The Story

I have been interested in the environment ever since I watched a documentary on PBS about how the environment was being affected by humans. I learned how world leaders are aiming to slow down global warming and climate change by 2050, but this is too late, as the documentary said, because most glaciers will be gone by 2020. It also taught me this:

"French children are told a story in which they imagine having a pond with water lily leaves floating on the surface. The lily population doubles in size every day, and if left unchecked, will smother the pond in 30 days, killing all other living things in the pond. Day after day, the plant seems so small and so it is decided to leave it grow until it half-covers the pond, before cutting it back. They are then asked on what day half-coverage will occur. This is revealed to be the 29th day, and then there will be just one day to save the pond."

But what about the Human population on Earth? Is today the 29th day, the documentary asked. But then it talked about solutions to help the environment, such as better planned cities and public transportation. I then knew that was what I wanted to do.

My interests in Tiny Houses started when I was in fifth grade. My teacher had one of Gary Paulsen's books, The Foxman, featured on a shelf. Liking Paulsen as an author, I decided to read the book. In the book, the Foxman lived in a small cabin in the woods of northern Minnesota, which had a bed, small fireplace, and cookstove. At that moment, I was hooked. I had to have one of these cabins for myself. I proceeded to come up with designs for multiple tiny cabins. Being a young lad, however, I wondered if I was the first person to come up with the idea of a tiny house. I was wrong. Jay Shafer, of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, had beat me to it by about ten years.  From there,  I then had to have one of Jay's Tumbleweed Tiny Houses.  But I'll get to that later.

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It was August of 2013. And I had a plan. A plan to build a small retreat, a small auxiliary space of exclusively my own, where I could spend my afternoons doing my homework, and enjoying the freedom of living small. I had wanted to do this for almost four years, and now was the time. I had a plan, one that I had drawn up in the beginning of February, one that laid out a small shack measuring a mere 4 ½ by 6 feet on the inside. It would contain a small desk, a minuscule kitchenette, and possibly a small wet bath. I knew that then was the time to start building, or I may never have started.

The original drawing

The current plan

During this time period, my parents were in the process of moving their office. They were moving to the Village Gate, a historic brick downtown Rochester office and apartment complex, which was bordered by a small auto body shop on one side that had a huge pile of pallets by the dumpster. It was this pallet pile through which my shack would originate. One of my goals was to build my shack with repurposed materials. Therefore, I decided, I would use these pallets to build my floor. Finally, after we had finished a long day of unpacking boxes of binders containing interior design and architectural files, we finally left that place exhausted, and my Dad and I loaded up our small trailer late that night with as many pallets it could cold carry home.

Soon after, on one sunny weekday, I took a pry bar, hammer, and safety glasses and began deconstruction. It was tedious work, as the wood I salvaged would be used for a floor. Each board would have to be at least twenty inches long, so I wouldn't be able to cut the boards off the stringers with a saw, or the boards would be too short. To add to my work, my pallets were made in such a way that it was more difficult to deconstruct them than an ordinary pallet, and the nails used had rusted into the boards, so I ended up having to carefully drill out most of the nails.

This process took many hours, but in the end, it was well worth my effort, as the floor now looks quite beautiful- and I didn’t have to pay even a single penny for my floor! I just sanded them down with a palm sander and applied some urethane. After I sanded the floor down it was revealed that all the pallets I used were made from assorted hardwoods which are beautiful themselves, probably too beautiful to be on a pallet. As a side note, nearly 44 percent of all hardwood lumber produced in the US goes towards wooden pallet production. That’s a lot!

The floor, under construction.
You can even see binders from the office in the background

Eventually September comes and August goes, and the cycle of my lifestyle once again moved into its next stage for the next ten months: school. School brings with it at least ten hours of my day devoted to academia, with two of those hours being devoted to soccer for two months. Initially, soccer brought me great exhaustion, and these two forces left me without much time or energy for my shack, and progress slows to less than 4 hours of work a week, and I succumb to the human weakness of impatience. So in haste, I put aside my goal of building with repurposed materials and instead, my Dad and I embark on a trip to Lowes to buy two-by-threes and OSB. 

