Tiny House Gets Some New Shoes and Lights

Tiny house update #2

Not too much to report. Placed an order for new axles and brakes. Hoping those arrive this week. Also bought some new tires on Amazon for real cheap. In true Amazon fashion the shipping was free and they arrived in no time at all.

Anyone looking to buy some used axles, brakes and tires??

Finally finished wiring up all of the lights for the trailer. Here's a work in progress shot.

Christian found someone on Craigslist selling the contents of his storage unit. He used to be a contract electrician, but now works for a company so he was looking to get rid of all his tools and leftover supplies.

For $500 we got everything. Thousands worth of stuff. We'll decide what we might need for the house plus what we want to keep, then sell the rest. We've already recouped $365 in sales so it won't be long before the investment pays for itself. I most excited for the 3 massive solar panels that I hope to incorporate into the house.

Here's everything after cataloging and organizing. Doesn't look like much but those tools and materials aren't cheap!

Here's the breakaway switch and wiring harness for the trailer. Glad that's finally on there. Chains have also been installed.

Sexy new trailer tires. Only $92 a piece.

Once those axles come in, we'll get everything installed on the trailer and pray for a painless VIN/Registration/Titling process.

Building A Tiny House... Or For Me A Massive House!

Well to be honest with you folks, I was considering giving up on the blog after returning home from France. My laziness is tempting me.

And then the second day I was home Christian asked me if I'd be interested in building a house on top of a trailer. I had been teasing the idea of residential independence for a while so I said sure why not. Technically I've already owned two homes (both being vehicles) and technically this one will still be on wheels, but it will resemble a true house much more than it will resemble a vehicle. And it will provide reasonably sized living quarters, especially once I buy some land, whenever that may be.

Most choose to call this style of home a "tiny house". 

So yes we're building a tiny house. But to me it will be massive.

So the next day he informs me his neighbor offered to sell his 18 foot trailer for $500. For perspective, a custom built, new trailer for a tiny house goes for something between $3,000 and $7,000. So this was a steal.

Also for perspective, you'll soon see how much work has been required to get this thing prepped to become my new foundation.

Here's the trailer on day 1. Solid, very little rust, but lacking lights, safety chains, breakaway switch or even a VIN #. The tires were also in rough shape and one of the drum brakes was seized. Still a great deal for an 18 foot trailer!

The first thing we did was to create a life-sized floor plan in Christian's basement with chalk and tape. This allowed us to get a sense of where things would fit and how small hallways and open spaces might be. 

Then we both began making models of the house in Sketchup. He knew the tool and I did not, so I gave up after a few hours of trying to make a single wall...

Then prep work on the trailer began. These metal tabs on either side weren't long enough to give us our desired house width. Legally, the house can be up to 8'6" wide and 13'6" tall. So we're going with an 8' wide frame to give us room for the roof overhang.

These tabs needed to be cut out and grinded down smooth.

After cutting and grinding, I applied coats of primer and enamel to protect the metal. This took so much longer than expected and the heat and humidity almost took me out in the process.

Christian's neighbor Scotty graciously invited us to his workshop to weld on some new beams on the sides of the trailer. Our friend Joe also came over to help with the welding while Christian and I did more grinding, measuring and prep work.

Having friends willing to lend their expertise during a project of this size is unbelievably helpful and one of the biggest reasons that this project might actually succeed. That, and the fact that Christian knows how to build houses...

I-beams all welded on.

More primer, more paint...

Brian graciously offered us his leftover metal roofing. We'll use the galvanized stuff to protect the underside of the trailer and keep critters from nesting in the insulated subfloor. The other roofing will be used on the roof. It won't be enough to cover the whole thing but will help save a good chunk of cash.

Christian also grabbed some old SIPs from work that were sitting around for years. A SIP is a huge chunk of foam sandwiched between OSB sheets. It's used to build walls without the need for tradition stud framing since the panels themselves are structural.

