interior insulation

I insulated the interior of my tiny house with the same insulation I did for the floor.  Roxul.  I used the R23 for the ceiling because I have 2x6 ceiling rafters and R15 for the wall and the 2x4 framing.  I'm pretty happy I used it.  It's super easy to cut, doesn't make that horrible Styrofoam squeaky noise that sets me shivering, or make that huge static clingy Styrofoam mess.  The weird little corners and shapes around the pipes and wires were challenging but not overwhelming.  I really hope I didn't forget to do something in the walls.


Then just like the subfloor I covered the walls with a plastic vapor barrier.  I did this because of reasons.  Look it up if you want the science.  As long as I have good ventilation I'm hoping this is the correct thing to do.

The ceiling was especially fun because of gravity.  The plastic wrap helped hold it into place but I ended up with some pretty itchy eyes from stray fibers even with the eye protection.

utilities - Electric - Propane - Water

The utilities on my tiny were a decision I struggled with.  I've done every other part of the build on my own but the electrical, plumbing and gas work scared me.  If I didn't get the framing exactly right I would end up with a crooked house, something that no one would be surprised I had.  If I messed up with the electrical the chances of a sleepy immolation was possible, then leaky plumbing would put out the fire and leave me with a soggy corpse, then the gas leak would blow my bloated remains all over the neighborhood.

I decided to subcontract the work to the professionals.  I really wasn't expecting this part to be terribly difficult.  I figured my systems would be so much more simple than a bigger house that the pros would knock it out in an afternoon.  The ignorant are so funny.  When I called the first several plumbers and electricians some were hesitant to work on a non-traditional project that fell in a grey zone as far as inspection and codes.  I can't blame them for wanting to protect themselves from liability.  Some of the ones that said they would give it a go wanted to charge me for the research that they would need to do in order to do the job right.  Now it was my turn to be hesitant.  Also the process can be time consuming.  I would call, explain what I thought I needed done, schedule an appointment for them to come take a look, wait, show the house, wait for bid, balk at the estimate, repeat.












Frustrated I started reading up on how to do it myself.  I watched the same kind of videos that allowed me to build the rest of the house.  I was very close to giving it a try myself again when as a last ditch effort I reached out to my local queen of tiny Hannah Crabtree of Pocket Mansions and she sent me a contact of a plumber she has used on her tiny builds.  The idea of having someone who is familiar with tiny building was enough of a plus to persuade me not to play with fire, water, or gas.  Rob and Sunny are colorful characters but quickly went to work roughing in the propane lines, the grey and fresh water lines, and even installed my shower, water heater and propane boat heater.

It was the first time I was uncomfortable turning over control of my project to someone else.  As proud of my siding as I was it was cringe-worthy to watch someone drill holes in it.  One of the benefits of doing the work yourself is you have to understand what you are doing, even if what you are doing is wrong.  Having someone else do the work meant I didn't always understand how the systems I would rely on work.  This made me nervous but I couldn't argue with the results.  I needed this sense of accomplishment to jump start my somewhat stalled motivation.

I need to insulate, put up the interior wall panels and construct my kitchen counters before the pros come back and finish the fixture install.

Siding

It's been too long for me to even remember what my next step was.  I'm going to guess since I was still worried about the fall weather setting in that I pushed to get the siding up.  I had decided on cedar from the beginning.  I liked that cedar works well in my wet climate, resistant to bugs, and especially that it has the cabin quality that was important to me.  I did some research but pretty early on knew I wanted to buy from a local shop that has been an institution in my town.

Issaquah Cedar http://cedarexperts.com/

I stained the cedar first with a brush, than a sprayer when that took too long, and then back to a brush when I realized how much expensive stain I was wasting with the sprayer. The stainless steel ring shank nails were also crazy expensive but I really wanted the outside to be done correctly as the outside would be my introduction to the world.  That cedar needed to be the face of my project and so the extra expense for the good nails and stain should be worth it.  You better believe that ever screw I dropped I climbed down off that ladder to retrieve it.


Once my good helper Junko showed me that my siding didn't look quite right because I was putting it on upside down and backwards the rest of the install was surprisingly easy and quick, right up to the point where I fell of the ladder and broken two ribs.  I know, I know, I should have learned my lesson after falling off the roof but apparently I'm both not the smartest kid in the class and plagued with enough enthusiasm for this project to repeatedly overlook my own safety in order to not have to move the ladder so I could reach the board I needed to screw down.  I take some satisfaction that the ladder didn't get off unscathed either.  My ribs bent the ladder pretty good and I'm told I needed to be extracted from the ladder but honestly I'm a bit fuzzy on that part.  The notching of the planks to fit around the widows and doors was also tricky but since no angles were involved I managed it eventually.

The cedar siding was definitely one of my more expensive additions to the Manor but I think well worth it.  I'm really pleased with the results.  Those results wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the help of my friends who took one look at my gimpy leg and came over to help.  I'm pretty impressed that it looks just about exactly how I wanted it to look.

The last step is to seal the cracks between the planks and any other piece of wood such as the windows, doors, corner studs, and wheel wells.  Since it hasn't stopped raining long enough for me to do much outside work that project remains on the to do list.

