Tiny House Blog

by Jennifer Edwards

Here is the update on the Build Tiny Workshop last weekend. Despite the fact that it rained the WHOLE time, it was a great experience. Robin did a great job executing her vision of a very hands on, cohesive workshop, with a perfect sized group for the project. I can’t wait for the next one!

Everyone pitched in with the building and had a chance to learn new things. As if it wasn’t already a great experience, there was the feel-good aspect of knowing this home would be towed down to Charlottesville upon completion as part of a start up project serving homeless and low income families. Meals were provided by Build Tiny right there in their home on Two Filly Farm, which allowed for constant opportunities for networking, comparing and troubleshooting plans, and overall tiny house conversation around the table at meals.

Meals were also insanely delicious (think chili, the best cornbread you’ve ever had, and warm coffee and cider after day of working in the rain…yeah). This also kept momentum going on the build, which was especially important considering the weather. If everyone didn’t know how much weather can impact building, they do now. Even though everyone was a real trooper and pushed on through it, rain management puts a damper on timelines.

Luckily, there was space inside the barn and everyone just got cozy and made it work. However, being inside the barn made it so that we could not raise the walls if we wanted to be able to actually get the tiny house out. So for the finally day, a tarp system was constructed and the walls went up!! Rain or shine!

Larry Herbst, a master cabinet and furniture builder, came out to show some fine carpentry in working with Lee Pera on on her tiny custom cabinets for her tiny home at Boneyard Studios. Lee, co-founder of Boneyard Studios, offered ongoing feedback and conversation related to a wide variety of tiny house related issues, everything from managing builders, to managing zoning codes, and managing your sanity and relationships while building. Steve Newbold brought his lovely DIY tiny home out and we all got to watch the process of putting in an AMAZING bathroom door on wheels out of a beautiful piece of art that has been bounced around amongst his friends and finally found it’s perfect home.

Robin Hayes and Tony Gilchriest are not only fantastic builders with a ridiculous amount of experience and knowledge, but very effective instructors. They made a well-oiled machine of a building team out of their pupils in no time! I’m attaching a bunch pictures for you as well. Due to the rain, it wasn’t exactly the easiest to photograph, but you can get the idea. Hope you are well and enjoying the heck out of life!

Day seven started out earlier than usual as we were ending the day a little earlier and we were loosing a couple of people who had to head home because of distance and work. We were still very much behind schedule. With Andrew being ill much of the week we had not completed as much as we needed to and we wanted to at least get a start on the plastering.

We spent all morning doing finishing work around the windows. Curving them gently in, stretching the mesh and making sure they were tight enough to accept the plaster. There was still electrical work to complete. Niches to cut out, special mesh to put on all exposed wood, etc. We kept very busy.

Andrew putting on a new chainsaw blade to cut the other two niches

After lunch it was time to mix the first coat of plaster. This is a process in itself as you have to get it just right and it needs to mix for 20 minutes per batch. Once we had a batch ready Andrew demonstrated the technique for holding and applying it to the wall. It is much heavier and more difficult than you might think. Many of us decided that if we were building our out straw bale homes that we would seriously consider hiring this part out to the professionals.

We only succeeded in covering most of one wall and it was time to clean up and say our goodbyes. After a week together sharing in this experience you make many good friends and though we are spread out from the east coast to all the way down under in Australia many of us will keep in contact and share the straw bale projects that are planned to be built by members of the workshop. If you have interest in straw bale construction, I would highly recommend this hands on experience with Andrew Morrison if you are able. Visit strawbale.com.

Thanks to Andrew Morrison and our hosts at Common Kettle Farm for a fine week of learning, good food, new friends and experiences.

Chainsawing out the niches

Getting the electrical ready for the plaster coat

EJ and Sasha heading out on a short honeymoon trip

Adding the curvature to the window openings (very time consuming!)

Adding the curves to the large window

Andrew making a scratch tool for the plaster

Andrew preparing the first load of plaster

Plaster ready to put on the walls

Andrew showing us how to work with the plaster on the plaster hawk

Andrew demonstrating how to plaster the wall. (It’s harder then it looks!)

We try our hands at plastering the straw bales

Many hands make light work!

Working up the wall

Group thinning out, this is hard work!

Susan scratching the wall to make it rough for the next coat

Denise liked this part of plastering

Today is day 6 of the straw bale workshop here at Common Kettle Farm. One thing that I have discovered at this workshop is that straw bale construction takes time and there are lots of steps. If you want a completed home fast, straw bale is not the way to go. If you want a warm cozy or cool home with low utilities and are patient straw bale is perfect.

Installing the outside mesh

Today the rest of the meshing was put up, and more of the electrical put in. The boxes have to be cut out with a chain saw and the wires pulled. The wires are then pushed back into the bales where it sometimes needs to be cut out with a chain saw. Once this is all done the mesh has to be sewn together from the inside walls to the outside with long string and huge needles. Andrew showed us how it was done and we all jumped in to make it happen. Every 18 inches this has to be done going up and across. We used a jig to cut the string and hung them on a tree. The sand arrived for the plaster today and the kids enjoyed seeing it dumped from the truck.

Besides the usual work there were other were other activities going on around the barn. A wedding was planned for that evening as Sasha and EJ were getting married and the residents of the farm were decorating and rearranging the leftover bales for the event in the evening. Another busy day at the straw bale workshop and only one more after today.

I missed the the official wedding as I was invited to dinner at Michael Janzen’s of Tiny House Design. However I got back soon enough to enjoy some great music by Andrew, our hostess and the kids, and a chance to see the bride and groom do a wedding dance. A fun evening!

Wiring an outside electrical box

Cutting the twine for sewing the mesh

Sewing twine hanging in the tree

Andrew demonstrating the straw bale needle for sewing the mesh together

Needle coming through the wall

Lot’s of Miller’s knots when completed!

Installing more mesh

The girls decorating for the wedding this evening.

The guys arranging the bales for seating and cleaning the work area.

Andrew entertaining the wedding crowd.

Our hostess sharing her singing talent with a beautiful Dutch song.

The kids want to sing also.

The bride Sasha and groom EJ performing the wedding dance.

Sasha performs a Russian dance with EJ.

On day five at Common Kettle Farm we had an extremely busy day. Covering all exposed wood with roofing felt, getting the cutouts ready for the electrical. Cutting out the box areas for the electrical, installing the rest of the windows. Lots of chainsaw problems.

Deciding where the cutouts for the decorative niches would go. We also prepped for the mesh and started installing it at the end of the day.

A very busy day but I will let the photos tell the story. To learn more about straw bale construction visit strawbale.com.