Small World: The Tiny House Trend(believermag.com)
believermag.com
Small World: The Tiny House Trend
https://believermag.com/small-world/
329 comments
I've lived in a ~250sqft 1940's era wood train car for the past 9 years, with my wife and now a newborn. It is doable if you enjoy the constraints and how it affects your decision making. I live about 5 miles from Seattle in a very rich neighborhood (a few blocks from the Paul Allen estate) on a large piece of land that is set aside as a reserve, while most of my neighbors have 5000sqft houses. As long as you have amenities (washer, dryer, full kitchen, shower, dishwasher) like I do then it's not some sort of struggle, it's more a set of limits to optimize against.
My neighbors can't tell if I'm eclectic and rich or weird and poor. It's a good thing.
My neighbors can't tell if I'm eclectic and rich or weird and poor. It's a good thing.
The problem in the Netherlands is that land is expensive. A 40 square meter tiny house in Almere was for sale at €200.000, while a nearby 3 bedroom family house was for sale at €220.000. They both had a garden but the family house was a row home. They both used about the same amount of land.
Houses are cheap enough that the price difference between a tiny house and a regular house is negligible when you add the price of land onto it. And the fact that a tiny house sometimes needs more land because it's detached.
Also, if you really care about the environment and population, live in an apartment building. It is better for the environment, because you share each others heating. You can have scale advantages when you do solar on the shared roof. You don't use as much land because you can go up in the air, which means more people can live in a popular area.
Houses are cheap enough that the price difference between a tiny house and a regular house is negligible when you add the price of land onto it. And the fact that a tiny house sometimes needs more land because it's detached.
Also, if you really care about the environment and population, live in an apartment building. It is better for the environment, because you share each others heating. You can have scale advantages when you do solar on the shared roof. You don't use as much land because you can go up in the air, which means more people can live in a popular area.
I've been living in a shuttle bus I converted for about 20 months. I built it to be like a high end RV, with everything you'd expect in an RV but with lithium batteries and a solar array. I did it for two reasons, so I could own a home with minimal expenses and so I could take my home and dog when I travel.
My cost of living is significantly lower than living in conventional housing. I estimate I've spent around $50k on it. I don't understand spending $100k on a tiny home trailer. You can buy a regular house for that much and the trailer will depreciate.
I don't have plans on moving into something else in the near future. With all the money I'm saving I'm paying off debts and growing my savings. I wouldn't mind owning some land and building a workshop but it's hard to find land at a reasonable price in a place I'd like to live.
I do this entirely by choice. I'm fortunate enough to have a well paying, remote job. I constantly see and think about people who are forced into being houseless. One project I'd like to do is a sub-$1000 trailer home anyone could build with basic tools and a few weekends. Design and build one then put full instructions with videos online for free. Unfortunately I don't have the time right now.
Feel free to ask me anything.
My cost of living is significantly lower than living in conventional housing. I estimate I've spent around $50k on it. I don't understand spending $100k on a tiny home trailer. You can buy a regular house for that much and the trailer will depreciate.
I don't have plans on moving into something else in the near future. With all the money I'm saving I'm paying off debts and growing my savings. I wouldn't mind owning some land and building a workshop but it's hard to find land at a reasonable price in a place I'd like to live.
I do this entirely by choice. I'm fortunate enough to have a well paying, remote job. I constantly see and think about people who are forced into being houseless. One project I'd like to do is a sub-$1000 trailer home anyone could build with basic tools and a few weekends. Design and build one then put full instructions with videos online for free. Unfortunately I don't have the time right now.
Feel free to ask me anything.
Tiny house retention seems to be fairly poor. Search a bit for "give up tiny house" or something and you'll get a lot of people giving up the lifestyle, and it seems hard to come by people who have been doing it for a long time. Not impossible, because nothing is impossible, but not easy.
It makes journalists swoon, but I don't see it as something that has a lot of future to it. Seems like something that sounds a lot better in people's heads than in reality.
