Teen Framing a Tiny House

Building a tiny house this summer has been anything but tiny.  It’s really building all of the aspects of a conventional house, but on a really small scale.  Will completed the subfloor last week, and he is framing the first floor (there’s a loft with a dormer that makes up the second floor) this week.  He wakes up each morning raring to go and has recruited his friends to help during the week and his parents on the weekend.  Being a perfectionist with an engineer’s brain, Will is crafting probably one of the most perfect (square) framings I’ve ever seen. 

Will measures, then measures again to make all of his cuts exactly correct.  He’s learned that wood isn’t straight (not even close!) and even with his father’s weight pulling down on the wood it doesn’t budge.  But that’s when Will pulled out the pipe clamp and used it to move the wood so he could perfectly align his top plates.  Will’s lucky that his friends are fascinated by the project and they’re looking for community service hours, and that his parents are supportive even though they know nothing about construction, building, or tools (his dad is an oral surgeon and his mother is a nurse). 

During this past week, Will learned how to use a chop saw, circular saw, nail gun, and the good ol’ hammer.  He insists on removing any nails that bend and keeping a clean workplace.  Cliff Bixler, Will’s mentor, has given him many pearls of wisdom and helps Will think through each step.  Will is in awe of how Cliff can take a circular saw with one hand while holding a huge sheet of plywood with the other to make a perfect cut.  The plans assume that the builder knows how to use power tools, understands building lingo, and comprehends how to build.  Remember Will is just 17 years old and has never built anything before this. Cliff is an expert builder and a good teacher. 

For you wanna-be-tiny-house builders, Will is creating an instructional video for non-builders.  He’s giving his pearls of wisdom from the perspective of someone who’s never used a hammer before.  By describing how the sound of the air compressor shocked him when he first turned it on to how exciting it was to use the nail gun, he’ll give the novice tips to get them started and through the entire process of building a tiny house.  I’ll keep you posted!