The Small House Book (3 page)

I called my next home XS-House (as in,

“extra small”). It measured about 7’ x 10’.

Like Tumbleweed, it was on wheels, it had

a steep metal roof, classic proportions and

a pine interior punctuated by a metal heat-

er on its central axis. A bathroom, kitchen,

and sleeping loft featured essentially the

same utilities as my previous residence.

Unlike Tumbleweed, there was a four-foot

long, stainless steel desk and a couch, and

the exterior walls were clad in corrugated

steel.

All things considered, my move westward

XS exterior (page 19), loft (above)...

went smoothly. Gale-force winds broadsi-

ded my tiny home all the way from Omaha

to central Nevada, but both the house and

the U-Haul came through unscathed.

I parked in front of the Sebastopol Whole

Foods for three days. The U-Haul was al-

most due when a woman approached to

ask if I would consider parking on her land

to serve as a sort of groundskeeper. I would

live just yards from a creek at the edge of a

clearing in the redwoods. I would pay noth-

ing and do nothing other than reside on the

property. I was lodging amongst the red-

... and downstairs.

woods by nightfall.

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With my fear of having to live on the streets allayed, I built a new house

and sold the XS before I had even settled in. I call my most recent domicile,

“Tumbleweed 2.” At 8’ x 12’ with a steep, metal roof over cedar walls, it looks

just like the first Tumbleweed on the outside. I reconfigured the inside to ac-

commodate a couple of additional puffy chairs and a five-foot long, stainless

steel desk. I have been living in this house for nearly three years, and I have

no intention of moving out any time soon (see pages 24 and 130 - 137 for

photos).

The Method and the Madness

My reasons for choosing to live in such small houses include some envi-

ronmental concerns. The two largest of my three, hand-built homes were

made with only about 4,800 pounds of building materials each, less than

100 pounds of which went to the local landfill. Each produced less than 900

pounds of greenhouse gases during a typical Iowa winter. And, at 89 square

feet, plus porch and loft, each fit snugly into a single parking space.

In contrast, the average American house consumes about three quarters 1of

an acre of forest and produces about seven tons of construction waste. It

emits 18 tons of greenhouse gases annually, and, at more than 2,349 square

feet, it would most definitely not fit into a single parking space.

Finances informed my decision, too. Quality over quantity became my man-

tra. I have never been interested in building anything quite like a standard

travel trailer or mobile home. Travel trailers are typically designed for more

mobility and less year-round comfort than I like, while most manufactured

housing looks too much like manufactured housing for my taste. Common

practice in the industry (though not inherent or exclusive to it) is to build fast

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and cheap, then mask shoddiness with finishes. This strategy has allowed

mobile homes to become what advocates call “the most house for your mon-

ey.” It has, in fact, helped to make manufactured housing one of the most af-

fordable and, thus, most popular forms of housing in the United States today.

This is pretty much the opposite of the strategy I have adopted. I put the

money saved on glitz and square footage into insulation, the reinforcement of

structural elements, and detailing. At $30,000, Tumbleweed cost about one-

sixth as much as the average American home. Only about $15,000 of this

total was actually spent as cash on materials. That is less than half of what

the average American household spends on furniture alone. The remaining

$15,000 is about what I would have paid for labor had I not done it myself.

The cost of materials could have been nearly halved if more standard ma-

terials were used. A more frugal decision, for example, would have been to

skip the $1,000, custom-built, lancet window and install a $100, factory-built,

square one instead. But I was, and I remain, a sucker for beauty.

The total cost was low when you consider I was able to pay it off before I

moved in—but not so low when you consider that I sunk over $300 into every

square foot. The standard $110 per square foot might seem more reason-

able, but I succumbed to the urge to invest some of the money saved on

quantity into quality. As a result, my current residence is both one of the

cheapest houses around and the most expensive per square foot.

Still, my main reason for living in such a little home is nothing so grandiose as

saving the world, nor so pragmatic as saving money. Truth be told, I simply

do not have the time or patience for a larger house. I have found that, like

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anything else that is superfluous,

extra space merely gets in the

way of my contentment. I wanted

a place that would maintain my

serene lifestyle, not a place that

I would spend the rest of my life

maintaining. I find nothing de-

manding about Tumbleweed. Ev-

erything is within arm’s reach and

nothing is in the way—not even

space itself.

Tumbleweed 2 (above), Williamsburg, VA (next)

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Have nothing in your houses that

you do not know to be useful, or

believe to be beautiful.

- William Morris

A Good Home

A small house is not merely as good as its larger correlate; it is better. A home

that is designed to meet its occupants’ domestic needs for contented living

without exceeding those needs will invariably surpass the quality of a bigger

one in terms of sustainability, economics and aesthetics.

Sustainability

Under no circumstances does a 3,000-square foot house for two qualify as

“green.” All the solar gain and reclaimed materials in the world can never

change that. At 2,349 square feet, the average American house now emits

more carbon dioxide than the average American car.

2

Our houses are the biggest in the world—four times the international aver-

age. Since 1950, the median size of a new American house has more than

doubled, even though the number of people per household shrank by more

than 25 percent. 3 Not so long ago, you could expect to find just one bathroom

in a house; but, by 1972, half of all new homes contained two or more bath-

rooms. Ten years later, three-quarters did. More bathrooms, more bedrooms

and dens, bigger rooms overall, and, perhaps most notably, more stuff, have

come to mean more square footage. America’s houses have, quite literally,

become bloated warehouses full of toys, furniture and decorations, and a lot

of things we may never see or use.

As prodigal as this may seem already, even a space capable of meeting our

extravagant living and storage needs is not always enough. We still have to

worry about impressing a perceived audience. Entire rooms must be added

to accommodate anticipated parties that may never be given and guests

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The “American Dream”

who may never arrive. It is not uncommon for a living room to go unused

for months between social gatherings and, even then, quickly empty out as

guests gravitate toward the informality of the kitchen.

Until recently, the issue of over-consumption was conspicuously absent from

mainstream green discourse. You are unlikely to find the answer to sprawl of-

fered in a sustainable materials catalogue. Accountable consumption stands

to serve no particular business interest. Building financiers and the real es-

tate industry are certainly pleased with the current situation. Bigger is better,

from their perspective, and they are always eager to tell us so.

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If you do only one thing to make your new home more environmentally sound,

make it small. Unless supporting the housing industry is the kind of sustain-

ability you hope to achieve, a reasonably-scaled home is the best way there

is to make a positive difference with real estate.

Economics

“Economical” means doing only what is necessary to getting a job done.

Anything more would be wasteful and contrary to the inherent simplicity of

good design. An economical home affords what is essential to the comfort

of its occupants without the added burden of unused space. Excess and