# Tiny houses **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812 "2018-03-19T04:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/1 "2018-03-19T04:15:07Z")
Man, I dunno. When I watch those shows I think, what would it be like to have a house the size of my living room. I used to have a motor home when I was racing. it was great - for 3 days. And when the friends come over for the show’s wrap up, they always say, “I love what you’ve done with this space!” They always say it that way, “This space”. That ain’t space. I watched a couple last week who built on 20 acres. 20 acres! And a tiny house in the middle. They could have spent a small amount more and had a decent cabin. And many have windows for most of the walls. With no curtains. “We’re commuting with nature”. Sweetie, you’re commuting with every peeping Tom who wanders the woods. “And the best part is we will never be more then 12 feet from each other!!” Oh. My. God. This cannot end well. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/2 "2018-03-19T04:29:56Z")
“We want a tiny house of no more than 400 square feet, but we need to fit a king sized bed, a bathtub, laundry, and a guest room.” What bothers me about Tiny Houses is that they’re classist. Want to live in a tiny space? Buy a camper or a single-wide trailer. Oh, that’s not good enough? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/3 "2018-03-19T04:34:25Z")
I feel the same way. I grew up in your standard ranch/split-level with 6 sibs. It was painfully crowded. I couldn’t live that way ever again. We always provided our kids their own rooms. It kept the fights and hair pulling to a minimum. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/4 "2018-03-19T04:34:39Z")
The call is coming from…just a few feet away! ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/5 "2018-03-19T05:02:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The call is coming from…just a few feet away! “Uh, just a sec, let me get some privacy. I’ll go in the other room…uh…upstairs…uh…outside”. From other side of the room, “Hon, I can’t see you. Did you go outside? Everything OK?” Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/6 "2018-03-19T05:15:06Z")
Now imagine that kind of close quarters living when it is -10 degrees and cloudy for a week or more. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/7 "2018-03-19T06:37:37Z")
They are nuts. We’ll just put grown adults in lofts for their bedrooms with no privacy walls. Every time I watch those shows, I think why the hell aren’t people buying the very thing that was designed to solve their exact problem? The RV? The kitchen always takes up the entire thing too. As if you’d want to live in a giant galley kitchen, with nowhere to sit down, and crawl up into the attic to sleep. And, yet, I watch them. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/8 "2018-03-19T06:42:04Z")
Mr.Wrekker wants to build one. I told him to go ahead and I would make a sign saying ‘Pops dog house’. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/9 "2018-03-19T07:09:58Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > What bothers me about Tiny Houses is that they’re classist. Buy a single-wide trailer. Oh, that’s not good enough? > [@](#): > > why the hell aren’t people buying the very thing that was designed to solve their exact problem? The RV? But think about all the sophisticated people who read the New York Times! They have a right to tiny homes too!!! And trailer parks are for, well,…we don’t talk about _those_ people. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/10 "2018-03-19T07:42:42Z")
My kids love to watch those shows, and I’ve seen a few, but would love to see how they feel about it a year or even six months later. When I was visiting my daughter we were considering watching one when I reminded her and my son-in-law that they could plop one of those houses in their house (4,000 sq ft in Indiana for almost no money) and never even notice it. They said oh yeah and we watched a flipper show. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/11 "2018-03-19T10:05:14Z")
I’ve lived in smaller apartments so that doesn’t bug me, but the costs of some of them is nuts - especially the container homes. And then people fill them with clutter! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/12 "2018-03-19T10:31:28Z")
If you want a living space that small, then get a condo. A livable building that size is extravagantly wasteful. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/13 "2018-03-19T10:53:25Z")
We’re at the opposite end of the spectrum. Two people in a 3 BR home with a barn and other out buildings. Our smallest shed is the size of one of those tiny houses. We carry our phones at home so we can find each other when necessary. I couldn’t live in a thing that small. Doesn’t having your SO _right there_ all the time grow old? ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/14 "2018-03-19T11:19:12Z")
Our ex-housemate was obsessed with tiny houses until she, her husband, and their two large dogs were forced to move to a 1BR apartment in the middle of nowhere because it was the only place they could afford. They ended up putting 3/4ths of their possessions in storage. The dogs take up most of the room in the apartment. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/15 "2018-03-19T12:00:36Z")
We lived aboard our sailboat for a year with a newborn - \*\*much \*\*less space than a tiny house. Plus it rocked like crazy all weekend when the non-boat people went out fishing or skiiing on their days off! It was doable - obviously, because we did it - and it wasn’t by choice, for various financial reasons. Years later, after our daughter was grown and gone, my husband and I lived on a different sailboat for shorter terms at various times. Honestly, the worst part about it was having to go to a laundromat. Second worst was having such a tiny fridge - I felt like I was constantly buying groceries. But other than that, it wasn’t so bad. Maybe because I enjoy being with my husband. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/16 "2018-03-19T12:28:51Z")
Having spent months at sea in a submarine, close quarters doesn’t bother me, as long as I have my own space. I mean that literally – my own space, but it doesn’t have to be big. On the boat, unless we were very, very junior sailors, we had our own bed, called “racks” (very junior sailors sometimes had to share racks and sleep in shifts). The racks had curtains, which were inviolable except for wakeups (in which only the head-end would be barely moved) and emergencies. Somehow that was enough. There were a lot of unpleasant things about living on a submarine for weeks at a time, but the close quarters were low on the list of the things I disliked. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/17 "2018-03-19T12:31:17Z")
I admit, I love looking at tiny home plans on Pinterest, but can’t image living in one for an extended period of time. They might be fun as a weekend/vacation home, though. Some people are just ridiculous though. “We felt so disconnected in our 4000 sq ft McMansion.” Okay, so buy a normal size house instead! You don’t have to go directly from 4000 to 400… I hate the shows that focus on families with kids. One I remember was a couple living with a teenager. I think she was the guy’s daughter. She protested when she realized her “bedroom” would now be a narrow loft the size of a twin mattress. Her father said, “Well, you’ll be leaving for college soon.” My thought was, _Yeah, and never coming back._ I hope she lived with her mom part-time, but the show didn’t mention that. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/18 "2018-03-19T13:10:28Z")
I can see the listing in TV Guide: Law & Order-Tiny House Murders! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/19 "2018-03-19T13:41:07Z")
I’ve found it highly amusing when “Tiny House Hunters” has an episode in NYC or other very crowded city, and they present these very small apartments/condos as “tiny houses” when, really, _those are just normal NYC apartments_. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812/20 "2018-03-19T14:13:40Z")
I think anyone who has watched any of the shows about tiny houses would enjoy listening to the HGTV & Me podcast episode called “WTF with Tiny Houses”. Host Rebecca Lavoie is hilarious and has several guests. The link button is not working for me right now, so the link is below. [https://art19.com/shows/hgtv-and-me/episodes/f43ef81f-1334-4eba-aa72-6687db37a7be](https://art19.com/shows/hgtv-and-me/episodes/f43ef81f-1334-4eba-aa72-6687db37a7be) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-houses/810812.md?page=2)