Multnomah County Property Tax Appeals

The news is out. It seems like Multnomah County is taking advantage of the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) situation in Portland. In 2010 the city decided to waive systems development charges (SDC) on new ADU creation whether that be converting a garage, carving space out of a basement or building a brand new structure. This was great as it enabled the building of thousands of permitted ADUs.

(cue impending music)

Now that we have a bajillion ADUs in the city Multnomah county decided to strike. Obfuscating state code they have interpreted a re-use as a re-zone and have JACKED property taxes up on many properties with newly built ADUs. The problem is that they are not only reassessing the improved value of the ADU itself but pretending as if the house is brand new construction as well. Even if it was built in 1924! The net effect is that Multnomah County is shooting themselves in the foot by killing the detached ADU industry.

The Oregon State Department of Revenue has said that Multnomah County is probably doing it wrong but they aren't enforcing or overruling any judgements yet.

Plenty has been written on this already and developments are appearing. The point of this brief is to not dig into more detail but to offer some solutions:

• Read the main article at http://accessorydwellings.org/2015/10/22/the-death-of-detached-adus-in-portland-and-what-to-do-about-it/ and subscribe to comments to learn about the latest developments. Kol Peterson is pursuing this very hard.

• Contact the county staffer about this:

Dave Austin
503-803-8616
david.austin@multco.us

• It's possible that a class action suit may arise.

• Or appeal the taxes on your own. I hope you're smart!

• There are several exemptions you can file for including active military service, veterans, elderly, disabled, enterprise zones and non-profits. From personal experience it is not terribly difficult to become a non-profit. Doing the paperwork yourself is fairly cheap and you don't necessarily need 501(c)(3) status to be a state non-profit. But be sure that your non-profit use is accurate and that you are not the sole beneficiary. If you are housing your elderly folks, maybe you could set yourself up as a care home?

• You may also be able to revert your taxes by connecting your ADU to your main house. Some restrictions may apply. The County may or may not reassess backwards. Contact us for a free assessment of your options.

Good luck! Hopefully we can just get this reversed and tar and feather those in charge.

Portland, Here We Come!

Maybe we're not physically traveling, but we've created some new plans in celebration of this amazing city.  Given the amount of land the planning commission has sway over, we saw the wisdom in customizing a plan to fit into an odd yet common scenario.  If you own a 50x100 corner lot that was originally platted as two 25x100 lots, you are allowed to reclaim those two lots and split it any way you like.  So long as each lot has at least 1800 square feet and each lot faces a different street.

A common result is to have the original house face forward and a brand new 36x50 lot facing a side street.  Setbacks and required outdoor spaces what they are, a slightly convoluted 26x35 footprint remains.  Restricted cantilevers over setbacks are allowed but we chose to start with the confines and see what would happen.  We ended up with 3 new plans.

The Portland and Portland A are both very similar plans with different facades.  Both have 1758 square feet, an attached garage (rare for us), 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, great room.  Essentially what you'd expect from a house these days.  The roof and upper floor has been configured such that you could have a livable attic if you so chose.

The Portland B is a slightly different beast that attempted to open up the main floor by adding a garage under.  Alongside the garage and integrated into the house is an accessory dwelling unit, also beloved by the Portland Planning Commission.  With the ADU it weighs in at 2046 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths.

We are currently in the process of creating a brand new website.  If you want a sneak peek you can click on the links above to see them in our new format.  When the site is active in the next few days or weeks we'll make a grand announcement.

In the meantime, please tell us how we could improve these new offerings!

Garage to ADU Conversion Problems

When doing math it sometimes gets tricky in the conversions.  How many litres in a pint?  How many centipedes in a decibel?  Likewise it can get tricky converting a garage to an ADU.  Let's pretend that your local jurisdiction is not an issue and look at the inherent problems.  (Note, please always consult with your local jurisdiction and get a permit where required.)

Looks normal but the owners want more living space

The first issue would be the floor.  Most contractors would be happy to leave the floor as a slab and call it good.  Maybe put a carpet over it.  Nothing could be worse.  You have no idea what's under that slab.  It could be sand, gravel, or bare dirt.  There may or may not be a vapor barrier under there either.  Concrete is nothing more than a rigid sponge.  Placing a carpet over the top just gives latent moisture somewhere to make dank and moldy.  Don't do it.

