BUILDING A SMALLER HOUSE AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT?

Treasure Beach Forum: TB Runnin's: BUILDING A SMALLER HOUSE AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zed on Thursday, December 02, 2010 - 10:16 am: Edit Post

Ridiculously Small Houses

"As Americans downsize in the aftermath of a colossal real estate bust, at least one tiny corner of the housing market appears to be thriving. To save money or simplify their lives, a small but growing number of Americans are buying or building homes that could fit inside many people's living rooms, according to entrepreneurs in the small house industry."

According to the architect, Sarah Susanka (author of Creating the Not So Big House), "There's a shift in the culture...the economy has forced people to rethink McMansions and focus instead on what they need"...using SPACE better.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/29/small-house-movement-the-_n_789422.html#s19380 7

The Top 10 Reasons Building a Smaller House Is Better
Excerpted from the Washington Post (10𡥖010) By Katherine Salant

1. You won't be the obvious person to host every important family occasion and accommodate all the friends and relatives who come to town. If you live off the tourist track, hosting duties and overnight guests might not be an issue.But if you live in a popular destination or in a place with great winter weather... you can get a steady stream of overnight requests in addition to the oversight duties that the big family celebrations entail.
A move to a smaller house provides a gracious way to say no.

2. You have a bulletproof reason to graciously decline Aunt Laura's offer of her lime-green, fake leather living room set that might have looked good 40 years ago. You'll have no place to put it; you won't even have room for all the stuff you have now.

3. A smaller house is easier to keep clean. Eternal vigilance is still required if you want a clutter-free house. But when a house is small, there are fewer places for clutter to pile up and dust balls to collect, and this can dramatically reduce cleaning time. You might find that you still have to be a drill sergeant to elicit cooperation from other family members, but you won't have to do it as often.

4. With a smaller house that takes less time to clean and maintain, you'll have more time to cultivate a garden if you're so inclined and more time to casually interact with the neighbors, the first step to feeling at home in your new surroundings and part of a community. If the houses are close together, opportunities for casual interaction are increased.

5. With fewer rooms, the household is more likely to have frequent interactions, the glue that holds it together. Most people take family socializing as a given in any house. But in bigger houses with more rooms, household members tend to spend less time together and have fewer encounters.

6. A smaller house costs less money!
And this gives you more options. Assuming that you would still be building in the same area, you can put the money you're saving into your kid's college fund, buy a new car or blow it on a trip to (...)

7. Alternatively, you could plow the money back into your home-building project. Depending on how small you go and how much you save, you could hire an architect to design a house that will be precisely tailored to your downsized lifestyle instead of buying a house from a production builder that doesn't allow changes in the floor plan.
If you engage an architect and a custom builder who are well-versed in "green" building, they can help you devise economical ways to make your house both charming and more energy efficient. This is good for your pocketbook (lower utility bills) and good for the planet. (In the United States, buildings are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming, and more than half the buildings are houses.)
NOTE: Another WP story declares that in the US an acre of forest will be clear-cut to build a 2,200-square foot house but twice as much land will be clear-cut for a 4,400 square foot house.

8. You can use the money saved by downsizing to buy a lot in a close-in suburb where land prices are higher. If you buy a lot that's close to public transportation that you can use for commuting to work, you can ditch one of your cars.
It also would benefit the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. According to the EPA every year a car remains on the road, it emits, on average, 4.78 tons of CO2 and a quarter-ton of methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorcarbons that are slowly leaking from the car's air conditioner.

9. When you live closer to your job, you spend less time commuting and more time with your family. If you spend about 45 minutes every day commuting each way, and the close-in location would cut that by half, you would have 45 minutes a day -- which adds up to 15 hours a month -- to devote to other things.

10. With fewer entertaining obligations, less time spent cleaning, a greater sense of connectedness in your neighborhood, many casual interactions with members of your household, a more pleasant family dynamic and a shorter commute, you'll be far less stressed and much happier.

And that can lead to a level of Zen that most homeowners would envy.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zed on Friday, December 03, 2010 - 11:23 am: Edit Post

Treading Lightly Developments, LTD

Coming to Treasure Beach, as described on Facebook, as 2 Floor Plans of distinctive homes...designed by Ann Hodges...traditional in Jamaican flavour, open for natural breezes to pass through with ease, and allow for the simple pleasures of life...such as cooling out on the veranda...

