Day 2: Undercarriage, A Tiny Field Trip, Wall Framing

We started out Day 2 of Yestermorrow’s Tiny House Design-Build in the Hanger by painting the trailer and gluing and screwing the pressure treated plywood undercarriage to the floor boxes. The house is large enough that the floor joist system was constructed in 3 parts that will be connected together. (See more photos in the Day 2 Slideshow.)

Then we headed out on a field trip to see Chris’ little house, which is one of Dave Sellers’ sculptural creations on Prickly Mountain. I’d been to Chris’ home before, but I enjoyed seeing how my perspective of the space has shifted now that I live in a tiny house myself. The studio and perched sleeping loft are still as charming as they ever were, but I have a greater appreciation than ever before for the challenges of sealing and weatherizing a curved skylight.

After lunch we headed back to the Hanger to tackle a variety of projects, including:

• drilling holes through the trailer to enable us to attach the floor system,
• wrapping the pressure treated joists with a membrane to prevent a galvanic reaction with the trailer, and
• cutting studs, plates, and headers for our wall framing

Framing always includes some head scratching, but fortunately Patti and Lizabeth have spent a great deal of time with the plans now and have determined (most of) the necessary modifications. It was, as it always is, a thrill to see the first walls framed up. And, of course, it’s a treat to see students gaining confidence so quickly as they become more familiar with impact drivers, drills, and saws. We got the two short walls framed up just as the afternoon drew to a close.

I learned a couple new framing tricks today, including kerf cutting the bottom edge of the bottom plate where the door will be so that the subfloor isn’t damaged by a sawzall when the time comes to remove that section. I also shared Dee William’s trick of building a Board Tweeker out of 2x4s to coax twisted boards into place. Thanks, Dee! Here are some of the lessons our students learned today, encapsulated in exactly 5 words, courtesy of a round of Gimme 5:

• Plates go top and bottom
• Sharp drill bits are nice
• Propane gas can heat efficiently
• Rusty trailers look better painted
• Bookcases can also be ladders
• Eccentric houses are structurally problematic
• Kerf cut the door opening
• All houses need constant maintenance

After dinner Paul presented climate and site considerations for situating a tiny house. Then I addressed the invisible structures in my presentation on code and regulations. It’s important to consider both the physical context and the invisible conditions – social, political, financial, and legal – when siting any house. But because little houses (particularly those on trailers) are alegal in many places, we want to make sure that tiny house enthusiasts consider everything from fire safety to moisture management and from space efficient storage tricks to zoning code when designing a little home. It’s certainly a lot to contemplate all at once, but the design process is iterative and context-specific – even if a little house is ready for adventure on the open road.

Day 1: Structures, Foundation, Bubble Diagrams

We started out Day 1 of Yestermorrow's Tiny House Design-Build with information about structures and the forces that all structures are subjected to (uplift, overturning, racking, sliding, etc.) See more photos in the Day 1 Slideshow. Approximately half of the class intends to design a ground-bound dwelling, but since our build project for the course is a tiny house on a trailer we also addressed the particular challenges of designing a mobile structure. I introduced several different trailer configurations and shared the trailer design Portland Alternative Dwellings has developed with Iron Eagle Trailers (which are built specifically to insure a solid and easy connection between the trailer and the house and to maximize the amount of insulation in the floor).

Then we went down to the Hanger where Patti and Lizabeth introduced the class to the trailer and the plans. Our client intends for the structure to be a part-time seasonal dwelling here in New England, so we’ll be building accordingly. The trailer is a car hauler that was purchased used, so it’s presenting some unique learning opportunities. The students who arrived on campus early to do work-trade at Yestermorrow prepped it last week by removing the decking so that we could start with the bare trailer. We began that work today by removing rust and then coating the trailer with Skyco Ospho rust treatment to prevent any additional corrosion.

Then we were on to cutting joists and rigid foam insulation for the floor system. Lizabeth introduced the circular saw and once everyone had a turn practicing with scrap lumber we switched to cutting our floor joists, which are pressure treated 2x4s. Then Patti and Lizabeth led everyone through framing the floor system in three segments, which we’ll be attaching together tomorrow.

