Siding Roofing Insulation Yadda Yadda

Still building the tiny house!

Lots of siding... especially little pieces everywhere.

Quick sidenote: the sourdough bread recipe is improving slowly but surely.

With the weather getting colder and colder, I was in dire need of firewood for the stove in the tiny house. Christian asked his neighbor if we could purchase a cord of wood. He countered with an offer to split 3 cords and I get to take one home with me. As a cheap unemployed bum, I gladly took him up on that offer. 6 hours of splitting later (thankfully he had a hydraulic log splitter) I had a nice stack of firewood to keep the house warm for a couple months.

Speaking of weather, we've had a few rough days working on the siding...

Then Christian hosted a Christmas party. Of course there were many tiny house tours throughout the night. Wood stove kept it at a cozy 65.

Camille and I attempted to take a nice photo together. We'll figure it out someday!

With about 3/4 of the electrical done, we were able to start insulating some of the walls. Roxul is a great product and Camille picked it up super quickly.

And after every batt of insulation was installed, the house seemed to get a little bit warmer. Can't wait for the entire house to be insulated.

Christian thankfully took the task of finishing the siding on the right half of the flying gable of Tiny McBoatFace. His current name is now Tiny McTwoFace.

And here's a photo to commemorate our 100th trip to the home improvement store. We've got the aisles memorized by now.

We've also finished all of the roofing (thank God). And the subfloor is almost completely insulated.

Those tasks were too frustrating for me to even think about taking photos.

And Camille and I fly to Columbia in 11 days for some sun and relaxation!

Small Break From Building For The Holidays

So Christmas happened. Hope everyone had wonderful holidays! 

We spent the day at Patrick and Kate's. Of course Jude and Chloe stole the show. Jude now has enough matchbox cars to play with a different car each day for all of 2019.

And then for my Dad's birthday we stuck with tradition and went to Goten Hibachi for dinner, which is always a good time. This year it was much warmer!

And here's the progress that Camille, my Dad and I made on the siding. Looking pretty good! Can't wait to have all of the siding finished.

Christian has been putting a lot of effort into the roofing. With the shed dormers there are a lot of corners which make the flashing more difficult. But he's been doing a great job!

We've finished about 80% of the roof. Unfortunately we ran out of some materials so I've ordered more and should get them by Monday. 

And then we hit another big checkpoint. We spent our first night in the tiny house! It was New Years Eve. It seemed fitting. 

We were planning on going camping for New Years but some evening freezing rain deterred us. So we had a party at Christian's instead, just like last year. This gave me an opportunity to give many tiny house tours. At one point we had 14 people in the house, which is probably the most people that will ever be in it at one time.

And of course a party at Christian's wouldn't be complete without shenanigans. This year's surprise was a unicorn pinata filled with tiny unicorns.

And there was lots of twister bouldering.

And then back to work. My focus lately has been cutting foam for the subfloor insulation. I feel like we're overdue for another snow storm so I'd like to take advantage of the clear ground and get the foam installed under the trailer. It's a slow and tedious task but I'm over halfway done so the end feels near. I've made a custom hot knife to cut the foam into clean and square blocks. It doesn't cut quickly but it also doesn't make a mess like the saw or knives did.

For Christmas, my Dad bought Camille and I tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show. Neither of us had been. It was incredible! Would definitely see another show.

And today I put some time into the plumbing as I'd like to have all of the pipes installed before finishing the subfloor insulation. I've spent too many hours researching plumbing and buying all of the necessary tools and materials so it feels good to finally start assembling the pieces. It's also a fun challenge fitting all of the plumbing in as small of an area as possible.

Next goals are to finish the plumbing, subfloor insulation and electrical. Then we can insulate the house and theoretically move in! 

Theoretically...

Wood Stove, Siding and Roofing Oh My!

So I guess it was time to oil the cedar siding...

It didn't seem like too much since we were able to fit it all in my Saturn. But once you have to oil all 6 sides of 450 boards then it starts to feel like a never-ending task...

This stack here is about 20% of the siding. 3 days of Camille and I oiling and we were done! Just needed to wait a few days for the oil to penetrate and dry out.

We took a well deserved day off and drove up to Hill Farmstead Brewery with Tim and Jesse. We were hoping to do some Vermont sightseeing, but the short days and the 3.5 hour drive to Hill Farmstead made that impossible. A bit too much driving for beer, but it's pretty tasty beer!

