Buildings under 200 sf

Started by jraabe, July 10, 2005, 10:07:46 AM

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glenn kangiser

Glad to have you back here, Kathleen.  You always add value to our forum.  I don't spend a lot of time with draw programs - mostly a do it in my head sort of guy. [ouch]

I'm working out of town this week so not on a lot.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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soomb

Quote from: John Raabe on October 09, 2009, 10:58:32 AM
Here is an interesting design I found while searching for "Tiny houses"

http://www.familyhomeplans.com/plan_details.cfm?PlanNumber=69800&src=search#image-slideshow



Plan




That home, with additional photos was featured in a magazine... Sunset I think.  (this was back during dial up internet) Searched out the firm and call and was able to speak the the architect directly and he could not have been nicer!!  I think since then this cabin had been in a few books, but I would guess he is still approachable to answer a basic question or two.
Live- Phoenix, Relax- Payson


John Raabe

Nice.

I especially like the double french doors at the front. Really opens up a little house.
None of us are as smart as all of us.

Freeholdfarm

It has a pretty spacious kitchen, too, for such a small house.  That's a nice feature -- it seems like kitchens get short shrift since so many people don't really cook anymore.

Kathleen

ETA:  Now that I've looked at the page with more pictures, I like it even better -- I really like the way they've used plywood for interior paneling (although I think I would use wood battens rather than metal).

Solar Burrito

Hi I'm really impressed with everyone's ideas. My building skills are non-existence right now but I just ordered this cabin kit from a local company. I needed a 200 sq plan with a loft and feel in love with this simple design. It includes local delivery from a local source. It's not pre-cut but designed to have minimal cuts. I'm recycling my old aluminum windows, so I will have less than than pictured.

I am planning to use lots of these ideas above, especially the one right above, The bump out for the kitchen with the serving bar is great even though we could mostly outside.



I want to use t-111 siding on the lower 4' then cedar shakes above.
Small Shelters, Off Grid Living, and Other Neat Stuff http://solarburrito.com


psammy

Cool contest. 

Not sure if anyone has brought this up, but depending on how 200 sf is defined in local codes it could mean to the inside of the exterior wall system.  I know that's how area is defined in my city zoning codes.  It would add a little more precious area to a tight design.

psammy

Freeholdfarm

Quote from: psammy on February 11, 2010, 03:15:13 PM
Cool contest. 

Not sure if anyone has brought this up, but depending on how 200 sf is defined in local codes it could mean to the inside of the exterior wall system.  I know that's how area is defined in my city zoning codes.  It would add a little more precious area to a tight design.

psammy

You really do have to check your local codes.  I'm not certain here, but pretty sure it's the footprint.  Someone else up in Washington found that in his area it was the aerial measurement, in other words, include the eave overhang!  I WISH it was to the inside of the exterior wall system here, because I'd like to use cob, which makes thick walls!  In a 200 s.f. building, you'd lose a lot of floor space with walls a foot or more thick!

Kathleen

Drew

The rules in Butte County, CA say 120 sf. on the exterior dimensions.   You can forget about a straw bale building if you plan to lie down.   :-\

However, I've seen plans that take a number of non-permit sized houses and placed them rather close together but not touching (Some codes require 6' or 10' distance).  But then you can get one as a bunk house, one as a showerhouse/outhosue, one as an offiec, etc.

You gotta like builing and hate permitting though.  Oh yeah.  Right.  :)

Freeholdfarm

Codes here require at least 6' between structures, and that includes the roof line, so you can't connect two small structures with a porch.  Unless, of course, you don't mind getting a permit.

Kathleen


cbc58

Here's one I found on another site... 12x16.  click on picture to enlarge....

http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/6_277_0.html

John Raabe

Very nice little 12x16 cabin. Thanks to cbc58 :D (see link in previous post).

None of us are as smart as all of us.

curiousalexa

Latecomer to the game here.  I've been working on a bunch of different plans, trying to decide which one I'm actually going to build!  I had a couple of them scanned at Staples so I could share them - the next few I might try just taking a picture of. 

