How much space do we need?
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 7:32AM By Selena Randall
A couple of weeks ago, we watched a movie ‘we the tiny house people’ which looked at people living in small spaces by necessity or choice.
There were those living small to get round building codes with 120 sq ft homes on trailers. There were people living in apartments the size of closets. And there were those who lived in converted chicken coops, tool sheds and garages. All were happy and seemed to have all they need.
So how much space do we need?
I heard that if you buy a building lot, there is a minimum size for your house. I believe this either stems from historic settlers codes when pioneers before us had to build a home within 2 years of at least a certain size on their land to avoid forfeiting it; or else it is driven by developers and the building trade to ensure a minimum amount of work, and materials purchase. We are brought up to do better than our parents; to keep up with our neighbours; and to buy the latest things on tv, in magazines or in store displays.
But what if 1200 sq ft is more than you need?
It seems we like our space. I remember my grandmother living in a four bedroom home by herself. She couldn’t clean it, and it was stuffed with things collected by herself and her kids. She liked the space so she could have her whole family to stay at Christmas. She paid high taxes and her energy costs to heat all those rooms were high, and she moaned about that! After she died a family with 3 kids moved in, hopefully using more of the space every day.
Every home takes resources. Not just the resources to build and the waste that is left over (for every 10 houses built, there is waste to fill another). Extracting those resources takes energy, production takes energy, transporting resources takes energy. And much of that energy is oil. The same goes for the goods and furnishings we fill our houses with.
Then of course there’s the energy to heat and light up our homes. In Manitoba much of that comes from Hydro, but even hydro schemes still take resources to build and maintain.
If we resisted the pressure to have the biggest home we are told we can afford, just think of the difference that could make to our lives. We could work less, because we need less money. Or we could do the job we really want to do, because we need less money. Or we could give money away to our favourite causes. Or we could make the purchases we make count – buying local, high quality produce, or fair trade and we could stop supporting slave labour and sweat shops in Bangladesh.
So I ask you to think – how much space do you really need?
Reader Comments (2)
I just built a house, and it had to be at least 1200 square feet. This was part of the condition of the sale of the lot, which also required that we start building within a year, and complete building within a year of starting it. All of these restrictions kept us from building the home we really wanted, which would have been about 800 square feet, with many other energy-saving and energy-collecting features, and would have cost us less money because we might have had the time to do more of the work ourselves.
The conditions on the lot were for the sake of the neighbourhood: they didn't want long, ongoing building projects, or lots that would sit empty for years waiting to be developed or resold; and they didn't want houses so small that nobody else would want to buy them when the builders inevitably move away. I suppose that's all fair, but it makes a lot of assumptions about what a neighbourhood is. We can't all live in Pleasantville, and I think we'd all be better off if we realized that it's an ideal that isn't actually even desirable because it imposes a false image of "perfection" on the places we live, leaving little or no room for natural beauty or the messiness of real life.
It is unfortunate that houses have to be a certain size. If houses that were built on the same size lot were smaller and more effecient, people would have an opportunity to have room to be able to grow their own food and be more self sustaining...lessening the impact on the earth. Love your articles, thanks! Be well!