ADU, Travel, Community
Lina Menard
Maui, Hawaii

After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.

Maui, Hawaii
Tiny House, Travel, Planning
Lina Menard
Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla

A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.

Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla
Minimalism, Workshop
Lina Menard
Downsizing Tune Up

As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…

Downsizing Tune Up

gambrel

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Day 6: Tiny House Windows

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Today Noah (a friend from Whitman College) and Aaron (a friend from my grad program) came out to help with the build. Together we finished tar papering the house and then helped put in the windows. All the windows are now in their rightful places and they look great! We covered the edges of the window flanges with a waterproofing flashing so the exterior of the house is now ready for siding.

It's such a joy to have the windows in. This was a big step for me since windows add so much character to a building. Now it's starting to feel like a house instead of a construction project! I loved walking through the house this afternoon to get a feel for what it will be like to lounge on the window seat or to look out the kitchen window.

Meanwhile the roofing framer put up all the trusses and added supports for the roof's overhangs. I helped by cutting a few pieces for him and admired -  from a safe vantage point - his fearlessness about clambering around on the roof while using a circular saw to cut notches into the top of the roof rafters. The builders had to leave the site mid-afternoon for another appointment, so I helped tarp the house and we wrapped up early. A quiet evening at home and early to bed for me!

We've already cut the sheets of OSB for the roof sheathing so we're ready to put it up first thing in the morning. We're all eager to get the house dried in since the Portland spring promises plenty of rain.

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Day 5: Tiny House Takes Shape

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The progress today is less visible, but we managed to accomplish quite a bit despite the rain. A roofing framer, came out this morning to figure out the plan for the tiny house roof. The tiny house is taking shape and it's not so tiny anymore. Now it's starting to look like a miniature barn!

Jane has wanted to maximize the usable space in the lofts because she feels like my sleeping loft is too claustrophobic. We considered creating dormers flush with the exterior wall by extending the walls higher on the half of the house with the sleeping loft. That would create two pitches to the roof, one steeper and one shallower. We decided to put the decision off until later but once we had sheathed the exterior we realized we would have a hinge point if we built a pony wall above the existing wall. One of the builders came up with the best idea yet when she suggested a gambrel roof. I'd considered one on another tiny house I'd dreamed up but for some reason it never occurred to me that Jane's tiny house would have a gambrel roof. Turns out, it does. The roofer mocked up the first set of rakes late this morning and Jane was delighted.

While the roofer figured out his measurements we built the sleeping loft so that we can stand on it while working on the roof. Just when we stopped for a quick lunch break we encountered the rainiest part of the day, so after lunch we set up our saws under the carport. Half of us spent the afternoon prepping gussets with jigsaws while the rest of us cut rakes on the miter saw so that we can get the roof framing up tomorrow. Meanwhile the doorman came to drill holes in the new door. Another friend will be picking it up tomorrow to finish the door. It's going to be really lovely! In the evening we stapled tar paper on the lower portion of the house to protect the OSB from the rain and put tarps over the whole house to protect it from the rain tonight.

Jane decided to celebrate a great fifth day by taking her builders to dinner at a German restaurant down the street. I asked what the most German thing on the menu was. They recommended the roulade which was beef and pork wrapped in a cabbage leaf, covered in a tomato sauce, and served with mashed potatoes. It was decidedly German and quite tasty! We toasted the tiny house and had a great time unwinding from a drizzly day.

It will be an early start tomorrow and I'm glad a couple more friends have agreed to come on out to help!