Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz: Day 1

 

If you’d like to come see what we accomplished during the Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz, please come visit us for Cilantro Poncho's First Open House at 5:30 pm on Friday, March 11 at 4674 N Kain Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705.*

Yesterday we kicked off a week-long build blitz for the Meyerhofer’s tiny house, Cilantro Poncho. I joined Courtney and Kurt on Friday afternoon to begin Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz Prep and yesterday we were joined by an awesome crew of folks who came to help them get this little house started. Kurt’s parents, Andrea and Mark, drove over from LA with their SUV full of tools, Richard came down from Mesa, and Cammie and Andy drove from Phoenix to be here.

We started out with introductions, goals, tool safety, and “walking tour” of the tiny house. Then we split into work crews got started on the day’s project list which included the following:

• "Painting" the SIPs exterior with a third layer of liquid-applied water resistant barrier
• Cutting window framing and installing it in the window openings
• Measuring and cutting sill plates
• Determining the center of the trailer and snapping a center line
• Measuring from the center line to clamp the sill plates into place
• Tacking the sill plates in place with 2” star drive screws

Along the way we had a few moments of head scratching, a bunch of laughs, and gave each other lots of kudos. It was an awesome day and we’re nearly ready to get first wall up!

*If you’re reading this after Cilantro Poncho's First Open House and you’d like to visit, please be sure to contact Courtney and Kurt to arrange a day and time. They can’t accept unannounced visitors because they’ve got work to do finishing their little house and they need to make sure everyone who visits can do so during a time that’s safe. Thanks!

Cilantro Poncho's First Open House

This week I’m in Tucson helping Courtney and Kurt Meyerhofer’s dream come true through a Build Blitz for their tiny house, affectionately dubbed the Cilantro Poncho. Yesterday and the day before we worked on Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz Prep and today is Day 1 of the Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz. We’re expecting five more people to come help out as we get everything ready for the wall raising on Day 2.

At the end of the week Kurt and Courtney are hosting their very first Open House so that you can check out their little house. If you’d like to come admire our week’s work during the Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz, please come visit us for the Cilantro Poncho Open House at 5:30 pm on Friday, March 11 at 4674 N Kain Ave, Tucson, AZ 85705.*

This will be a chance for you to learn more about their house, their construction methods, and their upcoming plans. If you’ve never set foot inside a tiny house, this is a great chance to do it! If you’d like to follow along with their time-lapse of the build via their YouTube channel, they’ll be sharing the link. And if you’d like to help out in exchange for some hands-on experience building a tiny house, you’ll be able to sign up for that, too.

*If you’re reading this after the Open House and you’d like to visit, please be sure to contact Courtney and Kurt to arrange a day and time. They can’t accept unannounced visitors because they’ve got work to do finishing their little house and they need to make sure everyone who visits can do so during a time that’s safe. Thanks!

Cilantro Poncho Build Blitz Prep

We’ve had a lovely spring in Portland (read: plenty of rain!) so I felt parched the moment I stepped out of the Tucson airport. I immediately wheeled my tool-laden suitcase over to the nearest drinking fountain and began the hydration process that will ensure survival during our week-long build blitz in the desert.

Kurt and Courtney are the homeowners for this tiny house (tentatively named the Cilantro Poncho) and I’ve been working with them since they signed up for The Package Deal in the fall of 2015. They took my Tiny House Considerations E-Course, my Downsizing E-Course, and we worked through a custom tiny house design together. (Their design is based on the Skyline tiny house built by Eric Bohne, which they stayed in at Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel last fall – and we tailored it to suit their needs. Thanks, Eric!) For the past 6 weeks we’ve been working through project management together: getting quotes for trailers, SIPs, windows, water resistant barriers, and roofing so that we can get their little house dried in.

As they wrapping up Friday afternoons at work, I hit the ground running with a list of errands. My first stop was reserving scaffolding at Sunbelt Rentals so that we can get the SIPs roof installed on this tiny house safely. Then I headed to the build site to receive deliveries and finalize the tool, material, and supply lists.

Once Kurt arrived we walked through what materials and supplies we have on hand, which are arriving with Kurt’s dad, and which we need to pick up. We were just wrapping up when the trailer arrived. Damon and Natalie of Trailer Made went the extra mile (literally!) to ensure an on-time delivery for the trailer, driving it themselves from Denver to Tucson. I met them at Tiny House Jamboree last summer so it was a delight to see them here in a different context. Kurt was as swoony about his new trailer as Natalie and Damon’s dog Ruby was about Kurt! We admired it for a while, Kurt walking around “in” his new house to get a feel for how it will be in now that he has a life-size foundation. I told him that the house will go from seeming really big to really small to really big again as we add the layers. The window delivery from Window Depot arrived shortly after Courtney did and it was especially exciting to see the tiny windows that will go in Kurt and Courtney’s “away room.”

