3 ms·

All these small houses seem a testament to people's willingness to live in genuinely smaller places, and are absolutely an market that hasn't been adequately so

All these small houses seem a testament to people's willingness to live in genuinely smaller places, and are absolutely an market that hasn't been adequately sought out. The place in this video is ~300 sq ft. With another 200 sq ft, the place would be positively huge, and probably have room for a washer/dryer and possibly separate office area, too. Double that; and, with good layout (most places I've lived in have just plain terrible layouts), and the place would be positively huge. I would love to know more about safety, especially fire safety, in places like this. There needs to be a real push toward more small places to live. It's an untapped market and could be a great way to recover lots and lots of wasted space.

shagie 3y ago
> I would love to know more about safety, especially fire safety, in places like this. These are often called "accessory dwelling unit" and have the corresponding building codes with them. In SF, I recall them being called "in-law apartments". https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Francisco_CA/with_inlawunit https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Franci... has one that shows a floorpan - https://ap.rdcpix.com/156e0ebabbe946219e56040ab8c44c4fl-m4096570220od-w1024_h768_x2.webp https://ap.rdcpix.com/156e0ebabbe946219e56040ab8c44c4fl-m409... You'll note the two bedrooms and a living/dining/kitchen area on the lower level while the main home is on the second and third level. Madison, WI recently had changes to make them more feasible ( https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/mayor-and-alders-propose-to-ease-permit-approvals-for-accessory-dwelling-units https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/mayor-and-alders-propose-... and https://www.cityofmadison.com/development-services-center/1-2-family-residential/new-building-construction/new-detached-accessory-dwelling-unit https://www.cityofmadison.com/development-services-center/1-... ) And regarding your space looking at 500 sq ft and 1000 sq ft with the Madison zoning: Size Up to 900 square feet of living space. At most, two bedrooms. So yes, that is the approximate size limit of an ADU.
- t-writescode 3y ago
  I want more than just accessory dwelling units. I'd be excited to see, like, properties where the front yard is replaced with 4 parking spots and 4 of these 500+ sq ft houses are put with each other pointing to a shared courtyard or something on a standard quarter-to-half acre plot. I don't think the big house needs to be there at all!
  - shagie 3y ago
    That represents a more substantial change to the property. Subdividing may not be possible, significant changes to sewer, electrical and water metering. If you've got a parking lot that is shared then there is more of a challenging for its maintenance (e.g. condo fees) which represents more overhead. In the SF world, going from RH-1 to RH-1S is is a much easier change than RH-1 to RM-3. Subdividing an existing lot further can get into difficulty in some areas with minimum parcel sizes. For example, in Chicago https://secondcityzoning.org/zones/ https://secondcityzoning.org/zones/ you can't have a parcel smaller than 1,650 sq ft. Switching from owner occupied property to something that is a commercial apartment structure can also impact the financial security of a household (you can't evict me from the house I own vs falling behind on rent because of a layoff). We do need higher density and less impacting houses - but this isn't a simple "tear down the house and build four smaller one" changes for most urban and suburban places.
    - t-writescode 3y ago
      > but this isn't a simple "tear down the house and build four smaller one" changes for most urban and suburban places. That's fine. I recognize that legislation has been adjusted by numerous forces to make this as hard as possible. It's still what I want, as long as it's safe to live in places like this. Suburbia is killing us and wasting so very much for all of us.
Ancapistani 3y ago
I think you’re right in that a lot of people out there are and would be happy in smaller dwellings than is typical today - but I honestly can’t imagine trying to live in a space that small. I, my wife, and our two children live in an 1,800 sq ft house. I have zero remaining space. In fact, we’re about to buy a shed to convert into an art space for our youngest. There’s just no way I could make something smaller than what we have now work without major lifestyle changes.
- t-writescode 3y ago
  Are those lifestyle issues? Or floor plan issues? I have personally found floor plans almost offensively frustrating.

shagie 3y ago

> I would love to know more about safety, especially fire safety, in places like this. These are often called "accessory dwelling unit" and have the corresponding building codes with them. In SF, I recall them being called "in-law apartments". https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Francisco_CA/with_inlawunit https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Franci... has one that shows a floorpan - https://ap.rdcpix.com/156e0ebabbe946219e56040ab8c44c4fl-m4096570220od-w1024_h768_x2.webp https://ap.rdcpix.com/156e0ebabbe946219e56040ab8c44c4fl-m409... You'll note the two bedrooms and a living/dining/kitchen area on the lower level while the main home is on the second and third level. Madison, WI recently had changes to make them more feasible ( https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/mayor-and-alders-propose-to-ease-permit-approvals-for-accessory-dwelling-units https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/mayor-and-alders-propose-... and https://www.cityofmadison.com/development-services-center/1-2-family-residential/new-building-construction/new-detached-accessory-dwelling-unit https://www.cityofmadison.com/development-services-center/1-... ) And regarding your space looking at 500 sq ft and 1000 sq ft with the Madison zoning: Size Up to 900 square feet of living space. At most, two bedrooms. So yes, that is the approximate size limit of an ADU.

t-writescode 3y ago
I want more than just accessory dwelling units. I'd be excited to see, like, properties where the front yard is replaced with 4 parking spots and 4 of these 500+ sq ft houses are put with each other pointing to a shared courtyard or something on a standard quarter-to-half acre plot. I don't think the big house needs to be there at all!
- shagie 3y ago
  That represents a more substantial change to the property. Subdividing may not be possible, significant changes to sewer, electrical and water metering. If you've got a parking lot that is shared then there is more of a challenging for its maintenance (e.g. condo fees) which represents more overhead. In the SF world, going from RH-1 to RH-1S is is a much easier change than RH-1 to RM-3. Subdividing an existing lot further can get into difficulty in some areas with minimum parcel sizes. For example, in Chicago https://secondcityzoning.org/zones/ https://secondcityzoning.org/zones/ you can't have a parcel smaller than 1,650 sq ft. Switching from owner occupied property to something that is a commercial apartment structure can also impact the financial security of a household (you can't evict me from the house I own vs falling behind on rent because of a layoff). We do need higher density and less impacting houses - but this isn't a simple "tear down the house and build four smaller one" changes for most urban and suburban places.
  - t-writescode 3y ago
    > but this isn't a simple "tear down the house and build four smaller one" changes for most urban and suburban places. That's fine. I recognize that legislation has been adjusted by numerous forces to make this as hard as possible. It's still what I want, as long as it's safe to live in places like this. Suburbia is killing us and wasting so very much for all of us.

Ancapistani 3y ago

I think you’re right in that a lot of people out there are and would be happy in smaller dwellings than is typical today - but I honestly can’t imagine trying to live in a space that small. I, my wife, and our two children live in an 1,800 sq ft house. I have zero remaining space. In fact, we’re about to buy a shed to convert into an art space for our youngest. There’s just no way I could make something smaller than what we have now work without major lifestyle changes.

t-writescode 3y ago
Are those lifestyle issues? Or floor plan issues? I have personally found floor plans almost offensively frustrating.