Tiny House Nation and the "Tuesday Crew"

Interior of the tiny house

Hey everyone! Happy summer!

After another long year of studying I've officially finished my first year in graduate school, uffda! While that alone was enough for a celebration, the end of the academic year marked the beginning of summer, which also meant I could come back to Minnesota and visit! Still on track to reach my goal of five states by the end of August, I decided to hang out with the cheese heads and hit up Habitat in Wisconsin for my fourth state. Even though I root for the Twins and put up with the Vikings, they welcomed me with open arms and gave me some new and exciting projects to work on. By now you all know the drill, so let's get down to business and talk about my time in the land of endless types of cheese.

Day 1: Tiny House Nation

Unlike my time in other states, I actually worked with two separate Habitat chapters this week. My first stop was in St. Croix Falls, WI and I was told I would be helping the chapter build a tiny house for a tiny house expo in October. The unit will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be used to fund the chapter's various building activities. I've recently become enthralled with the show "Tiny House Nation" so I was super pumped up to work on this house!

Did a decent job on siding if I do say so myself!

I rolled up to the warehouse the tiny house was stored and met with Mark Miller (before you ask, there's no relation) who's been helping me coordinate my volunteer time with St. Croix Falls. Turns out, he's actually from my home town, what a small world! I was told that I'd be putting siding on the house that day, and after showing me around the house (it was a short tour haha) and the warehouse we got straight to work. One cool part of the house is that nearly everything is either donated or re-purposed material. Some of the trim is made up of old telephone poles, the wall paneling and floors were donated, and the siding I put up was partially donated pre-stained wood, while the rest was old re-purposed wood.

Some eco village homes

The siding was easy to put up: we placed a thin piece at the bottom of the wall first, then used a 3.5" block of wood as a marker to know where to place the next piece above it. We nailed the wood into the wall with a nail gun first to hold it in place, then I put three nails into the top of the wood. The bottom edges hang over the previously placed wood, creating the overhang typical of lap siding. Before noon we finished the front of the home, then moved on to the side. By the end of the day we had half of the second wall put up.

Working with Mark and the other few workers was really great; everyone was friendly and were excited to make the tiny house. Mark was also enthusiastic about his creative marketing ploy....having volunteers wear Hawaiian shirts while working. We got a great group photo which I hope to get later and share with you all. I left with the shirt as a souvenir and a smile on my face. 

Retaining wall being leveled

If you're interested in following the progress of the tiny house or checking out the Tiny House Expo they'll be showcasing the finished product at, follow Wild River HFH's Facebook page, as well as the Facebook page for the Tiny House Expo!

https://www.facebook.com/Trash2TreasureWRHfH/

https://www.facebook.com/TinyHouseExpoAutumnFestStCroixFallsWisconsin/


Day 2: "The Tuesday Crew"

I spent my second day volunteering in River Falls working outdoors to help finish work at an Eco Village created by Habitat. This community of homes is quite unique; the homes are super-insulated, are equipped with solar panels, and have become "net zero" homes. Essentially, the houses have been designed so that the money paid for utilities in the winter is balanced by money saved in the summer, so homeowners either pay virtually no utilities overall and even make a few dollars

 in some cases. It really is a cool development! 

Caulking cement blocks
together to build a five layer wall

Anyway, I met up with project manager Dean and was told we'd be building a retaining wall behind one of the sections of the development. Soon the "Tuesday Crew" showed up to help; the group is made up of gentleman who come (you guessed it) every Tuesday to volunteer, and have been doing so for quite some time.

First we laid gravel down to make a semi-flat surface and then placed the cement blocks along the ground how we wanted them laid out. Then the real work started. We had to ensure every block was level by either moving more gravel under it or taking some out, and pounding the block with a rubber mallet. Then we used levels to ensure it was level with surrounding blocks, as well as level from the front to the back of the block. The idea of the work was easy, but actually getting everything level was tedious and difficult. We persevered though and finally finished shortly after lunch time.

After lunch the wall went up fast. We were able to start placing additional layers of the blocks quickly, with me and one other crew member placing caulk on the back of the blocks and the others moving in an assembly line to lay the rest of the blocks we had on hand. Unfortunately we ran out of materials and had to leave early, but at the end of the day I felt accomplished. I got a tan working all day in the sun and got to learn something new.

The Tuesday Crew

Glad I got to check state four off my list, and am gunning to finish the year strong with my fifth state in the next two months!

Until Next Time,

Lisa