Tiny Refuge @tinyrefuge-blog - Tumblr Blog

A Very Long Hiatus

I have been gone for a very long time. Much has happened since my last post. My world has changed and grown and I am in a place where I wasn’t confident I would get to. I avoided talking about where my health was when I was blogging though the process of designing and building Tiny Refuge, and at the time I wasn’t ready. But I just gave a TEDx talk about how I came to design and build my…

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My not so tiny, tiny house.

I love that the oak tree next to the house. When I look out the window on three sides of the house, I see trees: oak trees, cedars, an apple tree, lilac bushes.

The small loft

The main loft

The key hook dépanneur (or corner store) that I have had up in my three houses just waiting to go up.

A view from the bathroom.

The view from the love seat.

My plants.

My toilet

My medicine chest.

Looks Like Home

I have started moving in! I have been sleeping in the tiny house since my mattress was delivered at the beginning of the month. It has been glorious to wake up in my loft, hearing the birds outside and feeling so very much at home! The bathroom isn’t finished yet, there is no electricity and the propane hasn’t been installed yet, up until yesterday there was nothing to sit on and the floors were covered up with cardboard.

Here’s a recap of the work that has been done in the month since my last update:

The bathtub has been built! The drain was installed, but leaked, so we had to head back to the drawing board and after some consultation and a new drain basket, fingers crossed, I will have a functional tub at the beginning of June. Here are the tub progress pics.

The tub is based on Fourlights’ Ofuro tub and was modified to fit my house. My tub is mostly built out of plywood.

The fancy seat in the tub.

The fancy angled corner.

Fibreglassing the tub.

This is the filler coat over the fibreglass.

The tub painted.

Tub all painted.

The holes cut out for the tub.

The toilet bench has also been built. The final coat of paint is drying as I type this. The toilet bench also accommodates the winter grey water tank and the fancy grey water plumbing. I have to attach the piano hinge for the two lids on the bench (one for the toilet and the other for the grey water compartment). The sawdust will live in a bin that will rest on the grey water compartment. The toilet will be ready early next week.

The red gas tank will be the grey water tank in winter.

A close up of some of the grey water plumbing. The big shutoff valves control whether the water goes to the interior or exterior grey water tank.

How many people can say that they have used their toilet for storage?

The kitchen counter has been installed! I am really happy with the counter I chose and with the amount of counter there is in the tiny house. The kitchen sink and faucet were installed and the freshwater plumbing is almost finished, with the exception of the countertop water inlet connection. As it’s spring, I am all hooked with a potable water hose and I have running water. The exterior grey water tank or french drain still has to be worked out, but as I am not living in the house full-time yet, it hasn’t been a problem yet.

The first countertop fitting. It needed a couple of cuts to get it sitting well in place and then the space for the stove was cut out. Once that was cut the counter was attached to the cabinets.

Some of the wiring for the infloor heating had to go through the cabinet. These wires will be covered with trim.

Another wire that had to go through the cabinet. This is the power source for my hot water heater.

Kitchen sink and faucet in place!

Kitchen counter already in use.

The kitchen ready for a stove and a kitchen party.

Here is the trim for the infloor heating thermostat all trimmed up

The trim for the infloor heating under the counter.

The HRV units got their boxes, which we filled with spray foam, and then they were finished. I am really happy with how the HRV units look and I get a bonus space above them to sneak in a knick-knack if the fancy strikes me.

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The HRV box ready to be finished.

The bathroom HRV box.

The HRV box getting its front piece installed

All closed up and ready to ventilate Tiny Refuge.

My electrical panel waiting for a small piece of panelling. That spot is empty so that the DC adapter for my stove and furnace can be installed and to easily access the wires going into the panel.

Left to do (nb: this is not an ordered list)

Get a welder to come out and weld on the brackets for the propane tanks.

Get propane installed.

Install the stove and the furnace.

Finish the freshwater plumbing.

Install the drain and faucet on the tub.

Install the lids on the toilet bench.

Install ¼” plywood on the front edges of the rafters for the roofers.

Get a new roof.

Figure out my clothing storage.

Install the last of the trim in the bathroom.

Install the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

Have a house-warming party!

Overdue for an Update I have started moving in! I have been sleeping in the tiny house since my mattress was delivered at the beginning of the month.

