In 2009, with the help of some friends, I put up the shell of what I sincerely hope is my last home – designed in accordance with a premise I already knew was incorrect. Originally I planned a structure with a footprint of just slightly less than 200 square feet because I was told – and chose to believe – that no such structure legally required a building permit. And the building permit process around here is pretty damned expensive and intrusive.
It took years to gather materials, and in the meantime I learned that the 200 square foot thing was hooey. But I stuck to it because that was the structure I had the materials to build. If I were to have enough space for me and two large dogs to stretch out at night, it needed a sleeping loft.
We moved in almost exactly three years ago, and I’ve had that much leisure to repent of some of my choices. The sleeping loft thing has disadvantages for a going-on-elderly one-legged guy, and I’ve been thinking I should write a lessons-learned post.
One thing of which I have absolutely not repented is the idea of living out the rest of my life in a tiny cabin. I love the Secret Lair more than I do the lives of a good many people I’ve met. For a guy like me, it is damn near the perfect dwelling. My dear neighbors D&L have spent ten years building their dream home, which is the size of a small palace. I forget the total square footage, but we once calculated that if you discount height, their kitchen alone would easily contain two entire Secret Lairs. Last week while caring for their animals I satisfied my curiosity on a particular point: It takes 30 steps to walk from their kitchen counter to the door of their laundry room. That is by no means the end-to-end extent of their house. Can you imagine ol’ Slothful Joel even pretending to clean such a thing? Because I really can’t. The Lair is laid out to maximize floorspace, is light and breezy in summer and easy to heat in winter – or would be, if I could ever wrap it and finish the wall siding.
So yeah: Taken as a whole, the Lair is perfect for me. But I live alone and have two advantages: I need make absolutely no concessions to the wants and needs of any other person, and I lived the previous five years in a travel trailer that was even smaller. I confess I was happy to be rid of the trailer, but mostly for reasons other than its interior size. Oh, the layout was really confining, I prefer a much less cluttered design and the ceiling was very low, but at no time during that period did I find myself pining for a big house with many rooms.
But getting back to the loft: Yeah, given the 200 square foot rule, the loft made sense and continues to do so. But it has a lot of downsides of which future builders should be aware.
First: If I were going to do it again, I would definitely plan a more complex roof. The ceiling of the loft is six feet high at its very highest point, which is right smack against the front wall and is mostly not usable space because that’s where some furniture has to go. So almost any time I’m in the loft, I’m either sitting down or bending over. At the railing, the loft ceiling is just a bit under four feet high. That’s where I put my bed, so it works.
It’s also too narrow. The loft runs the width of the cabin, twelve feet, and that’s plenty of room. But it’s only six feed wide and if I’d planned just a little better I’d have come out another foot which would have allowed much better furniture layout and a lot more floorspace.
There’s the fact that it’s way up there, which means moving stuff up and down – mostly laundry – is a pain in the ass.
I have a system whereby I can hoist and lower a hamper with a rope and snap link, and it works. But it’s a pain.
And then of course there’s that ladder, which involves my biggest single design flaw: You see that tiny little hole in the loft floor? I dare not get fat. The one place where my lack of foresight comes back to bite me every single day is that tiny little hole. See, I could never decide where I wanted to put the ladder. For a while, it was going to be a pull-down attic ladder but that would have put the hole damn near in the center of my sleeping space – clearly unworkable. In hindsight, the ladder’s current location was the only logical place but it occurred to me after the structure was already built. And if I had planned ahead to do it that way, I’d have so moved that one floor joist over a few inches. As it is, I have to remember to unholster my pistol before climbing the ladder. Otherwise I simply can’t get through the hole. 
And then there’s the ladder itself, of course, which has implications for an old guy with a prosthetic leg. Someday something’s going to happen to my leg, and then I’m going to find myself sleeping in the downstairs chair and never changing my clothes at all. But that was a disadvantage inherent in the design: A staircase was simply out of the question.
But there are advantages as well, especially for a guy exactly like me who lived a big chunk of life making self-abnegating decisions (and resenting it a lot) and who now lives with two dogs for whom copious shedding is just what they do. Those advantages are entirely subjective. What I’m saying: The Lair as a whole is a space that’s just for me and the boys and a very, very, very few occasional visitors. The loft of the Lair is a space inhabited by me alone. It has a treehouse-like flavor which I noticed the first time I slept up there, and which still occasionally delights me. I never built a treehouse before. It’s a sort of hermetic cuddy-cabin-within-the-cabin, and I like it. In winter, it’s also by far the warmest part of the cabin. While never unaware of its limitations, I never get tired of it.
Someday when I’m very old I may need to find a way to build a bedroom addition to the Lair. I know just where I’d put it. But all in all, I’m really in no hurry.
All in all…. it’s pretty awesome what you’ve done, Joel. Bravo. 🙂
“A staircase was simply out of the question.” Not if you put it outside. Which would also make it the perfect fire escape. You would still have the ladder for use in the cold and rain. …Just say’in.
I had the same thought as Ben put a staircase on the side to a balcony at the front and fit a door/ window. Fire escape, sitting porch, firewood store and what the hell I’ll have a beer balcony rolled in to one!
Oh and screw the building permit.
Ben/Ro:
Actually the Lair has a combination balcony/fire escape which will be finished if I ever get around to finishing the exterior walls. The floor is already there and I own the door but haven’t yet installed it. But it will also have a ladder, not a staircase.
