Monday, January 27, 2014

Preparation for Insulation

We have been busy trying to get the trailer ready to insulate.  Our weather has been on the colder than usual side lately.  Last week most of the days did not reach above 35 for the high with lots of wind.  The Hubby spend the later part of the week working outdoors in the biting cold while I worked in my warm office.  Kinda seems unfair, right?  I did make it out to help this weekend.  And we got quite a bit accomplished which makes us happy.




We got all the original flooring removed.  It will be used later for the porch.  We plan to put down solid oak flooring later.  Ohhh..how I love oak flooring!











Hubby had to add another cross beam where the front wall will rest as it fell between two main beams.  He got that welded into place and painted.  That gives us a beam to bolt the main house floor to and the porch floor as well.  The wall will sit over the joint the flooring makes. 









Next, he had to weld in some steel wheel well covers as the trailer didn't have them already.  This is a must!  If the trailer ever had a serious tire blowout, the tire material could come straight through the floor into the house.  We have read about it happening to others and decided to take the extra step and weld in some steel ourselves.






Now comes the fun part!  Ah..yeah...fun.  We were able to use almost all of the fiberglass roofing material we got for free but it had some bad spots so we purchased a bit more.  I did mention it's fiberglass right?  Itchy!! It worked out well though.  It's quite strong and durable.  It makes a great pan for the spray foam insulation.



We had to cut the material to fit between the main support beams that run the length of the trailer. We did the side panels first.  We had to drill through the cross beams from the underside so we could pop rivet the panels in place.  Working in a limited space area was not easy.  It was very hard to drill upwards through that hard steel. 










All riveted in place and ready to hold insulation! It turned out really nice.












We got the main platform of the house finished, minus a small section at the very end.  The center section was a pain to get right.  We did the first part in a 9 ft piece.  The next piece was 15ft long and heavy! We had to fish it over the axles and I had to hold it up so we could get the first few rivets in place.  Once we got it attached at the front, we could work it back one beam at a time.  I learned how to use a air pop rivet gun!! Go me!  As Ronnie drilled the holes, I went behind and riveted the panels in place. 







The bed platform was easier as the panels sit inside the crossbeams.  The hubby riveted them from the bottom side as I held it down.  Sitting up on the platform, I could visualize sitting in bed and looking down the hall, past the bathroom, through the kitchen area and living room and seeing my front door!







This was the easiest section to do.  If only the whole thing was that easy!  But it's done, minus a few small things to finish and then on with the insulation!  YAY!!










We will finish up the small bit left hopefully in the next few days or so and start calling insulation companies and getting quotes.  We have decided to go with spray foam insulation as it retains more heat and prevents drafts better than batt insulation.  The spray foam will also give more support to the walls when we frame.  It will decrease the chance of the wall shifting from vibration when moving the house.  That and the use of Simpson Strong Tie connectors, we will be solid!

Step by step we are crossing off the things to do before framing and I couldn't be more excited!!  I can't wait to get it framed and the roof up.  I feel like a child at Christmas every thing we get ready to move on to the next step in building our very own tiny home! 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Waiting for progress..

Well, here we are.  Half of January is gone and we haven't been able to get much done.  Our weather and other things have been keeping us away from work on the tiny house.  And it's driving me mad!  We have had single digit weather followed by rain, rain and more rain.  None of which makes for a good outdoor building day. 

We did finally get the material we plan to use to close in the bottom of the trailer and it's ready to drag to the site.  It is old fiberglass roofing used on semi-trucks.  We plan to rivet it to the steel beams underneath, closing in the bottom for insulation.  And it was FREE!  Even better!  Free building stuff is the best!  I wish we could find it all free but alas....

I have been mentally preparing for the downsize.  I have found that when I wander through stores like TJ Maxx, I don't pick up odd things that I really do not need anymore.  I look at stuff I like and think about where it would fit in the tiny house.  If I can't find a place mentally, then I don't get it.  Which is saving me money! I have also been going through my nicknacks and categorizing them as to what will go into the tiny house and what I plan to get rid of.  I feel some big garage sales coming on this Spring!

I thought I would feel a sense of sadness getting rid of things I love so much but I've noticed most things I can part with pretty easily.  Some things that mean more will go to family members and I am glad they will enjoy them as much as I did.  I feel more and more the need to remove the clutter of my life and start fresh.  I wonder how many others feel the same yet never try it. 



Thursday, January 2, 2014

Welcome 2014!

Welcome to 2014!  I do hope this new years treats everyone well.  We hope it brings many good building days with it!  So much to look forward to this year, like framing our tiny house!  We are almost to that stage and couldn't be more excited!

We spent the first day of the new year finishing up the bedroom platform frame.  We had to weld in a couple of support brackets at the front of the platform then get it primed and painted.  But it's finally done!







 Support brackets in place and starting to prime!















We had just enough primer, thankfully!













On to painting!  We were excited to get to this point.  We have completed the first major task and are ready to move to the next.







We are ready to move on to insulating the floor of the trailer.  We have to look into companies that do the spray insulation or icing as they call it.  We have some prep work to do first.  We are planning to pull up the wood floor, then rivet some fiberglass sheeting down to the I beams.  Then comes the insulation!

We have high hopes for this year and will keep you all updated on the build and our journey into the world of Tiny Living!  Welcome to 2014, enter with joy in your hearts!