Edit: FWIW, I don't disagree that a lot of people have more house than they may "need" and may benefit from downsizing. (Certainly we've got more "stuff" than we need; my wife and I all but wage a constant war on the "stuff" that seems at times to spontaneously generate from the ether.) But I rather suspect the optimum is not in the 150sqft range for very many people, and indeed, not even particularly near it.
It makes journalists swoon, but I don't see it as something that has a lot of future to it. Seems like something that sounds a lot better in people's heads than in reality.
Edit: FWIW, I don't disagree that a lot of people have more house than they may "need" and may benefit from downsizing. (Certainly we've got more "stuff" than we need; my wife and I all but wage a constant war on the "stuff" that seems at times to spontaneously generate from the ether.) But I rather suspect the optimum is not in the 150sqft range for very many people, and indeed, not even particularly near it.
There's definitely an appeal to engineers in building your own house from scratch. As an example, I built an 8x12' shed (details here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/2kof5x/i_built_an_8x12... ) several years back. All it took was a few months' worth of weekends and a few trips with a borrowed full-size pickup and I had it together. Obviously you'd put more effort than that into making a house (you need insulation, utilities, and more interior construction and layout), but the point is, it's all within your grasp. And it was nice working with my hands for a change given that during the work week all I'm engineering is software.
And at 96 sqft, that's well within the range of the homes being discussed in the article. If I were doing it to live in rather than as a shed, I'd build a 12x16 or a 16x16, for 192 or 256 sqft. 16' is the maximum length of dimensional lumber you can typically find at a hardware store, so the advantage there is that the house has structural members extending the entire length of the house, which means it's super sturdy. 8' and 12' are also common lengths of dimensional lumber, hence the size of my shed. Also no surprise that the height is simply 8' (uncut lumber) minus the height of the floor.
And at 96 sqft, that's well within the range of the homes being discussed in the article. If I were doing it to live in rather than as a shed, I'd build a 12x16 or a 16x16, for 192 or 256 sqft. 16' is the maximum length of dimensional lumber you can typically find at a hardware store, so the advantage there is that the house has structural members extending the entire length of the house, which means it's super sturdy. 8' and 12' are also common lengths of dimensional lumber, hence the size of my shed. Also no surprise that the height is simply 8' (uncut lumber) minus the height of the floor.
The Tiny Home trend and the "Van Life" trend are slightly unsettling to me - I wonder which forces are at play who intend to convince us that lowering our standards of living is cool?
No judgement from me if you do choose to do these things, though. I do see the appeal. Maybe there is no conspiracy, maybe it is a coping mechanism.
Edited "deeply" to "slightly" upon further reflection.
No judgement from me if you do choose to do these things, though. I do see the appeal. Maybe there is no conspiracy, maybe it is a coping mechanism.
Edited "deeply" to "slightly" upon further reflection.
I can understand the benefits of building tiny houses in spaces that wouldn't accommodate larger buildings (such as as accessory dwelling units [ADUs] in traditional single-family neighborhoods). But I don't understand the benefits of building clusters of them: why not build a standard apartment building instead? Construction costs will be cheaper, and shared walls reduce heating/cooling costs.
The article doesn't really get into it, but there are some weird pressures in the US that really work against tiny houses, namely: our crumbling infrastructure nationwide and our system of paying for that infrasture and other civic responsibilities with property taxes.
If a municipality is looking at two competing development plans for a couple acres of town:
1. 10 new $500k - 3,000sq ft McMansions = 5 million dollar base and 48 people (estimating 4 people / family)
2. 30 much smaller houses at $100k each = 3 million dollar base and 100ish new people (estimating fewer / house)
In the small house scenario (if they were built on foundations and tied into city water/sewer) you also end up with 3x as many connections to install and support, significantly more kids that need educated at the local overcrowded school system, etc.