By evening we had all the major components we’ll need for the Build Blitz: trailer, SIPs kit, windows, and water resistant barrier. So we headed out, list in hand, to the hardware store so that Courtney and Kurt could select and stock their tool belts and a few basic jobsite tools. The part I’m most excited about for their sake is the impact driver and drill set they picked out. My Makita impact driver and drill set was one of the best presents I bought myself for my build and I’m sure they’ll appreciate having this great tool set for their own build and beyond.

By the time we wrapped up at the hardware store it was late, but I still stayed up talking with my host for the week, a friend from college whom I haven’t caught up with in way too long. She has a sweet little house not far from the built site and it feels splendidly serendipitous that she also has a guest room at the moment. Hooray for the week ahead! We can’t wait for everyone else to arrive! (And we still have a couple A Day at the Tucson Build Blitz spots available later in the week if you're in the area and want to join us!)

Tiny House Design Workshop in Asheville, NC (April 4-8, 2016)

I'm delighted to be speaking again at this year's Tiny House Conference in Asheville, NC about tiny house design considerations and strategies.

I'm also excited to be teaming up with Laura LaVoie of Life in 120 Square Feet and John Labovitz of Polymecca to teach a week-long design intensive in Asheville from April 4-8, immediately following the Tiny House Conference.  If you'd like to join us, please register for the Tiny House Design Workshop in Asheville, NC.

If you're planning to build your tiny house this summer, the week you spend in this design intensive with three instructors who designed and built their own tiny homes will prove invaluable to you. You'll be able to learn great tricks, learn from our mistakes, and save yourself a lot of money, not to mention headache and heartache!

Registration Deadline: Monday, March 21st 

Here's more info: Are you dreaming of a tiny house of your own? Are you trying to figure out the best way to maximize the space? If so, this workshop is for you! In this workshop you will develop a well-considered design for your tiny house in all three dimensions.

We'll talk about inspirations and aspirations as we discuss layout, size, and shape. We'll take you on fun tours to see tiny houses in a community and a tiny house builder's facility. We'll dig into design considerations related to windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms, and built-ins. You'll have plenty of time to ask questions, work on your own design, and get feedback.

Your three instructors - Laura LaVoie of Life in 120 Square Feet, John Labovitz of Polymecca and Lina Menard of Niche Consulting - have all designed and built their own tiny homes. Laura and her partner Matt live in a tiny off-grid ground-bound home in North Carolina, John has parked his tiny house truck in the orchard at his family farm in West Virginia, and Lina lives in her vardo in a tiny house community in Oregon. We are excited to introduce you to tips, tricks, strategies, and information to help you design a fabulous tiny home of your own!

This one-week design intensive will take place in Asheville, NC on April 4-8 immediately following the Tiny House Conference. If you sign up with a buddy, both of you will receive a $50 rebate! If you'd like to join us, please register for the Tiny House Design Workshop in Asheville, NC.

Registration Deadline: Monday, March 21st 

Living on the Green Side

It was a pleasure to have a chat a couple months ago with Sierra Dickey '15, a fellow graduate of Whitman College who wanted to write a story about me and my little house, The Lucky Penny, for an upcoming edition of the Whitman Magazine. Even more exciting, my old friend Matt Zimmerman Banderas '04 who is a very talented photographer, was assigned the job of coming to my tiny house community, Simply Home Community to take photos for the story. The story, called Living on the Green Side, just went live and I'd love to share it with you. Thank you, Sierra and Matt, for helping me share my story and thank you Whitman for the people and experiences you provided that have helped me live this happy little life!

Read Living on the Green Side by clicking this link!

Tiny House 101 Workshop in Washington, D.C. in March

I'm thrilled to be teaching a Tiny House Workshop (TH 101) in Washington, D.C. this March through the Tiny House Collaborative. This workshop is geared towards the tiny house curious crowd. (We'll be teaching an intermediate tiny house course (TH 201) in Denver, CO following the Tiny House Jamboree in August, so if you're tiny house serious, just hang tight for more info on that!)

If you'd like to join us for TH 101 in D.C. in March, please register today!

Tiny House 101 includes 2 full days of instruction, interactive activities, and networking covering all the tiny house basics. Learn the basics of how to build a tiny house and decide whether tiny house living is for you.  In this workshop by members of the Tiny House Collaborative, you will have the opportunity to learn from experienced tiny house builders, designers and advocates.

