Small World: The Tiny House Trend • Hacker News Board

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#191

Post by driverdan » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 6:37 PM UTC

ddoran wrote: post #179

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…

What do you use to heat/cool the bus? What range have you covered since you started living in it? Do you stay within a given city, State, or beyond? Thanks

I have an Espar diesel forced air heater and a Coleman RV rooftop AC. I can run the AC off my alternator when driving, off shore power, or a generator.

I've put over 20k miles on it. My home area is Austin, TX but I've traveled to the northeast a few times and to New Mexico. I'll be heading west again soon.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#192

Post by CydeWeys » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 6:39 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #172

CydeWeys wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On some minimum order size, surely. Like I wouldn't expect I could order a handful of 2x4"x20' and have those delivered for free.

Generally not - contractors (their main business) order enough for a house but then on the last day call in 2 sheets of plywood because they didn't estimate something right.

I'm guessing the first order (a whole house!) was more than large enough to cover the cost of an extra free delivery though. This is about relationship management at that point, which won't be the same for a hobbyist only doing one smaller project.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#193

Post by Kaivo » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 6:41 PM UTC

fouc wrote: post #180

Kaivo wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this! We got rid of out dinning table because we were always eating in front of the TV or the PC. We got rid of the couch because we were always watching TV from bed. We didn't see the point in keeping these only to very rarely have people come over. We can meet outside or they can deal with the no table no couch setup, I won't live in a more crowded space for them.

Honestly I find it strange for some people to have TVs in their bedroom. I think it's nice to have some separation of concerns. I think sleep quality is better when the bedroom is mainly for sleep. Have you thought about moving the TV out of the bedroom?

Actually it's a debate my wife and I had for a while but our situation became more strange than that. We now have the bed in the living room and we just turn off every power bars when we go to sleep to not have any lights disturb our sleep.

Some of the reason behind is separation of concerns strangely enough. I work from home, we live in a 1 bedroom apartment, and I felt really stressed whenever I would play video game or watch TV while still in the very same space I worked all day. I was basically doing everything in the same 10sqft all day every day. Now, because it's in another room, I feel way more relaxed.

Another plus is now I get the sun up right in front of me from bed every morning and that's just an awesome feeling I didn't get from the bedroom. I believe the bedroom should be oriented south east to get that morning sunshine to wake you up, and we didn't get that before.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#194

Post by CydeWeys » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 6:42 PM UTC

avgDev wrote: post #183

CydeWeys wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. I bought several books too, checked out more from the library, and also watched a ton of YouTube tutorials. It's all pretty easy if you pay attention, and makes intuitive sense, e.g., king studs carry the weight of the top plate (and thus roof/second floor), jack studs carry the weight of the header above the opening, and cripple studs carry the weight of the header below the opening, i.e. carry the weight…

That is awesome, I also had a similar experience with a inspector. My parents house kept getting water in the basement because of soil being sloped towards their house. Neighbor was too high and their house was too low. I ended up designing a solution, which was a retaining wall and french drain system. The last inspection, two inspectors came out and asked if I do that professionally because they have been impressed…

I had a similar problem (land sloping towards the house) with a much simpler solution. I got a free dump truck load of fill dirt from Craigslist and then graded the foundation correctly. Took an incredible amount of work by hand as I didn't rent a bobcat.

Fortunately the land was overall flat, other than the problem with it sloping in towards the house, so that was sufficient to solve the problem. It sounds like you had worse issues with your terrain.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#195

Post by dbancajas » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 7:02 PM UTC

Personally, I think at 1k-1.5K sqft is where it starts to get attractive. Price for tiny house is also around 200$/sqft so it's like a big house w/c I don't understand. I'd rather build my own house at that pricepoint.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#196

Post by dbancajas » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 7:05 PM UTC

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #175

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…

Exactly! That's what I've been saying all along. The "Tiny Home" trend is "I make way too much but want to show my opulence with virtue signalling of "I'm rich enough to build dinky" Versus a trailer. I live in a trailer with my wife in Indiana. It is portable. Its a bit smaller than what we want, but we own the trailer out right. Our total utilities (land rental, electricity, internet, water, sewer, trash) is $500/m…

how much did you buy the trailer? What's it like living in a trailer?

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#197

Post by dbancajas » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 7:06 PM UTC

avgDev wrote: post #97

CydeWeys wrote: post #14

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 insulat…

I have been remodeling a house for the past 7 months. It is a pain. However, I feel like I could start a construction company with my knowledge. I had to purchase several books describing different concepts and work is done up to code. Now, when I visit newly renovated homes, I see so much corner cutting, work that does not meet codes and sometimes is unsafe. Plus, the stuff does not change as quickly as software. If…

Can you tell us what books you bought? I looked into this before and only found 1-2 books in amazon in relation to building a house from scratch.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#198

Post by driverdan » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

justjash wrote: post #166

driverdan wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pictures? https://www.instagram.com/driverdan/ > Did you use any guides on how to build your shuttle bus? Nothing specific but I did about six months of research before I started, reading blogs, forums, reddit, and watching videos. > What do you do about external services (e.g. showering/toiletries)? I have a shower and a toilet. I also go to the gym at least once a week. Most campgrounds have a waste dump station.…

Looked through your IG, very cool. Who/what are you using for internet access while on the road? I'm interested in trying to travel more when working remote but trying to make sure I end up with a decent connection each day seems like it could be challenging.

I'm currently using AT&T Wireless Home Internet. It's about $120/m with 100GB of data.

https://www.att.com/cellphones/att/att-wireless-internet.htm...

I previously used an unlimited Sprint hotspot. It had more data but had poor coverage in many areas.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#199

Post by bluGill » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 7:08 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #192

bluGill wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally not - contractors (their main business) order enough for a house but then on the last day call in 2 sheets of plywood because they didn't estimate something right.

I'm guessing the first order (a whole house!) was more than large enough to cover the cost of an extra free delivery though. This is about relationship management at that point, which won't be the same for a hobbyist only doing one smaller project.

The point is hobbyiests don't visit often enough to be worth figuring out how to charge for shipping.

Note, at a real lumber yard you need an account. They can accept cash sales but they would rather not. They won't talk to you if someone else with an account is there. Once you have an account (which is free) you have passed the initiation and they love to help.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#200

Post by icebraining » Tue, Feb 05, 2019, 7:11 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #140

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.

I have the same unsettling feeling as you. The conspiracy theorist in me is definitely on high alert and sees it as an attempt at conditioning this generation towards accepting a lower quality of life than their parents had. If we can be made to actually believe we want to live in tiny cramped homes and apartments, then when it comes to pass we won’t get out the pitchforks and torches and riot. Eating bread and plain…

Curious, I'd say many of us younger folks see it in reverse: our parents got roped in the propaganda of "consume now and pay later, you'll certainly be earning more", and then the lie was exposed, and they're left unemployable and with a crippling mortgage. Under this perspective, by giving up on superfluous crap, we're just keeping our eyes wide open, because we're fully aware that we'll get fucked sooner or later.

Then again, that may be fully the intention of the current propaganda: it's harder to fight when everyone is just trying to protect themselves.

Yet mobilization, like tiny houses, is itself rather fashionable nowadays. Are we sure that's not propaganda?