People have had tiny houses or shed houses for many years.
Tiny/small Homes
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Little fella you are. I'm', 5'10" 250 lbs.....
I am in the process of building my house. Because of how dry it is I have decided to go with post and beam construction. All said and done it will be just under 600 square feet.
Now the shop will be a different story.
Now the shop will be a different story.
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Smart phone is not so smart now is it?
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this 16x20 2 room small house was made from pallets the only thing I
all I had to buy was the tin and screws and nails
Different perspectives, I have lived in a lot of houses, maybe 50+ since I was born, all but the current one and one mobile home have had basements. I hate crawl spaces, awkward to work, little in the way of storage. With a full basement you have room to work, to store stuff and can live in it as well. Technically since you don’t “need” one I guess you are correct in calling it a luxury, but it at least a high priority luxury ... link windows you can open on a vehicle are a high priority luxury. You don5 need them but they sure are handy.
You've got a point. It's nice to have a full basement for wiring and plumbing and I will whole heartedly agree with that perspective as well as I do all my own plumbing and wiring. My version of hell is insulating the ceiling of a crawl space that goes from 12" in one corner to 18" in another corner with 8" batts. Yes, I did that once. I've also replumbed a crawl space in a Arkansas cabin that was about 2 feet deep with a resident black rat? snake and a 12" x 18" access hole. That wasn't a good day. My house right now has a full basement like I said, the house with the attached garage had about 1/2 of a full basement, but that was the important half, with the plumbing and the hvac system.
Then you have to look at the other side of the coin. Crawl spaces are a lot easier to repair after a natural disaster compared to whole basement walls that can cave in, or build the whole house on wood and cement piers and not have to worry about a foundation collapse at all.
I just love small to tiny homes. I don't need a lot to live in, but that sewing room must be massive, in a "shop". Keep photos coming along. I can drool over them.
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We live completely off grid. Last winter we used reusable de humidifiers that we plugged in at the neighbors. They just didn't get it done.
@Angie If you can convince the tax man that your home is worthless and your shop is "just a shop" you've got it made.
Will never understand why people have a 2500^2 home that costs $1500 a year in taxes with no garage/shop when they could have a 500^2 home and a 2000^2 shop that costs $300-400 a year in taxes in the exact same county. Heck, the "shop" can be heated for all the county cares about.
Ridiculous. I just like figuring out ways to game the system. Just like the Hawaiian guy with the paper mansion and a tiny house.
Will never understand why people have a 2500^2 home that costs $1500 a year in taxes with no garage/shop when they could have a 500^2 home and a 2000^2 shop that costs $300-400 a year in taxes in the exact same county. Heck, the "shop" can be heated for all the county cares about.
Ridiculous. I just like figuring out ways to game the system. Just like the Hawaiian guy with the paper mansion and a tiny house.
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I have seen that someone had a tiny house and had another one for sewing! Yes! I get that!
Also, the live in can be kept less messy than the sewing work building. Then nicer for company that does not get the creative messes.
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Marlas100, did you build that? I love that it is mostly built from recycle materials. I'll bet you can't beat the mortgage on that!
BTW, that house is larger than the house my mother grew up in, a family of 9: parents and 7 children, 12 x 24.
I have often thought that anyone could build themselves a home from all the used building materials in America, if they have the interest, ability and drive to do so. People have more ability than they may realize or want to.
I don't look at the free section on Craigslist very often, but just today there are many pallets available just for being willing to pick them up. I know that many other materials are available for free for anyone who is willing to do the search and follow through. I have seen free trailers (could be a base for a tiny home for someone on the streets), free 2 x, free electrical and plumbing parts, free insulation, free paint.
Anyone in America who is homeless has possibilities, if they are creative enough and willing and able to do the work. I see a group of homeless people out in a suburb almost everyday whose main focus is to get some alcohol. I they think will always be homeless, but that is their choice.
@Weedygarden Can you detail more about how your mother's family lived in a 12x24 house? What were the sleeping arrangements? Any idea how big the kitchen was? Did they have enough chairs for everyone? I have to assume they used an outhouse and a wringer washer as well- also the acreage that they lived on. I hear a lot about families that did this and always wonder about the practical considerations. Several times it's because the family externalized several things that are considered to be "in-home" necessities these days such as laundry and bathroom facilities.
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The house was divided into two living areas, more of an open area with the kitchen and a small bedroom. The bedroom had two beds, foot to foot with a small area for walking. One bed was my grandparents, the other bed was for the 3 girls. The 4 boys slept up in the attic space. They never had running water, only a well that was outdoors.