Topics include:

• Intro to tiny houses & the tiny house movement
• Planning your build – budget, construction, DIY
• Tiny House Lifestyle
• Major Decisions
• Trailer or foundation built
• Framing & basic building techniques
• Plumbing, electrical & propane systems
• Toilet & gray water options – composting and more!
• Thermal envelope – insulation and ventilation
• Appliance considerations – recommendations for the best, no-hassle products
• Zoning issues, regulations – how and where to park or build
• Interior design for small spaces

Pricing:

• Standard Price = $399 per person or $700 for two people
• Early Bird Discount = $349 for Single Person or Two People for $600

If you'd like to join us for TH 101 in D.C. in March, please register today!

Tiny House Build Blitz in Tucson

Are you considering building a tiny house of your own? Do you want to learn how to build with SIPs (structural insulated panels?) If you are getting serious about building your tiny house this year, one of the very best things you can do is get some hands-on building experience.

I'm going to be leading a week-long Tiny House Build Blitz in Tucson, AZ at the beginning of March to help a fabulous couple build their tiny dream home and we're excited to share this learning opportunity with you, too! If you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work, this workshop is for you! 

Sign up with a buddy and you both get $100 off when you sign up! Space is limited, so please register for the Build Blitz in Tucson to claim your spot today! 

I built my tiny house with SIPs in 2014 and I've been helping other people do the same ever since. In a week-long build blitz using SIPs we can typically get the floor done, the walls up, the roof on, and the waterproofing on. We'll work together each step of the way! And the best part is you'll get to do this with the encouragement of other people who are embarking on a similar journey. (Hint: the people in the workshop may help you build YOUR house someday!)

The $395 workshop cost includes:

• Hands-on experience building the shell of a tiny house on wheels using high-quality, energy-efficient building materials including SIPs and a liquid-applied water resistant barrier!
• Personalized instruction to use basic hand and power tools!
• Your very own tool belt with basic hand tools to take home with you!
• The satisfaction of helping an awesome couple start their tiny dream home!
• Lots of laughs, high fives, and an awesome sense of empowerment!

This six-day workshop will run from 9AM to 5PM each day from Sunday, March 6 through Friday, March 11 in Tucson, AZ. 

Register for the Build Blitz in Tucson to claim your spot today!

Tiny House Collaborative

I was on Hawaiian Time when the Tiny House Collaborative launched, so I haven't yet taken the time to tell you how very excited I am about being part of this group of fabulous people. The short answer is pretty freakin' excited!

The Tiny House Collaborative is a team of 7 individuals, each passionate about providing the resources to design, build and dwell efficiently. We are combining our energy, time, and expertise so that we can more effectively share our love of tiny homes and our collective knowledge of living well in small spaces. It's a synergistic relationship because we can do more together than any one of us could do alone.

You have four opportunities to take advantage of this synergy right away:

• Sign up for our Tiny House 101 Workshop in Washington DC March 26-27
• Sign up for a Phone/Skype Consultation to address your specific questions
• Sign up for an On-Site Consultation so we can give you the skinny on your property's suitability for a tiny home
• Sign up for a Tiny House Tour so you can explore one of our tiny homes

So how did this group of people all join up? We think it was a little bit luck/fate/coincidence and a little bit being brave enough to act on our mutual friend crushes. When we all arrived in Colorado for the 2015 Tiny House Jamboree, we decided to kick off the weekend with a hike. We got to talking about what each of us were doing in the Tiny House Movement and how it was hard to do it alone. By the end of the hike, the seven of us had decided we had to find a way to combine efforts. And just like that, the Tiny House Collaborative became a twinkle in our eyes.

In December we gathered up to Visit Orlando Lakefront RV & Tiny House Park to explore the city where James and Kai live. We turned the trip into a retreat to figure out the details and prepare to share the Tiny House Collaborative with everyone else. That means YOU! We have created a website where you can learn more about the Collaborative and sign up for the services we currently offer. Please know there are many more good things to come!

Lina's Tiny House: The Lucky Penny

For those of you new to The Little Life, welcome! My name is Lina Menard and I live in a tiny house called The Lucky Penny. I designed and built the Lucky Penny in 2014.

This profile will introduce you to my lil' house. If you'd like to see more photos and articles about my house, read Lucky Penny's Public Debut. If you have questions, please be sure to take a peek at my Frequently Asked Questions and if your question isn't addressed there, please contact me. If you want to see a video tour, please check out the Lucky Penny Tiny House Tour by Jenna and Guillaume of Tiny House Giant Journey. You can also check out other posts about The Lucky Penny on my blog.

