"Luxury" tiny houses

[outtathereligioncloset]

Sorry so long---it's a baffled rant.

So, this isn't a "life story" but it seems like the best place to post about the tiny house....shall we call it a phenomenon?  A movement?

I "get" the desire to leave a smaller footprint on the earth.  I certainly get the desire to lower one's living expenses.  But at what cost?  I have become addicted to watching a show on hulu this week about tiny house building by the the nation's "premiere luxury tiny house builders."  With us being in the remodel/rebuild/renovation/repair business, it's been like watching a tiny train wreck.

Let me sidetrack a moment and say that 30+ years ago we went from a 784 square foot single wide to an almost 3000 square foot house that was on the verge of being condemned.  Mind you, last year the property tax re-valuation put it at under $90,000 (after us successfully arguing it down from ans unrealistic almost $127,000).  With Childperson grown it is too much house for us in our older age.  But I can't imagine going back to a less than 800 sf space----we were nearly claustrophobic.  Maybe the two of us could do 1200 to 1400 feet with two dogs but the idea of anything less makes my heart race and NOT in a good way.

So anyway, have you guys seen this show?  It's a couple who, along with her brothers and their wives, build tiny houses.  To start with, I have issues with HOW they do it.  Speaking as one who is aware of OSHA threatening floor covering installers with fines for not wearing steel toed boots while installing VINYL floors (don't get me started on what that would do to the installers feet and ankles and how it would tear up the vinyl products themselves) OSHA would totally shut these tiny house people down in a heart beat in these parts.  They are using saws without safety guards, no safety glasses, no hard hats, no ear protection, no dust masks, and let's just mention---how stupid do you have to be if you are staining wood using a rag and not EVEN wearing gloves?   So I've been watching with my mouth hanging open and my neck hurts from shaking my head back and forth.  Set aside the OSHA factor---they are setting a really bd example for anybody who thinks they can become a do-it-yourself-er for a construction project.


In one episode they get permission from DOT (cause yes, these things are on wheels and can be pulled down the road) to make one of the homes a little taller.  Then fail to take into account that it won't clear the door of the hanger where they build these things.  A special hitch that allows the truck to pull it out lower, letting air out of the tires AND having every member of the family (except the pickup truck driver who is pulling the house out of the hanger) STAND in the home to add enough weight and they do finally manage to BARELY clear the door and pull it out.  

Another episode they get the house outside and it starts to tilt on uneven ground.  Someone yells and all the guys come running out (no hardhats, no safety gear whatsoever) and they literally PUSH on the leaning wall of this overly tall, something like 17,000 pound structure to try to get it more upright. Seriously?  Can you say "death wish?"

Then there's the family of five who've been living in a 5,000 sf house and now they're gonna scale down to 250 feet?  And make the girls share a room?  I REALLY want to see a follow up show on all these homeowners a year later. 


In one a couple is going to go from each living in 700 sf homes with their respective animals (one has two dogs the other has a cat....and the animals have never met) to (if I'm remembering correctly) less than 150 sf.  That episode was especially hysterical.  A sleeping loft on one end that I swear was so short that my husband wouldn't be able to sleep on his back without his toes scraping the ceiling.  Then there was a storage loft on the other end.  UNDER the storage loft, left and right, were separate his and her closets.  In between was a wood stove whose capacity was meant to heat 1,000 sf.  So gosh, let's start by burning the house down.  But then they really went over the edge of insanity.  They bought an antique trunk, cut a hole in the side for the cat to get in, and called it the litter box.  And put it in the storage loft.  So now, you gotta climb a ladder, placed in front of an overpowering capacity woodstove, somehow hover in space above the trunk (or climb into the loft and crouch over) and open the lid to the trunk and clean the litter box.  So take clean litter up a ladder and bring shitty litter down, AND do it without burning yourself.  Really?

But to top it all off, tonight I started doing the math.  $100,000 for 170 sf.  Let me repeat that---$100,000 for 170 sf.  That's over $588 per square foot.  If you multiply that by the square feet of our house, it comes to over 1.7 million dollars.  Who would pay $588 per square foot for their house if they are not a millionaire?  Who would do that for a TINY HOUSE?  Where you can't even sit on the side of your bed to tie your shoes because the ceiling is too short----so short you can't even bend over to do it?  With an 18 sf bathroom down below?

I challenge you, do the math for your house----your square feet X $588.  Would you pay that for where you live now? Or to reverse that math based on the value of my house right now, at OUR price per square foot, we could get an over 57,000 square foot house for our 1.7 million dollars. Talk about more bang for your buck.

Okay, rant over.

[Rev. Rye]

It's an interesting idea, but it always struck me as being fundamentally impractical. Some may be okay with a minimalist approach to living, but I myself am not. I'm staring above my laptop and showing several shelves' worth of books and DVDs, with a couple guitars. This is not something that's really for me. At BEST, for me, it'd only be useful for me as something akin to the Vardo that Roald Dahl had in his yard as a writing shed.

[Whateverist]

We stayed in a tiny house/rental cabin south of Yosemite a couple of nights with our two dogs.  Not that much less space than a cramped motel room but nicer materials.  No desire to live in one full time.  No frigging way.

We're in an old warehouse with a 3200 s.f. footprint.  Our living area is the front half, top story.  I don't see us ever going smaller but I do think we'll probably put in a lift at some point so we don't have to move downstairs when one of us becomes ill.  

Also, I have a 10by10 foot old garden shed that is falling into ruin which I fantasize turning into a very small guest room.  While that is too small by itself, there are currently former aviaries on two sides, one of which houses an outdoor covered bed and in the other I envision putting an outdoor shower and covered toilet, with a sink just outside.  There is a 6by10 greenhouse on another side of it and all of these structures would plainly show on any possible existing satellite photo.  I do toy with putting a bed platform, just above door height in the tall end.  But then again, why do it?

[Silver]

I've seen episodes where the family had teenage kids. A family trying to live in such a small space just isn't feasible, especially when teenagers regard their privacy as of the utmost importance at their age.

[Cod]

What happened to the separate bog idea?

[CarveTheFive]

I hate when rich people pat themselves on the back for this kind of esoteric bullshit. Luxury tiny house? It doesn’t count when you make space for yourself in alternative ways like getting in your fucking car or buying a plane ticket and you’re off to destination B. And C, D, and E...

Try living small when you don’t have money for a dependable car and gas and you can’t afford to eat out.

[Alan V]

It's much more practical and energy-efficient to live in a small apartment or condo.

And if burning fossil fuels is the motivation for tiny homes, I think most people would do without comfortable heating before abandoning the extra space of ordinary houses.

[julep]

I watch these shows sometimes, too.  They are fascinating, but I always wonder about how people will actually live in these spaces.  That's a documentary I'd love to see.  My husband and I would be divorced or murder-suicided within a couple of days in a tiny house.  If you're going to have that small of a space, best (in my view) to have an apartment.  

I wonder if the lack of hard hats, gloves, etc., are just for when the show is shooting and that once the scene is done, the protective equipment comes back on.  

I remember when lots of real estate/remodeling shows were pushing open-plan McMansions with cavernous "great rooms" taking up pretty much the entire ground floor, and my thought was always about how much it would cost to heat or cool the space, and also wondering what is so terrible about interior walls.

[The Grand Nudger]

I wanna stuff my mom in one of those, when the time comes.  Cheaper than a home. You know..keep it way on the back of the property...maybe put it where wild dogs cross in.  She can help me keep em out.

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or die tryin!

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Seriously, though..I think that they're cool..but wouldn't live in one.

[brewer]

Nope, reasons, wife and toys.