Tiny/small Homes

[buildit]

Irony to me is you used to be able to go buy a single wide trailer that is larger than these tiny homes and were only $20K. Now I've seen half wits take a single wide and make it a permanent structure so I'm sure one could be made into a real small house that's well insulated and equipped with all the desired solar or wind powered things power you could want. The little houses I see advertised are $50K and don't look like this inside.
https://factoryexpomobilehomes.com/floorplan/micro/

 

[Weedygarden]

Irony to me is you used to be able to go buy a single wide trailer that is larger than these tiny homes and were only $20K. Now I've seen half wits take a single wide and make it a permanent structure so I'm sure one could be made into a real small house that's well insulated and equipped with all the desired solar or wind powered things power you could want. The little houses I see advertised are $50K and don't look like this inside.
https://factoryexpomobilehomes.com/floorplan/micro/

Yes, I would only spend that kind of money on one if I was obscenely wealthy, which I am not.
I like to make things and I like to re-purpose materials. Just for the fun of it, I would like to make a tiny house mostly out of pallet wood and re-used materials, just to show that if you are willing to work at it, you don't have to be wealthy to have a home. There is more than one way to get it done!

 

[buildit]

Yes, I would only spend that kind of money on one if I was obscenely wealthy, which I am not.
I like to make things and I like to re-purpose materials. Just for the fun of it, I would like to make a tiny house mostly our of pallet wood and re-used materials, just to show that if you are willing to work at it, you don't have to be wealthy to have a home. There is more than one way to get it done!

People have shown that if your willing to work and have some skills you can have a real house without being wealthy. Many of my families homes were built from scratch on a piece of land they were given from their parents land holdings. The trees on the land were used as the materials for the superstructure.

 

[backlash]

$50,000 will buy you a really nice RV.

 

[Amish Heart]

We spent 14K on a 28 ft travel trailer ten years ago. Have kept it up in nice shape. Son and girlfriend live in it on our driveway. They had a choice of the trailer or the tiny house (TUFF shed with a porch) that's in the yard, too, but chose the trailer because it has it all already,

 

[buildit]

$50,000 will buy you a really nice RV.

Not around here. For a class C basic model it's over $50K. Now you want a diesel pusher with extending sides... $280K.

 

[Justin76]

We got lucky and bought a village house with a roof top, right before the market crash in 2008, 700sqft living and 700sqft rooftop...two dogs, a 5 year old and my wife and myself...not going to say how much we paid.... but we could have bought our property in Michigan 3 times for what we paid for this one...

400sq feet is considered a good size for a family of 3 over here...not including the domestics of course....
people are either working or to incompetent or have no idea how to take care of simple household chores, laundry, cleaning, COOKING, taking children to school... and they have a "domestic helper" (ie: legal slave) to look after their 3 kids, a house and the chores that goes with it, massage the feet.... because that's important...all while making them live in a 8x5x12 room....and everyone living in 300sqft and up flat that they bought for near $400k USD and up...

The property we just bought in Michigan this past summer, is around 1500 sqft, 5 acres, massive 30x40 pole barn...we are so used to living comfortably in 700sqft (1400 counting the rooftop) We have no idea what we are going to do with all of that space!! Our son's bedroom will be the size of some bigger flats over here!!


I look online with my wife and her family sometimes at these "tiny home" companies like Jamaica cottage and others. Some of those places are actually bigger than most flats over here.


This is classified as a tiny home over here....

Gotta love greedy corporate landlords and socialism!!!

http://www.viralsoma.com/over-10000...s-inside-horrifying-ldquocaged-cityrdquo.html

 

[Weedygarden]

We got lucky and bought a village house with a roof top, right before the market crash in 2008, 700sqft living and 700sqft rooftop...two dogs, a 5 year old and my wife and myself...not going to say how much we paid.... but we could have bought our property in Michigan 3 times for what we paid for this one...

400sq feet is considered a good size for a family of 3 over here...not including the domestics of course....
people are either working or to incompetent or have no idea how to take care of simple household chores, laundry, cleaning, COOKING, taking children to school... and they have a "domestic helper" (ie: legal slave) to look after their 3 kids, a house and the chores that goes with it, massage the feet.... because that's important...all while making them live in a 8x5x12 room....and everyone living in 300sqft and up flat that they bought for near $400k USD and up...

The property we just bought in Michigan this past summer, is around 1500 sqft, 5 acres, massive 30x40 pole barn...we are so used to living comfortably in 700sqft (1400 counting the rooftop) We have no idea what we are going to do with all of that space!! Our son's bedroom will be the size of some bigger flats over here!!

I look online with my wife and her family sometimes at these "tiny home" companies like Jamaica cottage and others. Some of those places are actually bigger than most flats over here.

This is classified as a tiny home over here....