I'll post them one at a time.  I would love to get some feedback on my ideas! 

curiousalexa



This is a 14x14 cabin, for a grand total of 196 sq ft.  I do not intend to install plumbing or electric; water is captured from the roof, then brought inside in 5-7 gallon containers placed on high shelves for gravity dispensing.  Lighting is oil lamps.  Games are cards, not Nintendos [g].

The bathroom is a "wet bath" in camper speak - no separate shower, just a drain in the floor.  There is a door between the woodstove and kitchen for access to a future greenhouse on the south side of the cabin.  The window over the desk is designed to be easily convertible to a doorway for potential future expansion. 

There are a couple different markings for windows - I was playing around with the exterior elevations and looking at symmetrical options. 

Thoughts, comments? 

glenn kangiser

Looks interesting and practical for what you want.  Positive plans to build it?
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


curiousalexa

Positive plans to build *something*! [g]  I've been deconstructing a 1920s era carriage house a couple towns away for materials, and just made a huge score at an auction on a pile of very mixed lumber.  Fortunately the gal I'm renting the land from is a friend who is willing to let me use her garage and yard for storing materials. 

More sketches later.  (I think I'm up to 5 floor plan ideas, including one I've previously built.) 

glenn kangiser

Sounds great.  Looking forward to more.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

curiousalexa

Sorry I'm not too quick at this posting business.  I'm not trying to tease with floorplans/designs, honest! [g] 

A 16x16, which at 256 sq feet wouldn't have been eligible for the contest but I think fits into the general theme of this thread. 

This one is a variation on the 14x14, with an emphasis on larger open flexible space.  I have a history of re-arranging my furniture fairly frequently, and so I was trying to blend that flexibility with a small space.  (Note: the 14x14 is intended to have a shed roof; the 16x16 has a gable roof.  I did not get the elevation drawings scanned as I was feeling cheap that day.) 



The kitchen counter runs along one wall up to the bathroom, again an RV-style wet-bath (all of my designs have that - I'm reluctant to spend space on a separate tub or shower, much as I'm reluctant to spend space on an entire room just for being unconscious!)  Personally, I plan to have a wood stove as I live in a wooded area that has plenty of fuel free for the labor of taking.  The rest of the space is unstructured.  IIRC, entrance is West, with the gable end extended over a porch where I have lovely mountain views. 

John Raabe

I've upped the contrast and loaded the 14x14 floor plan image to Photobucket for posting here.

None of us are as smart as all of us.

curiousalexa

Thank you John!  I don't have any software for changing the images.  Is it possible to put an image directly in the post, rather than linking to an external photo-host? 

glenn kangiser

There is no room for storage of images on the forum so we use Photobucket.  Accounts are free there and uploads are easy.  If you can see it on your screen you can easily make a JPEG image that loads to Photobucket fast using Gadwin Printscreen, a free program.

http://www.gadwin.com/download/ps_setup.exe

I set preferences in it to F5 as my hot key, copy rectangular area, save to file, and it saves them to a printscreen file folder.  I name them an easily recognizable name then save and upload them.  The bottom option on the Photobucket image with the IMG tag will cause it to show up directly in your posting.  There is a tutorial on Photobucket -older- in forum news by Mtn Don.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


WoodSprite

Also getting late into the game... here's our little cabin, 8x8 plus a window seat bump-out and a tiny front porch:


https://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy218/maudlynne/cabin-1.jpg[/img]]
The Chronicle of Upper Tupper
This place was made by doing impractical things we could not afford at the wrong time of year.   -Henry Mitchell

glenn kangiser

That is a cool little cabin, Woodsprite.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Texas Tornado

Quote from: DavidLeBlanc on July 10, 2005, 02:14:53 PM

10'x22'



Mounted on trailer for easy relocation. The home can be removed from the trailer and set onto a permanent foundation. Trailer can be licensed for over the road transport. Trailer has two-3500 pound axles, brakes on one axle. 2-5/8" trailer ball, mechanical tongue jack. Trailer can be towed with half ton pickup with a Class III weight distributing hitch, or with a heavy duty pickup truck with Class III hitch.


