The Rustic "Temporary" Microhouse

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On Location

Siting the house is a challenge that deserves time and thought. First consideration is water supply and disposal. A location downhill of a year-round flowing spring is ideal.

To create a pool of clear water, you can dig out the stinky mix of mud, half-decayed leaves, sticks, and frogs that accumulate in any natural spring. Box and cover it with natural boards and run pipe downhill to bring a gravity water supply into the house. Bury the pipe or cover it with old hay and black plastic over that, and let it ran all winter to keep it from freezing up. Overflow and gray water from the sink can be ran to the garden in summer. If you want gray water to flow away, dig a deep dry well to below frost for winter.

If you let it run out on the land, it will freeze into an ice wedge then thaw into a bubbling mess of soap scum and cooking remnants that will pollute groundwater or befoul local waterways.

Orient the house to fit the topography and give you the best view. Face the front to the south to get the most sun in winter. Ideally, locate on a high spot to facilitate air and water drainage. I like to build on hills—as did Thoreau—and under really big trees to benefit from their summer shade. It adds time, but you can dig a foundation back into a hill or build high piers in front to level your foundation. You can tie really bothersome branches up and out of the way.

If suitable flat rock is handy, you can set your microhouse on dry-laid (non-mortared) stone piers, as Thoreau did. I lived in a house set on a foundation of flat but slippery mica schist once and was forever replacing foundation stones to try and keep it from sliding off into the orchard.

One concession to modernity that I make is to use concrete block, even if it is heavy to haul. A low pier of blocks needn't be mortared together if you give them a firm base. Piers much higher than one block above ground level should be mortared. All the directions you need are printed on bags of premixed mortar. Before you begin, be sure to have enough water on hand to mix and clean up.

Lay out your house using batterboards (four lengths of cord tied to stakes so pairs cross at the corners of the house). Use a line level and 90° angles to get the lines perfectly level and the corners square. Take your time. The strings stretched between diagonal corners should be the same length. You'll want piers at comers and every 4 to 10 feet on the sides, depending on the length and thickness of your timbers and joists.

See the following table. If the house is wider than 10 feet, you'll need a set of piers down the center to support a middle beam.

Pull off the batterboards, remove all the dark crumbly topsoil at each comer in a yard-wide circle, and dig down as far as you can into the subsoil. Below frost is best—and the law for conventional homes. But if a pier under a microhouse heaves up from frost, you can jack up the frame and set wooden shims on low piers to level it.

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