Not so long ago, flyers for the cottages were being distributed at BREDS Source, but no official prospectus laying about.

Does anyone know whether the MODELS have been built and where, and the marketing (pricing)?
As far as "sustainable" materials are concerned, is the lumber being imported, and is sourcing & affordability a consideration for the project (i.e., treading lightly)?

LINK TO RENDERINGS:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30988&id=152996164733039

LINK TO FLOOR PLANS:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33779&id=152996164733039


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zed on Friday, December 03, 2010 - 12:30 pm: Edit Post

TREADING LIGHTLY DEVELOPMENTS HOME SITES:

Photo Link:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30689&id=152996164733039&ref=mf


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stu Ward on Friday, December 03, 2010 - 10:22 am: Edit Post

No Parish Council Building Permit Required

After all the turmoil and education visited on this Site over the permitting process for the Great Gabion Sea-Wall of Old Wharf, there is no intention here to create another controversy.
However, another feature of pre-fabricated (or some "factory-built" houses) is that, if you know the ropes, you don't need to go through the permitting process at Parish Council to build them.

One would suppose that the homeowner would follow reasonable set-back requirements on the building site. [edited by TB.]

(It seems that several pre-fab builders are coming on board, notably one in nearby Savannah la Mar.)

Is there anyone in the T-Beach Construction/Realty/Design community, who knows precisely, what in the nature of these houses, keeps them under the radar...is it because they might be deemed mobile homes, without relatively deep foundations, which, for the sake of your investment, can be cable-tied down in the event of hurricanes?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By buyer beware on Friday, December 03, 2010 - 08:12 pm: Edit Post

It is very likely that the land in question floods periodically, so perhaps stilts are in order rather than a traditional foundation.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Home Sites on Saturday, December 04, 2010 - 09:37 am: Edit Post

The sites appear to be in a place where they might flood.picture


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Might Flood on Saturday, December 04, 2010 - 09:49 am: Edit Post

There seems to be a possibility one or more of the sites might flood.

picture


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stu Wing on Sunday, December 05, 2010 - 08:59 am: Edit Post

JET's (Diana McCaulay) Position of Protected Wetlands: Development/Design Guidelines???: AN INQUIRY

Flooding during the recent storm, Nicole, and major hurricane storm surges have brought major attention to the Ponds of Treasure Beach and begs the question of how development should be treated in obvious Wetlands, officially protected or not.
Some have raised issues in this thread of the potential flooding of the Treading Lightly building site and we should ask those who observe this area closely how underwater the cottages shown on the Google map would have been under these circumstances.
Without doubt, this project is conceived as a prestige development, employing one of Jamaica's architects, Ann Hodges, who breathes indigenous/ vernacular design in her very being. (for example, Island Outpost's Strawberry Hill: www.islandoutpost.com/strawberry_hill/)

So we are left to wonder how much concern was given by the Design/Development team for the siting of the cottages, raising of the floor plane...was JET & NEPA consulted for guidance?


Excepted from the Jamaica Gleaner:
Recent events have highlighted the need to protect our wetlands as scientists studying the December 26 Tsunami that devastated Asia have stated that the areas suffering the most devastation were without wetland protection. Most of the swamps in these areas, the scientists found, had been cleared for development.

This provides even more proof that the survival of our wetlands, or morass areas, is crucial to life. These areas, although often smelly and mosquito-infested, provide habitat for a wide variety of animal and plant life; they are sources of water, medicines and food; they protect the land from sea surges and protect our reefs from land-based pollution. Scientists have also found, that where wetlands are healthy, there are more fish for food. Nearly two-thirds of the 20,000 species of fish in the world are dependent on wetlands for survival.

At NEPA, we recognise the economic, social, cultural and ecological values of the wetlands. It is our role to protect them and to ensure that they are used wisely and that they are managed properly so that they continue to be valuable natural resources.


The Black River Morass and all the other wetlands are under threat from human activities and NEPA is mandated to ensure that this does not happen. Regulations are in place to control development in these areas: - environment and planning permits must be obtained from NEPA before any development takes place. Unfortunately, not all developers apply for the requisite permits and in some cases we are forced to shut them down or to prosecute.