The tiny house is moving forward in leaps and bounds, and then something comes up that stalls everything for a bit and then the build moves forward in a different direction until something comes up that has to be creatively encountered. The plumbing demands of the house have certainly caused a few minor stalls, creative problem solving and multiple trips to the hardware store.

There are conversations in the tiny house community about the cost of a tiny house per square foot vs the cost of a traditional home. I have strong opinions about that and won’t get into them now, but I will say that in a tiny house, particularly one in this climate, you have to fit in a lot of the same elements as a traditional home in a much smaller space and then fit in some things you would have to think about let alone find space for.

I started figuring out my plumbing needs and purchasing the big elements of my plumbing several months ago. My plumbing system allows for pressurized water supply from a hose and also a supply via a 26 gallon fresh water tank under my kitchen sink. The pressurized water is pretty straightforward – the water comes in and goes either directly to supply the taps of the kitchen sink, bathroom sink or bathtub with the normal bypass to the hot water heater OR it can fill the fresh water tank. The fresh water tank can be filled 3 ways: (1) the pressurized supply that comes in through an RV water inlet that has a hose connection and (2) a poured water supply line, (3) poured in through a marine water inlet in the counter. Once the fresh water tank is filled, there is a water pump that draws water from the tank to supply cold water directly to the taps or to the hot water heater to supply hot water to the taps. The reasons for the fresh water tank and the multiple ways of filling it are weather related. At -30 celsius, there is no guarantee that even the best heated potable water hose will be able to supply water to the house, and at the same time I want to be able to fill the water tank from inside – getting water into a small hole at chest height at -30 is not my idea of fun.

Once the supply aspect of the fresh water system was worked out and plumbed, the rest of the fresh water went really quickly. The fresh water plumbing is done with pex and clear vinyl tubing (for filling the fresh water tank through the exterior and interior inlets).

The grey water has had its challenges as well. The grey water from the bathtub, the kitchen and bathroom sinks all goes out of the house at the same spot under the tub. The grey water will leave the house and go into a storage tank or a french drain will have to be set up, depending on the location of the house. That system will work well until the weather goes below freezing. I have no desire to chance what will happen in a grey water outlet or tank once the water in it freezes and expands. Visions of cold hours under my trailer at -30 are also not my idea of fun. The original plan was to have buckets under the sinks and to shower elsewhere in winter, both of which I am fine with. Unfortunately, fitting a fresh water tank, a pump and a water heater under a counter does not leave any space for a bucket.

Here is the solution: the grey water from the kitchen goes past the bathtub, joins up with the grey water from the bathroom sink and then heads to a valve that either sends it towards the tubs grey water and out of the house or to a grey water container inside the bathroom. Putting the solution in place called for some creative plumbing and pieces. I am still on the hunt for a 5-6 gallon grey water tank that I will be able to remove from its spot in the bathroom and empty in a suitable location.

The plumbing around the tub coming together

The plumbing for the bathroom sink (almost done)

The plumbing vent.

The grey water going out of the house

Another angle of the pipe that goes through my floor.

Plumbing http://wp.me/s3yMjX-plumbing The tiny house is moving forward in leaps and bounds, and then something comes up that stalls everything for a bit and then the build moves forward in a different direction until something comes up that has to be creatively encountered.

#bathroom #bathtub #build #climate #construction #fresh water #grey water #kitchen #plumbing #weather

It has been a full week of building. The kitchen cabinets are in, the plumbing has been started and is almost complete inside the house, another order of lumber was done for the bathroom siding, the ceiling under the loft and the remainder of the trim; the bathtub has been built and the fiberglass tub is ⅔ complete.

The kitchen cabinets went in beautifully. It was a bit of a tight squeeze in some spots, the wheel well boxes had to be shaved down in size and there are shims in places I didn’t even know one would put shims. The kitchen looks great. I was concerned that the house would feel smaller once the kitchen was in, but it doesn’t. I wanted to be sure that there was a good amount of storage and counter space in the kitchen, but that there is also enough space between the counters so that two people can work in the kitchen and so that someone can still get to the bathroom if someone is cooking. Mission accomplished! There is just about 3′ of space between the kitchen cabinets and the comfort of that space has been tested thoroughly as construction continues. It’s a great spot to work out the next challenge. I can feel the kitchen parties happening already.