Roofing

With the weather starting to turn more northwest than usual I was highly motivated to get the roof finished up.  I decided to go with Ondura corrugated roofing for a number of reasons.  I liked that it was light weight, being made of recycled paper product with asphalt.  Also I liked that cutting it seemed like an easier endeavor, no tin snips or crazy sharp finger severing edges.  I also thought maybe the metal might be louder during rain storms.  I also read the metal corrugated can rust when scratched.  I don't know how long my paper roof will last but its paintable to hopefully extend its protective life.  The clincher was seeing how great the roof over at Tiny House Giant Journey looks.  Mine didn't go on quite as nicely but I'm ok with it.  I was so eager to get the roofage started I dragged a rather heavy roll of tar paper up onto my reasonably steep roof to get started.  Some of you may already see the stupidity of what I just said.  "Why drag the entire roll up on to a pitched roof?  What exactly were you thinking was going to happen when you got to the top of the ladder?"  Well shut up.  I figured it out eventually.  After cutting a length of workable length of paper I went to work stapling down the sheets.

Shortly before my fall

I would have thought that with a name like tar paper there would have been a level of tack.  My advice for the day is don't try and roof by yourself, but also don't assume stapled tar paper is a sturdy surface for standing on.  I now know how much a leg brace costs.  I got lucky with only a small fracture and a few sprains of the ACL and LCL when I fell in a very undignified heap after my tar paper slipped out from under me.

Technically after my fall.  To add more stupidity I worked the rest of the day on my injury.

Progress has been somewhat limited since then but due to a remarkably touching outpouring of support from my friends the roof was completed and we are on our way to getting the siding started before the weather gets even worse.  Thank you to all those who are making progress possible.

windows

I've been looking forward to installing my windows for a while.  I have had them since before I even had walls.  I went with the idea that it would be easier to frame around existing windows instead of the other way around.  After watching lots of install videos and consulting a number of my regular tiny house blogs I felt ready to give it a go.  I'm always a bit trepidation with any project which involves the potential of water leakage and obviously the windows was a big possibility for disaster.  I'm not going to explain the process because its already been done so much better than I can.  After the first window I thought the process was going to be a breeze, a little messy with the caulking, but easier than I thought.  Then I went inside to test the window operation and realized I forgot to center the window and ended up with uneven gags to either side.  I filled in the gaps with expanding window sealant foam.  I don't know if that's what you are suppose to do but I did it anyway.  The next window I layed down the flashing, put the bead of caulking and hoisted the window into place only to discover it wouldn't fit.   I had forgotten to dry fit the window, well I guess before that I forgot to double check my framing.  I had to tear out the flashing and some of the housewrap with it, then I used a sander and reciprocating saw to carve out a slightly bigger opening until the window fit.  This was definitely not an elegant operation and the window fits so snugly now that I'm worried that during road travel or swelling the window might crack.  Time will tell.  The rest of the windows were some combination of complication with none of them being perfect but they look windowy so I'm calling it good.  The rain since install hasn't shown any leaks.

roof sheathing

This is where things started to definitely get sketchy in the safety department.  I don't have a great track record for doing the smart or safe thing when it comes to working solo and this was no exception.  Those pieces of plywood are large and heavy.  I used half inch plywood in 4x8 foot sections.   Because the house is 16 feet long and I allowed a bit of an overhang at the front and back of the house two pieces of plywood was insufficient so I staggered as best I could trying to remember this time to let the seams fall on the rafter studs.  I was a tiny bit unclear on what to do with the ridgeline.  Should the plywood touch at the crown or not?  I went with not quite touching.  Gluing the sheets into place was exciting.  I knew if i tried to glue all the rafters and drop the plywood onto it I would be faced with trying to muscle the 4x8 foot section up the ladder and hope it fell where I wanted it to go.  Instead I slowly dragged it up the ladder, pushed it into place, screwed in a couple of brace boards so it wouldn't slide off the roof, then propped up the high end so I could squeeze the glue between the rafter and the plywood and then removed the brace so it fell less of a distance and I had more control.  I don't know if this was easier or not but it seemed to work ok.  For the smaller pieces I balanced myself on the already glued and screwed plywood and trusted to the worn out tread on my hiking boots to keep me in place while I placed the plywood.  Then I caulked the hell out of the seams.  I got a bit of rain shortly after and it did leak a bit but I just added a bunch more caulk.  My advice of the day is to buy liquid nails and caulk in bulk as you will use all of it and then some.  

tyvek

For some reason I opted for the 9 foot tall roll of Tyvek Housewrap.  I think it comes in shorter rolls but since I normally work alone the 9 foot roll seemed the most difficult to work with solo and since I don't seem to do anything the easy way it was a no brainer to get the monster roll.  Fortunately for me I had help, Thanks Duc!, and although awkward we got the whole house wrapped in an afternoon.  We had one person hold the roll at the bottom of the trailer/plywood edge with me up on the ladder guiding the unrolling and stapling as we go.  I guess we could have stapled on end, unrolled to the other end of the wall, straightened it and then stapled but we didn't so deal with it.  I used staples instead of the nails with the plastic washer heads because I had staples on hand.  Then I taped all the seams with the Tyvek tape to seal out moisture.  The whole process was a tiny bit easier than most of my building endeavors although I still wasn't able to avoid all the wrinkles.