Sustainable Micro Home that Costs Less Than $30,000
mymodernmet.com
mymodernmet.com
() open steps over the food preparation area is not particularly sanitary due to what can fall off the bottom of a person's shoes, socks and feet...neither is using a food preparation surface as a tread.
() Considering falls are the principal mode of fatal and serious domestic injuries, no handrails on a winding stair that the occupant will be navigating to use the toilet in the middle of the night is unconscionable design.
() The simple task of making the bed becomes a gymnastic exercise performed without a net.
() Because it has fenestration on three sides, it's not efficient in terms of footprint. The safety, hygiene and convenience compromises are unnecessary - a larger footprint could be equally cost effective in single application and more environmentally sound by allowing denser development (e.g. as a grouphouse, rowhouse or flat in a multistory aggregate.
The bed seems a poor idea to me too though. Maybe if it were just for one person or if you used a futon that you'd roll up. Isn't a futon more in-line with the micro home concept anyhow?
For the bed in the loft, I think the open areas are more about wasted space. The downstairs has plenty of light, so the opening could be replaced with shelving or closed storage. The lost windows could be replaces with a skylight.
Imagine taking your home cube with you to another big city and having it attached to a fixed base (your choice of floor and orientation as available), or even just relocating to be in walking distance from your new office.
- Seems like it would have the same tenuous relationship with tornadoes that trailer homes/parks do.
- Lack of a divider between the stairs and the kitchen makes it seem like it would be too easy to accidentally knock things off of the shelf or counter while going up the stairs. I especially don't like that the counter turns into a stair without any sort of clear dividing line.
Your third objection probably kills this, though. I'd just make the place 5' longer.
I've recently built a geodome structure and am working on a tiny house, which will probably end up like this wonderful abode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toFBj9qBLQo
Small is beautiful.
(edited to add I forgot to add the cost of a foundation, in the south the freeze line is like 2 inches, but where I live I believe its 4-5 feet, so you're already spending 90% of the cost of a full basement, may as well finish it off and have a basement, but thats another $10K perhaps for something this small?)
TL;DR - buy/access a "plat book" for each county you're interested in, correlate each lot with a topographic map to identify interesting properties, visit the Assessor's Office to find the owners, write a polite but terse offer letter to the owners who live farthest away - good chance they don't want the property and will part with it fast for a reasonable offer. Yes, takes some work & money, but a whole lot less than list price.
When I finally settle down and build my own tiny house, I will likely start from an existing structure. Either a classic RV (like an Airstream of Avion) or a shipping container, and build up from there. It'll still end up costing about $15k-$30k, but I'd also like to reuse old materials wherever possible; not so much to save money (as I have a decent income), but to reduce waste and environmental impact. All of these "sustainable" building designs always use so much newly manufactured material. It makes it somewhat less impressive, to me. Another option might be natural building materials; cob, earth bag, etc. I've only recently started learning about them. Though they have other issues...they take of a lot of space, and often make it more difficult to build up, when you need more space. Tiny houses built with conventional modern building materials can be quite tall without a lot of extra effort. At the very least, a loft bedroom is pretty useful in building with a smaller footprint.
Cob/earth and/or locally sourced logs are great from a sustainability point of view (though not available in all locations), but they don't make portable housing. I would think that a house such as this, with its small size wouldn't be too expensive even if made with sustainably harvested wood and other building materials--you could also substitute recycled building materials.
I also know some folks who've built tiny houses on trailers; this one is 10x10, which makes it not street legal. It'd need a wide load permit and a good travel plan, in order to move it. I like the idea of an updated RV because I could haul it with my truck, even if I'm not regularly traveling with it (I'd rather have a motorhome for regular travel). But, many tiny houses built from scratch also have that property.
There are trade-offs in any construction. I probably should just say this is not the house I would build, when I build a tiny house (and I will build a tiny house, at some point). There are several reasons why it isn't.
And, speaking of re-used vs. newer/better materials, I've become somewhat enamored of structural insulated panels. There are a couple of folks who've built tiny houses with these materials, getting them custom cut for their needs, and it's pretty cool to see how fast a house can go up, and how efficient it can be once built. I don't know if I'll got that route, either. Compromises all over the place...
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Detroit-Michigan/market-tr...
Scott Stewart builds some interesting designs and most of what he sells is under $30k. His modular design at $8k per module has some potential.
http://www.youtube.com/user/scottstew1/videos
Or there's this house, 12' x 24', for 20k. Not a modern design, but it looks quite liveable and is more practical than the 30k micro.
http://www.sugarloafsmalls.com/
Of course, there's always Tumbleweed but their prices tend to be around $50k if you have them build it.
I'd highly recommend Tiny House Blog if you find this type of house design interesting.
It can also be upgraded as you need / can afford more space.
It's not like people don't fall out of bed from time to time. I'd rather not have to include "down the stairs" in the story.
I entertain fantasies about living in a small home like this but the reality is this is only for one or two people. It rapid breaks down when you try to expand beyond that.
Just add a safety rail. EDIT: Ah, there is a safety rail, but it should be extended so you have to get out of bed on the end.
The RV part would help when you're out in the wilderness instead of in a utility provided mobile home park. Some RV features like batteries for DC power, extensive ventilation instead of relying on AC powered air conditioning, etc.
Of course on the other hand RVs aren't as energy efficient as mobile homes because of a desire to minimize the tow vehicle gas/diesel consumption rather than propane heating consumption.
As a specific criticism I am fairly unimpressed with the size and features of this $30K "rv". Its not that much better than an elaborate $5K or so teardrop trailer. On the other hand its a little bigger than a $90K conversion van. (And when exactly in my lifetime did conversion vans change from middle class machines in my youth, to the current mid level sports car prices?)
Bonus if you live in the boonies and have to burn your trash.
Because as a general rule: every day I need to sleep, eat/drink, urinate/defecate and shower/bathe. Enable all those functions and you have a compelling product/price.
I've been thinking about tiny houses for years (and I've live in a motorhome for about five years), and I think I would prefer to build slightly larger and have a nice bath and shower. But, in other regards, small is beautiful.