I assure you, we are not anti-development, but development must happen in a way that it minimises damage to the environment and ensures our long-term safety and well-being as we strive for sustainable development.
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Survival of Our Wetlands is Crucial to Life:
www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20050203/news/news4.html

It is noteworthy that in Puerto Rico, under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency, and under permitting enforcement by the Army Corps of Engineers "if you are found to have filled wetlands ...without a permit, you may be required to create new wetlands - the amount lost, or even more -and may be subject to a monetary fine. These are potentially significant costs."

Building Near Wetlands: The Basic Facts
www.epa.gov/region2/water/wetlands/prdf.pdf

As a minor aside, it seems that the Wetland on which the Sports Park was located would be one of the permitted uses in the guidelines, since flooding would be periodic, and repairs to playing fields and outdoor equipment would be factored into the long-term maintenance.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Sunday, December 05, 2010 - 10:34 am: Edit Post

The crocs will have a place to rest under the stilts, which if wooden, should be of red bullet or any of the rot resistant species. Remember! guard crocs. Albino or not, beats them all except for a trained wild hog; the capital keep out di goat dem without blood. Blunted tusks natch. Very intelligent and faithfull. Because of the bristles, they can only be scratched behind the ears.

Glad to have Ann involved, we went to prep school together.

If you can imagine it and finance it, most anything is doable.

Redbway, get me a quote from the hunters and remember the pair of curved tusks when you check me.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stu Ward on Sunday, December 05, 2010 - 10:57 am: Edit Post

Cautionary Tales: Wetlands

"Build your house in a wetland, and you've got a hobby for the rest of your life," warns Ed Perry. "You will be fighting that water forever."
The lesson... is that home builders who tamper with even small wetlands can have big problems.
...these transitional zones梟either completely dry nor entirely liquid梐re enormously valuable, especially when it comes to controlling floods.
Wetlands act like natural sponges on the landscape, absorbing and then gradually releasing storm waters and lessening flood damage.

When wetlands are filled, the water that made them wet has to go somewhere. If it isn't seeping back into ... the house built on the former wetland, the water likely is leaking into formerly dry homes of downstream property owners."


from: Caution: Building in a Wetland Can Be Hazardous to Your House:

www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/News-and-Views/Archives/1998/Ca ution-Building-in-a-Wetland-Can-Be-Hazardous-to-Your-House.aspx


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By odd on Saturday, December 04, 2010 - 06:17 am: Edit Post

Isn't it odd that flyers for a housing development are distributed at the BREDS office? Is this where Treading Lightly [edited by TB.Net] is operating from?
I thought BREDS was a not-for-profit for the community?

What on earth is happening?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zed on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 05:23 pm: Edit Post

Treading Lightly Homes Designing for potential flooding of the Great Pond?

If you examine the 2 rough sketches, presumably provided by the architect, Ann Hodges, you will notice what appears to be a raised concrete pier/girder foundation system which support the cottages...and with 4 or 5 risers (approx. 9 inches each) depicted in the stairs leading to the veranda, ground floor of the building would be about 36 to 45 inches above the earth, depending on grading.

SKETCHES:
2-BedRoom:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=153943551304967&set=a.153942334638422.30988.1529 96164733039

3-BedRoom:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=153943784638277&set=a.153942334638422.30988.1529 96164733039

Without seeing a Site Plan, a Question might be:
What kinds of raised walkways gets you through the water & mud around your home during flooding?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zed on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 10:51 am: Edit Post

Some Green Modular Homes
www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/modular-homes-green-building-gorgeous

6 New Green Homes
www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/new-green-homes-460110

Natural Swimming Pools to Complement the "Small Home"
www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/natural-swimming-pools-460908


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Zed on Saturday, December 11, 2010 - 12:01 pm: Edit Post

Popular Mechanics' "Strangest Houses":

www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/recycling-design-technology/strange-hou ses-461209?click=main_sr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Curious about Zed on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 07:30 am: Edit Post

You seem to be a born researcher, Zed, and you come up with the most fascinating things. Are you willing to share any information about yourself?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Stu Ward on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 05:28 pm: Edit Post

To Curious A-Butt...
I have it, on very good authority, that Zed is a shy, nocturnal creature with the social intelligence of an aardvark and the bleating-heart sentimentale of a boer goat.