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Old 06-09-2017, 02:56 PM
 
2,509 posts, read 2,483,108 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Indigo Cardinal View Post
Parent's house is a one-level ranch. The *living* part of the house is 1000 sq. feet, but there's also a full unfinished basement that runs under the entire length of the house.....so another 1000 sq. feet. So while the basement was primarily where the furnace, water heater, and washer and dryer were, there was *still* plenty of space to store things, or for us kids to run around and play, such as that. My first house was a three-level townhouse, so the layout didn't 'flow' as much as my parents' house does, plus, we lost some space to the staircases. And while we had a 'basement', it was 150 sq. feet, with most of that space being taken up by the water heater, furnace, and washer and dryer. So we had *some* storage space, but not as much as my parents' house does.

But that's something I've noticed overall with a number of houses I've seen built from the mid 1980's onwards is the layout, to me, seems 'chopped up'--you might have a lot of space, but to my eyes, a lot of it is 'dead space', where you can't really do anything with it. I've seen a number of 'front rooms' for example, that are so small that you can only get a few chairs in it, and I have to admit I really don't see the point. Give me a large living room that you can put sofas, chairs, coffee tables, and a TV set in and I call it good. (Which is what I have, and I'm thrilled with.)

I think a smaller space can work well, if the layout is good. If the layout is poor, then even a large space is going to feel like it's too small.
I agree, I think a lot of houses have too many rooms for the square footage. It's like the builder marketed it as having a living room, family room, dining room and kitchen, but you would be better off with a nice large eat in kitchen and a large living room and forget the other two rooms.

I find some of those 1000 sf ranches tough though too. The living spaces feel really tight when you have anyone over. I think the raised ranch and the split level were big improvements and I can see how those took over
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Old 08-16-2017, 05:54 AM
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,166 posts, read 63,611,250 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bookspage View Post
To see if you would like it, try living in a small portion of your current home.
Try living under a bridge, with a tarp for shelter, and see how you like a tiny house instead.
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Old 08-16-2017, 12:25 PM
 
Location: Central Florida
143 posts, read 166,013 times
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They are building a tiny home community in my town. They are going to be fixed to slabs so they won't be the kind where you can hook it up to a trailer hitch and leave. They are going to be put in an area of town that could use some revitalization, but I'm still skeptical. They start at $120K for a 360 sq ft home and only go up from there. They are trying to market to veterans and families, but I'm just not seeing how a family could live in one when most of them only have 1 bedroom.
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Old 08-16-2017, 12:29 PM
 
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Wonder who will be expected to pay for them; the VA?
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Old 08-16-2017, 12:32 PM
 
Location: Central Florida
143 posts, read 166,013 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by otterhere View Post
Wonder who will be expected to pay for them; the VA?
No....the buyer still needs to come up with cash or their own financing to buy one. The builder worked with the VA to design homes that would qualify for a VA loan though. They are donating the first house to a disabled veteran and his service dog.
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Old 09-06-2017, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Cushing OK
14,539 posts, read 21,205,891 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bookspage View Post
The other thing that I don't get is that there is also something called an "apartment"

A tiny house of sorts that people came up with when they were dealing with limited land

Why not just get an apartment? Or a condo?
My house is 720 sf, and one room is where all the 'stuff' has been parked that I haven't found use for. So the living space is well within a 'tiny'. I've lived here going on ten years, and feel like I have plenty of room. I've also discovered I LOVE the way rooms become multi function. The 'stuff' room was to be for all the computer stuff, but I have made a corner of the living room the computer nitch. I built a desk for jusr the right height and size. Next is to put shelves on the wall to put all the stuff which goes with the computer. And being as its in the living room, I can both do stuff on the laptop and watch the tv, which is set up across the room in its own custom shelving unit I built. The kitchen gets reorganized next. If you lopped off a quarter of the house I wouldn't miss the space.

But while some of these things help make apartments more liveable, I will never live in one again. I hate them. There are other people with only a thin wall between you. I can 'feel' them. I feel crowded without space around me. It's more than if they are especially loud or prone to fights, its the aura of too many beings in the same place. And when crap keeps happening on the other side of the wall, you can't just pretend its not there. But I have a large tree, too much grass and a fence between me and the closest structure. And my house is small and economical. Much better deal.

What I like about the tiny house concept is how space saving they are, and how you too can use it in your small house. My bedroom has one of the window ac's a dresser, a small book shelf and the bed up against a wall. It's all it needs. Take away a third of the space and it would still work. The kitchen is going to be a lot of storage and less useless space. It will have many shelves.