Succumbing to the human weakness of impatience aside, on the way to Lowes, we stopped at Armstrong Glass on Route 54a across from Indian Pines. Most people dismiss this old red building with white trim and a gambrel roof, that includes a large pile of old single-paned windows and doors that wraps around its right side, but I had come to explore this place that I had not yet been to. I stepped out of the car, refreshed by a unique early-season apple cider blend from the Cider Mill, and then I set my eyes on a shabby white door complete with peeling paint, hinges and a doorknob. It was narrow, but hey, my shack needed a narrow door. So I measured, and it came out to be about two feet wide and six feet long. Perfect. This door was exactly the size I would need, since anything wider would look strange on a six foot long structure and also compromise its functionality. Deciding that this door would also be well suited for adding a window in the upper panel, I went inside the poorly lit building and found an old lady, who seemed to work there.

“How much is this door?” I asked.

The Lady replied, “Ten dollars.”

Immediately, awestruck by my bargain, I whip out a ten dollar bill out of my pocket and hand it to the lady, and proceed to tie down the door to our trailer we brought with us. I still can’t believe the door was ten dollars when we head down the road towards Lowes.

Speaking of windows and doors, I was able to find the windows for my shack for free, from my grandfather. Being thrifty, he saves lots of things, and after forty years of living at his place, he has accumulated a potpourri of stuff, some of which I found useful. I found one large rectangular window; one that was divided into three sections. This window will be placed in front of the desk, so I could look out and enjoy the scenic field, which is where I will place my shack. At the time, my grandfather was also In the process of remodeling his lake cottage, and had a long, narrow cabinet door complete with a window. I will put this window horizontally on the right wall of my shack. From my own house, I found an old window in our tractor shed that will be in the kitchenette for me to look out.

At Lowes, I preceded directly to the lumber section. I had a list and I had estimated that I would need thirty two-by-three’s and six sheets of “budget” OSB, which at a little less than ten dollars per sheet, I could afford. Cost had been one of the determining factors that had kept building a tiny house a dream. Tumbleweed Tiny House Company’s Epu, which is one of my favorite tiny house designs, is advertised to cost the builder about twenty thousand. This is why building a tiny house was only a dream. But, building a tiny house moved to possibility when I stumbled upon Derek Diedricksen’s blog, Relaxshacks.com. His blog and his ingenuitive shacks and retreats that he builds with materials he finds by side of the road, which cost him at most, usually a few hundred dollars, taught me that I could build a small retreat for 2.5% of what Tumbleweed Tiny House Company had advertised.

Selecting the OSB was the easy part of my shopping. Selecting the two-by-three’s was the difficult part: it involved a forklift. At Lowe’s, they have lumber on racks: They have racks of loose lumber on the bottom where the customer can reach and select what they want, and then they have pallets of lumber up high where they store the wood until the bottom shelves run out. In my situation, the bottom shelf did not contain thirty two-by-three’s. We probably ended up waiting forty-five minutes for a forklift to place the wood where we could reach it. In the end, we finally arrived home, and I had spent $102 out of my planned $500 budget.

Well stocked with lumber, I could begin framing. I started out with the wall that the desk would face the wall with the big window. I cut each two-by-three to the right length with a hand saw and miter box, with the radio on in the background. I laid out the wall on my basement/garage floor and nailed the two-by-three’s together. I repeated this process with three more walls. With all the walls out of the way, I could cover them with the OSB. That involved carefully figuring out how each piece would fit while minimizing leftovers. After the walls were sheathed, they were nailed in place and covered with house wrap.

The shack, house wrapped

A view from above.  An overhanging balcony makes this possible.

At the end of September, the walls had been completed, and the shack was ready for its roof. This has probably taken the longest, as I still have not completed it as I write this, but the onset of colder weather can be to blame. First, I found a two-by-eight that would serve as a ridgepole by the side of the road in renovation debris. Then I framed in the roof with two-by-threes and covered it with free metal roofing that my Grandfather had leftover from some project, leaving a space in the middle where I would put clear polycarbonite Tufftex roofing to keep the interior bright.