This photo shows the 12 x 24 home in the background, and the house in the front of the photo was the new house that they moved in after living on the land for 20 years. We (cousins and others) still call the first home a tar paper shack. They had a basement dug out underneath for storage. This new house was 24 x 24, twice the size. The boys, mostly grown men then, had a bedroom that was wide enough for bunk beds, about 6 feet. The girls still had a bed in their parents bedroom. I suppose that was one way to keep them safe.
In the photo, the tar paper shack was used more for storage after they moved into the newer house and it looks as though the tar paper is coming off. To the left of the shack and back is the granary. They had clay soil that was tough to grow anything on.
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Cool story, thank you for sharing. I live in a 24x24 house and my wife is always pushing for a 2nd bedroom. I keep telling her we don't NEED nor can we AFFORD and 2nd bedroom as our taxes right now are less than 250/yr and if we had a 2nd bedroom they'll go up to 500-600 a year, same property. I could easily put in a finished attic area that wouldn't "count" as a bedroom but would get kids out of my wife's hair once we have some. No kids yet.
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weedy my son ,my brother and myself built that building where there was an above ground pool before was bad when we bought the land so we built it there only cost was tin and nails had tons of screws insulation was free and the drywall too--we took a saw saw and cut most of the pallets apart then fr the walls we stood 2 pallets up and nailed them together and filled in the spaces ==for the rafters we used pre made rafters from a demolished trailer the local junk yard gave us for free---you can get lots of stuff free if you ask they can only say yes or no if yo are polite about it--made our own doors
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This is so very true, but we live in a time that is very different now than it was for 100s of years previously. Many people have never been exposed to living simpler and with less. I think many people would lose their minds if they had to live simpler.
There is a movement among young adults for living simpler and in tiny houses and communities of tiny houses. I think even then, some of them would have a hard time.
In some ways, the difficult economic times has helped some people to have to face a simpler life, like it or not.
I think I shared this story elsewhere, but it helps us to realize that people sometimes have to do what they have to do, like it or not.
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@Weedygarden Thank you... 18 people in a shack like that would hardly have room to lay down!
Not to deny that people have lived in tiny/small homes for centuries... the knowledge on how to do so has been lost to this generation. Now many people are sleeping rough because they don't know how to get from sleeping rough to even the smallest home available today- a 1 bed apartment that starts off at $500-600 a month most places.
Not to deny that people have lived in tiny/small homes for centuries... the knowledge on how to do so has been lost to this generation. Now many people are sleeping rough because they don't know how to get from sleeping rough to even the smallest home available today- a 1 bed apartment that starts off at $500-600 a month most places.
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If you are at all into preparedness, you are always short of space. Do you have a basement? If you don't, you can't imagine how important it is to have that space for storage, and in some situations, additional bedrooms.
I also know that a home is important to most women, and men have worked forever to keep their wives happy. I understand property taxes, because I pay them! If and when you do have children, you will feel a loss of privacy more in a smaller space. I am encouraging you to think about the possibilities.
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Many people would be thrilled if they could find an apartment for $500 to 600 a month. That is almost unheard of now.
@Weedygarden Cities in the midwest like that have studio/1bed apartments most places for that price. Plenty of jobs for people who want to work too. On the coasts it's far higher though. What part of the country do you hail from?
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I live in Colorado now, but was born and raised in South Dakota. My mother was born in Nebraska, and moved to South Dakota as a very young child.
And you?
@Weedygarden I live in the upper midwest, have for all my life. Would like to move to the Ozarks though as there isn't anyone here that interested in homesteading. Finding a garden in a backyard is rarer than a hen's tooth. Land is also much cheaper down there as well. Here it's just miles and miles of corn and beans with only God knows what getting into the water and everything else. I dread this next year when more farmers might be using Dicambia on their crops... I'm about 1/2 mile from the closest cornfields but they do say that stuff drifts like none other. One of the top priorities is going to be "land nowhere near commercial row crop farming" and preferably no where near pastures unless they're confirmed free of chemicals for the most part. It's also the only area within 500 miles of 'home" that's worth messing with in my opinion.
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skittles try the mountains of wv, or even ten.
@marlas1too I won't be caught east of the Mississippi! Too much stuff going on out east. Maybe someone can tell me what Joel Skousen seems to think of the Ozarks? I think it's a relatively secure place for the most part. Heck, the small town of around 1000-1500 that I'm in right now would be relatively secure being 60 miles from a big city and 15 miles off a major 4 lane under construction, at the confluence of rivers and creeks. I just don't like what the farmers have done to the environment here... few birds, animals and insects left anymore.
