a bigger house for yourself?

[Ken S. Tucker]

Sounds good, with a septic, a cistern, power at the pole, living in mobile home is just plug and play. Hey keeps property tax low!

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news:t%yHe.1562$ [e-mail]:

I enjoyed your reminiscence below and don't want to spoil it by adding any of mine :)

So a bit of pleasantry today - your story reminded me of this 3D piece (the fellow who did it is also an interesting individual):

Enjoy!

- Kris

[Kris Krieger]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

With mobile housing, there is always a trade-off between mobility, and security. Also, mobile homes are generally bears to heat/cool. Thery're also fire hazards because they tend to go up so fast.

OTOH, having moved, oh, what, 23 time by now?, I can tell you that it gets real old, real fast, to pack and move and then unpack your life every 2 years, and it'd be nice if there was a way to have a decent-looking and decently-secure place that could also be moved in toto, just secure the cabinets and door so stuff doesn't fly out.

I'm sure it can be done, but then there are problems.

1) The question of expense - design costs, building costs, transport costs. 2) Where do you put it when you get to the next destination? Ordinances don't let you pt mobile units into neighborhoods; trailer parks might not be suitable depending upon what you're mobile habitat is like; even if you uproot a normal frame home, you still have to have an empty lot for it, and those are very rare in any areas where there are jobs - even the outlaying land in many areas has been gobbled up by developers and divvied up into teeny little lots, and land near the core of towns/cities already has stuff on it - a few tear-downs do free up lots, but then you run into the ordinances again. 3) What are the laws about transporting things? Of course a shed could be built either on a trailer, or in a way so that it could be put onto a trailer, but is it permissible to move it like that? How much would the citations or permits cost?

So technically, I'm sure that a place could be desinged in a way that it'd be modular - walls could have "inserts" and sections could "plu into" one another; there could be pull-down/roller things (like those steel roll-down shades) to close off each module during transport; and so on. Get a crane, lift the units onto a flatbed, and there you go. But the odds are that it'd be unfeasible, not because of lack of technology or ability, but because of the laws, and ordinances, and rules, and regulations, and so on.

- Kris

[Ken S. Tucker]

That's super cool, I love the coca cola contrast with the red's whites, bikes and trucks, and the little pepsi sign with the boys pants, and especially the green roof. The SPOILER, big a/c unit on the rights side, noisy. ken

[me]

"Kris Krieger wrote: "

So surely there is a solution? No?

What abt shipping containers? You know... design homes along the lines of a shipping container so it can easily be moved with present infrastructure?

[Notan]

Hey! How about a house on wheels? You could call it a, uhhhh, "mobile home!"

Notan

[me]

yeah I know its been discussed

But seriously why is it not such a good idea?

Heck say you moved to Europe..... or the far East. Just ship your entire home over there on a big ship. No?

[Notan]

No basement.

Notan

[Kris Krieger]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

There was that construct at the Montreal World's Fair/Expo, the modular apartment block.

Again, the main constraint, I think, is not that the structure (or subunits of the overall structure) couldn't be designed (and designed to withstand weather); I think that the main problem would be all the ordinances and zoning and rules and neighborhood taste-police and so on.

If OTOH you could always be assured of having a big piece of land in an unregulated area, I'd imaginge you could put up and live in pretty much whatever you want. The problem is, how to get to work, if you can't work over the net, or don't work as a consultant. And how to get to the hospital if you have to. Things like that.

We've considered having a permanent place, built as we want, out in New Mexico (had looked at a few places in Carlsbad), and just having temporary, what is the term, "pied a' terre"?, type places where new jobs come a'callin; for my Better Half. Just got to Houston for example, and got a call yeaterday from a headhunter in California. And I still don't even have everything out of the boxes yet.

If you can't have a mobile "container home", the next best thing would be "container furniture". I've been getting more and more plastic containers with snap-lids, and just keeping stuff inside of those. out of one closet, into the other. Looking for one that'd fit into cupboards, for the plates and stuff. Thing is that cardboard boxes are not cheap, and they're wasteful. Can't keep 'em because they collect mold and bugs.

So what I'd like to do is come up with at elast some sort of modular storage. Might have to get rid of some of the furniture (a shame because the stuff has sentimental value but also was built to last for a couple generations). But the continual packing-unpacking-packing-unpacking...good grief!

Here's the thing. Design modular storage furniture *that looks good* but also that is self-closing - can interconvert between furniture and shipping/storage container. But it'd have to be sturdy because movers

*ALWAYS* find ways to break stuff. Now *there* is a challenge. Most stuff I've seen that sort-of approaches being modular just looks like cheap plastic crap that's OK for a college dorm but totally cheesy for a professional's home. Yup, truely a challenge.

(Heh, "Transformers" in your living room...)

- Kris

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news:QfTHe.9473$ [e-mail]:

Sorry, guess I missed it or I wouldn't have gone into it...

- Kris

[gruhn]

To your credit you said "along the lines of" and not "use the real thing."

[me]

Not quite sure what you're point is above.

I didn't mean to dreg up any bad karma bring up the shipping container home! I definitely touched a nerve here tho!!

But what got me to thinking abt it is those portable storage containers called PODS. See link

Seems like it makes good sense. Why not homes that way too?

I think that's a great idea above!! Everybody moves around so much now days!

Excellent idea!!