(By the way, it’s amusing learning the little differences between building on the West Coast and building on the east coast. On the west coast Owens Corning has the corner on the rigid foam insulation market, so we all call it “pink stuff” while on the East Coast most of it appears to be made by Dow, so it’s known here as “blue board.” Similarly, I’m used to pressure treated lumber being dark brown and full of punctures while over here it’s mostly Southern Pine and identifed by the a green tint of the chemicals.)

This evening we had a presentation on tiny houses from around the world that has me fantasizing once again about building a house inspired by an elephant. The rest of the evening was devoted to design exploration, including bubble diagraming and showing off the inspiration folders students prepared as part of their program. The creative juices were flowing, the colored markers were used with wild abandon, and google images kept producing more inspirational imagery. How fun to be at the beginning of two weeks of tiny house design and building!

Back Home at Yestermorrow

Tiny House Design Build 2013 begins at Yestermorrow amidst the glory of fall in Vermont. It's so good to be back home at Yestermorrow. Check out my Yestermorrow Fall Foliage Slideshow for more photos.

I arrived at Yestermorrow late last night so I would have some time to settle in before I begin teaching the two-week Tiny House Design-Build course this evening. Arriving by taxi in the middle of the night was exactly how I first arrived here for the very first time three and a half years ago to begin my Certificate in Sustainable Building and Design. Luckily, I found a classmate in the taxi line at the airport, so Sam and I caught a ride here together. When we arrived on Yestermorrow's rural campus in the middle of the night with no sense of where we were - or where we should be - we took ourselves on a self-guided tour in the dark, eventually our finding beds to crash in. We awoke to a quiet Sunday, getting our bearings before launching into the three-week core class Ecological Design in the Built Environment.

So it was deja vu last night as I bid the cab driver farewell and found my way to Elizabeth Turnbull's tiny house. Yet this time I accomplished it without any trouble and instead navigated by memory and a great sense of homecoming. (Though I will say the incredible stars were quite a distraction!) Elizabeth's story was one of my original inspirations for enrolling in courses at Yestermorrow. She had been taking a course at Yestermorrow when she found out she'd gotten into Yale's forestry school, so she decided to build herself a tiny house to serve as her home base while she was in graduate school. She and I had the chance to talk on the phone as I made plans to do the same thing myself. Elizabeth lived in her little house for 3 years and has now brought it back to Yestermorrow so it can serve as a cabin for visiting students and faculty.

I settled in right away and got a great night's sleep. This morning I understood in an instant, before I even crawled out of the loft bed, what the all the fuss is about. Autumn in the Northeast is truly spectacular! Photos don't begin to do justice to the complexity and texture of the fall foliage.

It's been a gorgeous day, perfect for reacquainting myself with the Yestermorrow campus, meeting new interns, and getting paperwork squared away. I was here in June for the Tiny House Fair, so there weren't any big surprises during my walk this afternoon, but it's a quiet Sunday so I've had a chance to really soak it in. What is it about loving a place so dearly and sincerely that gives us that sense of home? I feel like Yestermorrow makes me a better person and I can only hope that I can give back to it with my earnest devotion to creating better homes and communities.

As I walked around, snapping photos of all the structures, and admiring them against the backdrop of fall foliage, I couldn't help but think about what a long three and a half years it's been! I've completed my certificate at Yestermorrow as well as my Masters of Urban and Regional Planning. I was scheming a tiny house back then and drafted up some ideas in the Less is More class (which I'll be teaching at Yestermorrow next spring). Now I've lived in several tiny houses and I'm involved with four tiny house start-ups.

Teaching the Tiny House Design-Build class at Yestermorrow is a dream come true! I'm honored to be teaching with talented and experienced designers and builders: Paul Hanke, Patti Garbeck, and Lizabeth Moniz. As I scan at the roster for the Tiny House Design-Build class and look over the Program Worksheets our students submitted once again, I am eager to meet everyone and learn more about their tiny house dreams.  It's bound to be a fascinating two weeks! Follow along!

