Advanced Women’s Carpentry

Learn to build your own buildings from the floor up!

In our basic carpentry classes, students learn how to safely and effectively use tools for carpentry. In response to popular demand, we created this advanced women’s carpentry class specifically for graduates of our basic carpentry class, so they can take their skills to the next level. In this more advanced program, we combine online lectures and five days of hands-on learning by doing. Students who participate fully will be able to leave the class with the knowledge and ability to construct a simple shed from the floor system to metal on the roof.

This class includes 5 full days of building instruction and practice, plus online material to study ahead of time and keep indefinitely.

Day 1: Saw skills review and getting started on the floor

On the first day of class, we will get to know each other and learn about the project we’ll be tackling together. We’ll spend some time reviewing how to use power saws, so that everyone is up to speed and ready to make cuts safely and effectively. Then, we’ll look at plans, divide into groups, and dive into working on floor systems.

Day 2: More on floors and getting started with walls

On our second day, we’ll finish up the floor system, get into cutting pieces for walls, and likely start laying out our walls.

Day 3: Building walls

This day will be all about walls, assembling them, sheathing them, and erecting them. 

Day 4: More walls, plus rafters

Today we will finish up framing and sheathing walls, cut rafters for the roof and begin putting them up.

Day 5: Putting on the roof

On day five we’ll continue to work on the rafters and purlins, and finally install metal roofing. We’ll also wrap up any steps of the walls that haven’t gotten finished, and we may cover some other tantalizing tidbits unique to each shed.

Online Lectures: Foundation, Floor, Wall, and Roof Systems, along with Window installation

Within 1 week of registering for this class, you’ll receive access to an online lecture series covering foundation, floor, wall, and roof systems, along with window installation. In these in-depth discussions, you’ll learn the theory behind some of the most important parts of structural building. 

We ask students to watch the lectures in preparation for the class, whenever is convenient, and freshen up on learning before each relevant in-person class session.

It’s very important that you get through this material before you come to class, so that our in-class discussion can go beyond the basics. You’ll have unlimited access to this material, so you can refer back to it as you embark on your own projects.

Learn at your own pace – Check out our Online Tiny House Academy

Along with in-person building classes, we also offer an online tiny house building course called the Tiny House Academy. The online lectures for the Advanced Women’s Carpentry Class are a very small sampling from this comprehensive online program. The full program includes a ton of how-to’s, along with an extremely comprehensive video library of tutorials, lectures, and demos, plus instructor support. 

When you join our Women’s Advanced Carpentry Class, you receive a coupon for $200 off the Tiny House Academy.

We build at a pace that gets things done while considering students needs

We work hard to assure a balance between breadth and depth. Meaning, our goal is that each student understands the big concepts and principles, while also building competence in each step. Everyone will get to explore various stages of projects, get her hands on a lot of tools, and feel a sense of satisfaction at the end of the class. Since each step of structural building builds upon the last (pun intended!), we need to move at a pace that allows us to finish the project. After running this class over a dozen times, we’ve dialed in what pace of work and scale of project can allow for this, while not rushing the group.

Do you know someone who could use a shed that we build in this class?

Some of the sheds that are build by the Advanced carpentry class are used on our campus, while others are sold at cost to local individuals and organizations. We price the sheds to cover the cost of materials and delivery, so they’re affordable for their quality. If you or someone you know would like to purchase a shed, get in touch with us at admin@wildabundance.net.

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Instructors

Alex Kilgore

Alex (he/him) has been learning and teaching primitive and traditional living skills since 1995. He began with a formative apprenticeship with Steve Watts, the founder of the Society of Primitive Technology and director of the Aboriginal Studies Program at the Schiele Museum of Natural History.  In 1997, Alex completed his degree in Outdoor Experiential Education ...

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Pete McKelvey

After getting a degree in New Media in 2013, Pete didn’t take long to realize that sitting behind a computer screen just wasn’t going to cut it. A big believer in hands-on learning he threw himself into the world of carpentry, learning on the job while working for small custom home-builders and eventually taking a ...

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Nadi

Nadi (they/them) has been on a quest to study traditional woodworking, metalworking and ancestral skills ever since leaving behind their Aerospace Engineering path in Germany where they grew up. While attending University in Germany they turned an old early 1900s circus trailer into their first tiny home they lived in for the duration of their ...

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