A word about my countertop. I have decided to go with a butcher block countertop. Not the best choice weight wise, but a good choice as far as handling the stresses of the road. We took a field trip after my last post to visit a countertop supplier in Montreal. They had gorgeous options in all things countertop. They came in at twice to almost three times the price of Ikea for a solid wood butcher block counter. To see the Ikea countertop, I had to buy the countertop sight unseen with the exception of well-worn sample in the kitchen department. Another field trip to Ikea. After watching the stock for the countertops for a week, they were finally in stock on Good Friday. So off we went to find the store packed. We navigated through the maze of the showroom using as many shortcuts as possible to stand in a considerable line and wait to order the countertop. Once ordered, another journey to navigate through the rest of the showroom and then down to the stock floor and navigate out of the small items stock into the large item stock room to wait in a longer line to pay for the countertops. Then to the returns/merchandise pick up counter, where I took a number, with only 41 people ahead of me to find out that I didn’t need to pick a number, just stand and wait in front of a large screen to watch my order travel through three columns of received, being prepared, and completed. Fortunately, my order was automatically put in the queue when I paid and equally fortunate, I got another number about halfway through my first wait of 41 people, in case I had to return the countertops. I got the countertops and decided to return them, despite the long wait to see them. The joinery in the butcher block made for weak point that would be problematic in the road. There was a wooden table like the countertop in the As-Is department that was bowed out of shape. I highly recommend staying away from Ikea on a holiday or weekend if at all possible, unless you enjoy long lines and lots of waiting.

The kitchen cabinets in the house waiting to be installed

Sink side upper cabinet.

The sink cabinet installed

Wheel well box being re-sized

The lower cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen.

The sink side with the upper cabinet.

Stove side upper cabinet.

A shim from my childhood – that’s my 10 year old self’s handwriting. That shim is now part of my kitchen.

This is a countertop from Ikea – I chose not to go with the countertop, the price was great, but the way the butcher block was put together leaves much to be desired. Those three rows being joined together in line with one another creates an unwelcome weak spot.

Building Bonanza Update: Kitchen Installation It has been a full week of building. The kitchen cabinets are in, the plumbing has been started and is almost complete inside the house, another order of lumber was done for the bathroom siding, the ceiling under the loft and the remainder of the trim; the bathtub has been built and the fiberglass tub is ⅔ complete.

Progress on Tiny Refuge is just chugging along. Tiny Refuge now has flooring! Yesterday morning, we installed the cork flooring in the lofts and started on the porcelain tiles in the kitchen and great room and today we finished tiling the kitchen and great room.

Tomorrow, the grout goes on and then a field trip to a counter supplier!

The cork floor being installed.

The red under the tile is the underlayment, which I did not know I needed until very recently. The underlayment helps the floor “feel” softer, helps keep moisture out of the floor and reduce noise.

The last board going in!

The left with the cork flooring in!

This is the porcelain tile that will go throughout most of the main floor of the tiny house.

The kitchen tiled. I chose a 2″ square tile for the floor mostly because of weight. The bigger tiles are almost twice as thick and tile is pretty heavy to begin with.

The great room tiled.

This is the bathroom, with a skim coat of thinset on it. The bathroom tile isn’t as thick as the rest of the time, the skim coat builds up the height of the floor. This will be a small white hexagonal tile.

Flooring Part II Progress on Tiny Refuge is just chugging along. Tiny Refuge now has flooring! Yesterday morning, we installed the cork flooring in the lofts and started on the porcelain tiles in the kitchen and great room and today we finished tiling the kitchen and great room.

It has been two weeks since Tiny Refuge has been under full-time construction. During the first couple of weeks, most of the work done was mostly at Stefan’s shop as he built the kitchen cabinets out of the leftover interior siding or panelling. There was just enough wood to build the cabinets out of, it was very tight, it took every single plank left to build the cabinets. It was a labour intensive process, Stefan cut and planed down each board, glued them together, cut them again to size, built doors, drawers and cabinets. I helped out with sanding and applying wood filler where necessary on each piece that Stefan built and then sanding them again. Once everything was sanded, we started painting the cabinets. I bought white milk paint for the cabinets and they are finished with hemp oil.

