# Nice Tiny House Design



## begreen (Jan 8, 2015)

Even has a gas fireplace!
http://tinyhouse.heininge.com/


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## saskwoodburner (Jan 8, 2015)

Call me strange, but I like the concept of these tiny house things.


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## begreen (Jan 8, 2015)

You're strange. 

In a good way.


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## DBoon (Jan 8, 2015)

You have to admire the ingenuity by which they fit so much storage into rarely used spaces.


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## Ehouse (Jan 11, 2015)

Not to quibble but.....both the floor plan and photo dot say it's electric.  Would a gas equivalent overheat such a small space?


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## ewlsey (Jan 11, 2015)

Tiny house = trailer house. Talk about rebranding...


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## begreen (Jan 11, 2015)

Ehouse said:


> Not to quibble but.....both the floor plan and photo dot say it's electric.  Would a gas equivalent overheat such a small space?


You're right. I missed that. It says 1500watt on the plan. A gas heater would have to be small, like 5000 btus. The heat from lights and refrigeration would probably be enough on milder days.

Maybe one on the wall at the foot of the staircase like this would work? That would free up the fireplace area for more storage:
http://www.napoleonfireplaces.com/products/gt8-the-torch-gas-fireplace/


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## Ehouse (Jan 11, 2015)

begreen said:


> You're right. I missed that. It says 1500watt on the plan. A gas heater would have to be small, like 5000 btus. The heat from lights and refrigeration would probably be enough on milder days.
> 
> Maybe one on the wall at the foot of the staircase like this would work? That would free up the fireplace area for more storage:
> http://www.napoleonfireplaces.com/products/gt8-the-torch-gas-fireplace/




Yah.  design goes well with the house too.


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## begreen (Jan 11, 2015)

One thing missing is good lighting, especially for reading. There's no room for floor lamps and little for table lamps. I would build in some good reading lights for the couch and bed.


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## Seasoned Oak (Jan 11, 2015)

This one is very nice.Trying to live in a smaller space than this for any length of time is just not practical. A bed room you can stand up in is a must.


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## begreen (Jan 11, 2015)

It's not for everyone, but lots of people don't mind living in small spaces. It's a bit like living on a boat.


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## EatenByLimestone (Jan 11, 2015)

Like the layout of this one.  He even has a woodstove.


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## begreen (Jan 11, 2015)

Cool. Looks like he has an older Jotul or Morso heating with biobricks which is what I would do.


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## saskwoodburner (Jan 11, 2015)

If I was a bachelor......^^^^^^

(referencing the tinyhouse, not begreen)


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## EatenByLimestone (Jan 11, 2015)

The family cabin has a front room that's 12x16.  When I go up without the wife I live out of this room.  I'd be happy with it.  The only thing not in there is the bathroom.


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## Seasoned Oak (Jan 11, 2015)

Should be very low property taxes as most go by Sqf of living space. I had an uncle that was literally taxed out of 2 of his  homes. First in long island and the second in upstate NY


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## dougstove (Jan 11, 2015)

I like the idea, but in a cold climate, the high surface to volume ratio would make it hard to insulate, as a fraction of the total volume.
There is a resort near me that has 'condo chalets' which are basically 4 tiny houses in block, each unit sharing two interior walls.
Total size ~2000 sq ft, ~400 sq ft per unit.


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## jebatty (Jan 13, 2015)

I hope no one thinks for a moment that the average US new house size (over 2,000 sq ft) is representative of new house size in other developed countries. Average new house size in Hong Kong, for example, is 484 sq ft; Spain is 870 sq ft. Might 1,000's of square feet be a little excessive? Shrink


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## EatenByLimestone (Jan 13, 2015)

Honestly, I'm surprised there are new houses in Hong Kong.  They don't exactly have much room.  They must be expanding into china.


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## dougstove (Jan 13, 2015)

I am really wondering what is going to happen with the millions of over sized under built monster houses of the last 10-20 years.
Accessible only by car, expensive to heat or cool, all services or employment opportunities banished by zoning or covenants, mortgaged out the wazoo (in Canada, better in the USA now).
I guess if a large enough fraction of the population/money is in them, we will all end up bailing them out in some way.


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## EatenByLimestone (Jan 13, 2015)

I've thought about that too.  All those huge windows and 30 ft high entry ways will come back to haunt. 

The thing that gets me most is that they put them on little postage sized lots.


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## Where2 (Jan 13, 2015)

EatenByLimestone said:


> Honestly, I'm surprised there are new houses in Hong Kong.  They don't exactly have much room.  They must be expanding into china.


Don't make me post pictures, I flew through there and sailed out of there twice last year. There's still quite a bit of undeveloped land in Hong Kong, it's just not quite flat. The "apartment" I lived in on the mainland was considerably larger than a room at a Microtel in America.



dougstove said:


> I am really wondering what is going to happen with the millions of over sized under built monster houses of the last 10-20 years.


