Lee's Community Build in D.C. - Part 1

Lee Pera and a group of tiny house builders attended a Tumbleweed workshop last year. This year, they broke ground on their tiny house community in Washington, D.C. Below is an update from Lee who will be guest blogging her tiny house community adventure with us regularly. If you're interested in starting a group build in your community, drop us an email and we'll work with you to connect with other tiny house enthusiasts, builders, and suppliers in your area. 

We’ve been doing preparatory work this week meeting with other tiny house builders, scoping out materials and prices, looking at designs we like, and helping Brian out on the lot and garden beds.  Making decisions usually stresses me out, and all the decisions that go into a tiny house have been overwhelming me, so it felt good to already decide on a couple things while looking at materials.  For instance, I love the look of the interior of the Protohaus and have decided to go with bead board rather than the knotty pine that the Fencl tiny house plans call for (saving a significant amount of money as well).  I have also decided I really like the look of cork flooring and many of its benefits and will most likely go with that for my flooring – whew…two decisions made effortlessly!

The biggest news this week is that I may end up downsizing even more.  Originally I planned on building on a 22 ft-long x 8 ft-wide trailer, extending the Fencl out by 4 feet in length and one foot in width.  But this week we were out for beers with our new tiny house friends Margaret and Zach – who are building an amazing tiny house in South Carolina – and Zach told us about an ad he had seen for a tiny house shell.  It’s a fabulous deal, but the main issue I had with it is that, while built on an 18-ft trailer, the shell is just 16 feet long and 7 feet 10 inches wide.  Could I really lose 6 feet of interior space?  That’s a lot of room in a tiny house.   Still, the price is less than what my trailer itself will cost, and the seller was excited that we even knew about tiny houses.  Tony talked with the builder/seller and he seems to have done solid work, and Zach checked it out in person for us.  It looks like I’ll be buying the shell all built out!  We will finish the roofing, siding and interior starting in June.

Next, Tony and I went to spend some time hanging out in the Fencl (18 ft long x 7 ft wide).  After spending about an hour, moving about in the rooms, hanging out in the loft, scoping out storage, I think I can make a smaller unit work.  It will require getting creative about storing my stuff (or getting rid of more), but I’m excited about the challenge.   I like to think I adapt easily to wherever I live and the size will be fine, but if it’s too small I can design and build a larger one over time.  It will be useful to spend some time in one first to get an idea for what I really want and need in size and design.  I’ll post more photos of the shell soon.

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Guest post by Robert Patton-Spruill

I have been addicted to tiny buildings and houses my entire life. In 2002 my parents were sick and living on a farm in NH and I thought I should build a shack on their land so I could visit with them and help take care of them. So I began scanning the internet for tiny house designs when I came across Jay Shafer and his Tumbleweed Tiny house. I was stunned, a livable house on wheels? It seemed perfect for what I had in mind, a home I could park next my parents house making taking care of them a bit less of a chore and more of pleasure for my wife and I. I contacted Jay, who was living in Iowa at the time, and asked him to build me one. He said, "You know, I am moving out west, do you want by my original prototype?" Needless to say we jumped at the opportunity and a couple of weeks later there was Jay with a Tumbleweed Tiny House in tow!

My wife (Patti Moreno the Garden Girl www.gardengirltv.com) and daughter, who at the time was four years old, were so excited we spent the next week in it together, in the middle of February no less. We had so much fun, we renamed it the "excuse me" house because anytime we had to move we had to say excuse me. We made my daughter sleep in the in closet upstairs in the loft, needless to say she loved it.

But alas this plan of mine was short lived as the town came down on us and declared it a "manufactured house" and demanded that we move it or face massive fines. We were shocked and after losing numerous appeals moved it down to our city home in Boston, where it has lived happily ever since. Boy has it had a life since it was moved down here, first it served as Patti's craft shack. She spent hours in there spinning yarn, meditating and making gorgeous knitted scarves and hats. 

After a year as a heavenly hobby house, Patti sacrificed the house for Uncle Kifo, the Army Veteran, who showed up and he thought it was perfect and lived in there for five years! He loved it, sadly three years ago he suffered a series of strokes which forced him to leave the home. It didn't stay empty for more than a week though, when a student of mine who recently graduated college, with six figures of student debt, moved in and lived in it happily for another two years! But now it is time to move on. My parents passed away in 2010 and we have inherited the farm and have decided to redevelop it as a sustainable farm and want to build barns and more tiny architecture.

Robert Patton-Spruill is putting the Epu up for sale and will open his tiny house to the public on May 12 from 1pm to 4pm for an open house at 88 Lambert, St, Boston, MA (map) Our very own Derek “Deek” Diedricksen, host of our Boston workshop will be on hand too. RSVP on our Facebook event page.