Fast Facts

• Name: The Lucky Penny
• Location: Simply Home Community in Portland, OR
• Location Type: Tiny Cohousing Community (three tiny houses act as detached bedrooms in the backyard of a single-family home)
• Setting: Urban
• Designer: Lina Menard of Niche Consulting LLC (yup, that's me!)
• Builder: Lina Menard & Friends (I hosted work parties most weekends!)
• Plan Set: To Be Released Soon
• Number of Full-Time Inhabitants: 1
• Number of Part-Time Inhabitants: 1
• Pets: Raffi, 10 year old red Devon Rex tabby cat

Size Details

• House Width (Exterior): 8'-4" (100")
• House Width (Interior): 7'-4" (88") 
• House Length (Exterior): 14'-9" (177")
• House Length (Interior) = 13'-9" (165") 
• Exterior Square Footage: 123
• Interior Square Footage: 100
• House Height: appox. 12'-6" 
• Weight: Unknown

Construction Details

• Style: Gypsy Wagon
• Roof Shape: Vardo (curved)
• Foundation Type: Single 5000 # Iron Eagle Vardo Trailer with side extensions, welded-on stabilizing jacks
• Construction Type: SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels)
• Insulation Type: EPS (expanded polystyrene foam)

Systems

• electric point-of-use water heater
• electric space heater (Oct-Mar)
• mini-fridge without freezer (April-September)
• one-burner induction cooktop
• convection toaster oven
• mini chest freezer 
• kitchen sink
• bathroom shower

Sustainability Features

• salvaged door, windows, and finish materials
• electric-only appliances
• SIPs construction for energy-efficiency
• liquid-applied water resistant barrier for air sealing and energy-efficiency
• all LED lighting
• energy-efficient appliances
• low-VOC paints, stains and sealants

 Budget

• Total Budget: $25,000
• Total Build Cost: $24,250
• Building Materials: $14,000
• Car & Truck Rental: $2,750 (I don't own a car, so I rented cars and trucks for my build)
• Build Space Rental: $2,250 ($250/month for 9 months)
• Volunteer Meals: $1,500 (I ran work parties most weekends and provided coffee, continental breakfast, snacks, a picnic lunch and for those who stuck with me till the end, dinner!)
• Furnishings: $1,500
• Contracted Labor: $1,250 ($750 roofer, $300 welding for flip-up porch, $200 electrical consultation)
• Appliances: $1,000
• Estimated Sweat Equity: $16,000 (800 hours at $20/hour*)
• Total Value: $40,250

Small Developer Bootcamp in Portland

Yesterday, on a gorgeous spring morning, my landie Jake and I rode our bikes down to the Native American Center at PSU to attend the Small Scale Developer Bootcamp hosted by Eli Spevak of Orange Splot, LLC and John and Jim from Incremental Development Alliance. These three incredible people teamed up after meeting at an event last year. Eli told Jim and John that Portland has lots of people eager to make our neighborhoods better places through creative, community-oriented small scale projects. They scheduled a one-day bootcamp for the summer of 2016. But as more and more people contacted Eli with questions over the winter, he realized the demand for this information was even greater than anticipated, so he convinced John and Jim to bump the training up. They agreed and had the opportunity to present to a sold-out crowd of more than 100 people yesterday! The event actually kicked off on Tuesday evening with a set of presentations by small scale developers at The Zipper, a fun new food court with local independent restaurants created by Kevin Kavanaugh of Guerrilla Development. It was fascinating hearing about all the small-scale residential, live-work, incubator, and mixed-use spaces that have been created. A special focus of the bootcamp was missing middle housing, a term coined by Daniel Parolek to describe the mid-density housing that most American cities quit building many years ago and now sorely lack. Daniel was there for the bootcamp to describe missing middle housing - you know, like fourplexes, garden apartments, rowhomes - and its role in our urban fabric.

Yesterday the ten sessions included topics like:

• Financing Your First Deal
• Site Selection & Buying Property
• Deal Structures & Money Sources
• Understanding Pro Formas
• Due Diligence & Acquisition
• Understanding Condominiums
• Property & Asset Management

It was heartening to see so many people in Portland eager to learn about how they can play a part in making better neighborhoods by filling the gaps in our urban fabric with missing middle housing and small mixed-use projects. It was also fun to recognize so many faces in the room and meet new people. I'm glad I was able to participate and I look forward to seeing what happens in Portland over the next couple years as a result of the Small Developer Bootcamp!