Initial progress was made today on the Tiny House. When Mikey got home from work, we scrounged up what we could find by way of 2x4 lumber pieces and 1/2 inch plywood scraps (I’m glad we keep stuff like that right now) and made a support “jig” of sorts to hold the first piece of “Galvalume” sheet metal in place on the trailer frame until we can lay the floor joists above it and install screws from below up into… View More

Mikey says the tiny house has a frame on top of the trailer frame mainly because he wants a thick layer of insulation below the floor.  The space above the galvalume sheets on the very bottom surface and below the subfloor - a space that is as “tall” as the width of a 2x4 (the 3.5” dimension), will be filled completely with sheets of rigid foam insulation.  He says that some tiny house builders build their houses enclosed… View More

I (Jon) have been privileged to help Michael in the construction process, and we are both quite excited with each day of progress, small or large.  He has been planning it for a very long time - not only the house itself but of course the trailer also - no small task.  He has planned pretty much everything on his laptop, right down to details of just how the framing members will be placed and fitted together and where to use specific… View More

Some news on the Tiny House construction front, yesterday and today… Over the weekend, the subfloor support framing got completed, for the front half of the trailer.  The galvalume sheet metal underneath the floor joists was secured to the joists with screws from below, shortly after 10 “blocking” pieces were inserted between the joists to keep them straight and stable.  The holes in the sheet metal for the… View More

Yesterday and Saturday together, we must have gotten at least 2” of rain - real downpours at times. Whenever that much water collects, whichever one of us is available goes out to the trailer and pumps out all the pools formed on top of the big tarp, within the joist cavities.  The pump works great until its small inlet on the bottom gets clogged with debris (continually dropped by trees above), so I wrapped it in some fabric screening… View More

On Monday 6/6/16 Mikey decided to take the day off from work because the weather was great and he wanted to work on Tiny House.  We started on cutting 2” rigid foam insulation pieces to fit into joist cavity spaces. We worked on saw horses set up out by the willow tree (to keep toxic dust away from places where Holly, our Sheltie, hangs out).  He tried using the new Ryobi cordless jig saw; it worked great but the blade was not… View More

The completed 2x4 framing for the Tiny House floor was divided effectively into 30 rectangular spaces by joists and blocking pieces installed to stabilize them. These rectangles were of roughly similar lengths and widths, and all were 3.5” deep - the width of a 2x4.  Mikey’s plan called for each space to be filled with rigid foam insulation, to be provided in three layers of 2”, 1” and 1/2” thicknesses… View More

On Saturday 7/2/16, Mikey finished cutting the last remaining piece of 5/8” plywood subfloor and fastening it in place.   There was a fairly quiet but enjoyable celebration of the accomplishment (probably some iced tea - no cake). The plywood is arranged in six large and six smaller pieces, covering the six major rectangular spaces formed by the framing beneath.  Because a single piece of 8’ ply would not span the… View More