Choosing to live a simple life can be a constant struggle. Our project this year is a barn. The struggle is in the desire to build a bigger barn vs a smaller barn. Whenever I start planning a project my tendency is to oversize and overbuild. Use a 2x6 where a 2x4 would be more than adequate. Make it 14x20 instead of 12x18. How much of barn do we need?? Just enough to do what we need to and no more or should you build it bigger for future needs?? I constantly have to push aside how my mind has been programed and think smaller. For my entire life it has always been "bigger". Just look at the size of soda bottles over the past 40 years. This programming of bigger has done nothing to help me and only caused me to consume more. Others (Corporations) have made out at my expense. No more, I am building a 12x18 workshop and a 12x12 place for the future goats. Whatever I cannot build in the barn will have to wait until summer and get built outside.
A common question for our house is how many square feet. I used to give the standard answers of around 1100, but recently I realized that this is the wrong answer. The correct answer is 217,000. This is the size of the land we "own". Our house is only but a small percentage of that and the fact is we live in much more than our physical dwelling. So my construction costs were $1.53 a square foot. Not too bad.
More house data next electric bill, however I am hopeful that this month will be the $8 month. We have had lots of sunshine and solar heat has been cranking. In addition we are just at 1 cord of wood for this year, which is a reduction by 1/2 cord over last year.
Quote of the Day
How do you measure beauty. "Heres the yardstick: That which deprives another cannot be beautiful"
William Copperthwaite from A Handmade Life. In search of simplicity
Everything is a balancing act. Building sturdier or "overbuilt" may create savings by avoiding a rebuilding or repairs in the future.
ReplyDeleteIf by whatever definition is valid for your situation, if you have a few compatible present or anticipated uses, building one larger structure can be much more economical than 2 or more smaller structures, both in terms of cost and materials.
I agree that you need to build strong enough to avoid rebuilding or repairs, but often by increase the quality of building you can decrease the amount of materials used. My design for the barn will allow me to put on some side sheds in the future if needed. By downsizing the barn I will save over $2000 and be able to use mostly wood harvested from my land. So I think going a little small is worth it this time. I will post plans once I am done with them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my blog