aerodynamics on this one. The hitch is on the wrong end...

[shaggy 1,096]

On 11/27/2021 at 3:22 PM, billy backstay said:

But where would we go though?

LOL...  Ya, and what to do with the $$$$$$ f you downsize..  Wait, Downsizing will cost the same atm..  Carolinas, no thanks, Oregon...  more H20, getting more expensive every day.  Chicago, too cold for my Co born wifie..  CA is here with H20(well sailing h20) and a ton more bs + no way I am gonna even get close to this for the coin out there...  Red states...  Come on, I haven't flown in 2 years, why in the fuck would I go south now???  I, like many, can work from anywhere...  But the options are not that appealing compared to what we got...  White people problems I know, but it is the reality...  

[billy backstay 1,703]

2 minutes ago, shaggy said:

LOL...  Ya, and what to do with the $$$$$$ f you downsize..  Wait, Downsizing will cost the same atm..  Carolinas, no thanks, Oregon...  more H20, getting more expensive every day.  Chicago, too cold for my Co born wifie..  CA is here with H20(well sailing h20) and a ton more bs + no way I am gonna even get close to this for the coin out there...  Red states...  Come on, I haven't flown in 2 years, why in the fuck would I go south now???  I, like many, can work from anywhere...  But the options are not that appealing compared to what we got...  White people problems I know, but it is the reality...  

 

Like my Grandfather always said, taxes are a high class problem!  My problem is the tax laws allow the Warren Buffets et aux, to pay next to nothing, compared to most of us.  Maybe I can put the remaining rental condos into a Trust where the income won't be taxed?

[SloopJonB 12,653]

Buffet pays a shitload of taxes - don't confuse tax rate with tax paid.

But even he says it's a ridiculous situation when his rate is lower than his secretaries.

As my rich uncle said - ya gotta be making it to have to pay them.

[mikewof 1,252]

On 11/27/2021 at 4:54 PM, bmiller said:

The third is a glorified tuff shed I have on a couple acres in Park County.

Well and leaching field?

Minimum requirements in Gilpin County are driveway (fire) and leaching field (neighbors). Is Park County more flexible?

[bmiller 1,152]

6 hours ago, mikewof said:

Well and leaching field?

Minimum requirements in Gilpin County are driveway (fire) and leaching field (neighbors). Is Park County more flexible?

There's a hand pump deeeep well a couple miles away that produces cold crisp clean wonderful water. 

A few years ago my son built a very nice outhouse in a circle of big ass trees, well protected from view. Last year we had a blow down, knocked over all but one of the trees hiding the shitter but not crushing it. 

The "chalet" as my wife calls it, is right at the max square footage before it's a permitted residence. It was supposed to be a place to stay while we built a more permanent structure, that was almost 30 years ago.