Today, the most trending housing concept is that of tiny homes. Most people in America and other parts of the world are increasingly adopting this form of housing, making it more popular. By definition, a tiny home is one that is less than 400 square feet to 600 square feet.
It is the most preferred way to downsize as it allows both the saving of space and money. While tiny homes offer some advantages, there are also a number of issues associated with restructuring your residential area by adopting a tiny home.
Before deciding to build or buy a tiny home, why don’t you take a moment and consider the following facts about tiny homes?
Are tiny homes expensive?
The cost of a tiny home depends on many factors including; whether one wants to build from scratch or planning to buy a fully built and customized home. Comparing the building and buying costs, the buying cost tend to be relatively higher.
According to yahoo finance, tiny homes cost more per square inch than larger homes.. Of course the overall cost is higher for a normal house.
Tiny Home Builders – one of America’s leading tiny home builders, for example, can supply a finished tiny house exterior with an unfinished interior from $ 17,000 to $ 37,000.
Feet by feet comparison, the tiny house’s price is higher.
Read: Organizing Your Tiny Home.. Tips and Tricks
Challenges of living in a tiny home?
Tiny homes have their advantages such as; being environmentally and financially friendly. Many tiny home residents usually love the idea because of the lifestyle that it brings along. But living in such homes can create unique unforeseen problems, some of which include; adopting to quick transitional of lifestyle, dealing with the zoning laws, and waste disposal among many more.
Adopting to new lifestyle in a tiny home
Tiny homes offer limited space to live in. Due to this, people moving to such homes have to be prepared to get used to small space. Unfortunately, as many would argue, tiny homes are only fit for couples or individuals. Accommodating a baby or a pet in the home may make your tiny space overcrowded.
For someone coming from a normal-size house, the transition may be less than flawless, and it is not uncommon for people to return to their old lifestyle.
Zoning laws
Different states in the USA have varying laws regarding tiny homes. There are places where tiny homes are not allowed as most don’t fit into the local zoning requirements such as minimum sizes for permanent residences, the need for foundations, etc.
What complicates this further is the limited number of parking lots for tiny homes in the country, hence, this is one of the major challenge that one has to deal with when adopting a tiny home.
Before pulling the trigger and going the tiny living way, make sure you understand all regulations in your area.
Waste disposal
While a tiny house can be made permanent with appropriate plumbing and connection to utilities, it becomes challenging when the tiny house is on wheels or off the grid. How do you handle waste?
This has remained a problem and a big deterrent, but many tiny home owners are now adopting composting toilets. These toilets are cheap, easy to construct, and are environmentally friendly.
Downsizing is a big personal or family decision, and ultimately whether its right to downsize is a case by case decision. Living the tiny life is not for everyone. You will have to weigh the pros and cons, look at all angles to decide whether this is something you want to do.
Read: What You Need To Know About Living in a Tiny Apartment