Putting on roofing was also a difficult task. Similar to most situations, roofing my house required a ladder. Once again, I looked to my Grandfather for resources. He had a sixteen foot folding ladder that can click into just about any configuration. I put this ladder so that it went up the side of my shack twelve feet, and then went over across my to-be roof four feet so that it rested on my ridgepole. Since on weekends I would sometimes have to do lots of homework, the only free time would be on Sunday night, and in late October the days were getting dark, cold and windy. This would not stop me from putting on a roof. I was tired from having had to continuously cover my shack with tarps, so I was anxious to have a roof. I am very fortunate to live in a house which has a balcony that overhangs the driveway: I am able to hang work lights that shine down on my shack. So at night in the wind and cold, I would climb up the ladder, lugging sheets of free sheet metal, clamps, a nail, a hammer roofing screws, and an impact wrench and begin a tedious procedure.

1) Clamp down roofing in desired position.
2) Make hole with hammer and nail where screw is to be inserted.
3) Select a screw, insert in hole, and tighten with Impact Wrench.

Now remember, it was cold, so I was wearing gloves, a hooded work jacket, and rubber boots, on a ladder, at night, in the blowy wind. This made me a bit nervous eight feet up in the air on a ladder, so performing the above procedure on a high spot was quite nerve-racking.

Roofing in winter

Now our story comes towards the end of the year: the eve of New Year’s Eve. By this time, I had made adjustments to the front roof, adding a small shed-style dormer to prevent the roof overhang from impeding the outward swing of the door. One of the things I wanted to add to the house was a trailer that it would rest on. Resting on a trailer would mean that the building codes would classify my shack as a non-permanent structure, and it would be exempt from building codes and permits. My other option was to go to the zoning officer, who I would have to tell that my shack was not a habitable structure, but a shed, which would mean that it would not be able to include a kitchenette, or anything else that I wanted to put in there. If I told the officer that my structure was a house or anything similar, I would not be able to build as my shack would be considered “uninhabitable” since it is under the minimum “habitable” house size. In short, by keeping my house on a trailer, it would be non-permanent and exempt from building codes. Don’t worry: my house was on cinderblocks up to now, so it wasn’t permanent.

In keeping with my budget, a low-priced trailer would be necessary. Therefore, I had been looking to Craigslist for answers. My trailer needed to be small, as my house is 5 by 6 ½ feet on the outside. I figured a five by eight trailer would do. I had been looking on Craigslist for a while now, because a trailer that is about the right size and within your budget does not come up on Craigslist often. So the eve of New Year’s Eve was an ordinary day, and in the morning, I decided to check what the online telephone plastered with ads had to offer. The first thing I look at: 4x6 Utility trailer-$200 (Auburn). Now this looked like a good trailer. It was a new trailer that had metal sides, and a metal deck. Once I cut down the sides, it would be about the right size and would probably be pretty sturdy. So I decide to contact the poster via text message. But his reply in three minutes after my inquiry: “Sorry, sold.” What a disappointment. The trailer had only been listed two days before! This had happened previously, two times before. But right next to that listing was: Utility trailer-$200 (Cazenovia). I look at this ad and I see that it was posted a month ago. So immediately, I am skeptical whether it is still for sale. The picture shows a small wood-decked trailer with sides, and has wheels underneath the deck. Following the picture:

“5’x6’x1.5’ Stake rack utility trailer with pull-up sides. Has drop-down wheel at the tongue… $200 OBO.”

“Hey,” I thought, “five by six feet. Just the right size. And the wheels are under the deck, so they won’t interfere with my shack.”

But still, I was skeptical and reluctantly contacted the poster. As I write this, I now know why I saved his text messages.

I asked, “I was wondering if your utility trailer was still for sale. Please let me know.”

Later a reply, “Yes it is.”

Wow. I was amazed. This seemed to be the perfect trailer.

We then go back and forth with the logistics: hitch size, trailer title, address, and then settle on me picking up the trailer at nine-thirty tomorrow.

The next morning, we woke up early and made the two-hour drive to Cazenovia. It was a long drive, probably because I was anxious, part because I was looking forward to coming home with a trailer, and part because I was thinking thoughts like,

“Who is this person? Is he dangerous?”

Eventually, we arrived at the address of the trailer, at the end of an uphill snow-crusted street. I noticed the trailer, opposite the house on the other side of the driveway, and a shiver of excitement went up my back. My heart beating fast, we walk up the curved stairs leading up to the door and push the doorbell. Inhale. Door opens.