Instead, consider laying some 6 mil vapor barrier down over the slab first.  There is likely no insulation under there either so a few inches of rigid foam insulation would help to keep the dewpoint away from your materials that are susceptible to mold.  After making sure all joints are sealed, overlay with a floating wood floor.  Looks nice too.

Hopefully walls and ceilings would be straightforward.  Always check for and mitigate any moisture in the walls, make sure the wiring is correct, and get inspected if necessary before applying sheetrock.  Fill the space with insulation before making it inaccessible.

Another big issue to consider is the street appeal.  The general rule of thumb is to throw some sort of window into the former garage door opening and frame around it.  This looks wrong on several levels.  First, the garage door header is generally not equal to other windows or doors.  If the garage is freestanding then this is less of an issue.  But if the garage door is near other windows and doors it can look discontinuous.

Slap in a window.  Well, it's functional at least.  Yeesh.

The expensive option is to cut out the header and make it the same as other headers on the front of the house.  Another option would be to consider something such as two 3/0x5/0 single hung windows.  The vertical aesthetic of the windows can help soften the horizontal issue.  Another option which happened near here was to remove the garage door but build an inside wall that looks like a garage door from the outside.  Windows were already on the side of the garage.  This looked really nice.  Unfortunately the local jurisdiction in all their wisdom required a window in the front.  In vulgar terms it looks really dorky now.  Perhaps a sliding glass door could be considered as another option.

This looks a little more purposeful...

A cabin perhaps?  May or may not work.

Another issue that can come up is the parking space.  If you have less than 16' in front of your garage to begin with you may lose an onsite parking space.  Some jurisdictions might think this a big deal.  Others won't.  A driveway going up to a blank wall does not fool the eye.  We have grown to expect a garage door at the end.  If that garage door is gone then the driveway needs to be reimagined in order for the eye to accept a wall at the end.

If there is room then landscaping or a bench will help soften the transition.  The amount of concrete in the driveway could also be reduced.  Leave a couple of 30" strips with 24" between them.  Everything else should be returned to grass or other low, resilient plantings.  If your budget allows, put in driveable molds or spaced pavers that allow grass to grow in between them.  Some folks may not appreciate the look of parking a car in grass but it may suit others' needs.

Sweet Stickley, can we live here?  That bay, that driveway.  What lovely lines!

If you are converting a garage into an ADU, Istockhouseplans would be pleased to give advice.  Send us an email or leave a comment below.

ADU, Do You?

Here at Istockhouseplans we have been pleased to be consulted for several local Accessory Dwelling Unit (AKA ADU, granny flat, lane housing) projects.  Most, but not all, of these projects involve the homeowner creating an ADU space to move into so that they can rent out their house.  We would expect the other way around.  We've designed a 12x24 garage conversion, are working on turning a bonus room into an ADU, and are drafting up plans for an addition and ADU.  Most of our work is in the Great Northwest but the ADU projects are very specific to Portland.  Portland has very graciously extended two huge benefits to ADU builders.  The first is square footage requirements.  Used to be that you could build an ADU to 30% of the house square footage, max 800sf.  Now that has increased to 75% of the house, still 800sf.  This means smaller 1000sf homes don't have to try to work living space into 300sf, they can shoot for 750sf.  But really, 300sf is still doable.

The second benefit is the temporary elimination of systems development charges on a permit when building an ADU.  In some cases this fee can be thousands and thousands of dollars.  But in order to try to encourage higher density (and avoid sprawl) the fees are reduced or in most cases eliminated for a while.  The one caveat with all ADU spaces is that the property owner must live either in the house or the ADU.  Not allowed to rent out both.  Not that that stops folks from doing so.

If you've been considering an ADU on your property, let us know if we can help.  We already have a host of plans that could be used for an ADU as well as garage options with living space.  Of course every property is different.  If nothing works for you let us know.  We are eager to design small and beautiful.

New houseplans added - 64 total

Quite by accident we uploaded enough new plans to put our total at 64, including our free plans. This is rather exciting to our nerdy side. Sixty-four has been a fairly culturally relevant number in many circles. What do you first think of? Maybe the Beatles, a question or perhaps Nintendo? For Istockhouseplans, 64 also marks a new house plan. More on that below.

