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Small World: The Tiny House Trend

believermag.com

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Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#151

Post by benj111 »

bluGill wrote: post #126
driverdan wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've already done the rough math. It'd use a Northern Tool 5x8 trailer that costs $550 or less on sale. The $1000 price point is for a basic box to sleep in and store possessions. There would be additional plans for larger builds and more amenities for people with a larger budget. No welding necessary, only basic wood construction.

That northern tools trailer is rated for 1000lbs - you won't be able to have 2 humans inside without breaking something.

The 1000lbs limit would be whilst moving?

You aren't likely to be driving about with 2 people in the trailer.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#152

Post by ModFightsCron »

boxcardavin wrote: post #122

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 am…

Oh, they can tell you're weird. In a way where you take the bad things in life, and convince yourself they're good. Likely because growing up you were a little weird, so to hide it you made weird your thing and became a lot weird.

Here are some things you can't do, which I am sure you have replaced with other things, and convinced yourself you don't want to do them:

1. doing laundry while you're sleeping or your baby is sleeping. I like to load a basket into the washer, take a shower and brush my teeth, then move it to the dryer and go to sleep. Fresh socks in the morning.

2. cooking curry dishes and not having your whole house soak up the smell

3. watching porn while the wife is home. let's face it - if you got a newborn, she's not super-sexy right now.

4. have friends over, let them vape inside, have them sit not on your bed

5. have only one person lose sleep when the baby is crying at night.

6. take a nice long hot bath

7. work out at home. I mean a real one with weights and an elliptical - not push-ups

8. I could go on, but there's clearly no point, since you know all these things.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#153

Post by [deleted] »

bluGill wrote: post #126
driverdan wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've already done the rough math. It'd use a Northern Tool 5x8 trailer that costs $550 or less on sale. The $1000 price point is for a basic box to sleep in and store possessions. There would be additional plans for larger builds and more amenities for people with a larger budget. No welding necessary, only basic wood construction.

That northern tools trailer is rated for 1000lbs - you won't be able to have 2 humans inside without breaking something.

[deleted]

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#154

Post by stcredzero »

Bjorkbat wrote: post #142

I really wish there was more diversity in offerings when it came to manufactured/trailer homes. To clarify, I'm not talking about RVs. 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 t…

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.

People are already building house components on an assembly line in a factory. By components, I mean entire rooms and sections of houses.

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.

If "the VW Bug of" means a willingness of the manufacturer to modify the traditional chassis and body layout to better accomplish design goals, then GMC did build something along the lines of what you describe. ("something with character and identity. Something you can be proud of because it has a personality, just like the millions of others like it.")

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_motorhome

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#155

Post by lenticular »

tjr225 wrote: post #12

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.

It can be a way to have an otherwise impractical lifestyle for some people. I have a friend that lives in a large pickup with a tall canopy/camper he built. Big enough for a smallish mattress, stove/cookware, table, and outdoor equipment including a kayak. The whole thing is just incredibly clever in how it utilizes space.

He works remotely, usually using library wifi. Then he just drives around to wherever the best climbing/skiing/kayaking is at any given time of year. Not quite the lifestyle I'd want to lead, but it certainly works for him.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#156

Post by ghaff »

sborra wrote: post #56
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #25

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…

Surely more people are an asset for the local government, not a liability? You'd have 3x the tax revenue, 3x the purchasing power, plus the logistic efficiency that allows for local business to spring up and mass transportation to be viable.

It depends on who the "more people" are. Schools are the vast bulk of many town budgets. Young families are a net user of town services and enough of them would drive higher property tax rates. (In my case, the town also has negligible commercial activity and no transit--and is spread out enough that transit is basically a non-starter.)

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#157

Post by orangecalx »

ModFightsCron wrote: post #152
boxcardavin wrote: post #122

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 am…

Oh, they can tell you're weird. In a way where you take the bad things in life, and convince yourself they're good. Likely because growing up you were a little weird, so to hide it you made weird your thing and became a lot weird. Here are some things you can't do, which I am sure you have replaced with other things, and convinced yourself you don't want to do them: 1. doing laundry while you're sleeping or your baby…

did somebody in a tiny house wrong you in some way, good god calm down

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#158

Post by bluGill »

sborra wrote: post #56
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #25

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…

Surely more people are an asset for the local government, not a liability? You'd have 3x the tax revenue, 3x the purchasing power, plus the logistic efficiency that allows for local business to spring up and mass transportation to be viable.

Maybe, maybe not. People are not equal. You can nly tax someone so much. 3 people making $10k/yr (this is below poverty in the US) at 100% is the same as 1 person make $100k at 30% - but the first group couldn't live after taxes while the second could.

Of course when the people are more equal your math works out. However things are never equal.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#159

Post by wetpaws »

systemtest wrote: post #83
driverdan wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lowering our standards of living Why is living in a smaller home a lower standard of living? Wasted space is a higher standard?

I like having a separate bedroom. It has nice carpeting, a big bed, a clothing closet and blinds that make the room pitch black. The walls are isolated for heat and noise and the only window is facing the garden, not the busy street on the other side. No electronics to distract me, nothing to look at. The temperature is lower than the rest of the house (on purpose). It's really magical for me to sleep there and I hav…

You can easily have it with 600-800ft

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#160

Post by ddeokbokki »

driverdan wrote: post #89

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…

This is a dream of mine - you must hear that often, but what did you wish you knew before building your superior place of living? Anything you'd do differently or not do at all?
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