#114 House Planning
The interior of a Mint micro-House trailer - Wide angle lenses help
I will be writing today about some issues with sustainable construction and planning to build a house.
I am trying to devote one Pomodoro a day to researching how I would like to build a house in British Columbia. Oh my Lord! There are so many things to look at. Choices on the type of house, geothermal energy, solar energy, methodologies for getting rid of solid waste … it seems that the sheer quantity and variety of choice is overwhelming.
But the way I’m approaching it is the kaizen way. One step at a time.
I am going to construct a spreadsheet (naturally, it is my favorite software program after all) that allows me to be able to compare the various options as the research continues. And I’ll be emailing these companies to start getting prices. Not only is it an issue of finding out how much, but it’s also an education process on the different methodologies of building and technologies themselves.
For example, I heard just today in a podcast from wood solutions about a material called SHIKKUI, which comes out of Japan. It is a cradle-to-cradle product that you can use as a wall covering that has excellent fire resistance and mold resistance characteristics.
http://www.shikkui.com/shikkui_plaster.html
Cradle-to-cradle is a paradigm whereby a product is used and then at its end of life it is able to be recycled into something else is beginning. Never heard of it before today. Very nice concept.
http://www.shikkui.com/C2C.html
When it comes to the type of house that I wish to construct, it appears that there are four main options for me.
Micro house. When one searches this term for British Columbia, one is presented with the plethora of companies that specialize in making homes that essentially fit on a trailer. There is a similar company in Wisconsin (Escape Traveler) that does something a little bit similar but they seem to have the ability to construct homes that are a little bit wider. It seems that in Canada, they wish to be able to classify these micro homes as RVs, and as a result there is a width limitation at 8.6 feet and that is a little narrow I think, personally, for living in a home. Even alone and as a minimalist. They tend to run 200 - 400 ft2. But some of them have lofts believe it or not which makes them bigger still.
From Escape Travelers
https://www.escapetraveler.net
The major advantage that I see with these micro-homes is that you can order one and within 3 – 4 months at the outside you can have it on site and ready to live in. The only thing you would really have to do would be to make sure that you arrange for whatever utilities you felt were required in order to be able to get set up. But, I’m assuming, in a country like Canada, getting electrical and plumbing set up might not take three months. Especially if that’s the only part you’re working on.
Log cabin. There are quite a few companies that seem to be well thought of in British Columbia that do this type of home. And several of the ones that I have looked at seem to have floor plans that are in the thousand square-foot range, which is exactly what I’m looking for.
https://www.pioneerloghomesofbc.com
CLT/mass timber construction. The reason I prefer this to the log cabin concept is primarily; I think it would be cheaper to build, faster to build, use more sustainable resources (it seems like these huge logs that they use for the cabins are old-growth trees, and it makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable to use those for a building), and they should be a little bit more flexible in terms of customization. Seems not quite as many companies as log homes but still a few.
Yurts. I feel as if these are similar to the micro homes however it is easier to find them in larger sizes, and yet I think the time to build is probably similar, or a little less. You would need to construct a foundation, plus the utility hookups, but these are fairly rapid to source and then get built on site. The rounded shape might cause a few problems if you happen to like rectangles in straight lines, but nothing that cannot be dealt with. And I also feel, from the very little I have researched it so far, that going the your route would be a fair bit cheaper than a micro home.
They make a 900ft2 place - looks nice
A yurt with Loft? That looks really nice.
So those are the four main options I am going to pursue, and we will see where that shall lead.
These days, I have also realized that this is something I actually enjoy doing. I enjoyed planning, I enjoy researching. It is easy to fall down a rabbit hole on stuff like this, but that is why using Pomodoro seems to keep me on track. As long as I track how many 25-minute periods I’m doing, I don’t spend too much time on this particular facet of my day. I have to come up with a better name than Pomodoro for this. I’m sorry. But using a long Italian name for tomato just seems ridiculous when wanting to speak about having a short 25-minute work period 😊 … any suggestions? Fig? Crow? Kiwi? Something short and 1 syllable preferably.
Another thing that I realized here. I kind of consider it my “go to hell plan”. I have realized now that for a remarkably small amount of money, it would not be that difficult for me to put together a nice place to live, with minimal daily living cost, and be very comfortable. Being an essentialist, plus the availability of these micro homes, along with the increasing availability of sustainable energy options, makes this an extraordinarily feasible option.
But I really do enjoy the planning for this. So I shall continue to do what I can, and as I told a friend from Sweden just this morning, I think, that once I get my website back to where I would like it to be, I will add a page simply for things related to sustainable construction.