WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-From McMansions to Micro-Houses?

From McMansions to Micro-Houses?

Morristown, Vermont - August 17, 2009

A small house off Route 100 in Morristown could have a big impact on its owner's wallet.

Newton Wells is building a 425 square foot house. It will be his full-time home and office, not just a vacation cabin. Wells used to own a 3-bedroom house, about 4 or 5 times the size of this new property. He says, "I just found I was only using 1/3 of the space, and I figured, 'Why am I paying taxes and heat on all this space?' Not to mention the mortgage interest."

The small 1-bedroom will have a full kitchen and bath. It will be heated with a wood stove and solar power. Wells hopes the home will be easier and cheaper to maintain, plus, force him to not accumulate stuff he doesn't need. "It's everything you would need that you'd have in a full-size house, only in a smaller, tighter, more efficient package," Wells says.

Newton Wells is part of a growing niche in the homebuilding world called the small house movement. It's made up of people who think American houses are just too large, too wasteful, and energy inefficient.

There's another example of these houses -- an even smaller example -- now set up in Burlington's City Hall Park. But the Vermont Home Builders and Remodelers Association says these houses are too extreme for most consumers. "Just as the McMansion-style homes in Vermont are the extreme," Amanda Ibey says.

The group says most Vermont homes are about 2000 square feet. That's about 500 square feet smaller than the national average. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates homes started in the third quarter of 2008 were about 200 square feet smaller than homes from the second quarter of that year. Many observers attribute that decline to a combination of recession-era belt-tightening, and on an increased awareness of energy efficiency.

Ibey adds, "I think you're going to see more [Vermont] homes staying in the 2000 square foot range, maybe creeping down to the 1600 square foot range, but I don't foresee us living in 400 or 600 square foot homes."

Newton Wells soon will. He actually found building smaller let him spend more money per square foot, allowing for custom touches like decorative timber design. "I'm totally excited by this!" he beams.

His home will still be his castle, it just won't be the size of one.

That micro-house in City Hall Park is part of Burlington City Arts' 2 month-long project on energy use and contemporary green design. Click here for more information.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News