Collaboration

 

Here's my father, Elmer, without whom this project would be nothing. He and I are rather coy with people like window salesmen and trailer dealers. We trip over each other in according ownership of this house, with my father saying it's my project and me saying he's the brains behind it. He comes to this work with a wealth of knowledge and know-how, having trained and practiced as a doctor before launching solo on a full-on housebuilding project in the early '80s. Thus, the tiny house is his second housebuilding project and my first. Here, he's installing struts on the trailer we've stripped down to bare essentials. I'm getting more & more involved with the technical intricacies of building a solid structure that can move with ease and at 2 or 3 a.m., I lie contentedly awake thinking through the coming work of securing a structure while remaining relatively lightweight in construction. The early work had everything to do with removing heavy planking (no. 3 treated timber, I was told by a Load Trail rep) from the trailer bed and establishing a light-yet-strong support for the house.