The first of our new plans for review is the Durham B 1224B.  This plan started as a small 12x24 backyard studio.  The second iteration included an extra room.  Finally, we blew out the side and added a full garage to give you the 'B'.  The base model remains unchanged but a 20X24' garage with bonus room above was attached.  The garage is not accessible from the unit.  This allows for the garage to be accessed by the main house while the living area could be rented out.  Though if you preferred you could build this structure as the only domicile on your property.  The plan retains the single bed and bath but the bonus room offers enough space for a second bedroom and hobby space, or maybe a party pad.

Second on the block is the Houston B 2448B.  At exactly 4 times the footprint of the Durham, this is a full floor plan.  The Houston started as an answer to a contest to design affordable and efficient replacement housing for hurricane stricken Gulf communities.  This version maintains the original almost perfectly but adds a one-car garage off the utility room.  It's still narrow enough to fit on substandard lots.  The driveway is long enough for two cars to allow you to use the garage to store all your consumerism.  Behind the garage is enough space for a grilling porch.  Perhaps our next version of this plan will be two Houstons attached at the garage.

Our third offering is the only oddball in the lot.  Can you tell why?  Post in the comments if you can figure it out.  The Arleta A 2850A is merely a re-clad of our base Arleta.  The floor plan has not changed except that now the porch spans the whole front of the house.  The roof is completely hipped over the expanded porch and we've changed the windows to diamond grids.  The porch is also surrounded by a half wall instead of a railing.  It has a very 1910's feel from the outside.

Our 64th plan (and final one of this installment) is a brand new design.  The Prescott 2248 is a design with a purpose.  The most glaring difference from our other plans is the attached garage.  Barring our garage plans themselves, only about one quarter of our plans take into account automobile shelter.  A second purpose in this plan is the reversible design.  We don't mean bedrooms on the main and living up.  Rather, you could build this house with either end facing the street.  The "front" includes a garage and deep porch.  The "back" includes a full length porch and a typical swinging door.  If you are building on a lot with an alleyway you could easily flip this around and you essentially have a brand new facade!  The inside of the 1472sf contains 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a pocket office and a typical great room setup.  We've also purposed to include loads of closet space.

If you have any questions about our plans, please feel free to ask in the comments or email us directly.  If you're a builder looking for a more specific plan (that still evokes our aesthetic), let us know and we'll be happy to discuss a custom design for you.

Massive Influx of Plans

In what might be described as an heroic maneuver, we at Istockhouseplans just cleared out a bunch of backlog and loaded more than a handful of plans.  The final damage?  Seven in one blow!  Listed below is the latest additions to the lineup:

The Wilsada A 1416A joins her brother the Wilsada 1416.  This tiny house duo are each a whopping 200sf.  The bed is in its own nook, the rest of the space being open save for a bathroom.  Therein is the difference.  Wilsada has a narrow 4x6 bath while the A is a slightly more spacious 5x5.  Otherwise the plans are very similar with their multitude of windows.

The Cottage in the Grove C2042 was a joint project with our builder friend last year.  We finally got around to creating the artwork and writing the text for this one.  This was a narrow 1356sf house that has the most charm of any of our offerings yet.  Two suites each with bathrooms and a large open downstairs space.

The Houston A 2448A steps in with a slightly larger footprint than his predecessor.  The numbering belies his true width of 25'.  Other than an even 1200sf, not much changed from the prior version.  The roof line was modified to maintain the 16' roof plane.

Three Edgewoods were finally put on display.  A few years ago we spent alot of time with the original version creating several spin offs for our builder friend.  The Edgewood C C2552C and The Edgewood D C2552D offer variations on the 25'-28' wide 3 bed 2 bath story-and-a-half theme.  Rounding out the triad is the The Edgewood D2 C2552D-2 mashup.  Not only is it a lot of width, it's also a lot of characters in the numerical coding!

Finally is a brand new plan inspired from a century ago.  The Arleta 2850 adds a third true single story full size plan to our lineup (right behind the Houstons).  At only 1353sf, this little charmer is guaranteed to be a winner in the new downsized home movement.  Three beds, two baths, lots of closets, and both material and energy efficiency just enforce her future position in the marketplace.  We're very excited about this one and hope to see it built soon.

Check out our full catalog for all plans.

New Tiny House Plan

We at Istockhouseplans have been busy developing a cadre of tiny house plans.  Not every one makes the cut to be web-worthy.  Most of them do however become inspiration for other plans.  We are proud to introduce our latest plan, the Wilsada 1416.

