Another one of our readers from Rich County Utah, Sco Smith wanted to share his story about his 10×12 house, I’ll let him tell you more about it.

For years I’ve been interested in small houses and small stores and shops.  Years ago an internet search only seemed to yeild a hit on “the Smallest House in Great Britain” which is in Conwy, Wales.  I had heard about this small house when I  was on an LDS mission in England from 1984-1986.  Now you find a wealth of rich inspiring information about small houses, simple living, and a whole community of people who are just as interested in small houses as I am.

We had built a small store on a busy highway that has been open seasonally during the summer months.  Last year our family of 5 (me and my wife and 3 children)  stayed in a travel trailer behind the store - so this year I decided to build a 10×12 size little house to live in while we operate the store.  Initially my wife thought bigger would be a bit better since we have three small children, but with the 10×12 size we did not need a building permit and I am already a small house enthusiast so we went with the 10×12 size with a loft.

The loft turned out taller than we expected, but if it is not the smallest house in the area, it is definitely the smallest tallest house.

We were careful to make sure it was well anchored to the Concrete pad  We also enjoy the 6 foot porch.  In connection to our store - this house has also become a tourist attraction.  We regularly take customers who come to our store on a tour of the small house behind the store.

We built it on a shoestring and working on it off and on it took about 41 days from start to finish.  The concrete pad was poured on 30 April 2008 and we spent our first night in it 10 June 2008. We insulated it well since it is in a hight mountain valley.  The interior paint color was chosen by default - Home Depot sells “Ooops” paint so we got 5 gallons of great paint for $15.00.  It is well insulated - since it is in a high mountain valley at a high elevation.

I would love to hang a sign or certificate in this house that indicates we are part of some type of small and simple society.  The Small House Society seems to purposely not have any membership cards or certificates, but I would love to have some type of official certificate to display in this small house and even a certificate in my office that would help help promote and facilitate conversations of the small house movement.

See more pictures of the Smallest House In Rich County.

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