Our tiny house and truck
Not our house, but a model that ours is based on.
Jeff and Arlene on a kite day
Needed to keep two sizes for the blog
Jeff & Arlene in Seattle
build space
at the lumber yard
Visiting Jay's Fencl-in-progress
Rick and the trailer
backing in
Jeff surprised it wasn't that hard to back in
lumber delivery
Dark dismal storage facility where the tools were rescued from
unsticking a stuck screw
Happy Birthday to Arlene
Dinner
Arlene cutting off a rail
Arlene grinding down the edges
Arlene in the wine barrel
Jeff studying
Arlene using her new toy
Arlene using her new toy on the floor frame
Setting up the floor frame
Floor frame almost done
The wine barrel
Leveling
stapling the flashing
Adding flashing to the floor frame
Drilling holes to bolt the floor frame down
Floor frame bolted down!
Arlene cutting a 2x6 for the edge of the floor frame
Arlene says "Just shim it."
Note how the 2x6 hangs over the trailer frame a bit
Sometimes nails get jammed
Installing insulation
Jeff's Study area
Using flexible soy foam to seal the gaps
Our tiny fireplace for our tiny house
Checking out the flooring: Douglas Fir
Moisture barrier before we stapled it down
Stapling down the moisture barrier
Some of the tools for flooring
Arlene and Scott at work on the first few boards
Jeff using the floor nailer
Using a kicker to set the tongue and groove
We're making progress
Some boards are pretty warped before nailing them in
Scott on nailer duty
2/3 done
You can see all the gaps and rough spots before putty and sanding
Jeff and Scott moving pretty quickly at this point
Arlene's turn on the nailer
FINISHED!
We ended up without to much extra wood
Pre-sanding, you can see how rough some of the T&G lines up
Rented floor sander
Arlene sanding the floor
Jeff Sanding the floor
No more gaps!
Not a great picture, but the floor looks amazing
Wow
A "grab" for the floor protection
Arlene puts masonite on the floor to protect it as we do framing
Let the Framing Begin!
Arlene's Book Pic for the week (Year)
Framing the walls
Framing the walls on the floor
Wall raising party - first wall going up!
Wall raising party - working on the second wall
Wall raising party - working on the third wall
The crew (minus the photographer, Arlene)
Wall raising party - 2 walls up
Scott working on one of the last walls
The toilet and refrigerator in the house - kind of weird to have them that close together. Isn't it?
Rick
Jeff
All of us! Done!
framing detail
A lemon of a nail gun. Thing jams all the time.
Our new toilet: Big Bertha
Temporary stairs, or, knee savers
Chop saw - cutting joists
Bertha food
One of our new double pane, low-e windows
what the heck?
a half wine barrel
just checking the size
Loft storage area
location location location
Finalizing floor plan on the fly
Step 1: single person loft construction
Step 2: single person loft construction
Step 3: single person loft construction
bottom of porch post
top of porch post
view of front of house (back of trailer) all framed up and ready for loft floor
Bolt through wall base, floor, floor frame and into trailer steel
lag bolts through trailer deck into floor frame
Arlene putting tongue and groove loft floor
Standing on sleeping area floor looking at storage loft area
Looking up at nearly done sleeping loft area
Shows double blocking between rafters/joists
Jeff and Mike screwing down the top board, a 20 foot long 2x4 running from front to back on top of the loft flooring. The roof rafters will be connected to this.
Jeff learning from Mike about sheathing
Jeff cuts the rounded wheel well edge
nice
yep, nice
inside with some sheathing done
inside with some sheathing done. You can see the sheathing does not come up all the way to the top of the long 2x4. this will help later when we put the roof on.
getting there
inside view with some sheathing on
Nice round cuts
Nearly done sheathing
Jeff climbs up and down the ladder to put the screws in the sheathing
Jeff gets smart and speeds up the job of putting screws in the sheathing.
Rick having lunch
almost done sheathing
Cutting out the windows
Nice
Getting there
Finishing some of the details of sheathing
From the inside
Paying the extra price for high quality screws and bits is worth it
sheathing pics
Jeff and Sultan putting up house wrap
House wrap done
Drilling holes for conduit and running wires
Wiring switches
note that I'm keeping notes on where I'm running wires on the inside of the sheathing. Each wire gets a number, and I note where that wire starts and ends.
