Guest Post: Lina Menard on PAD’s Tiny House Basics Workshop

Lina Menard at the PAD Tiny House Design Workshop
Lina Menard, center, leading a discussion on tiny house sites and community.

We had a blast at our recent February Tiny House Basics Workshop!  While we gather our thoughts about the weekend and comb through the feedback we got from our great crop of enthusiastic participants, please enjoy this guest post from Lina Menard on her wrap up of the weekend.  Lina is a tiny space dweller and designer, and blogs regularly at This Is The Little Life.  If you like what you read, click over to her blog to read more about Lina, or sign up for PAD’s next Tiny House Basics Workshop!

It was a pleasure to be part of the Portland Alternative Dwellings Tiny House Workshop this weekend, along with Derin of Shelter Wise, Brittany of Bayside Bungalow, and Chris and Melissa Tack of Tiny Tack House. Tiny house enthusiasts from around Oregon and Washington joined us at the Historic Kenton Firehouse for the workshop. A few workshop participants even traveled internationally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! Thanks for dedicating your weekend to tiny houses everyone. We’re so glad you did!

Touring the Tiny House at POD 49
Touring and comparing notes on the POD 49 tiny house

The two-day workshop covered everything from framing and tie-downs for mobile structures to the “sticky wickets” of how wee structures are addressed by code. We were lucky to have so many experienced tiny house designers, builders, and dwellers present to share different approaches. Dee Williams led most of the workshop sessions and asked us to chime in throughout. In one session Derin used a life-size model to demonstrate his super energy-efficient building strategies. In another session Brittany shared information about her graywater system and humanure composting system.

Chris and Melissa described their kitchen layout, appliance selection, and how the two of them share the small space they designed for themselves. I addressed regulatory considerations, moving a tiny house down the road, zoning and building, and creating tiny house community. On the second day we wrapped up with a visit to Pod 49 to tour a tiny house.

It was a treat to meet more tiny house enthusiasts and to learn about everyone’s ideas and hopes. It’s so fun to see the tiny house community grow!

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