Tiny House Update #3

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...

The Presidential Traverse

How about a non-tiny house update?

It's been a couple years now that I've wanted to hike the Presidential Traverse in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Christian has also wanted to do this hike and Matt has been spending most of his free time in the Whites so it was an easy trip to get together. Mike and Ian also tagged along so we had a good group for the challenge.

The traverse generally covers 21 miles and 10 peaks (which are all named after presidents... coincidentally). Mike quickly learned that his fitness wasn't quite up for the challenge and unfortunately hiked back to the car after the first day. The rest of us trudged on, skipping the peaks and taking cutoff trails in the interest of our knees and ankles.

Regardless of pain and difficulty, the Whites were spectacular right now with vibrant greens and oranges covering the hills and valleys. We had some sun, some fog and some rain towards the end.

All in all it was a success in our books and I'm very glad we did it. It also has me looking forward to plenty of winter camping in a couple months!

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!