Diminutive Abode

New Suit of Clothes

2011-01-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

I have been working on my garage, and other projects in my "big house", so haven't found time for the tiny house recently. Although this is not really progress on the tiny house per se, it is progress. I have had trouble finding a durable tarp solution for the interim, but I think I've found a solution. I bought two 14' x 48' recycled billboards, and have used them as temporary cladding for my tiny house until I have time to get to the next phase of construction. One billboard reads "Isn't she a little young? Sex with minors, don't go there" and the other reads "The sign you want, the agent you need, Remax.com". I find the first to be inappropriate, if not downright funny, as garb for a tiny house, and the second has interesting color combinations and patterns (shrubbery and sky) for use in other projects. After painting over the bits of the "Sex with minors, don't go there" billboard (the part that would be visible from the street), I used it to cover the sides of the tiny house. I was fortunate to score some mis-tint paint from Sherwin Williams, their best exterior paint for only $5 a gallon (normally $45 a gallon). The color is actually pretty nice (see final photo). I will use half of the Remax billboard to cover the roof, and use the other half for whatever projects come to mind. The shrubbery and sky in the billboard would make for great pillows on an outdoor bench or chair, and I have an outdoor two-seater frame that I bought at a yard sale which needs just such a set of pillows.

The tiny frame, naked for the first time in almost a year:

The top of the tiny house and the Santa Catalina Mountains from my roof:

I don't have enough space on my property to lay out a full 48' by 14' billboard, so I used my roof to do the painting and cutting. At the bottom is the freshly painted section of the "Sex with minors, don't go there" billboard, and above is the Remax billboard (the bottom is a white picket fence). That light blue wedge near the top is my tiny house with its old tattered garb, prior to the new duds.

This is the end of the tiny house covered with the painted billboard section, as seen from the street.

The billboards are actually quite a lot of work to handle, they weigh 75 or 80 lbs each, and are very unwieldy when unfurled. My fingertips always feel abused after handling them, even with gloves. But the material is supposed to be a few times thicker than the best available alternative at a hardware or surplus store, and they are coated for UV protection. They are also a lot cheaper by the square foot, even with the hefty shipping cost. I am hoping that with a bit of high quality exterior paint, these will last many times longer than the other tarps I have used, all of which have failed within three to four months under the brutal sun of the Sonoran Desert. We are in the season of the winter Monsoon, so rain is also of concern this time of year. We shall see how these hold up!

Return to tiny thoughts

2010-11-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

It has been a long long while, but I'm getting my head back into the tiny house project, now that the weather here is perfect once again.

One major setback: I had purchased Pella custom windows for all the openings, based on excellent reviews on the web and by Consumer Reports, but when they came, the quality was horrible. There were quite a few caulking splotches on the windows inside the sealed gas-filled space between the two panes, there was caulking all over the frames, one of the frames had a huge crack in it, and they were not even trued up properly, so the angles were all off square! Some of it was design: the latch-holes were just holes literally punched into the fiberglass, with no trim or insert to protect the cut fiberglass edges from getting torn up. But most of it was just plain abysmal workmanship. Very very surprising, considering how much research I did prior to purchasing them, and of course, they were not cheap. Unfortunately, Pella's rough opening specs are just slightly smaller than their competitors, at least the one's I have checked so far. That means that my openings were built just a little bit too small for standard sized windows from these companies. Looks like I will have to purchase an electric planer in the coming weeks...

On another note, it is nice to see an icon among tiny house companies, Tumbleweed, validating my exterior design, with a boxy modern look, flat sloped roof, rusted steel sheathing and all!

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/popomo/

The Tumbleweed Popomo's roof is much less sloped, and the interior layout is quite different, but otherwise the similarities are, well, uncanny. Tumbleweed is having a $9.99 sale on the plans, so I snatched up a set. I'm hoping they help with details such as the roofing edges, and around the windows.

All summer I have battled to keep my frame protected from the elements. Brutal Sonoran Desert sun, torrential monsoon downpours, and heavy winds have all decimated one tarp after another. I have learned quickly that you have to spend some cash for a decent tarp, but even the best have not lasted more than a few months to date. I'm still a ways off from sheathing, so I have been looking for new ideas for covering the structure. I recently found this:

http://www.billboardtarps.com/

I have worked with billboard material before, creating bike bags, but hadn't thought they were available in such large sizes. I'm planning to buy a couple. They are actually quite cheap compared to my next best option, even with $80 shipping for two tarps, and much thicker, twice as thick in fact. They are going to be monstrously heavy to work with though, I will probably cut them into smaller panels.

Hopefully more frequent posts will be forthcoming, as the weather and holidays are generally good for tiny house progress. Ciao!

Portals complete

2010-03-28T21:30:00.001-07:00

(now to fill them with windows and a door).

I spent a fair amount of time this weekend finishing up the framing for the door and windows. The windows are due to be delivered tomorrow morning, first thing. With the use of a little old-fashioned pulley action, I managed to install the door frame without assistance.

Lots of little tasks still to do before the next step, installing the building wrap.

