SANFORD — Think about the fact that the average hotel room in the United States measures 325 square feet, according to Loyalty Traveler.

Now think about living in just slightly more than half that space – in a 196- square-foot tiny house.

Deirdre Brackett, a first-grade teacher at Lafayette School, will be doing so full-time when she decides to retire from teaching. For now, she’ll be living in her tiny house on weekends, holidays and during vacations as a precursor to when she’ll be there year round.

Built over the last year by students in the building trades program at Sanford Regional Technical Center, the tiny house is nearly complete.

Brackett said she’d been thinking about a tiny house for some years. Once she found the plans she wanted, she contracted with the school to build it.

“I love tiny houses, and I’ve always wanted to do something small,” said Brackett on a tiny tour of her tiny home outside SRTC Tuesday, where students Teddy Vradenburg and Tony Parent were busy working to get the project wrapped up.

The home is destined to be located in Newmarket, New Hampshire, where Brackett owns land. She consulted with local building inspectors for rules and regulations, and was told she needed to hook up to town water and sewage systems. The home will be located on a slab, then on a block foundation.

Inside, the little house is full of light­­– not only are there windows in the main living area, but in the loft as well. The walls and ceiling are covered in pine shiplap, and the hardwood floor gleams.

The cupboards are normal sized, and there’s room for a sink. There’s also space for an apartment-sized stove, a small refrigerator and a stackable washer and dryer. Brackett is contemplating purchasing a wall-mounted drop leaf table.

The bed, located on one end, is fitted with storage drawers, and will double as a couch by day. Stairs, which are yet to be built, will lead to a loft for storage and to give the grandchildren a place to sleep when they visit.

And tucked behind a sliding “barn” door is a full-size shower, a real toilet – as opposed to composting toilets used in many tiny homes – and a tiny sink for hand washing.

The house is 8 feet wide and 24 feet long, and was built almost entirely by Parent, Vradenburg and another student, Mike Mackie. Instructor Troy Hathaway said the house only needed three students to build because of its size. Students in the residential wiring program completed all the electrical work.

Parent worked on the home until 3:30 p.m. on his graduation day earlier this month before he went home and got ready for the 6:30 p.m. commencement. Vradenburg, said Hathaway, worked equally hard.

“These guys are awesome,” Hathaway said. “They’ve been my saviors (on the project).”

Hathaway said the students learned a lot by working on the tiny house.

“The framing is totally different” than modular homes that students traditionally build, he said. “It’s a lot of problem-solving.”

Parent said there were challenges, because the tiny house is built on a trailer that will transport it to New Hampshire. “Each pound you put on changes the levelness and the plumbness,” he said.

Another challenge was building the dormer, which Vradenburg estimated took three weeks.

Both students – Mackie, the third student, was unavailable on Tuesday – said they enjoyed working on the house.

“I just loved it, said Vradenburg.

“It was fun,” said Parent.

Hathaway said the home will have a heat pump for both heat and air conditioning, and an air handling system to bring in fresh air.

At first, Brackett thought a tiny home might not be practical, but after doing research, she figured she’d look into the possibilities.

“I never thought I could or would do it,” she said. But of course she did.

Brackett estimated she has slightly less than $25,000 invested in the home, including appliances. Land and associated costs are extra.

Eventually, when she retires, she’ll sell her Sanford home and head for her tiny house.

And the size?

“It makes you look at everything you have and think about what’s important to keep,” she said.

Besides, she added, “I like everything little.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].