Here's an update on the back electrical service box.

My brother has been helping us with all of the electrical work. It's the one area of home construction that truly requires a trade professional and something I wouldn't want to try and do on my own.

I also threw in some insulation that I got from Christian's neighbor. Now that we're getting the plumbing and electrical figured out, I'm hoping to install all of the rigid foam insulation that we've had sitting around for months now.

We also installed the wood stove which is a huge milestone considering it's almost January! Now we can work inside and outside and keep our hands and feet warm at all times.

Here's a couple shots of the interior at this point. Quite messy with tools and materials everywhere, but that will get cleaned up soon soon.

And now the metal roofing and the cedar siding are getting installed! The roofing is tricky as Christian and I have never worked with metal roofing before and the shed dormers make for some interesting angles, but Christian seems to be getting it figured out one corner at a time.

And the siding looks great! Camille and I are learning the delicate task of properly installing such a soft wood. Can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished.

Many many many thanks to Christian, Camille, my Dad, brother, Keira and everyone else who has selflessly spent their free time helping me get this house constructed. Looking forward to being able to have people over and provide hot meals and cold drinks!

The House Moves! And It Didn't Fall Over!

We finally installed the door! Christian and I want to eventually build a custom (read: nicer looking) wood door, but this will do for now. Felt like a big moment for Tiny McBoatface!

Some serious concentration from Christian as he freehand cuts a nice curve into the loft floor beams.

Work lights installed and loft framed out!

Camille and I spent an evening eating bread and cheese and figuring out what color to choose for the exterior trim. She has the final say for anything related to color or design.

Wish I kept a tally of how many trips I've made to Home Depot or some other building supply store. Feels like at least 30 by now... S'pose that's part of building a house. Especially without a fully fledged design.

Went to Cowl's to order pre-primed pine for all of the exterior trim. Total came out to $800. Couldn't justify it so we decided to buy standard 2x4 and 2x6 pine, rip the sides and prime it ourselves. Saved a ton of money but adds some extra work. Thankfully Camille and Jay were more than happy to help paint over 300 feet of pine with 2 coats of paint. A huge help!!

While they painted, Christian and I installed the loft flooring. Same floor that we installed for one of his clients so it went in super quickly. Tiny house, tiny floor!

My Dad stopped by early Saturday morning to help out. We finally installed the huge living room window. By some miracle, we didn't break anything. And it looks great!

And then the moment Christian has been dreading for months, moving the house to its semi-permanent location in the corner of his yard. There's some hilly parts along the way and we were nervous that the house might tip over. We loaded the inside with tons of old beams that we would eventually use to jack up and level the trailer. After resolving some tongue weight issues, we were hooked up to his truck and ready to go. Somehow it went incredibly smoothly!

A couple hours playing with sights, levels, jacks and beams and we had the house leveled and off of the tires.

Then Saturday afternoon and Sunday were all about trim. With the help of Christian, Camille, Jay and my Dad we were able to get most of the trim finished. Kevin and Stephen also stopped by to check in on the progress.

We also started building a small box on the back that will contain all of my batteries and electrical components.

It's all coming together! Lots of little things need to be worked on as we prepare for installing the siding. Also need to oil the siding as soon as possible.

Also hoping to get the wood stove and chimney pipe installed soon so we can start heating the inside!

Camille Has Arrived!

Camille is here!

And of course I didn't waste any time putting her to work!

The house is coming along nicely. Got it all wrapped up in tar paper and ice and water.

Then the windows went in surprisingly smoothly. Just need to install the big living room window which has been sitting at my Dad's house.

Despite the uncomfortably cold weather, Camille has been helping out a lot with the house. We built the roof rakes for the gable ends. We're pretty much ready to install the metal roof now. Just need to buy the materials!

We also helped Christian frame some interior walls for a client. Although Camille and I have very little experience with construction, Christian is a very good delegator and the 3 of us fell into a productive rhythm and got a lot done.

Also, not trying to brag but I think I finally have a sourdough recipe that has been making some pretty tasty loaves.

And then we went camping with a bunch of the college guys. Camille was pretty nervous about trying to stay warm but she bravely committed to the event. 

We kept a roaring fire going all night and kept ourselves plenty warm.

Hopefully this week we can install the metal roofing and cedar siding and begin focusing on the interior of the house!