Shelter

Tiny Houses

One tiny house

Coming back to the house the other day, I looked across a parking lot next to the local nursery and landscaping business to see a tiny house.  Just for your benefit, I hopped on my bicycle a few minutes ago and rode back down there to get a picture.  Cute, you say.  Wouldn’t that be nice for children to play in?  Some people are so dedicated to downsizing their lives, they are living in such structures.  Thoreau did it.  His was probably a bit larger than this, but still…

I didn’t come up with this on my own, I researched it a few months back for kicks and grins.  I’ll link to a few more for you so you can see what I’m talking about.  A family of four wouldn’t be able to make do with these, but to keep you thinking, what would could they make do with?

I am a member of the generation that took housing to the extreme level.  People used to build their cathedrals to the heavens and lived in modest, climate controllable spaces suited to their needs.  I grew up visiting grand-parents who lived in and raised four kids in the standard 1100 square foot, three bedroom, one bath cottage that still dot some neighborhoods closer to the centers of towns.  The “whispering pines estates” further out boast four thousand square foot monsters that eat utilities.  I know!  No wonder we have to work all of those hours.  The air conditioning bill is coming due.

Shipping container homes

Lifted with love from www.thedailygreen.com

A standard shipping container, which in some cases you can get for a couple hundred dollars because the it is cheaper for the Chinese to build new ones than it is to pay for shipping back home, gives a person around 300 square feet of space.  The side walls are inconsequential to the structural integrity of the unit, so they are highly customizable if you’re handy with a torch.  Most have hardwood floors.  They can be welded together with the interior walls removed to form larger living spaces.

Do your own web search and you’ll find that container homes don’t have to look like containers.  Look especially at some of the video walk-thru’s and you’ll see that housing doesn’t have to be un-affordable.

Think about sustainable sources for electricity, water and sewage, and heating and cooling for these.  Talk about going off the grid.