House



A House (or Home) is a structure built by the player that Town NPCs require in order to spawn, with one House required per NPC. A structure must meet several requirements in order to function as a House (see details below). You can check if a structure meets the requirements by using the Housing Menu's top button, labeled with a question mark ("?"). NPCs generally retreat to their Houses at night and remain in them until dawn. They will also retreat to their houses during a Solar Eclipse (since 1.2.3).



The Guide will appear upon starting a new world, and if killed, will require a House in order to respawn. The Old Man and the Traveling Merchant do not require Houses.

The Angler, Goblin Tinkerer, Mechanic, Stylist and Wizard will each make their initial appearances regardless of available Houses. Once initially found, each will require a House in order to respawn subsequently.

Framework


A house must be fully enclosed:


 * The side walls (vertical blocks) can be made of blocks, doors or wood platforms.
 * The floor and ceiling (horizontal blocks) can be made of blocks or wood platforms.
 * The NPC needs at least one solid (non-platform) block to stand on at night. This block may not be directly adjacent to either of the side walls of the house.

Entrance
A house must have at least one entrance, which can be a Door in a wall or a Wood Platform in the ceiling, floor, or walls.

Size


Including the frame (floor, side walls, and ceiling), a House must have at least 60 total tiles, but less than 750.

Additionally, a House's outer frame must meet one of the following minimum dimensional requirements:

Background Wall


A house must have a background wall in order to be suitable. Any walls crafted or mined by the player are valid, with the exception of Blue Slab Walls (acquired from Dungeons).


 * Walls not placed by a player (such as naturally-occurring dirt walls) do not count, with the exception of those generated in Floating Island structures, the Planked Walls found in Underground Cabins, the Living Wood Walls in Living Tree rooms, or the Sandstone Brick Walls found in Pyramid structures. Dirt walls placed by the player do work.
 * Background walls may contain holes if the holes are no taller or wider than four tiles. (e.g. 4 background tiles across or tall, so the maximum size is 4x4, 16 in total. The hole cannot exceed 4x4 or 16 tiles.). Walls may have multiple holes as long as they are separated by at least a single tile of background walls.
 * Having background holes may sometimes allow monsters to spawn within the House. To create windows more safely, place sections of Glass Wall instead.

Furniture
A House must have at least one valid Light Source, Flat Surface item, and Comfort item placed within it. The items listed below will fulfill these requirements.


 * Not every item that provides light will fulfill a House's light source requirement. You must use one of the items listed below.
 * Any type of each item listed below will fulfill the requirement. For example, any color Torch will work, as will any theme of Chairs.

Location
If a House is located near Corruption or Crimson, it may become uninhabitable. If these spread near an occupied House, the NPC living there may move out and wander the area until a new House becomes available.

A House is considered corrupted based on its "Corruption rating," which calculates all tiles in a 45-block "radius" around the house; a house's Corruption rating must be 250 or less. This is about half the blocks in the radius.


 * Each tile of Ebonstone, Ebonsand, and Corrupted vines/plants increases a House's Corruption rating by 1
 * Each tile of Hallowed grass, Pearlsand, and Hallowed vines/plants reduces the rating by 1.
 * Each Sunflower reduces a House's Corruption Rating by 5.

Simplest valid option
Materials required:
 * 25 Dirt Block for floor, wall and ceiling.
 * 32 Dirt Wall (8 Dirt Block) for background wall.
 * Wooden Door (6 Wood). Can be replaced with one Wood Platform.
 * Wooden Chair (4 Wood).
 * Wooden Table (8 Wood) or Work Bench (10 Wood).
 * Torch (1 Wood, 1 Gel, results 3).

Summary raw materials:
 * 33 Dirt Block
 * 19 Wood (if using door) or 14 Wood (if using a single wood platform)
 * 1 Gel

This works, but if you don't want house to be occupied by vines, replace dirt with wood, stone, or mud. While this is the simplest option, it's susceptible to Corruption or Crimson.

Tips

 * Placing a light source in a Living Tree room or Floating Island structure will cause it to become suitable housing, unless you have removed its furniture.
 * If you wish to prevent NPCs from wandering around, place a torch on the ground on each side of the door (it does not necessarily have to be on the ground since 1.2). It will not only count as a light source but also prevent the NPC from leaving. Keep in mind this will also complicate opening the door for the player, as you will need to face away from the door to open it or right-click the torch and re-place it when you want to enter. Wooden Beams and Wood Platform can work just as well.
 * You can also use the Green, Brown, Blue, Grey and Lihzahrd pressure plate to prevent the NPC from leaving the house, because those pressure plates activate only when players step on them.