If a municipality is looking at two competing development plans for a couple acres of town:
1. 10 new $500k - 3,000sq ft McMansions = 5 million dollar base and 48 people (estimating 4 people / family)
2. 30 much smaller houses at $100k each = 3 million dollar base and 100ish new people (estimating fewer / house)
In the small house scenario (if they were built on foundations and tied into city water/sewer) you also end up with 3x as many connections to install and support, significantly more kids that need educated at the local overcrowded school system, etc.
I'd be more impressed by "tiny" houses (~20% of normal size by my own definition) if they didn't cost 50%-60% of a full size house.
My friend spent 10 years, off and on, building a tiny house. While he learned a great deal about construction, he sold the house before ever using it and in retrospect thought it was a huge waste of time and money. I think people have fantasies that don't match reality. I think he saw himself living a nomadic, environmentally-friendly lifestyle, but you can't have your house within city limits and you end up living far away from the action in a cramped space.
I thought the idea was ridiculous myself and wish I'd talked my friend out of it.
I thought the idea was ridiculous myself and wish I'd talked my friend out of it.
A tiny house doesn't mean only a small space:
tiny house = tiny house + large yard - maintenance - mortgage - noise
I don't understand why these are so chic, but manufactured housing isn't.
For these quoted build costs, you could do a pretty highly upgraded singlewide, and it would age better than any of these and can actually be permanently installed onto a foundation.
For these quoted build costs, you could do a pretty highly upgraded singlewide, and it would age better than any of these and can actually be permanently installed onto a foundation.
"Tiny house" AKA a normal house in the rest of the world.
I don't mind living in a small house (maybe not that small). But, the problem with most houses I see today, is that they're designed incredibly Ugly. I'm talking about the classic 2 car garage in front with an enormous concrete slab in-front (3 or 4 cars wide!!), and a little L shape next to it on a lot that's too small to accomodate such a layout and as a result, the neighbors house is 2 feet on each side.
Why can't they simply build a smaller footprint at the bottom, say half the size. make it two stories that way the neighbors house is further away and place the garage in the back somewhere and put a nice stone paved driveway (not too wide) leading to the back where the garage is.
The key to making these houses look nice whether it's small or large, is the ratio of height to width and length, as wells the features: such as a small tower, the slope of the roof, etc.
Why can't they simply build a smaller footprint at the bottom, say half the size. make it two stories that way the neighbors house is further away and place the garage in the back somewhere and put a nice stone paved driveway (not too wide) leading to the back where the garage is.
The key to making these houses look nice whether it's small or large, is the ratio of height to width and length, as wells the features: such as a small tower, the slope of the roof, etc.
I've been planing a major move myself and one of things that is important to me is downsizing the heated living area, so that I can maximize my workshop space. (e.g. something sized like a 3 bedroom 2 bath home with a 2 car garage, only with the area devoted to living space and garage space flipped).
As far as I can tell these tiny homes are more expensive per square foot than small single-wide mobile homes and offer few advantages: you can pull them with a truck the size that most people can drive and as most have lofts there's more usable space per square foot.
In any event finding places put either a tiny or mobile home that winds up costing less than renting an apartment in a major corporate owned complex is not easy.
As far as I can tell these tiny homes are more expensive per square foot than small single-wide mobile homes and offer few advantages: you can pull them with a truck the size that most people can drive and as most have lofts there's more usable space per square foot.
In any event finding places put either a tiny or mobile home that winds up costing less than renting an apartment in a major corporate owned complex is not easy.
An archetypal Soviet-era garage box recently got converted to a Tiny House in Tartu, Estonia:
https://g1.nh.ee/images/pix/iseloomuga-maja-muidu-paksude-ka...
Blocks of garages like these are a common part of Soviet heritage in Estonia, so they're essentially everywhere. Not quite sure, but due to its tiny size (probably ~215 sqft or ~20 m2) one may not need an extra building permit for doing something like ths.
Blocks of garages like these are a common part of Soviet heritage in Estonia, so they're essentially everywhere. Not quite sure, but due to its tiny size (probably ~215 sqft or ~20 m2) one may not need an extra building permit for doing something like ths.