“Hello, come on in!”

Exhale. The man who opens the door is an older man, whose skin droops below the eyes and who seems to be nice. He leads us inside and tells us that he would like to talk to us about the trailer before we buy. We are greeted by his two tan Pomeranians and large cat while he grabs his coat and gloves. The man leads us outside and begins to talk about his trailer. He explains to us that the frame was previously a pop-up camper frame (How ironic!) and that he used it for yard work and taking trash to the transfer station. He is selling it because he is moving to Syracuse where he will not have to maintain a property. We look under the trailer, and I see that there is some rust, and one beam is rusted through. My heart sinks a little bit. This trailer needs to be strong in order to support what I estimate will be a two-thousand pound house. Plus, where the springs meet the frame, there is also some more rust. However, my heart is lifted when he tells us that he has used the trailer to carry a yard of topsoil. I do some research: One yard of topsoil= 2,200 lbs. that’s a 200 lb difference. But, he continues, the wheels were up to the deck. 

“So If I buy the trailer,” I think, “I will need some new springs. And, I don’t plan to take my shack down the road, and if I do, it will probably be only once or twice. The only moving the trailer would do is to take my shack to its planned resting site, in the field, about four hundred feet away. And once my shack is in its desired location, it will rest on its trailer, supported by jacks or cinder blocks. Plus, how often do I find a trailer on Craigslist within six inches of ideal length with wheels under the deck so no modifications have to be made to the shack?”

So I decide to buy the trailer. We go inside, where we talk about the title of the trailer, figure out that my dad has to sign the back of the man’s title for the trailer, and call the DMV office. Good thing they are open, because we have to go there to get the trailer registered in our name. Before we go, I give the man $200, counting out: twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, one hundred, one twenty, one forty, one sixty, one seventy, one eighty, one ninety, one ninety five and two hundred. We go outside, the man hitches up my trailer to his Jeep, to be as legal as possible, and we follow him in our car back towards the Syracuse DMV office.

We pull into the plaza parking lot, and take the title inside, stand in line, and explain to the clerk that we are transferring ownership of a trailer. The clerk hands us a form, and tells us to fill out the highlighted lines. We ask the man to sign where he needs to, and he departs with a wave, leaving us with the trailer. We have been given a number, F6-hundred-something, and wait until our number is called. In the meantime, we buy a bag of Chex Mix and share the contents. I notice that many people are trying to renew their licenses or get a driver’s license before the year ends. Finally F6-hundred-something is called and we go to desk nine where a fat lady in an office chair examines our form, looks at my dad’s driver’s license and hands us a new shiny yellow and purple New York license plate. After forty minutes of being in the DMV office, we affix the license plate to my trailer, and head home, where our family anxiously awaits us to go bowling.

Front of the shack

Interior aerial view Both photos as of 1/14/14

Epilogue

As I write, my shack is still not done. Currently, I am working on the door. The top panel has been removed, and I will carefully strip the paint, taking precautions for lead. After I install the windows and doors, I will side my shack with more free pallet wood. Building my shack has taught me much. One lesson I have learned, well, I already knew it, but I saw application of is the proverb “Where there is a will there’s a way.” I had always dreamed of building a tiny retreat, but was limited by cost. Since I was willing to sacrifice top grade lumber, interior knotty pine paneling, high quality RV and boat appliances, engineered siding, conventional building materials, and a new trailer, to name just a few, I found a way to make my dream a reality. I have also learned, not just through this project, but if there is something good you can do, just do it. Now. I mean it. Even if you have dreams of becoming a pilot of an airplane and you’re not old enough to buy an airplane or learn to fly, you can certainly start saving money and learning all you can. You can put effort forth in school to help you get the job you want, and try building some model airplanes. Who knows, maybe you have found your new hobby.

I have also made some sacrifices. I don’t mean sacrifice like, oh, I went surfing and a shark bit off my arm, but I mean sacrifice as in say, effort or time. Deconstructing the pallets for my floor took a lot of effort, but I was willing to sacrifice much effort in order to have a free floor and to save money. I also had to sacrifice time to work on my shack when school had to come first. 

Main Idea of the above: If you dream of doing something, do it! If you have the willpower, you can do it! But, you just have to start.