Who grew up in smallest house?

Some of the tiny houses, are not far off from some of the fancy playhouses some dads built for their kids, and still build. One of my neighbors built a pretty fancy playhouse for his kids. (another neighborhood, not where I am now)

Quote: Evenbob

It was a precut home, they dropped off
the materials and he put it together.

Was it a Sears-Roebuck?

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1933-1940.htm

(Only the un-priced bottom two look really small)

Quote: Pacomartin

The Tiny House Movement is on television promoting living in houses from 100 to 400 square feet.


This house is 200 sq feet and built entirely of plastic. It's a showpiece home for using plastics in environmentally friendly ways.



I don't know where this home is, but it looks like the neighborhood is valuable. The homes on either side seem to have been massively upgraded.

Not sure about the house but the poor 1/2 ton pick-up is severely overloaded. Looks like there is barely enough weight on the front wheels to steer. Front end is probably lifting when he goes over a bump.

Quote: Pacomartin

The Tiny House Movement is on television promoting living in houses from 100 to 400 square feet.

My father had some waterfront land near Seattle that was too steep to legally build on. However, it did have a level clearing at the bottom of the driveway. He lived in a tent and then an outhouse on that level spot about two months out of every year. Why, I still have no idea.

Anyway, I kept suggesting he plop one of those tiny houses there as nobody would care. However, he was probably the most law abiding person I ever knew and would have nothing to do with breaking the rules. The only time he ever did anything not by the book was lying about my age to get the child's price for things -- which he always did.

Quote: kenarman

Not sure about the house but the poor 1/2 ton pick-up is severely overloaded. Looks like there is barely enough weight on the front wheels to steer. Front end is probably lifting when he goes over a bump.

How can you tell it is a half ton?

Other than that, that is close to what I drive. The red paint gets killed in the sun here. Lots of vehicles with this desert paint scheme on them.

Just eye-balling, I compared the wheels on the trailer [the axle isn't centered] with the wheels on the truck. That wheel style of the trailer I have seen often with 15 inch wheels and the ones on the truck look a teensy bit larger 16"? IIANM. That would make it at least a 3/4 ton.

The problem I see with the pu down in the back is, a tiny home unlike an RV, doesn't have the weight centered to where the tongue weight is minimalized. You can see on the A frame attachment on the trailer, he doesn't have the load leveling bars, [EZ lift, or Reese].

The biggest problem I have encountered although this hook up is less than optimal isn't towing them, it's controlling them in a turn, rough road/wind, or stopping them. You can pull anything you have enough horsepower for, or gearing. My Kenworth only had 200hp, : ), pre- turbo.

I have wondered about this dinky house movement for awhile. Why don't people just buy RV's, that were meant to be towed, they are of the same size and the manufacturer's have been at it long enough, that they aren't version 1.0? In many places the licensing would be much cheaper.

That is what I did for my first 5 years and 50 city's on the road.

Every time I get rid of an RV, within a few years I think I need another one, [like now]. I am on about my tenth? Plus two live aboard vessels.

Quote: rxwine

Some of the tiny houses, are not far off from some of the fancy playhouses some dads built for their kids, and still build. One of my neighbors built a pretty fancy playhouse for his kids. (another neighborhood, not where I am now)

I'm sure there is a reason, but never quite get why the tiny house movement seems to be based on trailer movable homes. If I could find the land where I want to live (ha!) I'd love to have a 400sqft home. (With a 1000sqft side house for my games room).

Quote: rxwine

Was it a Sears-Roebuck?
)

I think they stopped making Sears Homes
in 1940. They command high prices today
because they were built of the highest
quality materials and put up by craftsman.

This beautiful huge 1915 house cost a total
of $3100 to build. That's 62,000 in today's
money. In a good neighborhood this Sears
house would sell for 3 or 4 times that much
today.

http://www.arts-crafts.com/archive/sears/page34.html

Here's a nice 3min video about Sears Homes.
I've loved them for decades, they're so darned
American. Lots of YouTube videos of fixing
them up, some by Bob Villa.

The house I live in now was built in 1854.
The only wood around here being harvested
was old forest oak, so this entire house is
made of oak. Two by fours, rafters, support
beams in the basement, joists, floors, orig
roof and siding. It's petrified now, you can't
drive a nail into it. The roof is straight, no
sagging. This house will still be here 200
years from now if nobody tears it down.
The interior doors are pine because they
were replaced in 1940.

In the 1600's in England was when they
were harvesting all their old forest oak
to build the ships that conquered the
world. A lot of homes and businesses
were made of oak, like my house was.
A lot of them still stand strong as ever
400 years later.

This is a very nice 1914 Sears house, the
Phoenix. Sold for 1200, 2500 total price
installed. It's a gorgeous example of what
you could get in 1914. All oak floors and
stairs and trim. Lots of stained glass and
arts and crafts fixtures. Houses like this
today command really high prices.

Some of you here are lucky, when I was a kid we lived in a rolled-up newspaper!

Later we got a small house, <1,000 sq ft but later improved to almost twice the size. Most of the work done DIY style.