Tiny Home documentary on building codes
https://www.sightline.org/2023/11/02/micro-housing-its-not-about-the-size-but-how-you-use-it/
it’s important to differentiate between building codes and zoning codes. Building codes regulate unit size by directly
specifying minimum square footage of the floor area. Zoning codes take a
more circumspect approach, using density limits, parking requirements,
and per unit amenities that indirectly govern housing size.
typical 300-square-foot studio apartment plan looks like (see Figure 1).
It features a 190-square-foot living room, which accommodates a bed, a
couch, and a small dining area. Additionally, there’s a compact kitchen,
a storage closet, and a bathroom.
If you’re a developer aiming to provide
the most homes at the lowest cost, your goal is to reduce the unit size
to get the most units possible into a floorplate. Under current rules,
you can’t reduce the living room below 190 square feet, and
accessibility codes mandate a minimum bathroom size, typically 5 feet by
8 feet.
The IBC also allows congregate housing
units—i.e., where residents have a private bedroom but share things like
a kitchen, dining room, and other common spaces—with living spaces as
small as 70 square feet. These are all forms of permanent housing meant
for use by the general public, yet the size requirements vary widely.
The National Healthy Housing Standard (NHHS),
developed by public health professionals, serves as a tool for
planners, elected officials, and policymakers to design regulations for
housing that are based on the public health literature.
So what does the NHHS standard recommend
for minimum living room sizes? A mere 70 square feet. However, this is
not the end of the story. While the IBC focuses primarily on living room
size, the NHHS gives more attention to subjects such as cleanliness,
adequate storage, and functional food preparation.
NHHS stipulates the need for a kitchen with
both a range top and oven, a refrigerator and a freezer, and a
designated space for utensils and cooking tools. It also requires a
kitchen to have a washable backsplash and cleanable floors. In contrast,
the IBC remains mostly silent on these matters, requiring only a
microwave oven, a sink, and a mini-fridge.
The NHHS mandates the use of low-pile
carpets, non-absorbent flooring, low-VOC finishes, and other
requirements aimed at providing cleanable surfaces and healthy indoor
air quality. The IBC is silent on these matters.
a similar suite of amenities in the kitchen
and bathroom as the prior design, meaning more kitchen countertop and
storage, plus a washer-dryer. And with only 70 square feet of living
room area, there’s still enough room for a sleeper sofa and dining
table, plus we’ve increased the functional use of the room with a
built-in bookshelf.
Small Efficiency Dwelling Units in Seattle, WA....200 square feet!!
Micro-housing in L.A.
Stanford Law analysis on Micro-Units
Minnesota Tiny Home building code
200 square feet!
https://www.settled.org/homes/how-they-are-built
These units have a dry or compostable toilet and a gravity fed water with a catch basin. They are constructed using the same materials (including insulation) as residential housing. We have worked with both the Department of Labor and Industry and the League of Minnesota Cities on building standards and issues of inspection.
everyone has access to code-complying kitchen, toilets, laundries and showers.
NYC on micro-units
principle dwelling: separate housekeeping and cooking
facilities for each with a sewage treatment system approved for such residences
Renters saw a closet with a bed. It turned out that true micro
apartments (with kitchen and bath) were not popular with American
renters. There was one study years ago that showed exceptionally high
turnover in micro units, as the novelty quickly wore off.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jay-parsons-a7a6656_micro-apartments-are-back-after-nearly-a-activity-7176942965716578304-C9hD
academic comparison of SRO and Micro-units
Transitional Homeless services with Micro-Unit permanent housing combined
a 2nd similar development: Micro-Units for the homeless
https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/01/09/micro-apartments-could-become-fully-legal-in-washington-again/
https://lbpost.com/news/micro-apartments-are-coming-to-long-beach-will-renters-rush-to-squeeze-into-them/
Long Beach CA also!
So NYC actually banned the creation of new "rooming units" (notice NOT Dwelling Units) - based on a rooming unit having a shared bath and kitchen....
So a Camping Unit can also be a primary residence but NOT be a permanent dwelling unit!
https://public.ci.stillwater.mn.us › WebLink › DocView
Jun 10, 2019 — 1. Primary Residence, means the dwelling unit within which a person lives for six months plus a day during a calendar year. · 2. Primary Resident ...
https://public.ci.stillwater.mn.us › doc › Page12
May 26, 2017 — ... Primary Residence, means the dwelling unit within which a person lives for six months plus a day during a calendar year. 119.2. Primary ...
Dec 21, 2022 — ... Primary Residence. Means the dwelling unit within which a person lives for six months plus a day during a calendar year. Subd. 9. Primary ...
Thanks for sharing your issues with the incinerating toilet. I talked to a county sewage system planner about getting a year-round composting toilet permit (since the next county over has them written into their sewage ordinance). After a half hour talk I realized the counter planner didn't really understand composting and he also recommended an incinerating toilet. Vermont is now trying to get a state law passed allowing actual composting from composting toilet systems - that technically are collection toilets (like the Separett) - without any discharge of sewage. I'm going to try Mycoremediation as a mycotoilet - using the urine diverting composting toilets - I just ordered a 2nd one from "Toilets For People" that also does nonprofit toilet work for "Engineers wtihout borders" and on their own.
As you said - a toilet is the biggest challenge of off-grid living because you want to go inside (I also know this from living in a cold climate) - but you want something that works. Technically in the county I plan to do one - a dwelling can not have a composting toilet inside - only as a privy. But again by "composting toilet" they mean an NSF certified that does not separate the urine (and also has discharge as sewage!). Whereas the EPA (in the U.S.) recognizes biosolid composting that includes drying and aerobic composting.
So also technically you can have a "collection toilet" in a tent without needing a permit but as soon as it is in a structure than it needs a permit - and this means any "toilet waste treatment device" (that would include a separating dry toilet). For example there are some Micro-Units set up with dry "compostable toilets" that are allowed as permanent residence but ONLY because they also have access to normal plumbing code toilets as a shared facility on site. hahahahah.
As you can tell I have been researching this topic for quite sometime. Because to have any kind of permanent dwelling as a "dwelling unit" then international building code has to be followed. But just as urban zoning used to have "rooming units" with a shared bath and kitchen - in the countryside a "camping unit" can have a privy as a composting toilet that is year-round but does not have discharge! (this is the case in the one county I mentioned). Unfortunately the NSF-certified toilets all have discharge pipes (actually there's only two companies that I know of). As I type this I discovered the document "Moving Beyond the NSF: Composting Toilet Systems" stating Oregon is only 1 of 7 jurisdictions requiring NSF certification for composting toilet permits. So I think that should no longer be a limitation.
Basically legally if septage dries out aerobically composting for a year then it is legally no longer septage - and can be further composted onsite without being a biowaste hazard. So I plan on having two indoor separation toilets - for winter year - and then an outdoor privy to get approved. The indoor toilets would be an agricultural structure not requiring plumbing code and I will do Mycoremedation as an agricultural oyster mushroom production. Without any discharge this technically should not require any sewage permit while the privy can be permitted as a composting toilet that is seasonal for farm use.
Then I will camp as a primary residence as a farm labor camp - and have indoor composting Mycotoilets as part of a farm mushroom cultivation structure. This way my primary structure will not be residential but rather a farm shed. Then my primary residence will be a campsite without needing any kind of dwelling permit with all the international building code fiascos.
thanks
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