New Cottage Fits Perfectly in Established Neighborhood
Mighty Small HomesMighty Small Homes
Steve Corwin found himself in a tight spot – on purpose – when building this cozy cottage from Mighty Small Homes.
The latest project is a modified cottage on an infill lot in Louisville’s historic Irish Hill neighborhood with single-family homes of shotgun and other cottage style houses.
The neighbors are excited to see a house going up on the long-vacant lot. While a next-door neighbor is sorry to lose the space they were using for parking, they’re glad something is going in there.
“They love it, they love it,” he said.
His cottage is a Mighty Small Homes prefab small house kit that uses an envelope system incorporating prefab structural insulated panels. When the home is completed, Corwin plans to sell it.
“We put up a 50-foot wall in 40 minutes.”-- Steve Corwin
The modified cottage will have 1,150 square feet on the main level and an additional 300 square feet of loft space. It's the perfect place for a young family, or as an investment property listed for rent on Airbnb.
It will look similar to the other homes on the street, many of which are shotgun style frame houses, Corwin said.
The one-story Mighty Small Homes cottage is long and narrow. Unlike a shotgun-style home, though, the cottage’s open floor plan doesn’t make people walk through a bedroom to get to another part of the house.
The home features three bedrooms, one being in the loft. All have full on-suite bathrooms. The home also features an open kitchen, dining and living rooms. The loft has access to an attached deck outside in the backyard.
The modified cottage is built on a narrow infill lot in a historic Louisville neighborhood.
Key Features of the Modified Mighty Small Homes Cottage
1150 square feet on the main floor
300 square feet in the loft
3 bedrooms
3 full baths
Open floor plan
High efficiency
Deck accessible from loft
Mighty Small Homes Cottage Makes the Most of Space and Energy
The tough part about a small or tiny home is generally the limited storage available. Corwin says he’s tried to maximize that with storage above one of the bathrooms, which can be accessed from the loft.
In addition to bedroom closets, there’s also storage in the laundry room at the back of the house. Corwin says there will be storage drawers underneath the stairs leading to the loft.
The efficient use of space matches the overall efficiency of the home.
The Mighty Small Homes envelope system seals out the elements and provides a level of durability higher than most of the homes in the neighborhood.
The sealed and insulated prefab small home kit has another benefit - it reduces the urban noise.
Smart Solutions to Building Challenges
Corwin faced some challenges in getting the house built. The weather slowed work. It was a very rainy spring, he said. On the flip side, one of the long walls of the house went up very quickly. “We put up a 50-foot wall in 40 minutes”, he said.
Infill lots are challenging for any type of construction, so adding the roof panels required a crane. Maneuvering in the narrow lot was difficult, and the ground was too soft for a forklift. The panels for the rear of the house took the most time to install.
Windows were installed along the long sides of the house. Because of the closeness of the homes on either side, fire code required an extra layer of outside drywall for protection.
The construction of the small home kit helped mitigate a common building challenge in urban areas. The small-house kit approach accelerates the build because the need for a carpentry crew is minimized.
Despite the minor hurdles, the home is expected to sell quickly.
A high-performance home in a hot neighborhood? Sounds like a mighty smart investment.
