Community volunteers moved George Pakk’s tiny house to his Waitsfield Village lot last weekend and will maneuver the house onto the foundation with the help of local volunteers and a skid steer as The Valley Reporter went to press on September 29.
Pakk’s home was destroyed by a chimney fire on February 24, 2021.
Sisters Erica and Karen Stroem have led the volunteer effort to get Pakk back in a home.
“Last Saturday, people were doing a trial run of getting the tiny house hooked up to be moved to the site and when they got it hooked up, they decided to move it,” Erica Stroem explained. The house was moved down Route 100 from behind the Localfolks Smokehouse to the village. It was not installed on the foundation (which was poured two weeks ago with conduit laid for electricity as well as water and wastewater).
“My sister is looking for someone with a skid steer who can get the house onto the foundation. It’s a tight space in there and the machine needs to be able to maneuver in a tight spot,” Erica Stroem said.
Once the house is placed on the foundation, utilities will be hooked up and the bathroom will be finished, she said.
She said she asked Pakk if he wanted to move in before the house was moved and hooked up and he told her he preferred to wait until it was completely finished.
After the fire, Stroem and her sister organized a GoFundMe for Pakk which raised enough money to purchase the discounted and incomplete tiny house with the help of local nonprofits. The tiny house was parked at the Smokehouse this spring, summer and fall with volunteers working to complete it. Volunteers and some paid labor got the site cleaned up and the foundation poured recently.
The final step will be to insulate underneath the tiny house to get it ready for winter.