Most people living in Manhattan are already doing this. It's really not that bad. You just treat the outside as part of your living room. I go on walks all the time, and hang out in coffee shops a lot.
"Living Big in a Tiny House" is a great Youtube channel produced by Bryce Langston which takes viewers on tours of tiny houses around the world. I watch it weekly with the kids, to normalize, and even romanticize the idea of small space living in them, so that in case is the reality of their future, they look at it in a positive, productive way.
https://www.youtube.com/user/livingbigtinyhouse
https://www.youtube.com/user/livingbigtinyhouse
Since it's sort of related and likely of interest (although this is not a tiny house), I'll share again my HN comment about an earthship I saw:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18487704
See downthread from that comment for links to the place, the guy who built it, photos, etc.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18487704
See downthread from that comment for links to the place, the guy who built it, photos, etc.
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Apparently, they are not allowed in Bend Oregon even though there is a housing shortage:
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2019/02/family-of-4-evic...
Absurd!
Absurd!
Today I stumbled over another tiny house article and there I learned about Paulownia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia
Despite being very light its a very stable hard-wood used in mobile tiny houses as wood for the interior
I like the idea of making do with less, but I don't get how tiny houses can be the solution. What if your whole city/ the whole world was living in tiny houses? Would be impractical and use a lot of space. Seems that apartment blocks (with good quality, small/ flexible apartments) would make much more sense.
As eloquently as they describe the houses, I feel a photo or two would've been worth a few thousand words here.
Strangely relevant, I found Alexander Payne's 2017 movie "Downsizing" (starring Matt Damon) [1] interesting. Too bad, critics' reviews are mixed.
[1]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389072/
[1]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389072/
> Tiny homes usually sell for $40,000 to $90,000 without land, and buyers typically pay cash or finance them with a property loan.
Home Depot sells a 12X18 "shed" with a loft area for $10K. If you're handy, I can image you'd be able to fit this out and make a nice tiny home for much less than $40K.
Home Depot sells a 12X18 "shed" with a loft area for $10K. If you're handy, I can image you'd be able to fit this out and make a nice tiny home for much less than $40K.
I'm not sure smaller accommodation can be considered a trend so much as a sign of reduced access (or higher costs) to more desirable accommodation.
This more or less sums it up for me: 'Though he doesn’t opt for tiny-home living himself, LaBarre is enthusiastic about the trend'
This more or less sums it up for me: 'Though he doesn’t opt for tiny-home living himself, LaBarre is enthusiastic about the trend'
I highly recommend Believer Magazine and encourage you to subscribe to the print version. It changed hands about two years ago and is now published out of UNLV (or something ?) but the content is still the same old Believer content and has not suffered at all.
Tiny houses work if you substitute the lack of space with close access to friends and family. That’s how nomadic people live and it works. But if you live the modern isolated American life, 250 sq ft isn’t going to cut it except for a certain personality type.
I like tiny houses, but really only in the sense that I'm fascinated by unusually small things. Otherwise I think they're actually kind of ridiculous if your motives are to downsize and not pay $300,000+ on a house
Trailer homes are pretty incredible when you think about it. They're the closest we've come yet to building houses on an assembly line in a factory. The entire thing ships in one piece. Just plunk it down on the property, hook up the utilities, and there you go.
And the kicker is, they're competitive with tiny homes in terms of cost, but they're not tiny. They're small, certainly, but not tiny. This is because trailer home manufacturers have got it all figured out, whereas most tiny houses are these bespoke, custom numbers.
Alas, if you live in a trailer home then you're considered "trailer trash".
I wish some brave soul would undertake the task of creating, I don't know, the VW bug of trailer homes. Doesn't have to be a luxury thing, just something with character and identity. Something you can be proud of because it has a personality, just like the millions of others like it.
Until then, if you want a break from the norm of homeownership, then it's either a condo, a tiny house, or a refurbished bus.