A Newer Trend--shed Homes

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Angie said:
This is a painting my grandmother made of her parent's place in Mississippi. I think I'd like a small but reasonably modern with the ability to turn off modern and still survive. And I've always loved these types of homes, even before I ever saw this as my grandma painted it after she was retired and my granddad was passed away. View attachment 54917
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Maybe not quite the same but my wife (from lower Alabama) grew up in a "shotgun" house. Small. And she's one of 9 kids. But it was a roof over their head.
 
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/al..._4me3KEnvsGB2a7DZn6vA04KJXOq3aZ2rg6LPbXB6qzMU
One thing about small/tiny/shed/portable building homes, they can be very very basic or cost $100,000. (which to my pocketbook is killing the reason to go small). That link above has some neat things.

And you know. There are apartments the size of a walk=in closet that cost hundreds or more per month and are smaller than many of the shed/small/tiny homes. The ones I've seen on TV are in New York, downtown.
 
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There were surely home areas inside barns. I worked construction years ago and built a 1br apartment in a ladies horse barn. Barn was nice and her apartment fit in nicely. I wouldn't be opposed to it while building a house. But I wouldn't want it permanant, primarily due to the chance of losing both at once.

Angie those old houses similar to that were built to cool without much help. Large windows all the way around, large covered porches. Everything was made to help with air flow. IMO, thats just as important today for off grid, or potential loss of power
 
A storage building home decirated for Christmas.
20201206_200749.jpg
 
These are Old Queenslander homes.

They are built on stilts to allow air to flow under them, they have 10 foot + wrap around porches, 16 foot ceilings and they have a central breeze way/ hall way running fron the front door to the back door to allow air flow.
A lot of these grand old ladies have been restored to their former glory and they are still coller than modern houses.

Old Queenslander.jpg
 
I remember back in college in the mid 70's, watching them build a new dorm. All the dorm rooms were pre-fab. The bunk beds were built in, the shelving, the desks, the bathrooms, etc. A self-contained unit. They brought the rooms in on trucks, then used a crane to lift and stack them into a multi-story building with internal halls. There were connections on each room for electricity, water, and sewer. The things basically snapped together like Legos. The result was very nice.

I am surprised that some variation of this concept didn't catch on for regular housing. You design your house with these snap together modules that come pre-fabbed with insulation, roofing, electricity, etc. Make it a large house with many modules, or a small cabin with only two or three. You could add-on, expand or remodel/repair your house at a later time by buying more modules. I have seen pictures of something akin to this modular concept using yurts. You have a central large yurt for a common area, then little tunnels (hallways) going out to satellite yurts for bedrooms, etc. Looked like a TinkerToy project.
 
Bacpacker said:
There were surely home areas inside barns. I worked construction years ago and built a 1br apartment in a ladies horse barn. Barn was nice and her apartment fit in nicely. I wouldn't be opposed to it while building a house. But I wouldn't want it permanant, primarily due to the chance of losing both at once.

Angie those old houses similar to that were built to cool without much help. Large windows all the way around, large covered porches. Everything was made to help with air flow. IMO, thats just as important today for off grid, or potential loss of power
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There is a family who moved to Idaho this spring who is almost finished building a small home inside a metal barn.

 
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This is a family I've been following for a few years now. This whole video starts with a going away party for them in Florida. About 7 minutes in is when they are on their land in Arkansas, and you see the enclosed trailer they built over a trailer frame that had had the travel trailer destroyed in a storm shortly before they left. That has been storage ever since they got to Arkansas. Then you see the shed being delivered. I never miss a video of theirs and it has been really interesting to see them develop their homestead and their home.

 
I have a cousin down the road from us that moved out of the big house (because they were retiring from farming) and had a daughty (grandpa) house built next to it. Basement, 2 bedrooms, good kitchen, family room, and mud room and then a hallway that could be shut off with doors leading to a new barn. It's really cool. And nice in the wintertime. Our next door farm neighbors are Amish, newly married, and they bought 17 acres with a small 2 bedroom on it. They are on baby #2. Built a really big barn, and upstairs is a full apartment. The man's sis is staying up there at the moment, because she's from Oklahoma and is dating someone here. Our build on right now is coming along nicely..and is unique for the area, too.
 
Amish Heart said:
I have a cousin down the road from us that moved out of the big house (because they were retiring from farming) and had a daughty (grandpa) house built next to it. Basement, 2 bedrooms, good kitchen, family room, and mud room and then a hallway that could be shut off with doors leading to a new barn. It's really cool. And nice in the wintertime. Our next door farm neighbors are Amish, newly married, and they bought 17 acres with a small 2 bedroom on it. They are on baby #2. Built a really big barn, and upstairs is a full apartment. The man's sis is staying up there at the moment, because she's from Oklahoma and is dating someone here. Our build on right now is coming along nicely..and is unique for the area, too.
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This sounds so neat. I'm glad your building is coming along nicely. And is UNIQUE!
 
