Rowan's Tiny Home

This past week has been amazing! With summer vacation officially on, and marked with a beautiful cicada landing on my head the first day, my days have been spent doing nothing but work on the house. I have most of the metal roof on (had to order a different rake trim before I could seal it all up), the nose of the trailer is all framed out with the plywood screwed on, and the bathroom fan is cut out with some detail work all done -although I have no photos yet of these happenings. My hope is that in a week and a half I can make the official call to the insulation folk and get this baby ready for the interior work. What I have come to realize is that electric is my achilles heel. I've sought outside help, but most who are local seems to be unfamiliar with dc wiring, or are just generally confused by the whole endeavor. Even the local solar places- they install grid tied systems and so everything goes to an inverter. No concern for things like voltage drop in that scenario. One e...

It has been a long while since I have posted... this winter has been an intense one. I graduated this month, thesis and all being complete (yay!), and there are only a few more weeks left in the school year (work school that is). Most trying was that my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and anyone who has dealt with a similar illness in the family understand the all encompassing roller coaster that that kind of event entails. Luckily the chemo seems to be doing what it is meant to do, and now we are just getting into a routine and waiting to see what happens after about 6 more months of treatments. Needless to say, it has been a long winter. Now that spring quickly begins to feel like summer I have been able to focus on building again- and it feels so refreshing to throw myself back into it. There are more updates to come shortly, but I thought I would leave you with one of the more exciting developments... my new stove. Made by Andrew over at Navigator Stove Works, it designed for b...

Despite the fact that I haven't posted in a while, work continues on the house. The biggest push forward was over the holiday break- when I got the floor in. (I decided to put the floor in at this point because I thought it would be easier to install the plumbing etc.) I did have to go out and buy a pneumatic nailer, because the floor nailers friends lent me were just too powerful... they ripped the flooring to shreds. Once I had the right tool though, the process was painless and rhythmic.      Immediately after finishing the floor, I covered it again with rosen paper and luan so that I didn't have to cry every time I dropped my hammer. Trimmed the insulation around the windows and started putting up the joists for my low loft. The top of the 2x4 sits at 36", which gives me enough room to sit comfortably underneath without craning my neck. Then the cold wave hit.... there's no way my home can retain any heat, even with 3 electric space hea...

I can't get over how much I love this wood!  I still have some errant nails to fix and caulking to do, but every board is up - and just when I was getting the hang of it. That seems like it's going to be a theme of building this house... that as soon as I learn a new skill or figure out a system that works, it's off to the next challenge.  At least now I can make miter cuts like nobody's business.  Got to see the prototype of my tub that Mike is making me- and it's exactly what I was hoping for. Yay! The final version is going to be made from cypress and have hardware  (that won't be visible) to hold it together.  For those interested in wooden bathtubs, I found these "care instructions" on a site that sells them: (the super expensive versions) Congratulations on the purchase of your Cypress Bathtub! Due to the fact that this is a totally organic product, it is very important to maintain  the moisture of t...

The weather this weekend was absolutely amazing, up in the 60s. Perfect for siding.  Now there is just one more drip edge and about 10 boards left to do.  Add caption Bundled up in preparation for Sandy. I was half expecting it to end up on its side in a field but we were lucky here... not even a single drop of water inside.

I haven't posted in a while only because I have been working in small bits of time, in the hour or so I have between when I get home and when I run out of daylight, and then have to get back to work and/or thesis stuff in the evening. This past weekend though I was I able to spend a solid day and a half on the house, with some help from Margaret and Pete. Now visible progress can actually be seen! Margaret and I realized that this is the first photo of her actually working. Just to make it clear, she is in reality unbelievable in the way she speeds through things. And...  she makes sure that I don't spend too much time over thinking things. The window trim is on, and the window drip edges, if not all installed, are cut and ready to go. Everything is caulked and spray foam insulation is put in around the windows (that stuff is really weird, and kind of fun to play with, by the way). What is REALLY exciting, however, is the siding. I splurged and got 1/2 inch bevel...

So unless you want to be giggling and cursing simultaneously, I strongly recommend that you don't attempt wrapping a house solo - especially on a windy day. It is done, however. After a how-to demonstration from Walter on the larger window I was able to install all the others. And the fascia boards are completely up too. I'm actually surprised how much has gotten done with only being able to dedicate a few hours here and there after work, with the occasional Saturday thrown in. Next is the ice water shield. Lucas helped me install the first strip, which was really intimidating. I got the Grace brand, which is supposed to be one the best. This also means it is one of the stickiest and gooiest. But now I know how to do it... I think. We'll see come Monday. Walter putting the finishing touches on the big window. In the design I thought I might have too many windows, but now that they are in it seems just right. Walter is the first to graffiti the house. ...

So Margaret and a new friend, Pete, came out to help me push through the final steps of sheathing.  Everything else thus far I have been able to fumble through or research enough to fake it, but for some reason the door absolutely terrified me. Pete, who was the only one of us with any actual construction experience figured out how to frame the door, made the door jam, and gave me the long awaited rough opening measurement. With that in hand, and the header and cripple studs in hand, I was able to finish all the sheathing and cutting of the windows the next day. So now I have real walls! The next step will be wrapping the house so that I can begin the roof. The weather this weekend is supposed to be spectacular, so it just waits to be seen how much can be completed before work begins again on Tuesday. Pete chiseling out for the hinges on the new door jam. My neighbor Lynn donated this weird snake like tie thingy to the cause, which when soaked in water inflates and he...