"Small" house - Impressions, opinions, thoughts - all welcome

Rennie, do not know how soon this is going to become a reality for you. If it is after the Family Gathering here on our farm, well my mom designed the retirement home they live in on our farm. It was designed for them to stay in their home as long as possible with help from Lou and me. Allen and Elen have been in there, Larry was through many of the building stages, don't remember if he has been there since they have lived there full time (summers only now as they have a home in Florida for winter time). Pocket doors for bedroom and bathroom doors, bamboo floor over concrete with in floor heat. Walk in showers (can run a wheel chair in them). Very easy for them to keep clean and they have not found themselves under each other's feet. If mom still has plans on her new computer, could try to send you the floor plan. Also a two car garage is attached with everything on the same level, including the front patio that is under a 10 foot overhang. PM sent.
 
I have always liked Sarah Susanka's concept of the not so big house. If you haven't already looked, you might check out some of her work: http://www.notsobighouse.com/
Just some random thoughts. If we were going new and small, we sure would try to incorporate as many net zero concepts into the design as possible to offset constantly rising energy costs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-energy_building . Try and concentrate all living space on the ground floor.
Finally, aging in place is a lot easier if the structure is designed with that in mind. Think accessibility in your design where possible and perhaps anticipate the need for hand rails by incorporating additional bracing in the walls, build a zero entry shower now instead of remodeling later. Make sure door openings can accommodate a wheel chair....things like that.
 
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Chiming in from Tokyo here, a 500sqft house would be 28 tatami, (unit of measure here for apartments, houses etc) I lived in a 4.5 tatami mat room for almost a year, it was just a room with a closet, ya small.

The land our building is built on, the entire lot is 39 Tsubo (1 tsubo = 2 tatami) and that is 1388 square feet, the whole lot the building stands on. Our apartment on the top two floors are maybe 1200 sqft total both floors.

Yeah you could do this, why not?
 
I'd vote for it to all be on one floor. I lived in a slightly larger example of what you're proposing and frankly while the loft was fine in my 20s-30s it's getting a lot less interesting as I get older. At some point the accessibility is going to bite you (even if only for a few months).

The wheelchair idea is a good test, try the same with a walker, you can end up in one of those pretty easily fit a busted leg and they don't fit so well through a lot of doors/spaces. My neighbors wife was just in one for her hip and they have really narrow bathroom access so she had to back in and then use the vanity to get to the loo, not really ideal.

My other concern of course is where to put all the books :rofl:

Sounds like a fun idea, will be interested to see where you go with it.
 
It dawned on me today that this Tiny house concept could get out of hand soon and before one knows it an area becomes what is known in Africa as a squatter camp. Especially when one begins building from scavenge material.
I wonder how the towns and building regs are going to adapted to deal with this format. It has a potentially negative side for people in a normally established sub division.

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Amen to that! At this stage in my life and after almost 30 years in my house, I'd rather take a beating than move! :D

Myrna said that she really liked it here. She added, "If you want to move it will be with a different woman; I'm not going."

Ah, yes. True love. (For those who didn't know Myrna---She was one fantastic lady. I just put that in so everyone would know she said it in humor. Darn it I sure miss that lady.)

Enjoy,
JimB
 
Some thoughts or as my wife's brother would put it (well as close as Family Woodworking will allow to a direct quote), "That's one darn fool's opinion."

Would you actually use a veranda that small or one any size. That square footage would probably be many times more useful inside of the house. I think the veranda would collect leaves, dust, etc. a lot better than it would collect people.

The picture looks really nice...I mean that place looks like a pleasant place to live.
Myrna and I lived in an all cedar house in the middle of an avocado grove in Fallbrook, CA. We loved that house.
I am 90 years old. I, too, vote for a one story house even though I can run up and down the stairs. I absolutely do NOT want to move---I would actually prefer to die than move.
If you do that loft bit you better be sure the place is adequately insulated, ventilated, and air conditioned.
Oh yes, we did have wall to wall carpets in our all cedar house.

The "Not So Big House" was an excellent book about living, designing, interior decorating, etc. a small house.

Myrna and I lived in an apartment that was: living room, bed room, tiny bathroom and one person kitchen for the last 3 years of my education. We did not get a divorce because of it. We were to young and innocent to know we were crowded. I would find it extremely difficult to live in that space now.