You will get the urban ghost town similar to some we already have in some parts of America where jobs have vanished. Went to one of those last year too, on business, in addition to my trips to mainland China. I fully expect what we will see at some point is the state and federal government using eminent domain to seize entire chunks of property and selling them off to pay the country's debts. The question becomes, do you want to live in one of those areas when the court system rolls through and cuts you a check for "just compensation" according to the Fifth Ammendment?

I've watched what government can do using their eminent domain power using the justification of "community redevelopment" where in the end the government signs the deed to the property over to a well connected private developer. The kicker is that eminent domain can be justified to be used simply on the basis of increasing the local tax base. *Kelo v. City of New London *is an interesting read.

We might as well accept the tiny house concept, it's coming...


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## ewdudley (Jan 14, 2015)

begreen said:


> Even has a gas fireplace!
> http://tinyhouse.heininge.com/


_Cage à lapins, _as the Wallonians describe Netherlands housing.  But one very nice thing I found about cramped housing was that each and every possession had to be precious enough to deserve a place in the home, and nothing could be purchased until it was decided what would be let go of to make room for it.


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## woodgeek (Jan 14, 2015)

EatenByLimestone said:


> Honestly, I'm surprised there are new houses in Hong Kong.  They don't exactly have much room.  They must be expanding into china.



Hong Kong has almost the same population and total land area as NYC.  Tear down a short building and build a high-rise.  The remarkable thing was that 60 years ago it was all firetrap shanties...then it was what we would call high rise publicly funded tenements (tiny apartments in a concrete tower, with communal kitchens and baths).  Apts are still small and expensive, but most now have private kitchen and bath.  In many ways, not unlike the history of NYC, just compressed in time a bit, and with more public funding.

The New Territories are like Queens and the Bronx.  Like NYC in the US, HK'ers have a much higher median income and net worth than anyone else in greater china, including Shanghai and Beijing.


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## jebatty (Jan 15, 2015)

> But one very nice thing I found about cramped housing was that each and every possession had to be precious enough to deserve a place in the home, and nothing could be purchased until it was decided what would be let go of to make room for it.


 That might be the simple living of which many dream but few choose the path. Also, that is the stuff of which great wealth is accumulated. Imagine, saving the difference in purchase and ownership costs of a tiny house vs a 3000+ sq ft house, apply the return of your choice for investing that money, and you are ready to enjoy a fantastic early retirement in short order.


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## dougstove (Jan 15, 2015)

"tiny house vs a 3000+ sq ft house"

I think part of the monster house phenomenon is that adding raw square feet to a structure is/was fairly cheap.
The land price, sewer, water, electric does not change, and the heating system cost does not scale with size.
Framing, sheathing & roofing are the lowest labour costs as well.

If we had a tax on carbon, rather than a tax on labour, it might help.  The recent drop in oil gives a perfect opportunity to shift tax from income to carbon, without pain.


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## brian89gp (Jan 22, 2015)

dougstove said:


> I am really wondering what is going to happen with the millions of over sized under built monster houses of the last 10-20 years.
> Accessible only by car, expensive to heat or cool, all services or employment opportunities banished by zoning or covenants, mortgaged out the wazoo (in Canada, better in the USA now).
> I guess if a large enough fraction of the population/money is in them, we will all end up bailing them out in some way.



If the area remains desirable, they will get torn down and rebuilt like all desirable area's do.  If the area does not remain desirable, decent chance of slipping into becomming the new ghetto's.  Large cheap houses in undesirable area's tend to fall into poverty's hands.


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## CombatChris (Jan 23, 2015)

We've been interested in Tinyhomes for a while. Something movable on a trailer is very interesting but I can't find a single home plan for a 40' gooseneck, which could easily be built up and towed by one of the new diesel trucks - you would need a CDL but could still get it done with a 3500/350 truck. After all, this would be for a family of 4.


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## jebatty (Feb 7, 2015)

Renzo Piano and his Diogene Hut design. About 36 sq ft. A one person retreat center. Diogene Hut


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## northwinds (Feb 7, 2015)

jebatty said:


> Renzo Piano and his Diogene Hut design. About 36 sq ft. A one person retreat center. Diogene Hut



That looks like a fishing shack.  

I lived in a one man tent for six months, but I had a very large outdoor space for 16 hours per day.


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## saskwoodburner (Feb 7, 2015)

One interesting aspect about tiny houses/super huge houses (at least to me it seems) is with Mc mansions they try to go overboard on square footage, and some tiny houses go the opposite way. On either end of the scale, it almost seems to get into the absurd.


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## razerface (Feb 10, 2015)

CombatChris said:


> We've been interested in Tinyhomes for a while. Something movable on a trailer is very interesting but I can't find a single home plan for a 40' gooseneck, which could easily be built up and towed by one of the new diesel trucks - you would need a CDL but could still get it done with a 3500/350 truck. After all, this would be for a family of 4.


A CDL? I pull 40' goose necks a lot here in Ohio. Just a regular drivers license.


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