Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..
Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Kitty Hockman-Nicholas is building a tiny house on her Hedgebrook Farm in Frederick County for overnight guests.
Chris Jones's cigar box collection is on display in his tiny shed in the backyard of his Winchester home.
Chris Jones, right,"tiny shed" owner and builder Hugh Sager, owner of Gracehaven Construction inside the structure built in the backyard of the Jones' home in Winchester.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott & Scott Construction, Inc. with two of the tiny houses his company has bulit behind the Woodbine Farm Market in Strasburg. The models will be open Labor Day weekend.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott & Scott Construction, Inc. stands in inside a 12 X 24 square foot tiny house his company built and will showcase at the Woodbine Farm Market in Strasburg on Labor Day weekend.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott & Scott Construction, Inc., stands in a 12 X 30 square foot tiny house his company is building. Two tiny houses built by Scott & Scott Construction will shown at the Woodbine Farm Market in Strasburg over the Labor Day weekend.
Kitty Hockman-Nicholas is building a tiny house on her Hedgebrook Farm in Frederick County for overnight guests.
Kitty Hockman-Nicholas cleans a window in the tiny house she is building on her Hedgebrook Farm for overnight guests.
Kitty Hockman-Nicholas is building a tiny house on her Hedgebrook Farm in Frederick County for overnight guests.
Chris Jones's cigar box collection is on display in his tiny shed in the backyard of his Winchester home.
Chris Jones, right,"tiny shed" owner and builder Hugh Sager, owner of Gracehaven Construction inside the structure built in the backyard of the Jones' home in Winchester.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott & Scott Construction, Inc. with two of the tiny houses his company has bulit behind the Woodbine Farm Market in Strasburg. The models will be open Labor Day weekend.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott & Scott Construction, Inc. stands in inside a 12 X 24 square foot tiny house his company built and will showcase at the Woodbine Farm Market in Strasburg on Labor Day weekend.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott & Scott Construction, Inc., stands in a 12 X 30 square foot tiny house his company is building. Two tiny houses built by Scott & Scott Construction will shown at the Woodbine Farm Market in Strasburg over the Labor Day weekend.
Kitty Hockman-Nicholas is building a tiny house on her Hedgebrook Farm in Frederick County for overnight guests.
Kitty Hockman-Nicholas cleans a window in the tiny house she is building on her Hedgebrook Farm for overnight guests.
WINCHESTER — Tiny houses are becoming a big deal in America, with people paring down their possessions to live in miniature homes.
Cable television is showcasing the trend in programs including “Tiny House Nation,” “Tiny Luxury,” “Tiny House Hunters,” “Tiny House Hunting” and “Tiny House, Big Living.”
According to the Census Bureau, the median size of a traditional single-family home built in 2015 in the United States was 2,467 square feet. In comparison, tiny houses are generally about 200 square feet, similar in size to a backyard garden shed.
Some area construction companies have started answering the call of people who are ready to get small.
An early adopter of tiny-house living is Chris Jones, of Winchester, whose two-story home on North Pleasant Valley Road wasn’t quite big enough to accommodate everyone when all four grandkids came to visit.
While some tiny houses are built on wheeled trailers so owners can relocate as they please, Jones designed his 160-square-foot tiny house to have a foundation.
“It’s a tiny guest cottage, I guess you could say,” Jones said about the small brown building in his backyard that was completed earlier this month.
The cottage includes a sofa, coffee table, wall-mounted TV, shelves filled with books and collectibles, and other furnishings. Pull-down steps lead to an overhead loft big enough to accommodate a full-size mattress.
“My wife and I slept in there. It’s very cozy,” Jones said. “We have a heat pump so the temperature is comfortable all the time.”
Unlike most tiny houses, Jones’s cottage does not include a kitchen or bathroom. Instead, guests have to go into the main house to use those facilities.
Jones said his first thought was to expand his existing house, but he didn’t have enough space in his side yard. He and his wife had heard about tiny houses, so they went online and found Hugh Sager of Gracehaven Construction LLC in Maurertown.
Sager, who had previously built a 128-square-foot tiny house on wheels in Woodstock, spent two months constructing the cottage for a final cost of $24,590.