Several things inspired this plan.  One was simple lines.  The plan is a simple box with one tip out and three ridges.  Generous light also came into play.  A sliding glass door provides entry on one side while a bank of windows opens up a view on another side.  The third was tiny bathrooms.  We first introduced a complete wet room in the Carver cabin series.  We continue the idea in the Wilsada.  Finally, we have been recently enamored with the idea of sleeping nooks.  Rather than a formal bedroom, the Wilsada contains a very cozy bed nook.  Visualize curtains over the opening and a little bookcase at the foot.  And of course it's elevated allowing for storage underneath.

A kitchenette, sitting porch, and vaulted ceiling complete the look.  Despite our generally craftsman motifs, we could easily see this one decked in white beadboard.  Somewhat of an East Coast beach theme.  Probably not appropriate for a mountain retreat.  Or maybe that's just the kind of irony that you go for.

Free Plans part 4

As we wrap up August and the month of free, we offer one more plan for your enjoyment.  Last week we promised two new plans but the dog ate part of our homework.  So we're left with one final flagship plan to introduce.

The Ramapo is 12' long and 8' deep covering 96sf.  It sports a single shed roof with clerestory windows on the tall wall.  This was originally designed as a bunkhouse for a rural property.  It's big enough to get a bed and bathroomette and closet in.  Or loft the bed and increase the floor space.

This may be the last of the free blitzkrieg for a while but it won't be the last of the free plans forever.  There are a few variants on the current plans that we would like to add, plus some new ideas.  In the meantime we need to attend to some other business.  If you have a particular idea that you would like to see, post it here or send it to us and we'd be happy to give it a go.

Free Plans part 3

More free than you can shake a stud at!  The third of our free plans, the Watson 88 has been released into the public.  The Watson is a simple 8'x8' building that anybody could build in a week.  We've kept the 2x3 wall studs but 2x4 would be perfectly appropriate at this point.  Some gridded windows and a small front porch create an appeal that's hard to pass up.  The uses for this building are as vast as your imagination.  At this size we're bordering on the edge of playhouse and small house.  Istockhouseplans has two more basic sizes to offer and... oh shoot, there's only one Tuesday left in August.  I guess our back to school special includes our flagship free plan.

We better get cracking.  In the meantime download the plans, build the shed, and give us your feedback.  Maybe we should have a contest with the most innovative use of materials in one of our sheds...

Free Plans part 2

A couple of weeks ago we introduced you to our new free plans.  We've added another to our portfolio and are thrilled to share with you.

Following the theme of defunct stops on the Springwater Trolley line in Portland, the Kendall 84 is named for the stop that was at 82nd Avenue.  This is similar to the Bell 66 we launched prior except that this is in a more expected straight line format rather than an L shape.  More like a backhoe loader, if you will.  In fact that gives us another idea for decorating the structure.  Lose the porch, slope the roof from left to right and add some extra wood to the front and back.  Paint it all yellow and be the dirt digger you always wanted to be, all from the comfort of your 5-point office chair with lumbar support.

As long as our hosting provider doesn't freeze up again, we hope to release one more each for the remaining Tuesdays in August.  Expect two more free plans from us and then more sporadically through the rest of the year.

Built this?  Link to your picture in the comments and share with us!

Free Plans!

We may be a day late but if you are a dollar short you are no longer up a creek.  Istockhouseplans is proud to introduce our first free plan.  Now granted you probably couldn't live in it but it does at least provide some quiet space for you to work, read, meditate, or pursue a hobby.  Named for a defunct station on the old Springwater Railroad Line, the Bell 66 is small and could be a ticket booth as well.  Post office?  Dry goods?  Vault?  Almost too many options.

Plans can be downloaded directly from our website in 11x17 pdf format.  Full wall framing details are included.  Some cut lists and guides should help even the most ham-handed builder to at least kludge together a reasonable facsimile in a weekend or two.  You may notice on the plans that the wall studs are 2x3 @ 24" o.c.  The obvious reason should be in order to increase the usable space as much as possible.  If you were really creative you could use 2x2 framing.  Our suggestion would be to tack a 2x2 onto a 2x4 for the corners.  Maybe you could even consider 1" plywood edge screwed to each other but then you lose insulation and effective window installation.

"Are these plans really free?  What's the catch?  Will you harvest my IP data and spam me?"  We may look at your IP data but our only motive is to encourage you to visit our site and see what other great stuff we have to offer as well.  We also plan on releasing some other small free plans over the next several months.  Something you'd like to see in the 100sf and less range?  Let us know and we'll do something with it!