This couple lives in North Carolina, I believe, and have an acre of land (I believe). They got the land from his mother and the agreement was that they would live debt free. They have. They purchased an older mobile home that they have been going through and improving. They both work outside of the home, and they both make things to sell. She has a soap making business. Their home is not large, so he has a workshop and now they have this shed they ordered recently and are getting ready for her soap making business.
Debt free living!

 
Weedygarden said:
They purchased an older mobile home that they have been going through and improving.
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Brings back a memory of when I lived in Pennsylvania. At the time, I was living in a rented single wide trailer, not much of one, that sat on an acre or so of ground. Being renters, we didn't do a whole lot but did end up putting a nice covered porch / deck on the front of it. They paid for the materials. It was a nice spot. Amish school house was behind us, woods on two of the other sides. Room for a garden and a few chickens. Coulda been a whole lot worse.

But there was a guy next door to us that was a carpenter. He started out with an older single wide trailer as well. Since he owned his property, I believe he pretty much just started doing "little things" with a big objective. Over time, that old single wide trailer became a stick built house that was a little over twice the size of the original single wide. He showed us the inside of it one time and a person wouldn't have ever known it's beginnings. I asked whether there was anything left of the old trailer. His answer; "only the steel framework that was underneath". And apparently the county still thought it was a "trailer" and taxed it accordingly. Probably couldn't get away with that today, all the regulations and such, but a few skills and some persistence can get a person way more than most would imagine.

Just sharin' a flashback from memory lane. ;)
 
PopPopT said:
Brings back a memory of when I lived in Pennsylvania. At the time, I was living in a rented single wide trailer, not much of one, that sat on an acre or so of ground. Being renters, we didn't do a whole lot but did end up putting a nice covered porch / deck on the front of it. They paid for the materials. It was a nice spot. Amish school house was behind us, woods on two of the other sides. Room for a garden and a few chickens. Coulda been a whole lot worse.

But there was a guy next door to us that was a carpenter. He started out with an older single wide trailer as well. Since he owned his property, I believe he pretty much just started doing "little things" with a big objective. Over time, that old single wide trailer became a stick built house that was a little over twice the size of the original single wide. He showed us the inside of it one time and a person wouldn't have ever known it's beginnings. I asked whether there was anything left of the old trailer. His answer; "only the steel framework that was underneath". And apparently the county still thought it was a "trailer" and taxed it accordingly. Probably couldn't get away with that today, all the regulations and such, but a few skills and some persistence can get a person way more than most would imagine.

Just sharin' a flashback from memory lane. ;)
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Some people are creative and determined, while they may have little money to work with. Like the saying, "If there is a will, there is a way." Some people see a tiny house, look at the purchase price of buying a nice one, and "OMG, that is ridiculous!" Other people look at the idea of a tiny house and can make a nice one for a few thousand dollars, using salvaged materials and doing most of the work themselves. It is all in your perspective, creativity, and skill set.

I have harvested bricks from a number of places for landscaping on my property--brick paths, raised beds, etc. At one situation, a man was taking down a small brick garage so he could build a much larger one. Several of us were there, taking bricks. One guy said he was building a home, and he was using as much repurposed material as he could and proceeded to go through a list of things he had gotten for free. Not all free stuff is worth it or good, but some of it is. I know a family with oil money. The kitchen gets remodeled every 7 to 10 years. I hope someone is getting to use their replaced cabinets.
 
hiwall said:
I always thought a metal shed would make a cheap fast house. Here is a 20x30 with 12 foot walls for $6300 installed. It could be ordered cheaper by not getting the two garage doors.
https://www.bigbuildingsdirect.com/...MIzuCUzYzO7QIVkTytBh18GgBzEAQYBSABEgJ7-_D_BwE
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Definitely possible. But you would need to put in the concrete pad. Also, once it was there, you'd need to deal with insulation and with any utilities that you wanted (electric, water, sewer, HVAC). And, if you wanted interior walls, cabinets, a kitchen, a bathroom, stuff like that, it would be added to the costs.

Not poo-poo'ing the idea. It is a valid way of getting a shell up quickly. Some have looked at pole barns similarly.

One thing about a metal building, the termites aren't much interested. ;) And FWIW, it might give you just a little bit of protection from the bombardment of radio waves all around us that get worse with every passing satellite in orbit. (The downside of that is that your cell phone probably won't work well inside... if you have one.)
 
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