We only wanted the insulating foam in the middle so we needed to remove the OSB sheets from either side. Easy task, right? Nope. Probably the biggest pain so far on the project. But it's all in the name of reclaiming old materials and saving lots of money in the process. Still have more to reclaim, but we have some time.

Cutting closed cell foam with a circular saw makes a bloody mess...

We also worked on the plywood subfloor. 5 sheets covered the entire trailer! We laid down sill seal on the metal beams to help insulate them a little better. 

The finished subfloor came out awesome!

Now I'm busy contacting trailer supply stores getting quotes for new axles, suspensions, brakes and wheels as we realized these axles are only rated for 3,500 lbs each and we're probably going to need the 5,200 lb axles to support this house. So the $500 trailer is sucking a bit more cash than expected but I think we're still going to end up with a good deal in the end.

We're also working on wiring up the trailer and adding lights, safety chains and a breakaway switch. Once completed we should be able to get a VIN assigned and begin the registration and titling process. All of this will be holding us back from insulating the subfloor and beginning the framing of the house, but that's how it goes!

That was a lot to read but I hope it was interesting because this project will be the topic of the blog for months to come

Car Cooking: Galettes in France

I'm in France and I attempted a French dish and I failed.

Enjoy!

Belgium, Fontainebleau, Beer, Bread and Cheese

Tim Donahue and Tim Murphy (The Tims) flew into Paris for an 8 day visit. Our game-plan was to drink plenty of Belgian beers and climb plenty of rocks. I think we succeeded.

Given the heatwave that coincided perfectly with the Tims' arrival, we decided to start the trip with the beer part. So we made our way to Brussels, stopping in the French city of Soissons along the way.

By the time we arrived, all of the restaurants and cafes closed down for the afternoon. But at least they had a very very large and fancy church.

For Brussels we had a tick list of breweries and bars that we wanted to visit. Our first stop was the Black Door. It's a really cool little bar in a basement that immediately gave you the sense of 100s of years of serving and drinking beer here. 

Then we drove an hour outside of Brussels to camp and climb at a spot called Freyr. It's a beautiful series of limestone cliffs alongside the Meuse River. Unfortunately the temps were still in the high 80s/low 90s and most of the rock faces south, but we made the best of it and climbed some really fun routes with beautiful views.

Then we checked off one of our highest priority goals: visiting the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels. They've been brewing traditional lambic beers since 1900. There are only a handful of traditional lambic breweries left in the world. Some of Cantillon's beers can be found in the states if you look hard enough, but when found, expect to be paying $30-$50 per bottle. So we wanted to go to the source and experience their beer in the place it's been produced.

They offered a self-guided tour of the brewery which was really really cool (and surprisingly trusting of tourists...).

With the tour we got 2 free samples. Then we purchased a couple bottles on-site and then about 20 bottles to go (maybe we got carried away, but the prices and the beer were too good).

We booked an airbnb nearby so we could shower and truly experience the beer of Belgium. That night we walked around, exploring various bars and taking in the Brussels nightlife. 

It's also worth noting that we ate lots and lots of Belgian fries and obviously tried the waffles. They ain't no Eggos dude!

Then we made our way back to France for the second half of the trip. Tim Donahue and I had yet to see Paris so we conceded to being Paris tourists for an afternoon. We attempted to rent bikes from one of those self-service stations. It took our card but wouldn't give us bikes so we gave up and walked. 

The Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower were cool I guess. Too many people.

We camped in the Forest of Fontainebleau where we planned on climbing. With rain scheduled for the entire next day, we booked another airbnb nearby. It was out in the countryside on a large farm. The setting was beautiful and the house was very relaxing. Of course we drank a few of those Cantillon bottles.

Due to the rain, the temperatures were much more agreeable: mid 70s. So the next 2 days we bouldered in Fontainebleau. The area contains over 20,000 established problems on beautiful sandstone boulders. We climbed as much as we could physically manage and were very beat up by the end of day 2.