Where are the pics?  ???

MountainDon

This is one of the problems encountered with images on forums. Links to the source of the images can sometimes go stale, go dead. Sometimes it's because the webpage they were on has been modified. Sometimes the web album has been modified as the owner has run out of space. Other times it is because the person no longer has the site. That's what has happened here. The only way around that would be to have all images uploaded to the CountryPlans Forum server. That has many potential issues; disk space required to store them is one major concern. Managing the uploads to ensure they are virus free, no hidden nasty trojans and the like is another big concern. So from time to time we will have images do their own little disappearing act. It's too bad, but hard to get away from.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

jpatti


I know the contest is over, but I don't care.  ;)  I love this thread, have reread it several times over the years, and now have something to contribute.

My design is built on top of a 20 foot trailer with the entire flatbed over the wheelwalls so as to use all of the 102" width allowed for towed vehicles.  Here's an example of the trailer type: http://www.allprowest.com/files/20_Flat_Deck_Deckover_Equipment_Trailer.pdf (though I have no use for those ramps)

So the outside footprint is 170 sq ft. This is not large for an RV, but because it's stickbuilt, it'll be heavy.  I figure it can be pulled wth a F-250 pickup.

I looked at a few hundred RV floorplans and a lot of the Tumbleweed stuff and related links, and lots of what I want was not addressed in any floorplan I saw.

This plan is for me and my husband and thus planned for what we consider important.

The Tumbleweed guy doesn't seem to cook.  While I would not be doing pressure canning and grinding my own grain in this trailer, there's room to REALLY cook, with an apartment-sized range and fridge. 

All the floorplans I looked at annoyed me with the waste of space by interior walls, built-in cabinets and bookshelves - an enclosed shower and refrigerator are "walls" between which I site a composting toilet with a simple shower curtain in front of it. 

I do not see us using either the shower or toilet often.  When traveling, we will often be staying at campgrounds with facilities.  When we buy our own land and park this, we will build an outhouse and a showerhouse almsot immediatly.  So in my mind, the shower and composting toilet are largely for occasional use.

I do not want to climb into a loft to sleep; I'm disabled (though not wheelcheer bound) so a loft is not happenning.  I wanted a queen sized bed that you could actually walk around, permanently setup, not needing to convert from something else.  It's just too uncomfortable otherwise.

So... I designed my own after deciding everything I didn't like about all the other floorplans I saw.  This is a very rough floorplan designed with floorplan.com software.

It will be RV-like in the sense that the batteries and a couple 20 lb propane tanks will be situated on the tow-bar.  Most of the RVs I've seen have a cover you have to put over the window on the tow end, and I didn't think we'd be likely to put that on and off, so just left that wall blank.  There will be a small cabinet door over the tow bar to access the area under the center of the queen bed.  That will be outside storage for things like our dining tent, camping chairs, etc.

My design assumes 6" walls.  I'm thinking 2x4 framing sideways as interior walls are generally done, simple vinyl siding outside and thin paneling inside, stuffed with insulation in between.  Insulation in the floor when the deck is built, likely vinyl sheet flooring.  And the roof will be open rafters, same paneling as the walls laid on top to hold insulation and a metal roof.

One wall is higher than the other to allow for a shed roof.  The software used has some limitations in that a wall can only be one height the whole length so the end walls are screwed up in the external views.  Also, those aren't the windows I want, I want double sash windows. It's going to look like a house like the cute little Tumbleweeds do.

Though realistically, I will use what I can scrounge or get sheap.  This is one reason for looking at normal-sized stuff, rather than RV-specific stuff. 

In the floorplan, the big grey space near the bed is my kitchen cabinet.  Hubby built me my ultimate kitchen cabinet in our current rental home, customized to my exact specifications.  We'll build a lighter weight one for the trailer  and bolt it directly to the wall.  Here's the cabinet: http://www.ornery-geeks.org/home/pictures/kitchencabinet/ - the upper doors on that will open over the bed space on one side and over the range on the other. 