As he was working in the shop, the interior siding was sanded to get it ready to have SafeCoat Clear applied to it. SafeCoat Clear is a fire retardant. It is used in the film industry and in industrial applications on wood. If my walls were drywall or solid sheets of plywood instead of panelling, or if I had used rock wool or sheep wool insulation, they would meet code for fire safety without adding a fire retardant. On the plus side, it has no VOCs and it’s a Canadian product.

When I wasn’t sanding my kitchen cabinets at the shop, I was sanding the walls of the tiny house. Alex and my mom helped out with sanding the chamfered edges each of the panels of the interior siding. It was a full day of sanding after several days of sanding before that. It was a long but well worthwhile process. The walls look great. After they were completely sanded, wiped down and the tiny house thoroughly vacuumed, Stefan came over and applied a sealant to the walls with . Once the sealant dried, we very lightly sanded the walls again and then started applying the first coat of fire retardant. SafeCoat Clear has to be mixed on site, and we half of it as that’s what we needed for the first coat. That was unwise. Once mixed, the SafeCoat clear only has a 2-3 hour pot life. As it gets closer to the end of its pot life, it gets thicker and stickier. By the time we were applying the SafeCoat Clear to the last section of the tiny house, it was tough going.

The second coat went on much better. The walls look so much richer after the sealant and fire retardant.

The kitchen cabinet design for the sink side.

The design of stove/fridge side of the kitchen

The door wall with sealant and fire retardant.

The ceiling with sealant and fire retardant. At the top of the picture you can see one of the cedar beams that supports the loft, the beam has sealant on it, but no fire retardant.

Sanding And Then More Sanding It has been two weeks since Tiny Refuge has been under full-time construction. During the first couple of weeks, most of the work done was mostly at Stefan's shop as he built the kitchen cabinets out of the leftover interior siding or panelling.

#build #electrical #fire retardant #kitchen

Construction on Tiny Refuge has gone from a weekend affair to a fully time occupation. I will be living in Tiny Refuge in a matter of weeks.

The electrical is completed as far as it can until the bathroom is finished, the ceiling under the loft is put in and the floors are finished. The Lunos e2 HRV (heat recovery ventilator) was hooked up and tested. It took a little doing as there was a misunderstanding about how the switches needed to be setup. The box we received with the HRV was a european one and it fit the transformer that controls the HRV units, so we installed it. Oops. The european box, that had the wires for the HRV running to it, had to be carefully excavated from the wall and a triple gang box was installed into the wall. The Lunos e2 needs two switches, one switch turns the units on and the second switch controls the speed (low or high). The switches needed a triple gang box because a double gang box doesn’t have enough space for the switches and the transformer. In the third space in the box, a blank switch was installed and a hole drilled through it for the transformer’s LED.

With the switches and the transformer in place, the tubes were cut to size, the units were put in place and hooked up and then tested. There was a slight delay as they started up, once they started they quietly purred and worked beautifully. The Lunos e2 HRV must be installed in pairs. One unit draws fresh air in as the other draws the “stale” air out, then after about a minute later, they switch. They make very little noise, even on the high setting. It was wonderful to hear them purr.

The HRV switches (the three switches together) and the tube for the HRV. The HRV units get put in place, the wires attached and they are good to go!

The main loft lighting fixture, it has a twin on the other side.

The great room and the small loft lighting fixtures installed

This is the porcelain tile that will go throughout most of the main floor of the tiny house.

Air Quality and Electrical Construction on Tiny Refuge has gone from a weekend affair to a fully time occupation. I will be living in Tiny Refuge in a matter of weeks.

#air quality #build #flooring #hrv #kitchen

I checked on the tiny house this morning to see how the thinset was curing and to make sure that the floor wasn’t too cold. It went down to -16 C (3 F) last night and the thinset needs to be at least 10 C (50 F) to cure properly. The floor seemed to be curing but was still a little cool to the touch so I turned up the heater. The windows and parts of the door were covered in condensation. The condensation on the lock and door handle had frozen. I do indeed need a heat recovery ventilator to for ventilation in the winter. I didn’t have my camera with me to take pictures when I went in at first, so the photographic evidence isn’t quite as spectacular as it was when I first went in.

