Tiny House slowly taking shape on academy's Byfield campus

Elizabeth Turnbull, the 25-year-old Governor's Academy graduate who's building her own portable, eco-friendly house on the school's Byfield campus, brought her brother, Doug, to the work site this week to help her frame the walls of what she's dubbed her Tiny House.

The shorter, front and back wall frames were finished earlier this week and leaning against one of the buildings at the school's Savage Buildings and Grounds Facility. Turnbull and her brother turned their attention to framing the long, side walls.

Turnbull isn't sure how many people will turn out this weekend to help her raise the wall frames into place on her 7-foot-4-by-18-foot flat-bed trailer, "but I'm hoping to get a good turnout."

She's expecting to see some coworkers from her day job at the Beverly design-and-build company, O'Neil Fine Builders, where she works as a sustainability coordinator researching energy-efficient and environmentally friendly construction methods and materials.

On a recent visit to the work site, the trailer looked pretty much the same as it did when Turnbull started the project two weeks ago. But looks can be deceiving, and progress is evident when the tarpaulin covering it is pulled back. She has secured the sub-floor to the trailer bed, had the sub-floor assembly insulated and put down the plywood floor.

"A lot of what we've done is hugging the floor to the trailer," she said. "The planning phase is pretty much done, and almost all that work is invisible."

In keeping with her goal of using environmentally sound materials, the insulation is a soy-based nontoxic foam. It was installed by a Newburyport company called Green Cocoon.

Turnbull is building her Tiny House in lieu of finding an apartment in New Haven, Conn., later this summer when she enrolls in the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She plans to live in the house for the two years she will be studying to earn a master's degree in environmental management.

She's received some welcome donations over the past couple of weeks, including a hardwood floor interior paint and a standing seam metal roof. She's particularly happy about the roof.

"From an environmental standpoint, it's great," she said. "It's low maintenance and very durable."

She will hold her first "Tiny Raising," her term for a work-and-party weekend, this Saturday and Sunday. She promises a cooler full of soft drinks and a barbecue dinner to anyone who joins in.

While she's had a few curious visitors to her work site, she's hoping for a good crew to help get the walls up.

This is the second in a series of stories on the Tiny House. The Daily News will be following the progress of Elizabeth Turnbull and her green house every two weeks until August when she leaves for Yale with her new home.

Turnbull has also started a blog about the project — www.turnbulltinyhouse.blogspot.com — to let people know how it's going.

Photos

Elizabeth Turnbull inspects the newly insulated floor of her Tiny House. Work has progressed on the project, with Turnbull sucessfully framing and securing the floor to her flatbed trailer. The floor was insulated with a soy oil-based spray foam instead of one containing petroleum. Staff photo