Gotta love greedy corporate landlords and socialism!!!

http://www.viralsoma.com/over-10000...s-inside-horrifying-ldquocaged-cityrdquo.html

View attachment 2301

Interesting that the stove top appears to be specially designed for a wok. Here, we have rings that set on the burner which hold the wok. That tiny home? Crazy! I wonder where the bed is.

I have known young people who shared a house where at least one of them had a closet for their room. You need space for a bed and can get creative about the rest of it.

 

[Meerkat]

We now have a glut of huge houses on the market. Some are going minimalist now Especially the young.
Hubby and I went minimal almost 20 years ago.

 

[Weedygarden]

We now have a glut of huge houses on the market. Some are going minimalist now Especially the young.
Hubby and I went minimal almost 20 years ago.

Life is tougher in some ways for younger people. Many who are interested will never be able to purchase their own home, no matter how hard they try. Then we have developers who are buying up as many homes as they can get their hands on. Owning property and land is where wealth is at. I think of nobility and serfs. I often think of "Far and Away" with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. The beginning of that movie shows her father as more of a nobleman and Tom's family as serfs or peasants. With the trend we are in now, we are going back to that. We do not need to be wealthy, but it is important to be able to have a certain freedom when it comes to home ownership. Land is the most important part of this. Having enough land to live off it is also important, but more of a challenge for most people.

 

[Meerkat]

Life is tougher in some ways for younger people. Many who are interested will never be able to purchase their own home, no matter how hard they try. Then we have developers who are buying up as many homes as they can get their hands on. Owning property and land is where wealth is at. I think of nobility and serfs. I often think of "Far and Away" with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. The beginning of that movie shows her father as more of a nobleman and Tom's family as serfs or peasants. With the trend we are in now, we are going back to that. We do not need to be wealthy, but it is important to be able to have a certain freedom when it comes to home ownership. Land is the most important part of this. Having enough land to live off it is also important, but more of a challenge for most people.

I agree that the youth are reaping what we sowed for them.

We seem to have went from a Republic Capitalist system to an Oligharchy 'spl'.
The non federal feds have taken over and handed it to the chrony capitalist who are setting up their third world for all crapola.

 

[LadyLocust]

@Angie Just realized this is an older thread - oh well We are empty nesters and just downsized by about 40%. Our house up the mt. is about 2000 ft2. Where we are now is about 1200 ft2. We are just renting until we figure out/find property. At that time, we are hoping to build our forever home which we are hoping will be yet smaller than this - not tiny, but smaller. The way we are working it out is to determine what we need. Food processing & preservation is very important to us so our home will have a "real" pantry, not just a closet. We would also prefer a cold room (like a large closet) rather than a refrigerator so we can hang a critter in it when need be. If done properly, they actually require very little power. We also need room for the equipment to do what we do: canners, jars, cauldron, lg bowls, etc. We couldn't fit all that in a tiny home, but we don't need tons of rooms and space either. We are thinking about 1000 ft2 - maybe a skoosh smaller. But, that's our way of living. Sounds like you just need a general living space and a sewing/creative space. Each wall and square foot of roofing and stem-wall costs money. If you were to build one structure that had a door between the living area and the creative area, you would eliminate some of that. Not heating the sewing room, shut the vent unless you're in there (what I do now.) So I guess I'm saying figure out your needs and work from there rather than taking what is offered and trying to make it work for you. Noah Bradley has some great input on small homes IMO. Great thread!

 

[Swing]

Sounds as if you are doing some good thinking. And I don't mind an older thread being reactivated.
I love small homes.

 

[Meerkat]

22 years ago we moved onto this property that nobody had lived on since 1956.
Were determined not to charge anything or get in debt. We stayed worked in Atlanta and sent money here to clear an acre put in well and septic. And bought power pole and wiring for phone lines.
Moved in with 1 horse,1 donkey, 2 cats and 3 dogs.
Set up 3 tents, one was bedroom,one was kitchen and one for storage during 100 year flood. Put up quick barbed wire fence for equine. Had lightening striking right beside us on ground where we slept. Had hose for showers and cooked on grill.
Meantime built a 16X16 shed aka Tiny House for $800 to get out of weather.
Hubby worked at his job came home and worked on property. Donkey, horse and I cut, cleared and made paths with machette hubby made from leaf springs on wrecked auto. Rosie my donk would help me pull out the vines while horse grazed near us on whatever he could find he liked.
First Tiny House we built was in Butts County Ga. Same thing 16X16 we lived in that for a year and did the same thing,cleared, put in well,etc,etc,etc, so we had experience to fall back on. To find out we couldn't build a house where we wanted to build.since part was in one country and other in another county. So we sold it and left and came here to get back to the water 'IRONIC since water is all but destroyed in Fl. now.