And I agree that it needs to be high quality good looking furniture. Not this cheap stuff for college kids.

I'm single.... a grown man. I want to live simple. And have possessions that work for ME. not the other way around. Its hard moving heavy traditional furniture all by yourself. Id give anything for NICE furniture that was foldable, compact, and good looking. Something that one person could fold up and move by himself.

[Kris Krieger]

"gruhn" wrote in news:uS8Ie.27$ [e-mail]:

Well, I suppose that some folks might think a storage container is a viable cheap alternative, but IMO, it'd take so much additional work (insulation at the very least) that it's an untenable idea.

I think I even noted my objections to Mobile Homes as they are: they are fire traps, they are so poorly insulated that it's a bad joke; ordinances force you to live crammed cheek to arse with the otehr mobile homes; they don't even pretend to be bullet-proof (I know I keep coming back to that one, but hey, to paraphrase Henry Kissinger, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you...)

Re: actually living in a storage pod - it reminds me of some post- apocalyptic SciFi story (book, movie, "illustrated literature", etc.). OTOH, I seem to recall hearing something about some hotel type actually taking the idea from the book "Neuromancer", where you get this space that's just big enough to sleep in - except that the hotel guy is saying, make 'em big enough to stand in and add a small shower/commode - "good for the overnight businessman" (which is bunk, for a number of reasons).

So who knows, if humans continue to breed like rabbits, we might all end up in something like storage pods, except smaller...

- Kris

[Kris Krieger]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

My point is that you can't do anything you want if you live withing city or even town limits.

IOW, even if a mobile modular home is a great idea, I doubt that you could put it up and live in it in most towns/cities. Hell, I can't even put up solar blocking film on my windows because of the neighborhood brown-short association. There are more rules and ordinances withing town and city limits than people realize - until they try to do something.

Nah, not a nerve - well, OK< prob. over the proliferation of stupidarse rules telling you that you can't even plant a cactus in front of your house becuase even tho' it might suit the climate, it "doesn't maintain the character of the neighborhood". And that sort of idiocy.

But no nerves re: modular-moveable homes. Personally, I think it'd be great - as I'd mentioned, I've laready moved over 20 times (stopped counting at that point) and it'd be a real blessing to not have to feel like I live to pack and unpack ;) .

(The biotech industry can be a real PITA - as bad as the military but without base housing...)

Those are advertised on TV as well. As above, personally, I think it's a great idea for people who have to move a lot. I'd like it - just close everything up, detatch the modules, close them up (by whatever method - I though of steel roll-down shutter type things), and stick 'em on a couple flatbeds. It's already around $12,000 to move even a *modest* household halfway across the continent, so how much more expensive could it be to move a few modules...? Plus, you wouldn't lose as much of your life to packing and unpacking, and plus again, it'd save a lot of wear'n'tear on the nerves.

But the trick is where to put it when you arrive at your destination city/town...

Well, a lot fo people do.

I saw a segment - forgot which show - about "knock-down" furniture that used quality cabinetry, the only difference being that the fasteners were various disassebmlable types as opposed to permanent glues, screw, and nails. But I'd go a step further and just make things that you could close up and not have to empty out, but still would be light enough to be moved.

It'd have to be high-impact plastic, at least in part. The trick is making it look good.

Anything that's particle board is no good - in fact, if it gets damaged at all during your move, it's not even covered by the part of your moving insurance that repairs (suppsedly at least) damaged furniture. And movers are rough even with very expensive furniture (take it from me :( ); they treat particle-board stuff like trash, bang it all the heck up. Heck, they bang up stained glass and glass objects, what do they care about particle board.

So none of that. It has to be able to withstand a lot of abuse. The trick is how to do that, and still have it look good...

For foldables, I know that such things were being marketed for a while. I've unfortunately lost the notes I made at the time. All I can thin of is to Google the terms "furniture" with the boolean "knock-down" or "disassemble" or "folding" and NOT "patio" and NOT "outdoor".

I do know that for *building* furniture, you can get the knock-down fasteners - try

for starters.

HTH!

- Kris

[me]

Well it just seems to me that there IS a market for such and idea.

A lot of people are single no days.... live alone. And it dams hard to move some of these heavy monster pieces of furniture by yourself

And if you're like me..... you like being independent and not having to ask anyone for help.... i.e. moving furniture.

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news:_PrIe.650$ [e-mail]:

Well that must be just lovely....

=;-p

Now that's enterprising! Good idea, too ;)

(Some of those RVs, tho', are a lot nicer than some of the apartments I'd lived in during my younger years !)

- Kris

[Night_Seer]

That's actually a really great idea when designing your own home so you can see that they are doing shit right. I'm doing it...someday!

[Notan]

Yeah, and the subs just love it... NOT!

Notan

[Night_Seer]

Its my friggin house and I desinged it and I'm paying for it and I'm the client, and, and, and...mommy said I could! So nya nya nyanya nya.

[Kris Krieger]

Notan wrote in news: [e-mail]:

But you're paying them, not the otehr way around.

Given the unbeleivably crappy job that had been done on the place we'd bought (and thankfulyl were able to sell quickly ), you better believe I'd want to check up on the job every day if I was having a custom place built. I would be rude or obnoxious, but I'd been checking. If they got bent out of shape over that, I'd research whetehr I could replace them.

- Kris

- Kris