Built this?  Link to your picture in the comments and share with us!

Beneath the Maple Tree

It's been a while since Istockhouseplans has released a new plan.  Part of that is not feeling that what comes up is good enough for inclusion.  Then there's the whole bit about keeping with our new model of smaller homes.  To fill the void, we've let inspiration take hold.  A railroad building at Union Station in Portland, Oregon gave us inspiration for a multi-use building.  The structure is about 16x24', two stories and bricked out.  We thought this would make a great garage model and ran with it.  The Maple Garage G201 was born.  The building is 16x24 of garage (or shop) below.  The upstairs is 384sf of office, studio, or apartment.  The bathroom is only a half bath and the kitchen only denotes a sink.  However you are not strictly limited to what our drawings represent.  Were you to want to use the upstairs as a true living quarters, the bathroom could increase a touch and the kitchen be further decked in appliances.  The stairs are on the outside of the building which allows for true separation of uses.  Got a piece of land to squat?  Consider planting a Maple and grow from there!

Can You Spot the Difference?

There are a strain of tiny trailer builders who attempt to create a dwelling that looks very much like a house.  Jay Shafer at Tumbleweed Tiny Houses is probably the most famous progenitor of this style.  His tiny trailer houses are employed most commonly as travel trailers and ADUs among other uses.  So we thought, what would it take to convert one of our full size plans to a travel trailer?

So there's some artistic license and maybe we didn't quite nail it but it was fun to convert one of our 800sf ADUs to an 84sf trailer.  Full dimensions are 7x12' with a 6' plate height.  Total height is around 11' from the ground to the peak of the roof.  2x3 wall construction allows for a cross-wise elevated bed in the back with a closet or low couch underneath.  One wall would contain a small counter and kitchenette.  Not quite the same layout as the Tumbleweed XS-House, but also about 21" less in height.

Check Dragonfly Trailers for progress of builds.

Tiny+

Istockhouseplans seems to be creating a middle ground of homes in our arsenal.  We have composed quite a little group of tiny homes, by our definition 600sf and less.  With such homes as the Albina and Albina A encroaching above that mark we are having to redefine what a tiny home really is.  Both of these examples are under 600sf but have non-legal loft space of 300sf.  One could define a tiny home on square footage alone.  Part of the problem here is when a tiny home gets a modification that increases it's size past the cutoff point.  Does it then suddenly become a standard sized single family home?  We would like our classifications to make sense but also be flexible without being unruly.  So perhaps we increase our benchmark but it becomes a game of chasing one's tail.  At some point a tiny home may be around 1000sf.  Do we then bring all the related models up to the standard set on account of the largest revision?

In the meantime we have increased our tiny home definition to 700sf if only to accommodate our latest design.  The Durham A is based off of the standard Durham, but with an attached 10x12 addition.  This brings this little 1 bed 1 bath accessory dwelling up to 696sf.  Why do you think we upped our maximum size?  We liked the original of this little beast but were inspired to increase it after playing with some LEGO bricks.  In fact, the picture on set 5477 looks similar to what we ended up building.  Our drawn plans have a little more precision than the plastic brick model.

Speaking of which, if you would like to commission a LEGO model of any of our homes that you are building, contact us and we'll talk about details.

Tiny Housing and Where to Stick it.

As you may know, we have been more and more interested in designing tiny houses.  Michael Janzen at the Tiny House Blog recently posted a good article detailing how to find land to build your tiny house.  Though many places have restrictions, there are more that do not.  Michael is from California and writes from that perspective.  Istockhouseplans gave an Oregon perspective.  The main points of the article are:

1. Avoid building codes

2. Camp on your land

3. Alternate Zoning

4. Trailer Park

5. Build an Ecovillage

6. Move to the countryside

7. Camp in a friend's backyard

8. Hide in plain sight

9. Seek a variance

Our reply and additional information for Oregon:

Oh boy Michael, I think this is a big can of worms. Pardon, in advance, the long post that I feel is coming. I am familiar with Oregon Building Codes (based off of IRC) and many of the greater Portland area municipalities’ zoning codes. I write from this perspective.

States that have building codes truly are protecting folks. The code and inspections ensures that the house is being built safely. Moreover, room size minimums are to be sure that unscrupulous builders do not create 1000sf 5 bedroom (3 of which are 6′x5′ without a closet) homes akin to tenement housing. This is accountability and guides consumer expectations. I do realize that consumers have been conditioned to expect a small bedroom to be 10′x11′ and the previous example would probably not sell.