The basic thing is that a house is still a house, small or tiny or big, and has space, and an apartment is still a multi storage unit where that sense of too many people defeats the best cool design. If you can hear anything from the neighbors inside your living area, its too close.
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Old 09-06-2017, 03:23 PM
 
758 posts, read 852,266 times
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Tiny Home = heavy, small mobile home.
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Old 09-06-2017, 03:24 PM
 
Location: North Eastern, WA
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Silly.
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Old 09-06-2017, 03:31 PM
 
Location: Cushing OK
14,539 posts, read 21,205,891 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JONOV View Post
Yes...I understand that homelessness can affect anyone, but it seems like the "chronically homeless," or what we think of when we think of homeless folks, often have other issues. The folks that fall on really hard times (without a raging addiction or mental illness) often seem to get back on their feet. I used to work day labor with some really hard cases, but they weren't homeless. They were one twisted ankle away from being homeless, but they scraped together their weekly rate at the boarding house, or lived two or three to a room in a cheap motel for weekly rates.

It will be interesting to see if the tiny house experiment works, or if it turns into a shantytown.

I know Raleigh had a neighborhood of "tiny homes" (what Southerners would call Mill Houses) around 500 sq ft and demolished it about two years ago. AFAIK, while not a utopia, it wasn't exactly a slum either. Mostly working class folks. https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/af...nt?oid=4506465
When my ex and I split, it appeared he'd spent the backup funds, though for what I never found out. I got the house but couldn't afford to pay for it and lost it. I was homeless and living out of the car, just me and the dogs, for several months. It did change my ideas on what a 'home' needs to be and how needy our self image has become..

If someone had said we'll put you on the tiny home list, I would have been overjoyed. Small is immaterial when you lack privacy, have to eat when someone tells you, and never know if you'll even get that tomorrow.

My apartment looked okay on the surface, but the cheap carpet had been there way too long, and you could tell. And the AC unit barely worked. And when my toilet had a problem, they said it would be a week to fix it. I walked across the street to walmart and bought the stuff and fixed it myself. And when it sold, the new owners planning to evict everyone and make it condos, they found termites and all sorts of other costly reasons why it was going to stay a cheap apartment, but didn't care about it anymore.

Even a real small tiny house would be preferable. And the house I got, states away, is a 1931 shotgun. A little work was needed, but its sturdy and still going strong. I have had to buy an electric mower, city hates tall grass, but have painted and built some furnature and it is really mine. If the addon room wasn't there, now just storage, it would be fine.

My house wouldn't be legal in a lot of places, but it's actually more than I need. I've used some of the ideas from the tiny house shows too. There is yard work, but I finally found my mower, so its okay. And it is MINE. Same rules as anyone who owns a house has to deal with, even a big house.

Small isn't bad, and there are lots of creative ways to make it work well, if you choose to try. I know some don't, but as others do, especially as a preference, we need the opportunity be available for those who choose small or even tiny as well. There is nothing wrong with the idea of a small community or area where build size has a cap at the top instead of the bottom, and many more people could find a place to call HOME which is theirs.

What I find is since I've lived in a very small house by todays standards, that I have neither need nor desire for one that's 'normal'. I and everyone *should* be able to choose, be it extra large or tiny or anything inbetween.

Last edited by nightbird47; 09-06-2017 at 03:50 PM..
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Old 09-06-2017, 05:10 PM
 
Location: Denver CO
24,204 posts, read 19,118,518 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nightbird47 View Post

My apartment looked okay on the surface, but the cheap carpet had been there way too long, and you could tell. And the AC unit barely worked. And when my toilet had a problem, they said it would be a week to fix it. I walked across the street to walmart and bought the stuff and fixed it myself. And when it sold, the new owners planning to evict everyone and make it condos, they found termites and all sorts of other costly reasons why it was going to stay a cheap apartment, but didn't care about it anymore.

Even a real small tiny house would be preferable. And the house I got, states away, is a 1931 shotgun. A little work was needed, but its sturdy and still going strong. I have had to buy an electric mower, city hates tall grass, but have painted and built some furnature and it is really mine. If the addon room wasn't there, now just storage, it would be fine.
This is more about the difference between owning and renting than the difference between a house and an apartment. You can rent a (small) single family house and still have a crappy landlord who doesn't replace worn carpet or send someone to fix the AC or toilet.
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