But of course I would never have dreamed of bypassing the permit system. That would be illegal and entirely unmutual, and making decisions for my uneducated self without input from qualified county-hired engineers would be suicidally hazardous. Why, I’m quite sure the entire structure would have sunk in the swamp, caught fire and fallen right over long before now had I done such a thing. Oh, I shudder at the mere thought.
I’m glad to hear you are giving all due respect and regard to the county that they deserve………..
Rome wasn’t built in a day they say, though if they’d had local authority planners and engineers they still be doing the foundations lol.
Have some friends who stumbled across a very small beach lot – too small to put any sort of “real” house on, which is why it was available in the first place – and decided to build a weekend retreat on it. I wouldn’t have had the patience for the permit wrangling they went through, but the end result was a 36X18 cottage on concrete pilings.
Fortunately, there was a relative who had a background in marine design, so the interior uses every trick known to shipbuilders to conserve space, and I mean every trick. It’s actually pretty slick how it all turned out, but it does require a certain mindset to tolerate, kind of like living in a Rubik’s Cube. Not to mention building for high space efficiency and quality requires “custom something” at every step, which ain’t a little bit cheap.
No, Nosmo, it wouldn’t be cheap, but I bet it’s interesting to look at, & see “that’s an interesting way to do that”.
Totally awesome and georgeous Joel. You sure did a great job.
Remember MamaLiberty’s observations a few blogs back about the priority of preserving your mobility. That ladder ain’t it. I haven’t built anything with stairs for about 10 years and that ladder and the access hole are a wonder. Among all your readers there must be some who are structural engineers or architects who could advise you on correcting the ladder/hole issue – I’m looking forward to reading what they say. I’m not an engineer or an architect, but I’m thinking of the blocked and framed out holes that I’ve seen cut in rafters for stove pipes, light pipes, vent tubes, etc. If it works for pipes and tubes and the ceiling doesn’t collapse, why wouldn’t it work to make a larger access space for you?
It’s sensible of you to recognize that you are getting on elderly and “very old” is in sight. lol A small add on ground level sleeping space large enough for you and two dogs built before you need it won’t take much lumber. You can finish off the entire outside at one time and be done.
And little extra lumber to replace your front steps with a ramp with a handrail…
Any nearby buildings being demolished where you could get lumber free for hauling it off?
A dump with public access? So much good building material gets taken to the dump. What about that never-finished house in the gulch that was collapsing a few years back – can you salvage any of the lumber?
I’ve lived in just about the full range of housing by now. I’m at point where what I crave is something along the lines of an aircraft hangar, warehouse space, or a large 2 story height metal building. I don’t care much about the living facilities – I’d put a kitchen and bath in one corner and a loft above and be quite happy. Wouldn’t require interior walls except on the WC (to accommodate the occasional guest and their sensibilities – or lack thereof…)
I like having a workshop ‘right there’ – and I like accumulating ‘things’. Having a manageable workspace at hand is more a priority to me than the living quarters aspect. I don’t mind running a clean home – but I like the idea of ‘cleaning up’ with a leaf blower, a garden hose, a shop vac, or an air compressor! I cleaned my desk earlier today with a shop vac.. just put one hand down on the things I wanted to keep! Good for another month or three.
Ditto on the outside stairs – BTW. Before you need ’em would probably be better.
Hey Plug Nickel: Living in a warehouse/hanger sans walls sounds good as long as you don’t need heat or AC. I have often dreamed of a camper inside a huge garage as my perfect living space.
As for cleaning a desk with a shop vac. My desk usually fills up with papers that I really intend to “get to” someday. Perhaps once a year I’ll actually see the surface of the desk. Shop vac won’t work. Perhaps a paper shredder followed by a pressure cleaner?.
Looks like heaven, uncle Joel. You’re a tougher bird than I am, though, having to climb that ladder nightly. In addition to a couple bum knees, I have a lousy shoulder too, so I’d have a little more trouble getting up there. And I’d need to really squeeze to get through that hole-I’m a little fuller figured…
You strike me as a person very comfortable in your skin and your house seems to match your needs perfectly. But I do agree with you that at some point in time, climbing that ladder everyday will become too difficult, and sleeping on the bottom floor will become necessary, if not for safety alone. That ladder appears almost 90 degrees vertical, pretty tough to climb.
Is there a wall space where a ‘Pullman Berth’ type of sleeping bunk can be constructed ? A curtained off sleep shelf that could wall attached and could be hinged at bottom to fold against wall during the day ?
Ben, a friend of mine lives in a shelter very similar to what you describe. A pre-fab metal shop building with overhead rolling door on one end which he inserted a small 18 foot long mobile home, leaving both sides of trailer (about 8′-0″ on either side) for wall and floor storage. Two man doors, one on opposite end and one on the side – nice digs! He also has a 2 car carport (1/2 of it insect screened) which serves as his summer kitchen – outdoor living room.
Rereading the blog, I remembered to place this comment here:
On drilling rigs, they use a device to counterweight the derrick man’s weight to get him up the ladder. It’s a cable (attached to the climber’s harness), run over a pulley, with a weight at the other end. It makes the ascent much easier.Just an idea. Pretty sure if I lived in the lair I’d want one. Along with a bigger hole…