I've been living with this cabinet for 4 years and it's awesome.  The only improvement I can think of is it would be nice if the bottom shelves pulled out.  But otherwise, I really lvoe the thing, everything you ened is at hand from one countertop (built higher than normal so i don't tear up my back chopping veggies).

The back of the cabinet will have a hole to the wall with a surge protector mounted at the top, so it can hold things like my microwave, coffemaker, etc. win the back and still give me plenty of counter top for food prep. The other thing we will do differently versus the home version is put a lip across the bottom of the shelves so if we're parked not perfectly flat, we don't have stuff falling out.  There is more than enough storage for real cooking supplies plus dry goods in this sucker.

Storage of other than kitchen stuff is not shown in the floorplan.  Drawers under the queen bed on each side will only pull out so far.  The center of the bed area will be outside storage as described above on one end and space for a litter box on the inside for our cats (with a lip at the bottom, in hopes that the whole trialer doesn't wind up with litter in it).

I put a door near the queen sized bed just cause I am not happy with only one exit.  We plan to put a metal ladder under the trailer to be able to step in.  Inside will be hooks for broom and mop, and a couple for hanging clothes. It will mostly be an emergency exit, not a real entrance.

Hubby has suggested flipping the entire thing 180 degrees so both entrances are on the curb-side, which we will probably do but I was too lazy to redo the floorplan to show that.  ;)

The dinette will be built with the cushions on tops removing for storage underneath and with cabinets overhead on the outside walls.  The dinette will be not only our eating place, but our "desks".  We spend more time at desks than we do at the ktichen table now.  In fact, we will likely have a server under one of those dinette benches with a wireless router.

There's no plan for a TV because I assume we will use laptops at the dinette to watch DVDs.  We don't really watch TV now in a rental home except for DVDs, so assume we won't then either. 

The entry is in the back.  I love the little porches on Tumbleweed houses, so did one of those.  Hubby is arguing with me about the waste of space, but... I think it's practical also, with such a tiny space, if your boots are muddy, you need to be take them off outside, and be standing on a clean floor with a roof if there's weather to do it.  But honestly, I just adore the porches on the Tumbleweeds as too terribly cute and just want it mostly for the look.  The stairs will attach at the top on hinges, so they can be pulled up and stored on the porch when traveling. 

The sink is a single sink, but actually deep with a real faucet. Next to the sink is a marine propane heater.  Under the sink is an on-demand propane water heater and water pump.  Over the range will be a removable shelf so I have counter space when doing dishes.

One of the disadvantages of my setup is that the refrigerator is pretty far from all the rest of the propane appliances, and both hot and cold water plus a drain will have to be plumbed to the shower, pretty far from the sink.  I couldn't get it to workout otherwise.

Because of choosing a composting toilet, we will avoid all the hassle of a blackwater tank, but will have a to mount water storage and greywater tanks under the trailer.

Most of the lighting will be overhead, hanging from rafters, as will a couple fans.

We assume solar panels, but not mounted on the roof.  The batteries will be recharged when driving.  When parked, the solar panels can be setup in the sun while we park in the shade.  Electric will be normal 120, so we can swtich from battery/inverter to city power via an extension cord.

I think the amount of windows and the shed roof will give a feeling of space in spite of how tiny it is. 

When I envision living in this, the two most annoying things I see are... when we both enter, one person has to continue for a while in order for the other to get in and shut the door.  The other is, if I am cooking and he needs to use the john, that will be less than pleasant.  But we used to drive tractor trailers over-the-road and lived in a much smaller space without getting divorced, so we'll manage.

Anytime we're parked more than a day, we will set up our dining tent.  I'll likely buy a chunk of outdoor carpet to put down out there also.  It will nearly double our living space.

When we buy land, I want to build an L-shaped deck going around the sides where the doors are. 

Thoughts and advice are welcome.