Moving toward sustainability
The whole structure is wobbly (but not just-about-to-fall-down wobbly) because the only thing holding it up is 2x4s and the metal CS14 wrapped around it. Wood flexes, of course, so standing in the loft can be nerve wracking.
The fix is to add plywood sheathing.
Once the sheathing is added, I cover it with Tyvek. This is a permeable plastic that allows water vapor to escape from the wood, but doesn’t let water in.
One of the largest headaches was dealing with inclement weather without a roof. There is no way to really keep the water out with a tarp, without a beam and rafters!
So here I’m getting the beam put up. This is a nice large 18′ (5.5m) 2×6 beam. It was heavy, but I was able to lift it up into the loft.
I then had to build a support post to hold it level. A few scrap 2x4s worked nicely.
Nailed everything down on the front.
Finally added the rafters and the beam was secure! To test it, I hung from the beam and it didn’t move a bit.
[I did this work the weekend before Thanksgiving]
I did the lofts over a weekend. This was scary because I had to work around any bad weather. Until I get the rafters up, a tarp will not protect the lofts. The reason is the same as to why the bottom floor got ruined. The middle will fill up with water. With nowhere to go, it will get heavier and heavier until it shreds the tarp and soaks everything.
Things went VERY quickly. I was amazed at how much progress I made in just a few days. No rain yet.
Now Tiny lives in a more crowded neighborhood, but it is okay because the neighbors are nice.
It has been about 9 months since the last entry. In that time, I’ve had to move the Tiny House from its build site.
What happened was there was a disagreement from the management (or overlord) about my continuing to rent the space. I had agreement until after mid 2016, but the problem was it was verbal (some what via email, but a crucial part was done in person).
Eventually, the overlord made threats (“get it out now or we’ll burn it to the ground”), we (using the law) blocked, and both parties agreed that I’d vacate on a specific date. That date arrived, I packed up everything and took off, never to set foot there again.
During this ordeal, I received support and advice from several friends, for whom I am eternally grateful.
All of this would have been avoided (or required much less energy) if I had a written contract that specified the terms of housing the Tiny House. The saw goes, “Experience is mistakes one learns from.” I certainly have a lot of experience now. 🙂
During the move, I noticed one of the short walls was wobbling terribly, as it was only supported on one side. I braced it with a spare 2×4 and it stopped wobbling. Once we got on the freeway, Tiny performed beautifully with no problems. I speed up to 65 mph and took it to its new temporary home.
This turned out to be the best thing to happen to Tiny, which I will elucidate in a future post.
Time to work on the loft’s walls. I’m deviating from the original plans in order to provide more room in the loft. Originally, the roof was going to slope down to meet the loft floor, creating a tight space along the sides.
To fix this, I’m installing dormers—short walls to open up the loft and make it more roomy. The added benefit is the loft will have 5 windows instead of 1!
You can see an example of a dormer on the second floor here:
We got the CS 14 strapping installed all the way around the house and it is looking great.
As with many things in his project, it involved some compromise and flexibility. When I laid out the blocking (the wood between the studs), I neglected to get them exactly lined up with one another, so when it came time to install the CS 14, it was obvious it wasn’t going to match.
As with everything else that “went wrong,” I had to remind myself that any job worth doing is worth doing poorly.
Coming to the master bedroom’s window, I had to cut the CS 14 to make it work.
It turns out that tin snips don’t work, but an angle grinder does the job nicely. So with that out of the way, it is time to work on the loft.
Tiny homes are a little different from conventional construction in that the house needs to handle movement, such as when driving down the road. To help with this, we add some steel to the wood.
The kiddo wanted to help, so the key to keeping him interested and engaged is to give him a task he can complete, along with the opportunity to use power tools. 😄 I asked him to install corner brackets on the door frame and he had a blast.
I got a spool of 14 gauge steel strapping to wrap around the house.
It will provide stability to keep the studs from moving around when we’re bouncing around the highway. Or weathering a Cat-5 Hurricane (well, maybe not that part).
It has been long, too long for sure.
Running out of funds cascaded through my situation, and I’ve only just now been able to crawl out far enough to poke my head above water. With the new year comes a chance to restart.
I purchased some wood for the loft about a month ago; sadly twenty of my 2x4s were stolen. At least they left the loft rafters and floorboards! I’ll take this as a lesson-learned: use the wood ASAP; don’t leave it lying around!
So, with the next phase of building approaching, it is time to get more wood, notably the plywood for the walls and roof.
In addition, I’ll need:
I’m guesstimating this will all run me about $500ish + about $50-75 for the truck rental.
Taking a look at my Tiny Home piggybank, I’m out of money. I should have enough money in the bank at the end of the month.
In the meantime, I still need to plumb and square the remaining walls, so I’m not completely dead in the water.