garage apartment living?

[ShellieC]

I'm not sure if this post should be here or in the main Mindful Home forum.

I posted recently about considering moving into a 5th wheel, but am now looking at the possibility of building a garage kit on my parents land and living in that. We would build it to use as a house, and probably have one open area on the main floor & then a loft area for us to sleep in.

Does anyone know anything about living in a garage or building one to live in? We'd look into bylaws, but think it would be ok if there isn't a cement foundation, just a wooden one. We are a family of 4 (so far) & our kids are 11mo & 2.5 yrs. My parents have 13 acreas and have offered for us to live on their property while we are working towards living debt free if we kind find a way to do that we can get away with re: bylaws (no second home allowed). We will be saving to build a home or buy a modular & possibly applying to subdivide their land and get a few acres of it, but would love to have an inexpensive home on the property in the meantime if possible & are open to alternative solutions. If we build a garage, it would be the 2nd on their property, but they could use it for a guest area at a later date, or we could use the materials when building in the future.

Thanks!

[ShellieC]

yurt

We just discovered yurts and think that may be a better option. Off to read what I can about them!

Considering alternative housing opens up a whole new world for a person!

[TinyFrog]

We built an apartment above our garage and lived there for seven years while we saved, and then finally built a house. Our county called it "an efficiency dwelling unit." When we finished the house we had to decommission the stove (take it out), and now it is not considered living space. We could commission it again and call it a mother-in-law home.

The best way to find out about the laws is probably go to your county (or city) building permit center. They can tell you what is legal in your jurisdiction. I assume your parents home is on septic. You may need to install a new septic system, either a separate one for the new structure, or a new one that will work for both homes.

Of course a yurt may have very different requirements. Essentially you need a platform, and the yurt, and could have a composting or other type toilet and wouldn't even need septic. I think yurts are pretty cool. some day if we ever need to replace our summer cabin, we may look into a yurt.