With the recent release of Shelter No. 1, the first floor plan in the Shelter Collection of small house plans that I designed, I thought I'd take a Tuesday post to tell you a bit more about the process behind the plans.
The seed of the idea for the plan came about as a result of you, really (Remember in the beginning, I was designing only one? My, how things changed). So many of you had written me, saying how much you loved our home, and that you'd like to have something like this, too.
I began to think about this, and how I would design our home if I could do it over again. I knew exactly the changes I would make in key places so it would be even better, and I knew the most important of the changes would be to bring the design into compliance with International Building Code, unlike our house.
Let me explain.
As you may remember, our house is portable, which puts it in an entirely different category as far as building code is concerned. Ours fits under an RV, or park model classification better than it does a residential building classification.
Except that it doesn't.
You see, portable cabins, park models, and RVs have regulations governing their construction, just like homes have regulations governing theirs. Among other things, the regulations for park models and portable cabins restrict the amount of square footage that the structure can have. That amount cannot exceed 500 square feet.
Except if you live in rural Wyoming.
Because there are no building codes in rural Wyoming, we were able to by-pass the usual code restriction on square footage, and build ours at a more liveable 665 square feet. This is certainly the exception to the norm, and wouldn't be possible in most of the country. Because of this, I knew the best way to deliver a design inspired by our house, that would be as universally buildable as possible, was to bring it into the residential category and therefore into compliance with IBC.
So, my challenge, then, was to design a home that was as small as possible, that lived as large as possible (having enough space in the right places is KEY to livability), and complied with residential building code. This goal required a permanent foundation, a roof slope that provided sufficient headroom on the second floor, 2 x 6 framing, and additional necessary square footage (a standard staircase alone adds a surprising amount).
If you've wondered or asked about the difference in size between our house and the plan in the collection that most resembles ours (Shelter No. 4, coming soon at 900 sq ft), now you know. If you've wondered why the new plans are for permanent structures, not portable ones, now you know. If you are a family of one, two, or eight, and have a goal of living large while living small, with the Shelter Collection, now you can.*
Any questions? Ask away in the comments below.
*Please check local building codes, convenants, and restrictions in your area before planning construction of a small house.
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