The Microhouse: A Small Home You Can Build
(Page 7 of 8)
April/May 1995
By Rev. Bill Kaysing
If your microhouse is intended for hu man habitation and you don’t live in California, or even in California if you want to house someone younger than 60, you will find yourself in violation of the Universal Building Code, which includes rules pertaining to adequate heating, minimal space and sanitary facilities. Local health departments are charged with maintaining these healthful conditions. All of these requirements are based on the need to protect both the individual and society. Well and good, we say.
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However, let us examine a hypothetical situation. Your aged aunt has no income, no place to go, and no other relatives than you, her beloved niece or nephew. You have a full house with your spouse and three children. But, you also have a large backyard with trees and shrubs. With this vegetation, an 8-foot-by-12-foot “shed” is hardly noticed. So you hammer a microhouse into completion, insulate it, furnish it with a comfortable bed, a multifiush toilet, a small heater, lights, books, stereo, and TV. You provide meals for your aunt in your home but on occasion she enjoys having her dinner in her microhouse with one of your children as a guest.
The problem has found a viable solution. However, a neighbor notes the aunt’s backyard home and reports it. You receive a visit from a health department inspector, but she finds that the only real defect is that the microhouse is smaller than the minimum specified for human habitation. She also notes, however, that there are two windows that can be opened for ventilation and in addition, a generous Dutch door.
You sit down with the inspector and explain the predicament of your aunt and how just the thought of being banished to an old folk’s home could cause no end of discomfort to all the concerned parties. All things considered, the inspector rules that no damage is being done. Furthermore, there is a very humane and generous service being rendered. He tears up the complaint, drops it in the wastebasket, shakes your hand, and says that as far as he is concerned the matter is closed. Is this perhaps too rosy a suggestion of events in a world as litigious as our own? Maybe, but compromises aren’t really all that uncommon. I think you’ll be surprised to discover that inspectors share the view that we live in difficult times and that ways of evaluating situations must evolve if we are to retain our compassion and humanity, individual and collective.
We can hope, anyway.
Microhouse Tips and Pointers
- A Carmel, Calif., contractor used bolts to assemble his 4-foot-by-8-foot micro-office panels, and the whole structure could then be moved in a pickup truck to construction locations. It only takes two people to move the office. If you are not sure about the permanence of your chosen location, try this method.
- To avoid hassles, one creative woman built her microhouse inside of an old barn, thus assuring herself of permanent privy. All she lacked was a view, and that could be provided by painting a few murals opposite windows.
- A group in Topanga, Calif., would assemble a microhouse in a matter of hours and drape it with vines to make it appear it had been there for years. This must have fooled a platoon of building inspectors!
- Wooden sash replaced by aluminum has become common in the United States, creating a huge inventory of virtually unsalable windows. Why not build a timber frame structure and fill in the walls with these (often free) glass panes. Then you would only need drapes for privacy. I once saw a home built exclusively of old windows. It looked great and the views were terrific.
- We once built two for a honey moon couple; one to live in, the other to store all their many, wedding gifts. Obviously if one microhouse won’t accommodate all possessions, add one more. That’s a great advantage of this design; you can create only what you really need. Naturally, they can be connected directly or with a breezeway. Just think of microhouses as modular units and proceed accordingly.
- Thousands of homes have been lost in recent years to hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. People in danger zones might want to consider building the panels of the model we have shown and then keep them stored flat in a safe place. Then, if the main house is destroyed, a microhouse can be quickly asserrr bled for emergency shelter.
- Many flea markets have grown so large they permit semipermanent buildings for vendors. A microhouse is ideal in this application, as vendors could store merchandise inside between weekends and structurally modify ft to display goodies.
- Hot Springs resorts have increased in number and accoromodations in recent years, making them customers for inexpensive housing. There is a directory of western hot springs, 1700 in all, available from HTC Books, PO 832, Soquel, CA 95073. $15.
- Churches and religous/charitabte orders often own large parcels of land. Homeless and near homeless can approach these entities with a proposal for installing microhouses in exchange for work. When not in use, they could provide housing for church conventions.
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