Condensation build up on the lock, door handle and door.

A close up of the condensation on the lock.

Condensation build up on the window. The whole window was covered in condensation early this morning.

Condensation build up on the window and crank.

The condensation that built up under the window crank.

Condensation I checked on the tiny house this morning to see how the thinset was curing and to make sure that the floor wasn't too cold.

#air quality #heat recovery ventilator #hrv #weather #winter

This weekend we were only able to build on Sunday, so the electrical will wait and as the hook up at the house isn’t done yet, it doesn’t affect much. Saturday, I was able to spend some time getting ready for Sunday, I cleaned the tiny house, vacuumed the sawdust off the floors, walls, windows, etc. to get the floor ready to install the tiling. I am using Nuheat Infloor Heating Mats. They were the mat that was recommended to me and here are some of the reasons I am really glad I bought them, most in-floor heating systems require a layer of levelling cement, the Nuheat mats only require a layer of thinset under the mats, which saves on weight. These mats also come in 120 or 240 volts, I chose the 120 volts because I wasn’t sure at the time that I ordered them if my electrical would be able to handle 240 volts. I ordered 3 mats, one for the bathroom, one for the kitchen and one for the great room. The mats in the bathroom and the kitchen do not go under the cabinets, the tub or the toilet.

After I finished cleaning, I laid out the mats to map out the path for the wires that run from the mats to the thermostats. The bathroom mat was pretty straightforward, the 10′ wire had more than enough room to travel from the mat to the wall and then up to the box where the thermostat will be installed. The Nuheat thermostat can take up to 15 amps worth of mats each. I bought two thermostats, one for the bathroom and then planned on having both the kitchen and the great room mats on the second thermostat. When I laid out the kitchen and the great room mat I was stumped. The wire from the kitchen mat didn’t reach the thermostat. When we roughed in the electrical, we set up a circuit for an extra thermostat. Before we put up the interior siding, I chose to put the thermostat in the box further away from the kitchen, so Stefan ran a rope from that box to the floor so that the wires from the mats could run behind the paneling. In retrospect, we should have done the same for the other box, but we did not, because I knew I only wanted to have one thermostat for the kitchen and great room. The wires from both mats reach the box that doesn’t have the rope going to it. So expect a post with details of how we run the wires to that box.

Sunday morning we started by laying out the uncoupling membrane, which allows the house to shift without the tiles or grout cracking, cutting it to fit the tiny house. Once it was laid out, we carefully put away the membrane, the last piece to be installed went back in the box first and the first piece to be installed went in last. Then we laid out the in floor heating mats and marked the location on the mat for the floor heat sensor. Next, we put a thin layer of thinset down where the mats are going to lie. The mats were laid down and then another layer of thinset for the uncoupling membrane. Once the uncoupling membrane was down, more thinset to file the grid on the uncoupling membrane (see pictures below). The thinset is curing (which should take about 24 hours) and next week the tile gets installed. #gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

The kitchen and great room infloor heat mats.

The bathroom infloor heat mat.

The heating mats in place and the heat sensor is being taped down.

The heat sensor taped in place. For it to work properly, it can’t cross the wire in the mat.

The thinset going down for the uncoupling membrane.

The first membrane in place.

The uncoupling membrane before being covered in thinset.

The bathroom done! We worked from the bathroom towards the door.

All ready for one last coat of thinset and the tiles.

All ready for tile in the kitchen.

The wires that go up to the thermostat for the kitchen and great room.

The bathroom all ready for tiles.

The wires for the bathroom thermostat.

This will be the tile in the kitchen and great room.

The small white hexagonal tile will be in the bathroom.

Flooring Part I This weekend we were only able to build on Sunday, so the electrical will wait and as the hook up at the house isn't done yet, it doesn't affect much.

Finishing the trim and starting electrical brings Tiny Refuge another step closer to being lived in. Saturday we finished the rest of the trim. A word about the trim, it has taken a while to get through all of the trim because Stefan is making all of the trim out of leftover siding. There is a lot of leftover siding, which is ironic since I thought ironic since I was convinced in December that I was going to be really short on siding and that I would have to order a great deal more.

