tiny house patio

The patio is under way on the tiny house. Outdoor entertaining space being key to large gatherings the patio is definitely a high priority. Obviously higher than putting siding on the house as you can see we have not gotten that done yet. In the spirit of creativity we used the tiller to loosen the soil and thus excavated for the patio. Still hard shovel work but much easier with the tiller loosening things up. 

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tiny house: water

The water line is dug. It snowed, we froze. My brother destroyed two hickory handles on a a pickax and a 20 pound sledge. Ultimately, we may have lost some tools but we got through the rock shelve and the dirt. We will now have water for the house and for the fields. in total it took three days with 2-3 people working but we made it over 500 feet from the road to the house. 

The water line is dug. It snowed, we froze. My brother destroyed two hickory handles on a a pickax and a 20 pound sledge. Ultimately, we may have lost some tools but we got through the rock shelve and the dirt. We will now have water for the house and for the fields. in total it took three days with 2-3 people working but we made it over 500 feet from the road to the house.

update October week one

So, we have been busy at work. Actually busy at work. We have not had the time to put toward the tiny timber house that we would have liked. The start of October has seen a slowing in the construction of the house. Though thanks to a friend for letting us borrow a floor stapler the wood flooring is almost done.

Yesterday we framed the shower walls. We help to do a concrete shower with a little help from of friends at Set in Stone. We are also almost ready to template out countertops. We plan to do the countertops in concrete as well, also with some help from Set in Stone. The bathroom wall, our only interior wall, is framed.

We bought a bathroom sink this week. This brings our secured amenity total to: bathroom sink, shower head, kitchen sink, propane cooktop, and propane hot water heater. We chose cast iron sinks for both of our sinks and the hot water heater is an outdoor model that we are retrofitting to supply the house. More on that concept to follow, when we install.

This week is Fall break at the school I work at. Meaning, we will have additional time to work on the house. Yesterday we framed a door on the second floor and that takes us one step closer to being fully dried in. By the end of this upcoming week we will be. We are then ready for our radiant barrier insulation. Check out the stuff we use at our friends blog: tiny revolution.

Yesterday was a big day. We framed a door, built piers for the front porch. Laid timbers level on the piers and nailed in deck joists. We also took care of framing the entire bathroom/ shower.

This is the update for now. I will try to get some photos soon.

tinyrevolution.us/http://tinyrevolution.us/2012/10/05/special-radiant-barrier-and-insulation-offer-from-ecofoil/

other foundational thoughts

So, it is a terrible picture. This is a picture taken under the house. Here we are looking at the front Southeastern corner of the foundation. Visible,  aside from the glare of the sun, is the cinderblock and wood beams. Between the beams and block we placed tar paper to help mitigate the little bit of moisture that could wick up the block and into the wood. We also put a fair amount of sand under the house to act as additional thermal mass. We had the sand and it seemed like a reasonable place to put it. It also makes crawling under the house more comfortable than if it was bare gravel. We will place a vapor barrier over the sand. Lastly, We reinforced the concrete foundation with 2 inch tubular steel. We had an old carport that was destroyed in a tornado so we used the steel to angel brace the foundation and tie it all together. We also used rebar in the foundation but thought the added steel would be a nice addition.

Here is a picture of the house prior to the second floor being studded and roofed.