home building class

I've been learning how to build a house.  It's reviving my old dream of creating my own home.  My class at Heartwood consisted of classroom instruction in the mornings, and hands on work in the afternoons.

We learned about all the major components of a home, and then we built a tiny home!  It's not finished, but it's framed, sheathed in plywood.  Next week we'll put on siding, windows, and trim.

We started with a trailer.  The base had been insulated and sheathed in Advantec plywood.  In this picture we are about to raise the first wall.

After a day of cutting a lot of pieces and assembling them, the first wall is complete and braced into place.

Then we got all 4 walls up, checked for square, and nailed together.

Some people worked on sheathing the outside in plywood.

Others worked on the loft supports inside:

Here is the completed loft, which quickly became a hangout for chats after class.

Once the plywood sheathing on the walls was completed, we put in rafters.  Then we sheathed the roof in plywood too.  I don't have pictures of that step but I made sure to get right up there and deal with my fear of heights.  It wasn't too bad after all.

Then we wrapped the house with Typar...

...and learned how to install a window.

 My class next week is about finish carpentry.  We'll do siding and trim details around the window and roof.  The tiny house won't be completed but we've given the owners a bit jump forward.  They'll finish insulating, drywalling, and all the interior finishes.