Cross-post from facebook notes, part 2
Notes on the Tumbleweed Tiny House Design & Build Workshop: Day 2
November 10, 2013 at 6:42pm
- As I mentioned yesterday, 7 hours is a long time to spend paying attention and focusing and listening to someone talk, even about something really interesting. By the end of the day, I had information overload, and my eyes were glazing over, and I was getting antsy.
- Something that I noticed and found interesting was what I would call the "Gospel of Tumbleweed." Because the Tumbleweed company has been around and building tiny houses for 10 years, they have figured out what they consider the best ways of doing things. There were many points in the weekend where someone in the audience would ask a question of the presenters that was essentially "What about x? Could you do it that way?" or the slightly more confrontational "How come you don't use x here?" and the answer from the experts was always "You could do it that way. But these are the reasons we think our way works the best." I appreciated that they never told people that they couldn't try their own methods, they just explained the reasons behind their recommendations. I also appreciated that they didn't really shill their own products that much. Tumbleweed, in addition to the workshops, also sells a bunch of other stuff, from books, to plans, to trailers, all the way up to finished houses. They did mention their products throughout the workshop, but it was usually in the context of offering options or shortcuts. If you don't want to spend the time prepping a stock trailer, you can buy one of theirs, which is already ready to build on. If you don't want to design your own plans, or pay an architect to do it, you can buy their plans, which are detailed and carefully engineered. If you want a tiny house but don't want to build it yourself, you can buy one pre-made. So I was made aware of what they had to offer, but I didn't feel like they pushed their products as necessary or the only way to go.
- That said, something about the "Tumbleweed Gospel" kind of bugs me. I don't know what it is, exactly, but I think it has to do with not wanting to just build their exact house. I think that's why I don't want to buy their plans. Well, that and the fact that they cost like, $700. Even though there are only a handful of Tumbleweed houses in existence, and the whole concept is still strange and unusual to most people, I still want mine to be even more unique, and I don't just want to do everything the way they say. Maybe I am just being contrary.
- On a personal note, I am proud of myself for going to this thing. There was a time in the past, when I was younger, when I would not have had the nerve to go alone. If I couldn't find anyone to go with me, I probably would have skipped it. There were points throughout the weekend, when many of the other attendees were shmoozing... chatting and networking. In the past, these windows of time would have sent me into a sneaky self-hate spiral of shame. I would look around, see that "everyone else" was talking to each other, and I wasn't and think that it was because I was socially retarded and shy (huge flaw) and there was something wrong with me, because clearly I was not able to do what everyone else was doing so easily. But now, I had a few moments of being slightly uncomfortable, and that was it. I also had a moment where I looked around the room, and noticed that there were quite a few other people sitting quietly by themselves, and I was not the only shy person in the room, and that it wasn't "everyone else" who was chatty. I just used to focus on the outgoing folks, put a positive value judgement on them, and compare myself unfavorably to them. I consider this a big win for self-acceptance. I am just not the sort of person who can instantly strike up a friendship with someone I just met (usually.) I recognize that I probably miss out on a lot by being reticent about engaging with new people, and I am slowly working on that, but I also accept myself the way I am.
- And another personal note- if I were the type of person who was likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger, which we have established that I'm not, I realized, ruefully, that a tiny house workshop would be a good place to meet men. I mean, it was like 70% male, a few of them were close to my age, and if their women weren't with them, and they were looking into building a tiny house, there's a pretty good chance they're single. Single ladies who are not shy like I am, take note. It could be a good, if somewhat expensive, place for a man safari.
- But enough about me... let's talk about me again. One of the things that was really brought home to me today was that building a tiny house, particularly following the "Tumbleweed Gospel" is a major, serious, undertaking. This is not like building a dog house or a shed. This is a fully-functional house, with all the systems and appliances of a house. Of course, I knew that beforehand, but the seemingly endless discussion of electrical writing, plumbing, hot water heaters, toilets, propane heat, wood stoves, fixtures, built ins, like cabinets and countertops... really drilled that idea in. Think about every single thing in your empty house. Then think about researching and picking out each thing and then learning how to install it. It was kind of overwhelming. Building the exterior seemed less overwhelming than designing the systems and interior, probably just because, once you have the plans, there are fewer choices to make.
- At the end, they had a survey where we could give feedback on the workshop, and one of the questions was something like "How likely are you to build?" I was not sure how to answer. I feel I am fairly likely to build... something. But probably not a tiny house, at least not initially. The main reason is simply money. While they are very cheap to build compared to a conventional house, they are still far more than I can afford, particularly all at once. If I could spread it out, and buy the trailer, then wait and save up and buy the lumber, then wait and save up and buy the appliances, etc. it could be feasible, but that would literally take years. And I don't exactly have a warehouse to store all these accumulated house parts, or a half-built house, in the meantime. Or, I guess I could start saving now, and start building in 5 years... but that's kind of anti-climactic. I also refuse to go into debt to finance this, as one of the main reasons I was interested in the first place was to save money to get out of debt. So, I have a ton of ideas, but no real firm plans right now. I feel like I have the knowledge and confidence to build, but have not worked out the financing and logistics. The good news is that, unless I forget everything I have learned (and the workbook they gave us should help prevent that) there's not a great rush to start right way, and I can take some time to work out a plan. I might start out by building something like the Tumblweed Vardo, which is a small, truck-bed camper. The plans are available for free on the Tumbleweed website Of course, I would need to buy a truck first. Or a teardrop trailer is another possible first project. In any case, the workshop was informative, and I am glad I went, but the end result was not "I am going to go build a house!" at least, not for me.