Storage -anyone try the Little House Plans Kit?

[glenn kangiser]

Seems like with the cost of mini-storage units it would be cheaper to get the Little House plans kit and make your own storage unit. One months rental would pay for the plans and a few more would pay for the materials then you would be done paying and your stuff would be right there in your own back yard.  You could store tools, animal feed, workout equipment --- even your mother-in-law

There would be no sense in ever having to make a scene like this one.



Disclaimer:  Most mini-storages will not accept mother-in-laws.

Note:  This is the guy to blame for that picture-not me-- Glenn
http://www.tomstockton.us/jokes/jokes-funny_pictures.htm

Anyone done it yet  Make a storage building I mean.

Sorry honey,---- just kidding around---- REALLY---JUST KIDDING-

[Amanda_931]

Sorry Glen, all the cats and [glb]Hildegarde[/glb] the dog were upset about that picture.  They're so empathetic.

But, replying to the (semi-) real message:

Especially when gas is headed up, up, up and the truck is how we take stuff to the mini-storage.  With my truck, it's around two and a half gallons for a round trip to the ministorage.  Well, the mini-storage is in the next county.

[Shelley]

Haven't done it yet Glenn, but that's the plan.

Well house/pump house/probably gardening stuff...
Himself hates it when my stuff contaminates his stuff.

Then red iron metal building that will be shop/temp living quarters, permanent guest quarters, then casita.

Least that's the plan of the week

[glenn kangiser]

I'm glad you two have a good sense of humor or at least didn't think I should be stoned to death for posting that.  Actually I got along quite well with my mother-in-law.

I was just thinking the Little House Plans would make a great storage shed and of course couldn't just come out and say that.

Shelly- you say you are using a red frame building for la casita  I assume rigid steel frame with some kind of infill walls?  I built (with my men -and occasional woman) about 300 steel buildings.  I taught my daughter-in-laws sisters pre-engineered steel building construction.  They both ended up working in a plant that manufactured modular homes.  They were some of the best people they had there.  I taught my daughter-in-law welding when we were drilling water wells.  It was fun to watch the guys (customers-etc) faces when this little mud covered blond grabbed a big piece of well casing, threw it in place and welded it on.  She was very good also and later got a job at a welding shop for a while.

[glenn kangiser]

Amanda, how big is the mini storage you use and do you think you would be capable of building a storage of your own- maybe corrugated sheet metal and wood frame???  Would it be helpful to you?

I'm not trying to be nosey or anything - I'm just trying to figure out why people use mini-storages rather than build one of their own.  Thanks for your input and sorry about the upset family members!

[Jimmy C.]

From a google search for Mother in law

[Shelley]

See how you misunderstood.  I didn't include enuf adjectives, conjunctions and all the other stuff that make a clear sentence.

John's plans for the well house cum potting shed.  Potting shed sounds girly.  I do more than potting.  I have chain saws  14x24. Maybe do the western facade.  Definitely do a porch of some sort so it doesn't just look like an ugly outbuilding.

Red iron building will be Himself's dream shop.  40x60 with a storage mezzanine in some percentage.  Will also carve out a small apt that will be temp living quarters while we build the house....which will be adobe.  Got two adobe yards there and 26% unemployment.  Shouldn't be too hard to find some guys to lug them up.

Living quarters in the metal building will become guest quarters later on.  That way we should be able to build the house somewhat smaller....so that expense doesn't seem foolish to us.

We've got a quote from Mueller.  Waiting for a quote from the erection guy....since we're old and have no crane.  We'll do all the finish.  Just want the building up, plumbing roughed in.

Ele company and well-driller are ready.  Have to go down there next week or so and site the house.  We were going to do it this week, but rhino virus got the better of both of us.

[glenn kangiser]

I've got it now, Shelly  Sounds like a good plan.

In defense of the fellow in the picture I posted, I'm sure the setting is an old world country, and the gentleman driving the tractor is just giving his wife and mother-in-law the best he has to offer, so they won't have to walk into town carrying their heavy loads.  Probably just some arrogant male in the US added the caption above-- I swear it wasn't me

Jimmy, jimmy, jimmy ---- can't you see I'm trying to get out of trouble here-- then you go and post that :-/

[Amanda_931]

I've had mini-storage units a couple of times.  When I lived in the city, on small lots in areas considered "bad."  Kept one after the fire, put salvaged boos in as well.

Here I have a small storage building that I did build--foundation with those pound in posts that hold 4x4's that they sell for mailboxes.  The best place to put it turned out to have shelf rock about a foot down.  Took me a couple of days to pound the posts in, and then hours to pull the short hunk of 4x4 out of each one.  But the door never worked right (I swear that the directions were wrong!), half of it is now missing.

So a pre-built 10 x10 sounded pretty good.  At the time I was hoping to have at least one building up in eight months or a year, so stuff was accumulating at a pretty good rate.

That was four years ago.

And all other things being equal I don't do roofs.

[glenn-k]

Speaking of roofs-- I loose all sense of height working on buildings - once you get above 15 feet high and fall off you're probably in bad shape anyway so I figure - whats a little more-- was just at the top of a 55 foot windmill about 2 hours ago.  The tallest building I put up was   82 feet.  Scooting across an "I" beam at the top with a welding stinger in one hand and plates to weld on in the other really makes you keep a tight grip with your knees.  But - if you don't like heights then the best place to be is on the ground.

Now back to mother-in-law.

You know --now that I think about it-- what got me into this mess---- was I was thinking you could use the Little House plans for what the county out here used to call a mother-in-law house.  That meant a separate house that could be used for another family member on the same piece of property where possibly it may not have been zoned for two houses or something like that-- somebody help me here if you know a more correct definition.

Do you have to be PC with mother in laws? They're not -like - a separate race or anything are they  I really wasn't trying to pick on mother-in-laws or get myself into any kind of trouble :-/

Don't want John to think he left the wolf guarding the hen house.  

[Amanda_931]

I'd guess that you'd have to do some right serious planning for the disabled.  Even if the mother-in-law in question was 55 when she moved in.  Definitely a bathroom, few steps, no loft bedrooms for her, maybe for grandchildren--your kids or not.

I do ladders a lot better than slippery roofs.

[Amanda_931]

Another issue on using a little house for a storage building is, obviously--

Do you really want a basically permanent building right there

[DavidLeBlanc]

John now offers a "build it on skids" option for the smallest house, so whatever location one chooses need not be all that permanent.

Aside from which, without a permanent foundation, in many locales no building permit is required.

[jraabe]

The double PT skids for the Little House projects will work with smaller buildings that don't get too loaded up with stuff, but I expect a building sized and equipped for real living might be too large and heavy to successfully drag around.

Then you are into house moving and jacks and big timbers and lots of expense/work.

[DavidLeBlanc]

FWIW, I was thinking only of storage and not habitation. I would expect to have to empty a storage shed before dragging  it to a new location.

If I was thinking habitation, I'd probably lean towards a trailer frame foundation - a la' Shafer Tumbleweed or Tiny House Company. (After seeing a "cottage" (micro-mansion!) listing for over $400/sq. ft. in urban Seattle, this is looming ever more as the  option!)