Moving toward sustainability
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.
We got a strong rainstorm yesterday, and my worst fear was realized. I’d neglected to tie down one side of the tarp, so the wind must’ve picked it up and flipped it (the tarp) over the side of the house, exposing everything.
Then it rained long and hard, soaking the walls and floor. As far as I know, two “compartments” in the floor got water in them, maybe more.
I repositioned the tarp and tied it down, but noticed it is full of holes. It is disintegrating from being out in the sun for so long.
The only thing to do is wait for the rain to stop and let the surface dry out. Eventually those compartments in the floor will mold (the insulation seems to be very good at resisting mold), so I’ll have to open up them up from the bottom and take out the insulation so I can dry everything out.
Next steps? Plow ahead! I’d been afraid of getting the floor wet since I laid it down and now I don’t have to worry about it!
This weekend I plan on squaring the walls and bolting them down (using the brackets I made) next.
The deck-height is starting to become a nuisance.
As you can see, the trailer is jacked up and levelled on cinderblock. On top of the trailer is the subfloor, then the floor. Now that I’m working on the third wall, I have to scramble over it to get onto the deck. This rapidly became annoying as I had to climb up to measure the distance between studs, jump down (carefully!), go cut the blocker, climb back up and then glue and screw it in.
Rinse, repeat.
So, what do I do when I have an itch? Scratch it!
Remember that wood from the trailer?
Say hello to my little friend!
Sorry for the lack of updates!
I’ve been working on the third wall — the 20′ long one that runs the entire length of the house.
As of now, I have the studs all cut (will have to go back later and cut the headers and cripples for the windows).
Last weekend, I assembled the “outline” of the wall: the first and last stud, the top and sole plates.
The biggest challenge was getting the sole plate around the wheel well and spare tire hitch. I messed up and mis-cut the wood for the wheel well, but the spare tire hitch went well.
The next step is to cut the wood for the cross-beams between studs, then install them and the remaining studs.
The Tiny Home has a little 4’x4′ porch which is little more than a square hole right now.
I’ve been kicking around ideas for what to do. Here are some ideas:
I saw a nice wall hanging at Target that would look really cool as a porch.
The hanging’s slats are too thin to support a person’s weight, so I’d have to either reinforce it or build my own.
If I go with tile, I would need something to support it. I could make some supports out of steel and then powder-coat them to prevent rust.
Speaking of seel, I could make supports out of steel and weld expanded metal to the top as the deck/porch. I’d leave it to rust because that would look cool.
What do you think?
It is raining so I’m spending the time prepping wood. Besides ripping it to the correct length, I’m drilling pocket holes on each end so it will be ready to go.
My order for wood arrived from the supply yard. Compared to other orders, mine was miniscule of course. The guy dropped it off in the yard.
A short while later I had it moved into the storehouse.