Last Week for Early Bird Tickets to 2014 Tiny House Conference

Last week I talked with Ryan Mitchell of The Tiny Life last week about the Tiny House Conference that will be held in Charlotte, NC in April 2014. It sounds like a great line-up of speakers, including Dee Williams of Portland Alternative Dwellings as the keynote. My friend John Labovitz will be presenting about value-based design. (You can read about his Tiny House Truck and see video of it.) Dan Louche of Tiny Home Builders will be speaking, too. (I met Dan at the Tiny House Fair at Yestermorrow in June and we'll be using his Tiny Living plans for Yestermorrow's Tiny House Design-Build course next week.) And, of course, there are plenty of new-to-me tiny house experts I'm looking forward to meeting, too. I'm thrilled to be presenting with these fine folks!

I look forward to the opportunity to gather with so many other tiny house enthusiasts in a place that's been calling to me for a long time. (What is it about you, Carolinas?!)

I know many of you aren't even thinking about your Thanksgiving travel plans yet, but this is on track to be the tiny house networking event of the year so, if you're thinking about it already, here's some incentive to register now: Ryan sent out a message that the early bird pricing ends on September 30. Register for the Tiny House Conference today!

Tiny House Plumbing Workshop Recap

On Monday, September 16th, 2013 Shelter Wise, Portland Alternative Dwellings, and Bruner Plumbing teamed up to teach Tiny House Construction Essentials: Plumbing Systems. This micro workshop was hosted by Shelter Wise and used the Salsa Box, which was constructed for the La Casa Pequena workshop at La Casa Verde green living festival in McMinneville in April.

The workshop started out with Ian Bruner of Bruner Plumbing providing some basic information about residential plumbing. Ian showed several of the material options and tools available for tiny house plumbing and demonstrated how to use them.

Next Derin of Shelter Wise provided some tips and tricks for plumbing a tiny house based on his lessons learned from constructing the Miter Box (which is now located at Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel and has been nicknamed The Pearl), the Salsa Box, and the current custom home Shelter Wise is building.

Afterwards, I shared some considerations for tiny house plumbing based on my experience living in a travel trailer, an ADU, a yurt, and 2 tiny houses on wheels. I addressed what to look for in a supply hose, what to do if your hose freezes, and what some options are for potties. Participants had a chance to ask each of the instructors questions in a one-on-one format as they tried the various plumbing fittings and explored the Salsa Box.

In addition to learning about plumbing a tiny house, I also appreciated the opportunity to reconnect with some graduates of past PAD workshops, including Sherry, Benn, and Wade who are all currently building their own tiny houses and Jack who is just about to start. I also had the privilege of meeting some new tiny house enthusiasts and I'm excited to get to know them better through future workshops.

Everything I Need to Know about Designing Tiny Houses I Learned from Cleaning Them

Okay, that’s not really true. Most of what I know about designing tiny houses came from living in a travel trailer, a yurt, an accessory dwelling, and two tiny houses on wheels over the past two years. I certainly learned plenty about tiny home design from reading Dee Williams’ Go House Go, Lloyd Kahn's Tiny Homes, Simple Shelter, and Jay Shafer’s The Small House Book, too. And, of course, I learned a great deal from attending the Less is More class at Yestermorrow (which I’ll be teaching in March 2014!)

But during the past two weeks I’ve been site managing at Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel while Kol and Deb are on their honeymoon, and cleaning Caravan's Tiny Houses everyday has taught me an enormous amount about how material selection and interior design considerations impact the ease of maintaining a little home! (Check out my Tiny House Cleaning Checklist for the run-down of how to tidy up!)

