Cross-post from facebook notes
Notes on the Tumbleweed Tiny House Design & Build Workshop: Day 1
November 9, 2013 at 7:01pm
So the most concise way to do this is probably to make a list of the highlights and my key observations.
- I thought the workshop was very well-run. The instructors/speakers, Joe,Meg, and Matt, were articulate, knowledgeable and personable. They used powerpoint effectively, which is to say, they put key bits of info on the slides, and then elaborated on them, rather than just putting everything on the slides and then just reading them, which is boring for the audience and a pet peeve of mine. I wish that the professors I had in college had their act together as much as the Tumbleweed folks do. I think it must be a challenge to present this material to such a varied audience, because there were experienced contractors there, as well as people who had no building experience at all. So the material presented had to be basic enough to educate the inexperienced people, but not so basic as to be totally boring to the experienced. I don't really know if the contractor-guys were bored, but I wasn't.
- That said, 7 hours is a long time to remained focused and pay attention, even to something I am very interested in, and I found myself spacing out a bit towards the end. So I maybe missed out on some details about roofing. Also, sitting in a folding chair all day (plus 40+ minutes drive each way) kind of made me wish I could get a massage afterward. But rolling on my foam roller when I got home had to suffice.
- I have been independently studying tiny house construction for a few years now, just reading books and researching on the internet, so I would say that this workshop was about 60% stuff I already knew, and 40% new info. It sort of filled in some of the details I was unsure about- how to anchor the structure to the trailer, what kind of nails and screws to use, how much it was likely to weigh, and what sort of vehicle I would need to tow something like that. I can share specific details if anyone has questions, but it was a wealth of information.
- Speaking of the abundance of information, another nice thing is that they gave each of us a booklet that has all the slides from the powerpoint, everything we talked about, and space to take notes. So I was able to take notes, underline text, and circle parts of the drawings and images and make specific notes about them. It's almost like an instruction booklet on how to build a tiny house. I would be happy to share this with anyone who wants to look at it.
- I found the demographics of the group to be interesting. I was expecting it to be kind of a lot of people like me- which is to say, young-ish, free-spirited, bohemian types. As it turns out, the majority of my fellow workshop-mates were old white dudes. And when I say old white dudes, I mean like, my father's age. A lot of grey beards in the crowd. I mean no disrespect, and it's not the first time I have been in a crowd of old white dudes. Let's not forget that I have been to many Richard Thompson concerts and attended the Kate Wolf Music Festival, which I fondly dubbed "Geezerpalooza." I am was surprised that there were so few women in attendance. I guess it makes sense, since building and construction have traditionally been male spheres. I guess I had just seen a lot of inspirational stories on the internet about women building their own houses, so I thought it was common. Of the 40-50 people there, there were maybe 15 women there. And of those 15 women, about half of them were equivalent in age and style to my mom, maybe a little less stylish and more lesbian-ish than my mom. A lot of older ladies with short hair and flannel shirts. Again, nothing wrong with that, that's probably what I will look like in another 25 years or so. Just noting the demographic. If I were to hazard a guess, it might be that many of the younger people who are interested in tiny houses are not willing or able to fork over the $300 for the workshop. I know there are a lot of us out there, but we many not have the disposable income for things like that.
- During the lunch break, we were invited to view a tiny house at another location nearby in Sonoma. I went over to check it out and took some photos. Someone asked me about my take on living in a tiny house for an "extended lifestyle", from the emotional side of things. For me, personally, I do not see myself living in a tiny house for the long term. For one thing, despite all my self-deprecating humor about being a spinster, I do hope to someday live with a mate (and even maybe have offspring), and while a tiny house might be good for one, I can't see it working for two (or more). Of course, if I were to find that mate, I could always change my living situation. It just seems like building a house meant for one sends out the message that there's no room for someone else, which doesn't seem prudent to me. My interest in it is not so much as a permanent housing solution, but as a learning experience, a chance to learn new skills, possibly a temporary debt-reduction measure, and probably eventually, the most awesome RV ever, to be used for short-to-mid-term adventures. I know there are those who are very gung-ho about living in their tiny homes for the rest of their lives, and I say, more power to them. But that's not really what I envision for myself, unless, in the future, tiny house co-housing communities become a reality and I have the opportunity to move to a permanent site with shared amenities.
That's kind of all I can think of at the moment. I will report further tomorrow, after day two.