The codes also are in place to protect firefighters in rescue situations. I recently was privileged to listen in to the Oregon State Code Board and their revisions to our next code update. Most of their structural concerns were with firefighter safety. A floor over a basement collapsed last year due to structural inadequacy, causing the death of a couple firefighters. Windows are important too. You may be able to squeeze out of a 2′x2′ opening, but if you are unconscious, you will appreciate having a 5.7sf opening that a firefighter can get into, pack and all.

Oregon has minimum room sizes (70sf) and ceiling heights (7′ +/-) but these can be ignored if you are building the house yourself (contractor’s license not required) and will be living in it for at least two years (not selling it right away). The Carver series of homes on my website plays with this notion. All three homes are less than 300sf. Two have ‘legal’ rooms and the third ignores that standard.

I don’t believe that any jurisdiction in Oregon regulates minimum house size. These restrictions are generally put in place by upper scale housing developments with HOAs. You probably don’t want to live there anyways. Accessory structures are allowed without a permit in most zoned areas if they are 120sf and less. Oregon has increased this maximum to 200sf.

Camping on your land near municipalities is generally allowed but carries a rule of no more than 30 days in any 6 month period and cannot be closer than 3 miles to an established city (Clackamas County, some rural zones). I understand the idea is to keep transients from mucking up areas. Oregon apparently does not like it’s transients.

Your idea regarding multi-family is a great idea. Some of the zones around Portland allow for separated structures, but some require attached units. City of Portland has a minimum amount of units to be built on a piece of land. For instance, a 100′x100′ parcel in R-2 zoning requires a minimum of 4 units. They must all be built at the same time or within a couple years of each other.

Variances can be sought around here, but require several things. The first is that you must get approval from a percentage of neighboring properties within a certain radius. The second is that you must prove a hardship in order to apply for the variance. Most of the time, the use must not preclude the base zone use. For instance, trying to get a house built in an EFU (exclusive farm use) zone has several restrictions. The land is considered high quality and reserved for crops.

Setting up as an ADU is generally encouraged by the City of Portland and most other jurisdictions. Portland has even reduced their fees to create an ADU. Clackamas County will only allow one kitchen on a piece of property.

I like the idea of hiding in plain sight. I was recently looking at a piece of land that was 30′x1300′. This was a county owned property that was being auctioned off at a starting bid of $1048. It was zoned for farm use only, but allowed buildings that were incidental to farm use. My thought was to use the land as my own personal garden and orchard. I would build a 198sf (avoid permits) cute (neighbor appeal) ‘processing shed’ (incidental to farm use) and use that as a tiny cabin. My family of four would spend weekends there. In the fall, we truly would use the bed platforms to process bushels of apples.

My best option for a permanent home would be to purchase one of these substandard county parcels through auction that was zoned for housing. These parcels are considered substandard because they won’t fit a 40′ wide home and are therefore sold for 4 digits as opposed to 5 or 6. Many rural properties around here want a 10′ side setback. With the previous 30′ wide property (were it zoned residential), that would allow for a 10′ wide home, plenty wide enough for me to work with (and allows for the minimum 7′ wide rooms). In fact, cantilevers are allowed that would allow some rooms to be wider than 9′ inside.

Problem is that while I would spend $1000 for the land, I would end up spending $5000 or more for a well and $10,000 for a permit. I would install a composting toilet and avoid the septic cost. I do the building myself and after all costs are considered, I’m in a permanent legal place of 600sf for around $40k. This is acceptable to me but I know that others will be wanting to do the whole package for under $10k.

My other option was to enact the camping clause, drag a 28′ trailer to the site, and build a tiny home on it. Maybe even with pallets!

I hope this helps some of your readers who live in other parts of the country to explore their local codes and see what they can pull off.

Small Bonus Post

Found this in The Daily Oregonian from Portland, Oregon:

"I think there are two significant movements in the country," Chapin says. "One is that bigger is better; that's been the prevailing notion for the last 50 years. Another movement says small is beautiful.

"I think the first movement is moving toward its sunset, and the second is more on the rise."

Small Houses go Big-time

New Website Part the Second

You may not notice any change to our website, which is now up and running. A couple of weeks ago we told you about the issues we had when Google changed their webpage host from Page Creator to Sites. Most of the problems were resolved but we do have to go through every page now and fix the error that shows (or rather doesn't show) pricing. We may just remove this as it is redundant to the information in the checkout box. So you should be able to use the page mostly as before.

