SKILLS FOR SHEDS, VANS AND TINY HOUSES

Woodworker, Natural Therapist, Gardener, Woodland Manager and Eco Adventurer. Exploring a sustainable way of life since 2006. Running courses and events around Perth, Scotland since 2017

Ian Watt

Learn the basic woodworking skills you need for all sorts of shed, van, tiny house  and loads of other projects.

Inverqueich Farm

Ian's Practical Workshops

A range of courses and events on the practical nuts and bolts of sustainable living.
Based on Ian's adventures on eco projects in the UK and Portugal and on many years of woodworking and gardening.
Informative and fun :-)

WOMEN AND MEN, COMPLETE BEGINNERS WELCOME - OVER 18'S PLEASEESCAPE TO THE HILLS? Whether you want to build a forest refuge or convert a van for breaks away, these woodworking skills are some of the most helpful that you could learn. If you have some woodworking experience you'll find it helpful but it's no problem if you are a complete beginner, we'll be going over the basics of cutting accurately and square, and screwing things together with cordless drill/drivers to begin with.HAND TOOLS ONLY We'll be using a range of simple hand tools, saws, measuring equipment, cordless drills and jigsaws. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can achieve without tons of expensive machinery.SAFETY FIRST Our top priority is working safely, there's a couple of things to be careful of, especially when you're working on a larger project with a group of people.SUSTAINABLE LIVING AT INVERQUIECH, A LOOK AROUND THE FARM There's lots of different sheds at Inverquiech, also a tiny house and a yurt (where we'll probably have our lunch breaks) so we'll start with a look around at everything. You'll see the various problems that crop up with different ways of doing things and also how everything fits together on a project where we are actively moving towards a more sustainable way of living.WORKING OUT YOUR DESIGN Do please bring along sketches, photos or plans of anything you're hoping to build or convert. (Start with what's fixed and keep it as simple as possible…) Working out where your door and windows will go. Space for services. We'll have a look at how to make a scale drawing and work from a plan. We'll have a look at the plan for the project we'll mostly be working on, a second tiny house for Inverquiech, which we'll be building on a reclaimed caravan chassis.MATERIALS We'll be working mostly with new wood: plywood, OS board and lengths of CLS building timber. Find out about the different specifications and working out your quantities so you know what to ask for when you're ordering stuff from the timber merchants. Some wood can be reclaimed but it's often not worth the extra bother and may not give you as good a result.BASES FOR SHEDS the pros and cons of using slabs, concrete and posts in the ground. We're planning to using charred posts as foundations - it's a simple method that's been used successfully for thousands of years - we just need to source some tree trunks :-)FLOOR, WALLS AND ROOF We'll be using a frame and sheet construction for these and look at different options for insulation, also different options for cladding and roofing.DOORS AND WINDOWS - making and fitting doors and windowsPLUMBING AND ELECTRICAL We won't be covering plumbing or electrical work on this course but will have a discussion about different heating options.FOOD AND DRINKPlease bring what you need with you, there's limited coffee and tea making facilities in the workshop and Kate usually provides us with full on coffee and tea for lunch breaks.ACCOMMODATIONThere's some basic possibilites at the farm, camping and the first tiny house, also local places such as the Alyth Hotel and Tigh Na Leigh Guest HouseDIRECTIONSI'll send out full directions to participants a week or so before the course.That's it! see you on the day. Ian