Well the last tiny house update was a month ago. I wish I had some crazy exciting progress to report... but I don't. Funny that the last sentence on the previous tiny house update was "pray for a painless VIN/Registration/Titling process".
Well the State Police Officer at the title salvage office told me the my trailer is worthless and unqualified to be registered since it has no VIN or title. I guess without any identification or paper trail, they can't prove that I didn't steal it.
I might have a solution in progress. A solution that cannot be discussed with you here...
But aside from jumping through bureaucratic hoops, some things have been accomplished.
Remember that storage unit that Christian and I paid $500 for all of the contents? We've already sold $1,000 worth of stuff. So profit has been made and anything we decide to keep will be considered free. Not bad.
I was also able to sell the old tires and axles from the trailer for $200 which made me very happy.
While the house construction is stalled waiting for a trailer registration solution, I've been doing lots of research regarding the rest of the house setup. E.g. wiring diagrams, plumbing layouts, solar system requirements, etc...
The most fun research so far has been re: the composting toilet. I decided that in order to fully understand my requirements, I would need to build prototypes and begin testing. That way, any design changes can be made before the real toilet is installed in the house.
So behold, composting toilet prototype #1!
I've read from all sorts of sources that one does not need one of those fancy $1,000 composting toilets with urine diverters, fans, bells and whistles. Just poop into a 5 gallon bucket and cover it with something and it won't smell.
Well guess what? They're totally right. As soon as the delivery has been made and covered with some sort of material, any smells disappear completely. So I've been using this system for almost a month now, testing out various cover materials. Most people recommend sawdust which is great since Christian's timber frame company has beyond an abundance of that. shredded paper/cardboard seems to work okay as well. Grass clippings, not so much. Leaves and moss, decent.
So I will continue testing and documenting my findings.
I've also been checking Craigslist like a lonely millennial checks Tinder, picking up things as I see them. Like these nice kitchen knives, for example. 20 minutes of sharpening while sipping bourbon brought them right back to life.
I've also been making screens for all 7 of the windows that will be installed. One of the greatest aspects of this project is picking up a whole array of new skills that will prove useful down the road.
Speaking of Craigslist, I've become addicted to free estate sales. Basically people selling the entire contents of a home (because they've inherited it from a relative or they're moving far away). After a few days of selling items, sometimes they put an ad online saying the rest of the contents are free.
I've been to 4 of them now. It's insanely fun digging through another person's house and seeing what comes up. 2 of them have been okay, containing mostly knick knacks and old furniture. But the other 2 had lots of construction materials which is perfect when you're trying to build a house. One was a barn where I spent 3.5 hours going through and hauling out tons of massive beams and boards.
I've scored plenty of things which will further help keep the cost of building this house down: lumber, drywall, screens, hardware, flashing, wire, paints, stains, tools, jacks, tar paper and so much more.
The new axles came in as well. Felt good to have those installed. They have a 4" drop and we underslung the springs which drops the trailer a scary amount to the ground. But it also gives us about 7 inches more height to work with when constructing the house. Just gotta avoid any large bumps when transporting it.
Also helped Christian install a tongue and groove decking floor in a clients house. Not only did I get paid, but I learned a ton about installing flooring which will prove useful if we ever get around to building this tiny house.
Although we've already acquired a wood stove, we had concerns over how large it was. Then low and behold I found this beauty on Craigslist. I talked the woman down to $80 and I'm now the proud owner of a tiny stove for my tiny house.
It's about half the length of the other stove so it will fit snugly between the countertop and the door.
I spent 2 afternoons grinding away rust and refinishing both stoves. Upon testing the new stove I decided it would be convenient to also heat up some soup and attempt to bake bread on top.
The stovetop bread recipe will need some tweaking but it's promising. I still need to buy some fire bricks and stove pipe, seal between the cast iron plates with furnace cement and perhaps replace the gaskets.
The wiring on the trailer is finally finished. I also finished screwing down the subfloor. She's ready for inspection as soon as I navigate around the documentation issues. I'm hopeful that it all gets done this week and house construction starts this weekend... Cautiously hopeful...
