Welcome to Tiny Homes, an idea that is more popular with minimalists than with neighborhood associations and zoning boards. We'll point out the fun parts. You'll have to check out the logistics and legalities - but not for houses that have been there decades.
When this cabin was built, Richard Nixon was Vice-President and the Boeing 707 was creating the jet-setters (when flying was fun.). Ashford was a long way from all of that, which may be why someone built this 224 square-foot cabin where they could be closer to our biggest volcano. There probably weren't a lot of crowds there then, because there aren't a lot of crowds there now; except in tourist season. A studio with 1? bath for only $80,000 and 1.9 acres of elbowroom. The rest of the world may have changed, but the cabin hasn't.
Let's mention that bath. The listing says it has one. The listing also says the cabin needs sewer and water. Sewer or septic or something, the cabin's probably has at least something for the last 55 years. Maybe modern regulations are catching up to it. Either Ashford is getting a sewer district, or somewhere on 1.9 acres there's a septic solution, or maybe the local authorities are okay with composting, incinerating, or some other innovative toilet solution. The basics must be met!
The cabin needs water? That's another thing it must have had some version of all this time. The Nisqually River runs by one edge of the lot. The sky provides about 80 inches of rain a year. (Check the photos again. Wet happens.) Surely, there's a solution.
Searching for solutions will be worth it for someone. The cabin looks well-built. The exterior is shingles with painted trim and a peaked roof. The interior is tongue and groove walls and ceilings, the model of which the tinies on wheels rely. This house is set in the land, and has evidently done so comfortably and cleanly. Other cabins may be covered with moss on the outside and smudged with wood soot on the inside. It doesn't have to be so.
The land shouldn't be ignored. With 1.9 acres there's a lot of room for projects, acoustic buffers, and visiting wildlife. It is wild. The Nisqually isn't a tamed river as it runs past the property. Mt. Rainier is ready to rumble. Check with the neighbors to learn where the floods flowed. The forests and the land would cover up anything we built if we left it alone for a decade or so. Land has a value, and the house has deck that acts as a transition from the cabin to the field. Buy this cabin and you won't be living in 224 square feet; that'll just be your base camp.
But, fix that water and sewer first.
· 32504 State Route 706 E Ashford [Zillow]
· Mt. Rainier [NPS]
· Volcanoes and Lahars [CS]
· All Tiny Homes coverage [CS]
Written by Tom Trimbath