Here’s an Idea for Habitat for Humanity
Aug 6th, 2008 by Kirsten
Why do they build such big, inefficient, expensive houses?* They could save time and money and be much more environmentally friendly by building tiny houses.
Even those are a fair bit overpriced. My favorite man, Kel, who took me up to Hungry Horse Dam also showed me around his place which- without a plumbed bathroom but on what someone I used to work with would call “some modest acreage”- has so far cost him much less than any of Tumbleweed’s offerings. He has graciously allowed me to share a few pictures of his marvelously efficient and cozy abode.
Here’s the place- all 8 feet by 8 feet of it- from the outside. The front door is the exact same style door I had going out to my carport on my old house. The doggie door is big enough for a 65 pound puppy. Eventually the porch is planned to have a rocking chair and a little stairway up from the ground.
The house is not wired into the grid. Instead, four little recycled solar panels provide power. A handy side-effect of this setup is that he was able to jumpstart a dead car battery from his house.
Here’s the very cozy and efficient seven feet by seven feet indoors. You do the math on the insulation. He lived in it in northern Montana all last winter with no problem.
To the left you can see one of two bookshelves, some food storage, a countertop (no sink) with a little stove, some hanging pans, and more storage space under the counter. On the back wall you can see a bed that comfortably fits two people who like each other on the bottom plus a second bunk (currently being used for storage) up top. There is more storage space under the bottom bunk. The front wall which is not shown has a mirror, pictures, and some toiletries hanging between the window, doggie door and front door. On the right side which is also not shown you can find the propane heater which he tells me runs for about one minute every hour in the winter plus a carbon monoxide detector for extra safety. He keeps a window open at night in the winter for ventilation.
Future plans, I am told, include finishing the porch and ceiling over it, adding a septic tank so he can have some plumbed bathroom luxuries, and a satellite internet connection. It’s a pretty awesome habitat for a human.
*Habitat for Humanity says its US homes average a cost of $60,000 and 1000 square feet.
That is kind of awesome. Eat your heart out Mr. Thoreau!
Yay! I’m famous!
kel
I’d been curious about Kel’s living space, so I appreciate the virtual tour. Makes my trailer seem downright luxurious!
Cool!
Humm next year he should add a machine shop and a pool with a cabana.
Humm some of those small kit built homes used the roof for a sleeping loft. Then the downstairs could become a cozy living room/machine shop
maybe with a small pot-bellied stove for heating with a serpentine exhaust duct to heat the sleeping loft. If the place has some decent wind, you can augment the solar with wind power. There are some really low power PC’s and internet equipment out there, but the sat uplink will still suck a lot of current. Looks fun!
And I though our little 750 sq ft house was tiny for four of us. That tempts me to leave my wife and become a hermit in the woods of Wyoming (or Montana).