The biggest benefit is that by being hosted on GoDaddy, we have a direct URL and no more forwarding. The drawback is the advertising bar at the top of every page. To eliminate it, download Mozilla Firefox web browser and the AdBlock Plus Add-On. We have found it to be excellent at removing 99.99% of all web ads.

We will have some tiny house plans up by the end of the year. We are also dabbling with the idea of designing, building, and selling small mobile houses similar to Tumbleweed Homes. These will be one of a kind and based on the trailer that is available. As with our plan sets, we will not charge for local delivery.

Tiny Houses

Much like Don Ho, Jay Shafer likes to share about things tiny. Istockhouseplans recently had a chance to attend a Tumbleweed House Workshop and to meet Jay personally. Jay's desire to live in a 100sf home for the past decade led him to start drawing up and offering plans to the public. His homes range from 65 to 500+ square feet. Smaller homes from 65sf to 140sf are built on trailers and considered mobile homes. Jay did not start out as an architect or builder. His degree is in art which gives a very fresh right-brained look at the design and building process.

Our left brains have been inspired by meeting Jay and getting a feel for his process. While we have already added some tiny homes to our portfolio, expect to see more in the future. This is a big wave and we hope to steer some of it, not just ride it. For those of you who are not comfortable with tiny houses, consider them as well thought out, amenity rich accessory dwelling units, or whatever it is that you might call them. Just don't call them shacks or shanties.

What do you think, gentle reader? Could you live in a tiny house full time? Why or why not?

Too Small?

Inspired by the blog at www.ninetinyfeet.com, we decided to set out with our own version of a micro house. If you didn't already follow this blog, ninetinyfeet seeks to create a shelter no bigger than the area taken by an adult laying down, 9sf. We would argue that while a chalk outline might encompass 9sf, this makes for slightly uncomfortable sleeping; more akin to an old-school coffin. The Japanese have a saying similar to, "Awake, half a mat; asleep, one mat". A mat (or tatami) is approximately three feet by six, or 36.8x71.6", or 17.8sf. This is about the size of a twin mattress. Maybe ninetinyfeet should rethink their goal, though the shelters sure do stretch the mind.

In a similar interest, we considered the queen size mattress. Picnicking on a blanket no larger than 60x75", ninetinyfeet inspired us to think about living in a 40sf minus shed. The first thing that came to mind was one tatami to sleep on, a 30" kitchen unit, and a small humanure toilet. Then we figured if ninetinyfeet could loft some of his space that we would do the same. We lofted a single bed (30x75") leaving 6'-4" of headroom. The 30" kitchen unit and the humanure toilet cover one wall leaving 24sf of floor. A permanent ladder on the opposite wall lets you reach the bed loft. The toilet can be covered by a bench seat for sitting, with a fold down or slide over or fold-down-slide-over table.

Now before you get too concerned, we are not going to start designing and selling these as our primary plans. This was an experiment to get us to think outside the box. The walls are 2x3 @ 24" o.c., filled with insulation and then covered with 1" of rigid foam. There is a 28" porch on the front. The house (?) has been more or less value engineered. If we wanted to get crazy and consider portability, we could make the porch roof hinge down, the porch floor hinge up, and everything travel in less than 8' wide and 12' tall.

In the coming months, look for some tiny homes from istockhouseplans. We are playing around with some plans sized at around 300sf-400sf, all compliant with the IRC building code. You can call us crazy, just don't call us late for dinner.

Small Living, Big Impact

After long wait, please welcome the Albina to our lineup of houseplans. The Albina is a mere 16' wide and 32' deep. There is a large living area, small kitchen, small bathroom and one bedroom all within 512sf. But best of all is the 300sf loft. We see this as a great area to play games, put the kids, or store your consumerism. Designed as an accessory dwelling unit or weekend cabin, we would give you kudos if it were your main home. Not big enough for your primary residence? Try the new and improved Albina A! Now with 48 more square feet! Sure to meet all your needs! Is it a dining room? Sleeping nook? Office? Yes, yes, and yes.

As if you needed more incentive to build small, consider also that you could cram four of these gems onto a 50x100 city lot in most jurisdictions. If you buy three Albinas, we'll throw in the fourth one for free. Just like a tire sale. So come on down to Big Al's and see us today!