On the last day for the Tims we killed time by exploring the Castle of Fontainebleau. The castle was expanded many times over by different kings and currently contains over 1900 rooms. We didn't pay to go inside but explored the gardens surrounding the building. 

Then I drove the Tims back to the airport in Paris and made my way back to Camille's house in the countryside. The trip was a great success and we climbed/saw/drank everything we had wanted to experience.

I now have 9 more days in France with Camille before I head back home and think about what I want to be when I grow up.

Climbing, Paddling, Fireworks, Eclipses, Cheese and Bread

Checking in from France. Been keeping plenty busy. 

One day Jeff had a day off and he showed me a really cool chasm nearby. The entrance is absolutely enormous. I tried to capture the size of it but failed miserably. 

Then after about 200 feet it narrows down into a small tube. For most of the year there is a river that flows into and through the chasm but in the summer it is quite dry. We were able to hike a couple hundred feet into the chasm before reaching a drop-off requiring canyoneering equipment. Here's a shot of that spot illuminated with our cell phones.

Then came the lunar eclipse! Here's the moon rising the day before.

I was fortunate to be in Europe during the eclipse as totality wasn't visible from North America. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy out. But the clouds managed to move out of the way every now and then for a few minutes, causing a panicked scramble on my end. Without a tripod photographing the moon proved difficult, but here is a shot of the eclipsed moon hanging above Mars. The eclipse was longest lunar eclipse that will occur this century. Also, Mars is the closest to Earth it has been in 17 years. It was awesome to see 2 very red celestial bodies rising over the horizon together. 

Here's the moon towards the end of the penumbral phase. With no clouds the photo came out much sharper.

Camille and I also went to see some fireworks in the village of Autoire, the same place where I've been climbing a lot. In this photo you can see the climbing cliff  towards the top left of the photo. They lit up the cliff and the old castle that still exists at the base of the cliff. The lights and some music were coordinated with the firework show. It was very impressive for such a small village (seen in the bottom right of the photo).

I also met Camille's parents. They live in a village 2 hours away. They have a beautiful home that was once a working farm. That night we all went out for dinner and live blues music in a nearby village. It was a really nice time. This pavilion where the band performed was built 800 years ago... The history and subsequent preservation of it is beyond impressive to me.

There's also some nice swimming holes nearby. Limestone cliffs everywhere!

A 15 minute hike from Camille's house brought us to some ruins with a nice view of the valley. And she thought my beard could use some sprucing up.

For a couple months I've been experiencing symptoms very indicative of Lyme disease. Being the more responsible person, Camille strongly encouraged me to see a doctor. We did, then I had some blood work done and it turns out that I do indeed have Lyme. No worries, I'll be getting antibiotics this week. This is the second time I've been to the doctors in 8 years (first time was contracting staph last year), both times being in Europe conveniently where health care is easier and more affordable.

Either way I've been driving around to labs and whatnot on my own, providing me with an opportunity to explore nearby villages. This village had a very nice church.

I also enjoy going to bakeries and buying baguettes and walking around as proud as can be. If I don't talk, I think people assume I'm a local!

Camille and I also paddled down the Dordogne River during one of her few days off from work. We happened to run into some of her coworkers and joined them for most of the journey down the 19km section of the river.

During the paddle we were aware of 2 different caves along the river. The first one being a dry cave which was pretty cool. The entrance was obstructed by a tree but once you passed that, there was a big room with lots of mud hand prints on the walls.

The second was a wet cave with a fresh water river running through it and emptying into the Dordogne. The cave was super cool and seemed to go for a long time. Unfortunately without proper lights and equipment we couldn't explore too far.

This week will involve more climbing (I've picked a 12c route as a project while I'm here) and who knows what else. On Friday Camille and I head out. She's flying to a wedding in Sardinia for 4 days and I'm heading to Paris to pick up Tim and Tim for a week of climbing and drinking in France and Belgium. 

À plus !