I saw the topic and my thought... Oh I have some thoughts on tiny homes alright!! Be careful what you wish for...
I'd tell you this.... don't take advice from someone who hasn't lived in one....
No offense to those offering help.... everyone means well, but first hand knowledge is more important..
It's not the house... (cabin.... they were called cabins for hundreds of years).... it is the actual living in them..... I'd get on some homesteading sites and look at lifestyle rather than optics of square footage or materials.... those are just marketing tactics..
I lived my first 6-7 months in AK in a converted 10x10' chicken coop....
living in small spaces is a learned thing... buying is one thing.. existing inside one is another....
My first cabin on my land was 12x12'.... that is the dimensions empty... you start filling it with counters tables shelves and "stuff", and that number means nothing... my cabin had about 6 feet from my bunk to the counter... and about 9 feet from the small table on the south wall to the wood stove to actually move around in...
I'd be less worried about the building itself.. anything will do... I've seen everything you can imagine... (Including a house of blue tarps).. it's how one adapts to those conditions...
It's not easy.. I've been doing it for nearly 20 years.. I went from a 12x12'... added on 8 feet.... after 10 years or so... It was palatial... for about a week...
I'd bet all those people/companies who build those things all live in big houses....
I'd listen to those (online?) who have actually experienced it.... like I said... you actually have to be able to live in the thing at the end of the day....
Personally I think it may be a good idea..... but it not necessarily an instant solution.... but just don't jump into it.... the most important thing this former flat landed did when he got to alaska was to listen to those who came before me... (not meaning me.. in this case)... but take advice from a base of knowledge....
sorry.... I'll get off my soapbox.... I have to get into it and get some toilet paper and it's also my coffee table and step stool.....
^^^ Some good information.
Ive lived in small cabins for 25 or so years, a motor home a few winters, tipi, wall tent, out under the stars....
Current places is 14x18. It was leftover logs from a cabin I built to sell. I measured the pile, calculated best use, had to buy I think 4 logs besides the leftovers. It was intended as a guest place, a larger place (roughly 700 sq ft) was to follow building and selling another house. Life changes our plans, Im still in the tiny cabin. Its do-ble, but outbuildings help with working space and storage.
Id suggest getting a competent builder that would work time and materials to build a smaller house with an estimate to start, both estimate work time and length of project time, as in, dont get started then go work somewhere else for a while. Get a commitment to finish in a timely manner, make the other people wait. I lived in a 16x20 cabin a couple years, much better than the 14x18, but 18x24 would be a significant step up in comfortable living space.
Slabs are relatively cheap and simple, a crawl space gives storage and access to plumbing and electrical as needed. Here, footers/foundations need to be 48" below grade, I have them remove all the dirt inside the walls down to footer level, and after the block or concrete walls are done and backfilled, haul the leftover dirt off if its not useful around the place. In the 16x20 cabin I made a simple 3ftx3ft trapdoor in the floor to access it. I dont mind having plumbing fixtures on outside walls, but always run the lines straight up through the floor, not into the outside wall. Do NOT allow concrete guys to dump all the leftover concrete into your crawl space unless they want to make you a finished floor on their time. Side note, EVERY time I wasnt present at each step when subs were working absolutely stupid things happened that I wouldnt have allowed if present. Like a plumber moving a toilet 3 or 4 inches over instead of using an offset flange and notching the floor joist. In a tiny house thats a serious issue.
Many downsides of tiny or small houses can be managed, you wouldnt
have to build a loft with little headroom/space, but using it for storage instead of sleeping space would be my suggestion. A day bed or murphy bed can help mange living space. At my age theres absolutely NO way Im climbing up and down from a loft (or rooftop tent when camping) to pee in the middle of the night or let the dog out (another problem with lofts and rooftop tents, how to get a large dog up and down it) I dont think its a great idea at any age actually.
Have enough windows to give good light and see out, it makes small spaces more tolerable. A good porch also gives a break from smaller inside spaces. Extending the roofline out one end is a simple and quick way to build a porch, no valleys to leak or work the pitch break into the roofline etc and give a classic small cabin/house look. Ive ended up covering the sides of every such cabin Ive lived in very long, it allows more use in breezy weather and more outside time, and covered storage. Dogs love it, they can be outside a lot in all but the worst weather. All my dogs would rather be outside most of the time if able to. Laying on the porch on guard duty is one of the highest levels of doghood.
To reiterate, crawl spaces give useful storage space, this cant be over-emphasized when living in small spaces. Its some of the cheapest useful space you can build in a project if its not flooding with groundwater etc. They make plumbing and electrical FAR easier to work on initially, and to diagnose or fix later as need be. Teeny tiny crawl spaces are horrid, good ones are awesome.
Hey Rueben, long time no see.
14x18 cabin, behind it is a small shop/storage/reloading room, to the right is the bath house. pantry, temp reloading room. Porch is 14x 6 ft deck, lots of roof overhang all around. Have started an addition that will double the cabin size, then disabling back injuries, and......
16x20 cabin. The numbers dont seem to indicate it, but theres a significant increase in living space from the above cabin. 18x24 would seem extravagant. All one open space other than the bathroom. I think making too many rooms in a small space isnt a great idea.