Making good progress on the electric system
a junction box and the circuit breaker box
wiring
most of the rough wiring in place
Peeking in through the windows at the wiring
Note how much the wiring notes have grown by the time I was done with the rough wiring
all the outlets and switches in (though I probably should have waited on this till after the inside walls were done)
Mike and Jeff squaring up a window
Installing the windows. That shiny black stuff is flashing. One side is very very sticky - if you have hairy arms, watch out!
Windows from the inside
Rick screwing in the window
One side done.
Electrical map
Flashing for windows
Electrical done
electrical notes on wall
never ending todo list
Jeff's Jeep full of wood
jeff running pex popes
Jeff drilling a hole of the plumbing vent
Jeff soldering pex fittings to brass connectors
On demand, propane hot water heater
Insulation & plumbing
Insulation
Insulation & Plumbing
back priming the siding
trim for windows
Arlene's design detail
trim for windows and hot water heater
progress putting in the sealing fome
Putting up furring
The first board
A little bit later
installing cupboards
a cupboard
Jeff working on the roof
insides before putting in all the counter tops
We just installed the front door but still need to do the paneling and trim.
What we sold to Rick.
More of what we sold to Rick.
Some of what our previous neighbors were given for free.
We gave away our old bed too. Now we have a nifty new sleep number. They're happy. We're happy. It all works out...
Well wishing friends come to celebrate with us the night before we leave for Seattle at our house blessing party. Eleven people including Jeff who took the picture fit into our living room!
Trouble with the turn signals was the way we started out. Two hours later Rick had it figured out and we were on our way. Luckily this was the only trouble we had on our trip. It was slow moving though because of the wind resistance.
We got - 8 mpg - on average... not from weight, but from wind resistance...
Rick at his best.
Rick's truck with our tiny cottage and Jeff's little black Jeep.
A rest stop late at night somewhere in Oregon. We three slept in the cottage.
Took the tiny house to a truck scale at a truck stop: 7600 lbs!
Rick - worn out from pulling a tiny house
"Will drive for food."
Rick's truck pulling the tiny house
Rick and I at a rest stop on the way up from CA to WA
A tiny house isn't so tiny when you consider the height... Watch those low overpasses.
Our tiny house arrives in Seattle.
Pulling into the spot for our home in Seattle.
Unhooking the tiny house from Rick's truck.
The construction crew finishing up the desktop.
This is the view from our porch.
Here is our tiny house settled into Seattle. The door needs trim and lots of other work needs to be done, but we feel like we have completed an adventure.
Our sleeping loft.
I bought this antique settee for a really great price because it's missing 2 legs in the center and desperately needs reupholstering. No problem because I can do woodworking and reupholstering.. and I have the time.
A really worn seat but I really like the lines of the piece.
Reallllly dirty too.
The webbing is dead and needs to be replaced.
The webbing just turns to dust.
A detail of what the settee looks like now. The fabric is natural linen with a trim of beige tape and brown decorative upholstery nails. I wanted the seat back upholstered for comfort but left the woodwork showing behind the seat back. Final shots will be posted when the rain stops for a day and I can take it outside for a picture.
Some old ikea shelf supports, some screws and our leftover siding will be turned into a solution for...
The open space under the trailer needs to be covered so that the cottage floor will stay warmer in winter. The wind just whips down through there right now.
The finished design of the skirt to the cottage. The front area where the trailer tongue is will be enclosed with a planter.
A look at the foyer. We have a coir mat backed with rubber so that we have a place to take off our wet shoes and coat at the front door.
Foyer detail.
Our double wide desk looking from foyer toward kitchen.
Stovetop and shelf above window.
Desk / kitchen details.
Looking from foyer toward kitchen area. New (reupholstered) settee in foreground.
Sink counter and storage.
New shelf above sink.
Custom cabinet detailing.
Getting these hinges inset was a lot of work for me but look really nice.
The new bi-fold bathroom door has been covered with paneling like the walls. The closets are still covered with drapes though.
Looking from the kitchen toward the foyer.
Front door open. New settee to sit on.
Front door open with old toolbox covered with a throw rather than new settee.
I enjoy working in copper. I made these leaves on a branch to serve as our door knocker.
Frosted window in the front door.
Frosted window.
Mike made the door for us and it looks great!
Detail of the front door. Douglas fir with clear vertical grain (cvg).
Front door.
Our backyard has sunflowers. Recently lots of squirrels, crows and jays have been feasting. It's been fun to watch them hang upside down while they eat.