 

[Weedygarden]

22 years ago we moved onto this property that nobody had lived on since 1956.
Were determined not to charge anything or get in debt. We stayed worked in Atlanta and sent money here to clear an acre put in well and septic. And bought power pole and wiring for phone lines.
Moved in with 1 horse,1 donkey, 2 cats and 3 dogs.
Set up 3 tents, one was bedroom,one was kitchen and one for storage during 100 year flood. Put up quick barbed wire fence for equine. Had lightening striking right beside us on ground where we slept. Had hose for showers and cooked on grill.
Meantime built a 16X16 shed aka Tiny House for $800 to get out of weather.
Hubby worked at his job came home and worked on property. Donkey, horse and I cut, cleared and made paths with machette hubby made from leaf springs on wrecked auto. Rosie my donk would help me pull out the vines while horse grazed near us on whatever he could find he liked.
First Tiny House we built was in Butts County Ga. Same thing 16X16 we lived in that for a year and did the same thing,cleared, put in well,etc,etc,etc, so we had experience to fall back on. To find out we couldn't build a house where we wanted to build.since part was in one country and other in another county. So we sold it and left and came here to get back to the water 'IRONIC since water is all but destroyed in Fl. now.

What are you doing for housing now? Are you still in the 16 x 16? It can be done.

 

[Meerkat]

What are you doing for housing now? Are you still in the 16 x 16? It can be done.

Nope we moved on up to the big house which is about 1600 SF including porch. First had a mobile home for years then built this house in 2005.
Couldn't afford the builders fees so I owner built it with a fantastic commercial architect who also was my inspector for well spent small fee. Who built it extra strong like I wanted it [hubby was still mostly in bed with broken back and surgery ].
Not hiring a builder made lots of enemies that I hadn't planned on though both county and contractors. Workers liked me though because we paid them better. I had to watch for waste and some contractors said house was overkill. I said good thats why I hired a commercial architect to make it strong for storms we had already seen plenty of.
It was an experience caring for hubby and being a novice first time builder.
I'd walk outside and hear workers say here she comes. lol poor guys.
I don't think I'd have half the house if I didn't have a good architect watching over and making sure plans were followed. Him and his wife had 12 natural born kids and 3 in war at same time in Irag ,Afgan ,two were Navy Seals.
He gave me upstairs that I hadn't planned on that added to our 3 small rooms ,2 full baths downstairs.
Me and my contractors went round and round at times bu i lucked up with mostly good workers.

 

[Weedygarden]

Nope we moved on up to the big house which is about 1600 SF including porch. First had a mobile home for years then built this house in 2005.
Couldn't afford the builders fees so I owner built it with a fantastic commercial architect who also was my inspector for well spent small fee. Who built it extra strong like I wanted it [hubby was still mostly in bed with broken back and surgery ].
Not hiring a builder made lots of enemies that I hadn't planned on though both county and contractors. Workers liked me though because we paid them better. I had to watch for waste and some contractors said house was overkill. I said good thats why I hired a commercial architect to make it strong for storms we had already seen plenty of.
It was an experience caring for hubby and being a novice first time builder.
I'd walk outside and hear workers say here she comes. lol poor guys.
I don't think I'd have half the house if I didn't have a good architect watching over and making sure plans were followed. Him and his wife had 12 natural born kids and 3 in war at same time in Irag ,Afgan ,two were Navy Seals.
He gave me upstairs that I hadn't planned on that added to our 3 small rooms ,2 full baths downstairs.
Me and my contractors went round and round at times but I lucked up with mostly good workers.

I am not surprised by your drive and abilities! Awesome!

 

[Meerkat]

And I'm the first builder who ever gave them the after building party I promised them. All said everyone promised a party but nobody but us gave them one. About 30 came to the party out of about a 70 workers.
All the booze and food they could handle was free plus they had option of staying over and not driving home drinking. Still had plenty of tents.

 

[Meerkat]

I am not surprised by your drive and abilities! Awesome!

Thank You mama made me tough plus growing up with all boys helped too I guess. I was 16 when I got my first sister. At one time I was going to write a book, But realized nobody would ever believe it.

 

[Weedygarden]

Thank You mama made me tough plus growing up with all boys helped too I guess. I was 16 when I got my first sister. At one time I was going to write a book, But realized nobody would ever believe it.

It doesn't matter if anyone believes you or not. If your life story is interesting, it is worth writing.

 

[Meerkat]

It doesn't matter if anyone believes you or not. If your life story is interesting, it is worth writing.

I'm about run out of energy for it now but thank you sweety.

 

[Weedygarden]

I'm about run out of energy for it now but thank you sweety.

I understand that!

 

[lonewolf]

when I was off grid I lived in a 2 roomed caravan(trailer), the rooms were quite small but it didn't matter because I didn't have much stuff and I was outside most of the day.