Don’t have plans for Mother’s Day, except … whee! we are taking a drive in the a.m. to go see the house we just made an offer on. If we get it, what a great Mother’s Day gift that will be.
Our latest bid is on tiny house, 650 sq feet (I exaggerate — it’s just 648 sq feet). Eat-in kitchen, living room with wood stove, two small bedrooms, a big bathroom which is also the laundry room. Potential for gray water system is high, easily done, with a tall above-ground basement level. Needs a new roof but with a good price on the house itself, we can get a roof done on such a small house for not so much more. Some drywall repair and carpet-tear out (there was a leak that came through and wrecked the ceiling and carpet). I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do with a used funky (moldy?) carpet besides the dump, is there? Suggestions? Same with crappy once-waterlogged drywall. I hate to throw stuff away if it’s useful, but what can you do with torn-out drywall? I’m all ears.
I’ve already planned where the apple tree, the compost bin and the laundry line will be (as well as what color to paint the bedrooms…). There’s a neglected side yard that can be terraced for veggie and flower gardening, and I think I will have room for a bee yard behind the house. I can also probably have chickens there (loose, but with a coop for night), once we are there full time.
Since the house is tiny, we will have to be ruthless about what to take. That means no piano, for one thing, unless we chose a piano instead of a couch. I’m afraid the piano will lose. That also means the boxes and boxes of holiday decorations in the attic will have to get passed on at some point (I’m trying not to grin from ear to ear about this one). The little area was once a Boy Scout camp, made into a tiny development from the cabins. So it’s cute and small — with a tendency to get a little overgrown/funky in an organic-hippy kind of way. I’m pretty sure the neighbor across the street has a hoarding problem. Or needs to go to the dump. Or is planning to … I don’t know. I have no other guesses besides the hoarding one.
Hoolia,
I was just at our annual Solar Fest and got tons of great info from lots of different vendors. One you might look at for your new cabin is this one:
http://www.eloo.ws/
They had the whole setup there and it was fabulous!
Good luck with the whole house hunting thing. it can be really tiring, can’t it?
If a water leak has left carpet moldy and drywall ruined, you may need new rafters or studs. You could have a mold problem behind the drywall. Hire a home inspector before you buy, or you may be buying more trouble than you can afford. His inspection comes with a guarantee. Good luck and happy house-hunting. I don’t mean to throw a wet blanket on your enthusiasm, but this house sounds iffy.