Here are some of my lessons learned:

Making Beds: I think it’s really clever that the twin bed on the first floor of Tandem pulls out into a king size bed. I have realized, however, that since I’m quite small myself a twin size mattress is plenty bulky for me to wrestle as I put sheets on two of them. I’m considering an extendable bed in my Vardo and I think I’ll go with one that makes into a full or queen size bed so that the halves aren’t so cumbersome. Additionally, I've discovered that there is a direct correlation between the size of a loft and the ease of making a bed in it! (And that having skylights makes the space seem larger psychologically even if it doesn’t actually increase the volume of the space.) You can read my Tips for Making a Loft Bed on my Tiny House Cleaning Checklist. As you consider your tiny house design, note that it’s much easier to make a loft bed if:

• the actual volume of the loft is bigger because of tall walls, a shallow roof pitch, dormers, or a gambrel shape,
• there is a foot or so of space at the end of the loft past the mattress on which I can perch and some space on either side to tuck in blankets,
• the ladder is easy to use and can be stood upon while making the bed (see more on ladders below),
• the blankets and sheets are a good fit for the mattress – it’s tricky if one is trying to do special folding down and folding back up details,
• there is a surface within reach (a counter, a table, a window seat, etc.) on which to store pillows, sheets, and blankets while making the bed without having to go all the way back down the ladder

Using Ladders: Speaking of ladders, I’ve found that designing a tiny house ladder is much like designing a tiny house itself: you want it to be sturdy, safe, and secure, but also portable. I find that I feel most secure on a ladder that has a solid connection with both the loft and the floor. I appreciate that the ladder Derin Williams made for Pearl has a bottom rung that rest squarely on the floor because it’s so much less likely to tilt. At the top it’s nice to either have pieces that extend up above so that you can pull yourself up into the loft or a flat surface that can be used to push yourself into the loft. The ladder in the Tiny Barn is my favorite because I have never been the slightest bit nervous on it.

Wiping Counter Tops: Each of the tiny houses at Caravan uses a different material for the countertops. Tandem has a tiled countertop, Rosebud has a cobblestone countertop, and Pearl has a galvanized steel countertop. All three of these are fairly unusual as most of the tiny houses I’ve seen have wooden countertops. As I’ve cleaned up the tiny houses at Caravan I’ve discovered that the tile countertop is the easiest to maintain. The cobblestone looks beautiful and wears well, but I’ve realized that the uneven surface isn’t ideal for chopping veggies. The galvanized looks really cool, but I've discovered that it's so shiny and reflective that when it's in direct sunlight that have to remember to close the curtains so I don't give myself light blindness. On the other hand, once it gets marked up, those spots seem to be impossible to remove. I actually think it adds an awesome patina to the surface and shows that the house is well-lived-in and well-loved, but it's not necessarily the sleek look I first imagine when I think of metal countertops.

Scrubbing Showers: As I discovered while tiling the shower in Tandem, it’s way too easy to damage a fiberglass shower pan. Unfortunately, any nicks and scratches in the shower pan make it difficult to clean the shower forevermore, so it’s worthwhile to protect them as well as you can during the construction process. Similarly, the galvanized metal in the wet bath of the Pearl has a few marks that seem impossible to scrub away no matter how much elbow grease I use.

Cleaning Floors: Finally, it’s important to use appropriate flooring materials in appropriate places. The cork floors I installed in Tandem look awfully nice, if I do say so myself, but it might have been a good idea to use a different flooring material in the entryway and bathroom because they have absorbed some water and swollen along one of the seams. Of course, it’s also a good idea to select materials that don’t show dirt and scuff marks much. Additionally, I love marmoleum as a flooring material but I didn’t realize how slippery it is until I was reaching to tuck in the blankets at the back edge of Pearl’s convertible dinette/bed and found myself slipping. (This is compounded by my shortness, so I might be the only one with this problem!)

Recap: I highly recommend that anyone considering living in a tiny house take the opportunity to stay at Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel or Bayside Bungalow to try it out. But now I also think people ought to try out cleaning a tiny house. (Anyone is welcome to arrange a time to come clean mine! Tee, hee!) I'm grateful to have had this opportunity to become intimately acquainted with the nooks and crannies of each of these little houses because it's given me a whole new appreciation for material choices. While I learned a lot from My Summer Dream Job: Tiny House Design-Building, I think of these materials in a whole new way now because of maintaining them!