I hope I helped your thinking.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
So much input! Thanks.

The vibe I get from most of you is that you don't care for the idea, or perhaps just not for you. Some think it is an idea worth pursuing, which we will.

Some comments of my own.

Jan and I have looked at many dozens of floor plans, spoken to a builder friend, a realtor friend, and a few others. Our "tiny" house really does not fit the current definition of Tiny as most TV and books define it - they are almost always under 400 sf, often under 250. I make no claims to being able to live THAT small. My idea of tiny is under 800 sf, and the plans I favor are all in the 675 - 800 range.

Many good points made about the loft, though I don't quite understand the remark about Jan's bad knees not allowing her to clean up there. Don't you think I can clean house too?:rofl: The loft, should we decide on one, will be for storage, my computer, and a very occasional guest. However, the loft might not work because of a code issue. More on that later.

As for the "Not So Big House" books, very nice, if you have the money and believe a "not so big house" means under 2500 sf! Really, the not so big houses in her book rival some of the largest in my town! She does give a lot of good advice on storage and multi-use options, but you can't fool me. A house twice the size of the one I am living in can't be described as "not so big" with a straight face.

Essentially, we are looking for a very low maintenance, low utility cost space comprising of 1 bedroom, 1 or 1 1/2 baths, a place for a washer and dryer, a workable kitchen space (no little galley with zero counter space) a great room with seating for 4 and an area for a table and chairs (likely a gate leg or other space saver. A breakfast bar would meet our needs for when it is just the two of us. I could go with a separate building for the shop/garage, but would rather not. It would mean an additional wall, plumbing, electrical, etc. Besides, we want to be able to get to the cars without having to deal with the weather.

I have checked with the local building department and they are trying to stay ahead of the tiny house boom. They have adjusted some requirements as to allow them within city limits. Now, sub divisions will have their own requirements for size, number of bedrooms, etc., but outside of the subdivisions that is all changing. You can build a 1 bedroom home as long as the bedroom is at least 78 sf, no problem. Lofts are OK, but there is a minimum headroom, an egress window if it is used as a sleeping area, and it must be reached via a code compliant staircase. That kind of defeats the loft idea.

The deeper we look, and the more we discuss it, I believe we can downsize by 30% without much trouble. The upside is much lower utilities, lower mortgage, and, if properly designed, very low exterior maintenance.

Note to Rob - There has been no other person I have spoken to that has expressed any fears of the tiny house bringing down values or multiplying into shanty towns. That having been said, the city allows them to BE BUILT in the city limits, not rolled in. For the tiny house manufacturers who build on steel frames and wheels, well, not inside the limits.They are considered mobile homes. Also, if you pick up most of the tiny house books available at the library you will see what can only be described as hippie shacks, cobbled together from cast away materials that are fire traps at best. That is not where I am going, and I agree with Rob in that case as they would certainly have a detrimental effect on values.

So, what we are looking at is not a tiny house, by definition. It is a small house, under 800 sf. I think its doable.
 
After we came to Canada, we lived in a one bedroom apartment for a year or two, then bought two storey house with an apartment upstairs, which we rented, So, our living space was about 20 x 25'. We lived in this house until I graduated University, then moved into a more reasonably sized house. Our first house had two 9'x9' bedrooms, a 9'x12' living room, a 9'x12' eat-in kitchen, and a bathroom about 6'x5'. It worked, for a family of four. The house you show here is palatial compared to what we had. Like Thoreau said, "Consider how slight a shelter is necessary."
 
Hi Rennie.

Sorry I missed this thread, but there are other solutions that you could also look for. Why not have a geodesic dome? There are several companies in US that build them or sell the parts for you to build, with plans and all the details. You can check http://www.domehome.com/ as start that may give you a different prespective.

I know that my opinión is problably biased as I am a fan of geodesic domes, but I thought I should give you my two cents, specially when you are considering things like heating, costs and so forth.
 
Rennie, I for one love your idea. The wife and I have talked about doing this ourselves once the daughter is off to college, 9 more years before that happens though. :D We have some friends that built a house with shop, storage and 2 horse stalls below and the living space above. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a great room/kitchen/breakfast bar works for their family of 3 and would work even better for a couple. Basically a smaller version of the pic below. Looking forward to what you and Jan come up with.
 

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