Lodging

Lodging (or a holiday accommodation) is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions.

Lodgings may be self catering in which case no food is laid on but cooking facilities are available.

Lodging is done in a hotel, hostel or hostal, a private home (commercial, i.e. a bed and breakfast, a guest house, a vacation rental, or non-commercially, with members of hospitality services or in the home of friends), in a tent, caravan/camper (often on a campsite). In addition there are make-shift solutions.

Lustron house

L ustron houses are prefabricated enameled steel houses developed in the post-World War II era United States in response to the shortage of houses for returning GIs. The low maintenance, extremely durable, baked on porcelain enamel finish was expected to attract modern families who might not have the time or interest in repairing and painting conventional wood and plaster houses.

Prefabricated housing had existed before the Lustron home came on the market. However, it was Lustron’s promises of assembly-line efficiency and modular construction that set it apart from its competitors. The homes were designed by Morris Beckman of Chicago firm Beckman and Blass, and may have been loosely based on designs for the Cemesto houses in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. With enameled steel panels inside and out, as well as steel framing, the homes stood out next to more traditional dwellings made of wood and plaster.

Lustron homes were usually built on concrete slab foundations with no basement. However, about 40 Lustron homes have been reported to have basements. Their sturdy steel frame was constructed on-site by a team of local workers who assembled the house piece-by-piece from a special Lustron Corporation delivery truck. The assembly team, who worked for the local Lustron builder-dealer followed a special manual from Lustron, and were supposed to complete a house in 360 man-hours.

Mobile home

M obile homes (in the United States; also called trailers or house trailers) or static caravans (in other countries; also called caravans) are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied. Being built on a permanently attached chassis with highway-grade wheels and tires, they are usually transported by being pulled behind a tractor-trailer over public roads to a home site. Mobile homes share the same historic origins as travel trailers, but today the two are very different in size and furnishings, with travel trailers being used primarily as temporary or vacation homes.

Mobile homes are usually placed in one location and left there permanently, but they do retain the ability to be moved, as required in many areas. Behind the cosmetic work fitted at installation to hide the base, there are strong trailer frames, axles, wheels, and tow-hitches.

Mobile homes come in two major sizes, single-wides and double-wides. Single-wides are 18 feet (5.5 m) or less in width and 90 feet (27 m) or less in length and can be towed to their site as a single unit. Double-wides are twenty feet or more wide and are 90 feet (27 m) in length or less and are towed to their site in two separate units, which are then joined together. Triple-wides and even homes with four, five, or more units are also built, although not as commonly. They also differ from site built homes in that it is not uncommon for owners of single-wides to "trade up", as one might with a car.

While site-built homes are rarely moved, single-wide owners often "trade" or sell their home to a dealer in the form of the reduction of the purchase of a new home. These "used" homes are either re-sold to new owners or to park owners who use them as inexpensive rental units. Single-wides are more likely to be traded than double-wides because removing them from the site is easier. In fact, only about 5% of all double-wides will ever be moved.