1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,080 Speaker 1: This episode of brain Stuff is brought to you by 2 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:05,519 Speaker 1: Linda dot Com. Linda dot com offers thousands of engaging, 3 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: easy to follow video tutorials taught by industry experts to 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: help you learn software, creative and business skills. Membership starts 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: at twenty five dollars a month and provides unlimited seven access. 6 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: Try Linda dot com free for seven days by visiting 7 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: Linda dot com slash brain Stuff. Welcome to brain Stuff 8 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: from house stuff works dot com where smart happens. I 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: am Marshall Brain with today's question what is a tiny house? 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: And how can you build a house for thirty five dollars? 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: Houses in the United States have been getting bigger and 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,480 Speaker 1: bigger for decades. If you go back to nineteen fifty, 13 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: the average single family home in the United States was 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: about a thousand square feet. Today it's more than twice 15 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: that big square feet. The tiny house movement is a 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: radical departure from this trend. Houses in this category get 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 1: as small as sixty five square feet more. Typically, they 18 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: fall somewhere in the hundred to two hundred square foot range. 19 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: The idea is to create a very compact space so 20 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: that you can simplify your life and greatly reduce expenses. 21 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: The interior of a tiny house often shares some features 22 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: with boats and r vs. For example, if you're compressing 23 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: a house into a hundred square feet, the kitchen and 24 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: the restroom are going to be very small. Boats and 25 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: r vs work with this same kind of constraint, and 26 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: a lot of times you can find appliances or bathroom 27 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: fixtures from boats and r vs that work well in 28 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: tiny houses. Right now, I'm looking at the floor plan 29 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: for a tiny house called the Popomo. It is eight 30 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: and a half feet wide and twenty ft long, about 31 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: a hundred and seventy square feet. It has four rooms, 32 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a great room. 33 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: There's also a coat closet. The great room is five 34 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: by nine or forty five square feet, the bedroom is 35 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: seven by five or thirty five square feet. The bathroom 36 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: is only fifteen square feet two ft wide, and the 37 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: kitchen and the closet take up the rest of the space. 38 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: As tiny houses go, this one is pretty spacious, but 39 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: you can see how compact a tiny house usually is. 40 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: Tiny houses often run a foul with building codes. For example, 41 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: a typical building code might require at least one room 42 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,799 Speaker 1: to be a hundred and twenty square feet and all 43 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: other rooms to be of a certain size. To get 44 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,079 Speaker 1: around these requirements, most tiny houses are built as trailers 45 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: with wheels so they're easy to tow around. But to 46 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: create a towable trailer, there are usually width restrictions. This 47 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: is why most tiny houses are less than nine ft wide. 48 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: Many people who build tiny houses pride themselves on the 49 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: low cost of construction. One video on YouTube shows a 50 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: tiny house complete with trailers and wheels, built for only 51 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: three thousand five dollars. How is this possible? The answer 52 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: is recycling. If you get on Craigslist or free cycle, 53 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: visit demolition projects, and look for building material recycling shops, 54 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: you can find us stuff like lumber, windows, doors, and 55 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: cabinets at very very low prices or even free. These 56 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: materials greatly reduced the cost of a tiny house. For 57 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, does that 58 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: house stuff works dot com and don't forget to check 59 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: out the brainstuff blog on the house stuff works dot 60 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: com home page. You can also follow brain stuff on 61 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter at brain stuff hsw. 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