Coming Full Circle... and Moving Forward

Two years ago this week I moved to Portland and this week I’m Housesitting the Tiny Barn at the location where my first tiny house was parked when My Tiny Adventure Began. So, in a way, it feels like I’ve come full circle. Once again the raspberries are dripping off their bushes and the tomatoes are vining as tall as the apple tree. Once again the school bells are ringing and there’s an excited chatter of children freshly back to school. Once again the mornings are starting with a smidge of crispness and the Canadian geese are honking on their southern migration. It’s nice to be here again, in this oasis of a garden, at the transition time between summer and fall.

And yet, so much has changed in 2 years, too. This garden has become even more glorious in two years. The raspberry canes are taller, the bamboo is thriving, and the day old chicks we slipped under a broody chicken (see April Fooling my Hen) are providing plenty of eggs each day. The tiny house I lived in here is back up in Olympia where Brittany Yunker is renting Bayside Bungalow out as a tiny cottage on wheels.

Meanwhile, the tiny house I’m caring for here this week is the Tiny Barn, which wasn’t yet a figment of anyone’s imagination this time two years ago. I helped my friend develop her design and boneyard materials the winter before last. Over my spring break that year I helped the owner and some other friends of hers construct the shell of the Tiny Barn in a week long tiny house building blitz. Her friends finished it up beautifully, so it’s fun to stay here in the same spot but in a delightful new house. And, of course, I have greater appreciation for this little house now that I’ve had the chance to live in other tiny houses in the past two years, including A Tiny Move for a Tiny House, My Summer Garden Cottage, My Home Sweet Yurt, and more recently Home, Sweet Pea.

Additionally, this week I’ve been site managing for Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel while Deb and Kol are on their honeymoon. The country’s first tiny house hotel wasn’t yet in the works when I first moved to Portland. Now I get to show off Caravan's Tiny Houses while I tidy up and visit with guests when they check in. They’ve come from all over the world to stay here and many of them stay specifically to try out living in a tiny house. In fact, I’m always a bit surprised when I’m talking with guests about tiny houses and they say “Oh, tiny houses are a thing?” Um, yes, perhaps I’m just caught up in this little world, but I’m pretty sure tiny houses are a thing.

While I’ve been in Cully this week I’ve had the chance to visit with several of my tiny house friends and make a few new ones. Only one of them had a tiny house two years ago and now I have six friends in the neighborhood with tiny houses!

A group of us gathered at Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel earlier this week to discuss our dream of creating a Tiny House Community here in Portland, perhaps developing something similar to A Vision for Tiny Cohousing. Then a couple of us made a trip to the permit counter at the Bureau of Development Services to explore what the options might be and last night we visit a potential site, met some new additions to Portland's tiny house community, and toured their tiny abode. We have a long road ahead of us, but it’s exciting to see how far we’ve come in the past two years as the Tiny House Movement Gains Momentum.

Tiny House Construction Essentials: Plumbing Systems

Remember Casa Pequena, that tiny house we framed and wrapped in just 2 days at the Casa Verde festival in McMinnville last April? If not, here's a sweet video of the Case Pequena build.

It's time for Casa Pequena to be plumbed. Fortunately, Shelter Wise and Portland Alternative Dwellings are teaming up to offer a Tiny House Construction Essentials series and the next class is the plumbing session. Derin Williams of Shelter Wise and Ian Bruner of Bruner Plumbing will be leading the session on Monday, September 16th from 5:30-8:00pm. You can find more information and register for the session on the PAD Workshops page. Sign up today!

Lina's Next Adventure

This post from last summer was lingering in draft mode. Now that Niche is having it's first birthday, I realized I'd better get it posted! -Lina

This summer I've been going through a Transition Time as I wrapped up my Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, my Urban Design Certificate, my work with Intrinsic Ventures in the Ford District. On top of all that, I moved from my Home, Sweet Yurt into my Home, Sweet Pea. And then I immediately spent a couple weeks catching up with my long-lost family.