Window and door holes

2010-03-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made significant progress on framing the openings for the windows and front door. I had skipped this part in the initial construction in order to get a covered structure completed in time for the monsoons here in Tucson. It is amazing how much easier it is to complete these framing components on the ground first, rather than building them up within the built structure. For one thing, you can hammer in pieces from the sides of the studs, rather than relying on metal "L" brackets due to a lack of hammering room between studs. This results in a much more efficient (and cheaper) construction. Of course, there is the issue of installing one of these heavy-ish pre-built components...we'll see how that goes next weekend.

Door and loft window framing components

Door and loft window framing completed, and Elsie.

2010-03-02T20:21:00.001-08:00

Hostess Lumber Cupcake

First Portal, View II

2010-02-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

Today I finished the framing for my 3x3 window on the end of the tiny abode. Three more window frames to go!

At long last, a portal!

2010-02-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

Roof and wrap

2009-12-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

During the winter holiday, I managed to get the box framing done for the wheel wells, and installed the remainder of the studs.

I have also installed weather-proofing just in time for the winter monsoon. It was supposed to rain yesterday, so I put in a marathon day of building and installed the top side beams, all of the rafters, and almost all of the plywood on the roof. I also covered the top with plastic sheeting and tarps, and used some leftover cheapo house wrap to cover all of the sides. Now I have a totally overbuilt tent!

Four walls

2009-12-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Solstice to all!

Two complete walls and two half walls are framed, to be exact. The newly installed top plates and half walls provide the first real feeling of enclosure. Most of the design issues with the frame have been resolved. Now it is time to just cut and nail.

Unfortunately, my building vacation from work is over; but the holidays will allow for more building time over the coming two weeks. I am hoping to have all the wall framing including door and window portals done by the first weekend of the new year, along with installation of all of the rafters and the first layer of roofing material.

Interlude

2009-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

No big progress today due to some necessary recalculations and measurements, and a morning meeting for work. So I thought I would post some images from my calculations and plans to give you some idea of what I'm shooting for.

First, I would like to thank my secret Santa for giving me such a nice rafter speed square. I had one from Harbor Freight which was quite ugly and not very precise, but this aluminum square is a thing of beauty. I have used it a great deal in the two days I've had it, and it will see a lot more use in the months to come!

These models were made in Sketchup, which has been a very useful (and free!) program during the (never-ending) design stage of the project. The outside of the building as shown here is rusted steel, my current idea for siding. I found a local source with free delivery of steel 4x8 sheets today, Santa Rita Steel, and they were also of great assistance in suggesting how it will be attached to the framing.

Lastly, I wanted to post these images I used to figure out how the wood was going to integrate with the trailer structure. They remind me of an early 20th century modern art triptych.

Second wall

2009-12-14T17:55:00.001-08:00

I thought that the morning rain would hinder my productivity today, but I managed to get the second wall up in the afternoon.

Tomorrow should bring more walls. The sides will go on in segments, since I am on my own at this point.

First wall up

2009-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

My helper has gone back to Delaware, but before he left, we managed to get one wall up. I have spent the last couple of days finishing up attaching the plywood underfloor, and adding a few more studs to the wall. Next stop, the opposite wall, and then the roof?

Flooring nearing completion

2009-12-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Although we had high hopes to finish the flooring today, learning curves and rain made progress slow. Hopefully tomorrow will be clear enough for a full day of work.

No ground broken; a beginning nonetheless

2009-12-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

The tiny house on a trailer project has officially begun.

The goal: to create a portable, habitable home with less than 120 square feet interior. Cozy is the word.

The first step was to find a platform on which to build my tiny house. I enlisted the help of my step-father, who has a huge amount of experience with building, and loves projects such as this.

After much research, I settled on this trailer. Although I liked the "deckover" variety because the deck extends all the way to the edges of the 8.5' total width of the trailer, they were too high off the ground. The height would have taken precious head room from my loft space, as the total project must remain under 13.5'. While other trailers are lower to the ground, the deck width is typically only the width that will fit between the wheels. and I needed that extra few inches on each side.

A happy compromise was found in this trailer. As you can see, the deck is below the wheel well, but it also extends all the way to the edge of the trailer before and after the fenders. I got a good deal on the trailer as the dealer was making room for 2010 models.

The dealer was kind enough to deliver the trailer to my house, saving me the cost of renting a truck. My Honda Fit would not be up to the task I'm afraid.

The next task was to remove the pressure treated boards that came on the trailer bed.My plan was to use the space underneath the platform level for insulation, thereby saving a little bit of headroom in my sleeping loft (I'm sort of tall, so every bit of space up there counts).

After removing the boards, we were ready to begin installing the layers under the flooring. I made a large order at my local lumber yard, and they delivered the next morning.

The first layer was corrugated tin, so that there would be something to hold up the insulations. The tin was mounted between the two steel C bars which make up the primary support for the trailer along the left and right sides.
With a good cobalt drill bit, the tin panels went in quite easily.

And once the panels were in place, we put in a layer of vapor barrier, and then the insulation.

Once the insulation was done, one more layer of vapor barrier for good measure...

...and the first week of building is done!

In addition to the above, we spent a lot of hours planning, measuring, setting up electric saws, shopping for materials and ideas, and debating, as well as a huge amount of learning. Tomorrow will bring the floor, and then, if the weather isn't too bad, the walls and roof over the following couple of days!