How many people are still loving their tiny houses now?
cussnu2
| Posted in General Questions on
Or even their “right sized” house? No way I would want to be stuck in either. 3,500 Sq ft plus 2,000 sq ft in the basement works great for me. Everyone is at home and is STILL socially distance. Sure 6 out of 7 TVs are on but people are staying away form each other.
My home office is 600 sq ft with a bathroom 3 couches, TV, Desk 2 recliners and a foosball table. I’m not cramped at all but put another person in my office and try to force in a kitchen and there wouldnt be two of us anymore. One or the other would be gone by now.
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I'm in a 1200 sf house with my wife and obese cat. We are doing great. There is definitely a p0int where lack of space leads to social friction, and impedes doing the things you might like to do. For me a tiny house is in that category.
I think you need to look back into our history to see where the line between wishing you had more space and needing it is. Somehow many of my parent's generation managed to grow up in houses that might now be considered "right-sized" without any apparent ill effects. My own feeling is that if my relationship with my spouse was fragile enough that it depended on the size of my house, I wouldn't consider it was worth maintaining.
Many studies will be done after this pandemic and see what the social impacts were with the lock-downs. There are some initial reports already coming out that domestic issues are arising due to couples being locked inside a home for this long. Hard to get clear stats now but it is clear that people being confined to a residency is taking a toll on relationships. Domestic disturbance calls for police are on the rise all over the USA and even divorce filings have risen in places like Europe.
In a small house/apartment, you are constantly in the same space as the other person/people and it's hard to get privacy. A tiny home is good for energy and costs but in cases like this, it can backfire as there is NOT enough space to distance oneself from constantly running into each other. I have a strong belief that couples or families living in tiny houses are regretting that build and wish they had more space for privacy and movement.
Kids fight and argue and want their privacy and space. Even couples who love each other, will get sick of seeing each other 24/7 for days and weeks on end. A larger home would help that situation as it would give them their own private space. It's not healthy being in a small space, confined with many people. So tiny homes have a place but in times like this, they are not the greatest environment to be in. That is the CON to a tiny home.
Two people in 1200 sq ft is a far cry from two or more people in a "house" you and stick your arms out in and touch both walls.
The data on Tiny Homes seems to support your view. One survey I saw said that after six months 50% of owners had either sold them or rented them to others.
My folks went up north the cottage with four grandchildern for spring break before this all started. The one week stayed stretched into three and half in a 550sqft place. For a week there were 7 people up there.
Doable, you really don't need the modern 1000 sqft/person that seems to be the new norm. This trend is one of the silliest recent development along with origami roofs and the proliferation of bathrooms.
I think that tiny house is going too far though. Family should be together, this ability to live almost independent lives inside the home is not healthy.
My bigger beef is with open concept.
My place is one bedroom, even that has sliding doors so no auditory privacy. To compound it further my office is an open loft area. It is next to impossible for me and my wife to have simultaneous phone/video calls.
Open concept worked great up till now, not any more.
It's full-on spring here. Today was sunny with a high of 69. I was out of the house from breakfast to dinner. Even though we're under a stay-home order, you don't have to stay home, you just have to maintain social distancing.
If it were really hot, really cold or we had prolonged rain things would be different.
There are 7 of us in ~1575 sf. It's feeling a bit cramped. If it was seven adults I suspect it could work better than kids of various ages, but maybe that's wishful thinking. With this many kids I am wishing the common areas were smaller and there were more individual bedrooms. We could always eat on the back patio (due to a favorable climate) if that meant the square footage allowed for more personal space.
It is frightful when the debate over square footage per person conflates "tiny houses" with the broader attempts at "right sizing." Tiny houses--typically on a trailer frame and maxing out at around 200 sq.ft.--do NOT represent a significant part of the solution in the academic argument for downsizing the North American home. Can we quit talking about them as if they're actually houses?
