Tiny House Movement

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Manuel Garcia O'Kely

I suppose these small homes are not much different than the average sailboat and plenty of people live on those full time.

I had a 27 ft. sailboat in a marina that had a buncha liveaboards. I learned a couple of things:

- sailboat folks party hardy and have a ton of fun (same applies to many RV parks although I will have to say that the retirement ones that we've been at for the last year don't party like we do. )

- an RV or travel trailer is a ton more civilized than a sailboat. For one thing you usually get a decent shower.

With that said, I'd love to have another boat.

[PaleRider]

... the truth be told (and all panties properly unwadded ), I think much of this small house movement is kind of cool ... the creativity of converting a (or several) shipping container/s into liveable space is something to be admired. Hands down mucho better than McMansions and beige paint to code.

On the trailer park front there is absolutely nothing wrong with 'em in and of themselves. Matter of fact, very near Foothills BMW (Denver metro) is a trailer park in a beautiful urban setting - many huge, mature trees, walking distance to a Safeway, Porsche/Audi dealer and a Harley Davidson dealer (as well as said Foothills BMW/Triumph) - the simple life in the city could be had. That said, and unfortunately, the current TP residence live up to (down to) the trailer park stereotype.

It's not the house as much as how the people make it a home

... oh, I think I created an oxymaroon: Porsche/Audi dealer - simple life

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by PaleRider

... the truth be told (and all panties properly unwadded ), I think much of this small house movement is kind of cool ... the creativity of converting a (or several) shipping container/s into liveable space is something to be admired. Hands down mucho better than McMansions and beige paint to code.

Yup. Hammer meet nail on the head.

I've seen nice residential neighborhoods go downhill.

And at the same time I've seen some very eclectic neighborhoods that I thought were a ton of fun. Usually around boatyards, but that's beside the point.

[RiverRat]

Those tiny houses sure beat living in a shipping container. Not as cool as a double wide though.

[squish]

dumbleweed houses are just one slice of the small (or by many people's standards micro) house movement.

There is a whole thing out there (you can't really call it a movement it's too small for that) of people who don't want a 3,000 square foot three bedroom, one den and four bath house.

Travel trailers (that's the things designed to be hauled behind a car for traveling) Just are not in the same league as some of the better designed micro houses, doesn't matter if these microhouses are on a movable foundation or not.

Mobile homes are a step "up" from travel trailers but bring with them a whole other world of stigma.

The tiny or microhouse movement isn't about the ability to be able to move the house. It's about living with much less.
The fact that these super small structures are easily moved is seen as a bonus. To some.

[Xeraux]

I'd need two of them.

One to live in and one to store the bikes and gear.

[PaleRider]

Originally Posted by squish

... The tiny or microhouse movement isn't about the ability to be able to move the house. It's about living with much less ...

[Queen]

Originally Posted by squish

The tiny or microhouse movement isn't about the ability to be able to move the house. It's about living with much less.

Yup.. When my SO and I bought our most recent house (two years ago) we realized that at the cusp of 50, with no kids, we had zero need for a huge house (and all the associated upkeep). We ended up in a 825sq. ft. house, we added a 2.5 car garage and everything we own fits nicely. We are planning on lightening the load even more over the next couple of years... we just don't need so much "stuff".

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by RiverRat

Those tiny houses sure beat living in a shipping container. Not as cool as a double wide though.

Like this kind of shipping container house?

[Xeraux]

Originally Posted by Queen

Yup.. When my SO and I bought our most recent house (two years ago) we realized that at the cusp of 50, with no kids, we had zero need for a huge house (and all the associated upkeep). We ended up in a 825sq. ft. house, we added a 2.5 car garage and everything we own fits nicely. We are planning on lightening the load even more over the next couple of years... we just don't need so much "stuff".

This is more along the lines of what I'm talking about.

I'm all about having a smaller living space. I really don't want a 3,000 square foot house, but, honestly, I really don't want to give up my clothes washer and dryer. I hated going to the laundromat. I don't want to have to use an outhouse, either. I need space to store my camping equipment, riding gear, and my tools for working on my bikes or home repairs. I'm not talking about excesses, here.

The micro house thing, while it seems cool and I really, really like the idea, isn't practical for 95% of us.

[AngryScot]

Originally Posted by Xeraux

This is more along the lines of what I'm talking about.

I'm all about having a smaller living space. I really don't want a 3,000 square foot house, but, honestly, I really don't want to give up my clothes washer and dryer. I hated going to the laundromat. I don't want to have to use an outhouse, either. I need space to store my camping equipment, riding gear, and my tools for working on my bikes or home repairs. I'm not talking about excesses, here.

The micro house thing, while it seems cool and I really, really like the idea, isn't practical for 95% of us.

You just need a barn

I have a small house and if I could ever get around to finding the time and the money I would love to build a larger garage/barn.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Xeraux

I'd need two of them.

One to live in and one to store the bikes and gear.

That's my issue. I've sold off a beautiful show bike and the old Range Rover that I wanted to make a buggy out of, but still have several vehicles, 4 bikes, and want to add another bike to the fleet then next time we have some $$$.

If it was just a matter of having a second home for guests and stretching out I suspect that we would have already cut a deal for someone's park trailer or something similar.

I used to lease a 600 sq. ft. workshop in Florida that had hookups for my RV and loved it, but when we went on the road finding leased space that I could work out of got to be impractical.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by AngryScot

You just need a barn

I have a small house and if I could ever get around to finding the time and the money I would love to build a larger garage/barn.

Yeah, but can you put that barn on wheels?



And I'm not being totally flip here. I'd love to find something like a barn or roof structure that can be easily and inexpensively disassembled and transported.

As an aside to one of the issues in this discussion, an ISO container structure is highly hurricane proof in most configurations. Roof structures vary widely. While I was sitting here typing to youse inmates we got some sudden bad weather. I went outside to pull in our big fabric awning and the wind caught the thing and for a second or two I thought that I was heading to the next county with it.

One reason that I steer away from traditional mobile homes is the fear of damage from high winds.

[PirateJohn]

Originally Posted by Queen

Yup.. When my SO and I bought our most recent house (two years ago) we realized that at the cusp of 50, with no kids, we had zero need for a huge house (and all the associated upkeep). We ended up in a 825sq. ft. house, we added a 2.5 car garage and everything we own fits nicely. We are planning on lightening the load even more over the next couple of years... we just don't need so much "stuff".

The Current Management and I met when I was splitting from Spousal Unit #3. I got that house, and since #3 was moving to an oceanfront apartment, I got most of the furniture. And I had the furniture from my previous house in storage.

So Deb and I wound up with 3 bedrooms of furniture in storage, an add'l furnished three-bedroom house, another four-bedroom house with one 2-car garage on one side and another 2.5 car garage facing another street.

And we generally speaking didn't have space for all the junk.

We reached an epiphany when we had a real estate client living in her house (so we were living in the RV in the back yard of our own house) and the swimming pool pump and the water sanitizing pump for our well went out on the same day.

So we said the f*ck with it, threw the unwanted folks out of the house, fired up the RV, and went fishing for a few days.

At that point we decided that we really didn't need the aggravation, and that we wanted to see some of the rest of the country before we got any older.

[PaleRider]

Originally Posted by PirateJohn

Like this kind of shipping container house?

... agreed (I can't remember where I saw that before? ... but I thought it cool at the time) ...

Not necessarily "doing with less" but there is a woman who was building a house in SoCal out of a recycled airliner ... not as you would expect in that she was using the wings as roof (the front end of the fuselage, upended, turret-like) ... again, kind of cool