Trending
By Joe Napsha
Tribune-Review
Benjamin D'Amico of Irwin is going on a life-changing venture and getting back to the land, at least for the foreseeable future, by living in a tiny house he built in a North Huntingdon barn and hauled to a farm in central Ohio's Amish country.
"I'm actually thrilled to go out there," D'Amico, 31, said of his plans last week to use his 1990s truck to haul his 28-foot-long, 8-foot-wide, 8,300-pound house some 125 miles to Berlin, Ohio, about 30 miles southwest of Canton.
Like so many other Americans, D'Amico said the changes during the covid pandemic caused him to reevaluate his life and set off on a different path. He had been working as a draftsman for an architectural firm but wanted a change.
"It's been a journey, looking for something new," said D'Amico, who wants to be a designer.
He has been promised a small plot of land on the Ohio farm where he will set down his home, with space enough for his own garden.
"It will take some adapting" to having less space for all of his belongings, D'Amico said. Although he describes himself as a "minimalist," he said he will leave behind boxes of stuff at his parents' home.
When D'Amico settles in Berlin, he will be working on renovations to houses owned by his landlord. He honed his woodworking skills in building the tiny house with his father, Nicholas, and has the satisfaction of constructing his own residence.
Using the skills he learned as a draftsman, he designed the house and has the drawings to prove it.
"I'm a perfectionist," D'Amico said, pointing to slight flaws -- two boards misaligned by about one-sixteenth of an inch -- in some of the woodwork of his minuscule abode. It was built on a steel-frame trailer that once held a camper and features comfy, if not close, space.