Could be that the OP was speaking tongue-in-cheek, but not sure. Wouldn't it be the ultimate American response to this quarantine: to declare that ever bigger houses are justified in order to effectively tolerate the next quarantine; in order that we might effectively quarantine from each other... in our houses. I like Malcolm's suggestion that if this seems necessary, it could be that the relationships are the problem, not the space.
I agree with you Andy. The tiny house thing is a fringe movement not doing a whole lot to move residential design forward and should not be confused with the merits of minimizing square footage with good design. That's precisely why Sarah Susanka resisted having the word "small" in the title of her books and chose to go with "not-so-big" (which also has more zing...).
Our tiny house is allowing us to pay off the loan we took out for our property and save, plant trees and gardens, and make other site improvements, while allowing ample time for the planning of our future Pretty Good House. I've been an avid follower of GBA and FHB for awhile now, and am so glad we didn't rush into building sooner.
As an owner/occupier for 2 years now, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend a tiny house on wheels to anyone. But our tiny house is more comfortable than a typical RV, and we are doing pretty well with our current telework arrangement.
What I don't understand is the loathing of tiny houses. They are not a solution to the housing problem, but can make sense in certain situations.
Aaron,
You are perfect example of when Tiny Houses are appropriate - and I'm sure there are countless other circumstances where they make sense.
My own antipathy towards Tiny Houses on wheels came from the claims of the Tiny House Movement who promoted them as a viable alternative as permeant residences, without addressing their role in the larger community, and glossed over the realities of finding serviced lots to park them on. Without the relentless promotion, exaggerated claims about their uniqueness, and constant attempts to skirt codes and bylaws, I doubt anyone would care one way or another.
Having my wife and 2 kids at home full time, myself in and out and my brother who is living as a refugee in our basement in and out Id say our roughly 900 SF per person is working great.
Listing off square footage, number of TVs and games during the worst pandemic in 100 years.
Not to mention the future economic fallout of the worst unemployment levels in 90 year.
Sounds like you have your priorities straight.
I thought the post was largely irrelevant other than the core, but what do think he should be doing?
In many ways this has brought our family closer together and if anything personally Im more grateful for what we have allowing us to be comfortable, and so we are enjoying watching movies together, playing games and having the space to get away when things are hectic and you need alone time. But we were prepared to be at home prior to needing to be prepared to be at home.
Two of us in 1400sf, with both of us running businesses from home, is pretty comfortable. We're planning to increase to 1800sf (expanding my wife's business) which will feel enormous. I would get lost wandering around a 3500sf house.
I've lived in both a large house (4,000 sqft), a small house (750 sqft), and some homes in between. Some were efficient homes, while others were inefficient. No doubt, no matter the size of the home, the better built and more efficient homes were more comfortable to live in. Less noise, dust, energy bills, bugs, problems, etc.
As far as size goes. I would say that having more space is very nice. A properly designed larger home can have space for an office, a workout room, home theater, library, etc. These rooms can create an atmosphere that allows one to experience a different vibe, as if you left and entered another building. Maybe I am not explaining it clearly. Going into a home theater room or a gym room, makes you feel like you are not inside your home anymore. In periods like this lockdown, it can make a huge difference in a persons psychological well being.
Two thoughts on space
- Sq ft/person numbers are misleading. A certain amount of footage should be allotted for common areas, like a kitchen and full bathroom and a living room of some sort, even if it’s attached to the kitchen area as so many “great rooms” are these days. And a certain square footage for the first bedroom. But as the number of occupants grows, the kitchen and living room areas don’t need to be duplicated. So, 1200 sq ft may be quite reasonable for two occupants, and then an additional 200 sq ft for each additional occupant. (Use your own numbers.)
- I agree with Akos that open floor plans are no bueno. Too noisy, no privacy, hard to share space. The concept of an “away room” as promoted by Susanka is part of a solution to this problem. And as people get away from using carpets, the noise issue is going to become worse in open floor plans.
The trend to hard floors also makes active people on a second floor a much bigger issue since it’s difficult to reduce the “thump thump” sounds people on the first floor will hear.
Bill