Types of Alternative Housing

For those of us who like to have an out of the ordinary lifestyle, alternative housing options are always at the back of our mind. Even if many of us cannot afford to or don’t have the courage or will to live in an alternative house setup for long durations, we sure want to enjoy such a setup for once in our life.

In this article, we will try to explore the various kinds of alt-houses available out there. If you get a chance, do try them out for a few days. Maybe you will never like to get back to your normal, run-of-the-mill brick-and-mortar house.

Table of Contents

• RVs and Travel Trailers
• Boat Houses
• Underground Houses
• Manufactured small house units

RVs and Travel Trailers

Recreational Vehicles or RVs are probably the first kind of alt-houses that come to our mind. There is a wide variety of RVs, and some people even convert old buses/trucks into awesome looking living quarters.

The biggest reason behind their success is that they combine two of our best wishes – adventure of exploring new places and travelling, as well as the comfort of our own home.

Boat Houses

Though much less popular than RVs, boat houses also provide us the same benefits as RVs do – mobility and the comfort of familiarity.

However, not everyone of us can afford such a luxury item, or even manoeuvre a boat. Moreover, we can only visit the places near the coast or those connected via proper inland waterways.

Though if you are an ocean lover and prefers an absolute me-time now and then, then a few days in a boat house somewhere in the mid-sea can feel like a heaven on earth to you. The unobstructed sound of the ocean, stars as bright as diamonds in the sky, the tranquillity!

If you choose to have a candlelight dinner with your loved one in such a romantic setting, you will probably never enjoy doing it anywhere else on land thereafter.

Underground Houses

Children love them – after all they look straight out of an animation series.

Though there are challenges such as seepage issues, bug issues, etc., however if you live at a place with hot, tropical climate, with scorching summers, you will love them.

Manufactured small house units

These houses look almost like the traditional brick-and-mortar houses we are so used to. We still need our own land to place them, but they are comparatively much cheaper and quicker to build. Some people even use shipping and storage containers for this purpose.

However, they have their own downsides – most of them depreciate pretty fast, and often do not last long enough. In case you have chosen an old shipping container as your new adobe, it might decay even faster due to rust - chances are that the shipping company threw it away as it was not structurally sound anymore after years of exposure to salty sea-water and wet air. (Rusted iron also increases the chances of us getting septic, especially if we have toddlers in house.)

Also, not all cities allow such houses and so you should definitely check the local law before you contact a local manufacturer to build one for you. Even if your city allows them in some localities, such localities are often relegated to some outer area of the city and suffer from low estate prices.

However, such houses maybe in demand and in trend in terrains like mountains and beaches. Many minimalists love such houses, and often complement them with solar panels and other renewable energy source solutions to make them work like a self-sustaining unit.

Tiny Houses

Some tiny houses are made in a traditional way, i.e. in the same way as normal houses are made – they use conventional construction methods and materials. They are just tiny in size. You may explore these too.

But do keep an eye on their internal design – some of them are really weird and may not suit you. Compact spaces force designers/architects to innovate a lot, which often turns out to be a disaster for home owners (especially in the long run).

Winding Up

It was a small list of some of the most well-known alt-house options. If you are intrigued by one or some of them, then we would suggest you to try them out for a few days first, before you go ahead and shift there for long-term, investing huge bucks in the process.

And if you want to know more about these housing arrangements, do explore our website. We have numerous articles listing down the pros, cons, tips and tricks related to such out-of-the-ordinary living arrangements.