Sager said tiny houses are a perfect solution for families with an elderly parent who needs to move in with them.
“Compared to nursing homes or building [full-size] houses, it’s really affordable,” he said.
Jones’s tiny dwelling is small enough to be considered a shed, so no building permit was required by the city.
In Frederick and Shenandoah counties, Sager said, ordinances are being updated to specifically address the construction and placement of tiny houses, and the new rules should start taking effect next year.
Kim Barbour has been contracted by Scott and Scott Construction Inc. of Winchester to help with the interior design of two tiny houses at Woodbine Farm Market, 5199 John Marshall Highway near Strasburg.
“We’re building some models so people can come in and see if they work for them,” Barbour said.
The model homes will be open for public viewing from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2 to 4.
Scott and Scott’s first tiny house, which has already been completed, measures 12 feet by 24 feet and includes 288 square feet of living space — big enough for three people.
Barbour said the second house is 13 feet by 30 feet with 393 square feet of space. It can accommodate five people.
Each house includes kitchen appliances and cabinets, walnut butcher-block countertops and drop-leaf bars, a reading nook with an upholstered bench, a private bathroom and shower, closets, at least one hideaway bed, ceiling fans, a television and more.
Barbour said licensed contractors installed the plumbing and wiring, and a single electric unit provides whole-house heating and cooling.
As with Jones’s cottage in Winchester, Scott and Scott’s tiny houses are permanent fixtures made to stay in one place.
Barbour said her tiny houses may be a bit cramped for full-time residency, but they’re perfect for guest quarters, a temporary home for a family’s au pair, or college-age children home on break.
“Mom can supply all the food and they can stay up all night with their friends,” Barbour said with a laugh.
Scott Wolford, president of Scott and Scott Construction, said prices for his tiny houses have not yet been determined.
“I’ve got to figure out what the cost is,” Wolford said. “I’ve been in [the home-building business] for 25 years and I’ve never done this. I have to learn how to appraise these.”
Wolford and Sager said the cost of tiny houses, as with full-size houses, fluctuates based on size, features and whether they’re built on the ground or a portable trailer.
Sager estimated that a full equipped tiny house on wheels would cost $35,000 and up, “less than a fourth of the cost of a traditional house.”
People interested in tiny-house living would be advised to try it out before making the leap.
“That’s always a good idea when you’re embarking on something new and exciting,” said Kitty Hockman-Nicholas, owner and co-manager of the 50-acre Hedgebrook Farm at 688 Shady Elm Road near Winchester.
Hockman-Nicholas said Hedgebrook, an agritourism operation, is a week or two away from completing construction of its own tiny house, which will be rented to guests for $100 to $150 per night.
The log house is 200 to 250 square feet and can accommodate “two-and-a-half people,” Hockman-Nicholas said.
“People from the city think it’s the greatest thing in the world to sleep in these little, tiny places,” Sager said. “It’s all the accommodations of home, just on a smaller scale.”
If a person who spends the night in a tiny house decides to buy their own, their next choice is whether to add wheels.
Sager said portability gives tiny house owners the freedom to relocate as often as they choose, and allows the structures to be placed anywhere they have legal access and can connect to water, sewer and electricity.
“I own a lot down in Woodstock that’s in a flood plain, so they won’t let me build on it,” Sager said. “The subdivision allows temporary housing like a travel trailer to be placed there, and zoning in Woodstock allows the same thing. If it floods, you have time to move your trailer to higher ground, whereas a house would be inundated.”
Another perk for tiny houses on wheels is that they’re currently taxed as trailers, not houses.
“The one in Woodstock, I pay $11 every six months for it,” Sager said. “That’s the personal property tax.”
Sager said tiny houses are currently few and far between in the Winchester area, but he believes that will change soon.
“Everything comes from the West Coast and sweeps this way,” he said. “It’s coming. It’s just very slow.”
For more information, visit Gracehaven Construction at gracehavenconstruction.com, Scott and Scott Construction at scottandscottconstruction.com and Hedgebrook Farm at hedgebrook.com.
— Contact Brian Brehm at bbrehm@winchesterstar.com
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