So as the dust settles, I'd like to introduce you to Niche Consulting LLC and tell you about my next adventures. In January I created Niche, my own sustainable design consulting company, so that I could do design and lifestyle consulting with people interested in creating their own small homes and so that I could work on sustainable development projects. You can read Lina's Next Adventure, the letter I wrote to the folks in the Ford Building for more about that.

I remember declaring as a sophomore in college that I wanted to be a sustainability consultant someday, but I didn’t know quite what that meant. So I was researching the sort of companies for which I’d like to work. The trouble was that I was most intrigued by fringy sustainable housing ideas like natural building, cohousing communities, district sustainable energy use, and creating small homes by converting garages and basements. I couldn’t find a single company that seemed like it would allow me to pursue my passions.

But as I graduated, the parent of one of my dearest friends gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. Gayle told me:

“The jobs you’ll love best throughout your career probably don’t exist yet. So just be ready for them, when they’re ready for you.”

What better way to prepare myself for all the exciting projects to come than to create a company that will allow me the flexibility to pursue them?

I give credit to three people for convincing me I could – and should – start my own company. Matt Eppelsheimer of Rocket Life Incorporated taught me an incredible amount about start-ups. Joan Grimm helped me understand that creating my own single-member LLC would enable me to work with companies like Portland Alternative Dwellings more easily on a contract-basis. And Lizzy Caston, a fellow Portland State University Masters of Urban and Regional Planning alum, inspired me to strike out on my own by telling me about creating her own consulting company. I met with her for a cup of tea in early January and by the end of the week my company was registered!

Now that my graduate school degree is complete, I have the time to see what that means to be self-employed. I'm looking forward to site managing for Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel in September, co-instructing the Tiny House Design-Build course at Yestermorrow in September-October, team teaching Tiny House Basics Workshops with Dee Williams and Joan Grimm in November, and doing some capacity-building work with Portland Alternative Dwellings. Hopefully, I'll also have lots of opportunities to do consultations with individuals.

If you've who have been trying to find your niche and haven't yet, maybe it's time to make it! If you'd like to talk to me about small house designs or tiny lifestyle consultation, please contact me.

Tiny Open House at Bayside Bungalow

Two years ago, my friend Brittany gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received when she offered to let me rent her tiny house on wheels to decide if the Little Life is really a good fit for me. I LOVED the little house and my first Year of Living Little, so I've been living in tiny houses ever since. Now Brittany rents her tiny house out by the night so other people can try on tiny. On Sunday, August 18th she's opening Bayside Bungalow up for anyone to come see for themselves. If you're in Olympia or can get yourself there, go check it out! You'll find her invitation below:

***

Many people over the past year have asked if they could see the Bayside Bungalow and check out the tiny little house that I now rent out as a vacation rental.  Alas, the time has come for a (tiny) Open House!

Are you interested in exploring, testing, touching, trying, photographing, peeing in (the composting toilet - duh!), measuring & learning more about tiny houses?  Then this is for you!  Learn about how it was built, why I decided to build it, how it works, what goes in (water, electricity & food) and how it all comes out (gray water, urine-diverting toilet system), and most of all - does it fit YOU?  Bring on the questions!  Bring a sketchpad, measuring tape & camera & explore this tiny house.

What: Open House at the Bayside Bungalow tiny house vacation rental

When: Sunday, August 18, 2pm-6pm

Where: The Bayside Bungalow in Olympia, WA

Your host: Brittany Yunker, builder & owner of the Bayside Bungalow

For directions & more info, photos, or to make a reservation, visit www.baysidebungalow.com

Please invite a friend & swing by!  I look forward to meeting you.

Cheers,

Brittany YunkerThe Bayside Bungalow ~A tiny house on Puget Sound~ www.baysidebungalow.com Olympia, WA bbyunker@gmail.com 360.556.9719