Making all of the trim is not the fastest process. Stefan cuts the pieces to a rough size, cutting off the groove edge and removing the tongue, cutting the siding to width on the table saw, adding chamfers either with the hand plane, the mitre saw or the table saw depending on the chamfer. The trim then gets sanded on all sides that are exposed, this was my job, the ¼ palm sander and I are very good friends now. Once the trim is sanded, if it’s not already cut to the exact size, the trim is cut to size and installed. The windows were pretty straightforward, with the exception of chamfers, there are no angled cuts on the window trim. The trim for the edges of the dormers and between the dormer walls and ceiling needed angled cuts, so there was a lot of cut, check the trim in place and repeat until it’s installed.

The trim in place along the top angled edge of the dormer. All of the trim has been custom made for Tiny Refuge using leftover siding.

Where the ridge beam meets the wall before trim.

The trim where the ridge beam meets the wall in place in the main loft.

The main loft with all of it’s trim in place.

The light isn’t great in this photo, but if you look carefully you can see the trim is in place between the dormer wall and the ceiling.

Sunday morning we finished the last pieces of trim until the floor goes in. The bathroom wall was built and sided fairly quickly. Then the electrical work started. The panel was placed and as the panel is in the bathroom, I didn’t get to see much of what was going on. There were moments of banging but it was mostly quiet steady work. Every time I checked on the panel the mess that was the wires that had been sitting there since January started looking more and more organized. Order from what had looked so chaotic. There were two wires coming to the panel that I didn’t label, so they took a short bit to figure out. I labelled by wires using different coloured electrical tape. I labelled each circuit and then made a list of the circuits using the same coloured tape.

Next week: more electrical and maybe some flooring!

The studs going in place for the wall between the kitchen and the bathroom.

Making the cut.

Et voilà! A wall.

We were able to use up some of the siding that had some imperfections in the sections of the wall that will be hidden by kitchen cabinets.

The wires destined for the electrical panel.

You can see the wires destined for the electrical panel in the bottom right of the picture after the spray foam went in.

My breaker panel. I am bought a 60 amp panel and am swapping out the 60 amp breaker for a 50 amp breaker. The panel isn’t completely wired yet, but it is getting there.

For those who are interested, a front view of the panel.

Outlets dangling from the wall.

An outlet all wired and in place. There are more than a few outlets in this house. More than 20, which is a lot for such a small space. With the spray foam insulation adding an outlet later on becomes really complicated.

A Little Trim, A Little Electrical Finishing the trim and starting electrical brings Tiny Refuge another step closer to being lived in. Saturday we finished the rest of the trim.

There is siding on lofts , the great room and the kitchen. There is just a bit of siding left to do in the kitchen along the wall that divides the kitchen and the bathroom (that wall hasn’t been built yet). The windows in the loft have their trim and the long dormer edges are trimmed. All is good and right in the world. I am possibly a month away from living in my tiny house. A month!

Saturday, we finished off the siding on the dormers in the bedroom loft and then started on the small bit of 12/12 ceiling at the end of main loft. Once again I was manning the nail gun and Stefan was on the saw. It was really satisfying to cover up the insulation and watch the purple disappear. That satisfaction was only trumped by seeing the windows trimmed.

I discovered this week that I missed a pretty important detail when I ordered my siding. A lot of tiny houses use ¼” siding to cut down on weight. I missed that detail and just ordered siding. My siding is ¾”, which means it’s easier to install, is more solid and three times as heavy. It’s not the most comfortable of realizations I have had over the course of this build and it impacts a great deal. Now I just have to weigh one of the pieces of siding and start doing some math before I can choose the flooring I will install, which after a recent decision, choosing flooring has become a bit tricky.

Here’s a bit about that decision: while roughing in the electrical, I decided to add in-floor heating. I contacted a tiny houser in Vermont who has been wintering in their tiny house with straw bales stacked around the base of their trailer and he wished he had installed in-floor heating. So I went for it. I have my in-floor heat mats and 2 thermostats. I am hoping to install ceramic tile floor – a heavy choice, but a choice that lets the in-floor heating radiate into the room. Wood insulates , so in-floor heating will heat up the floor, but that heat won’t radiate much into the room.

So choices have to be made and wood has to be weighed.

Fun fact: in carpentry, a beveled edge is called a chamfer. I learned that this weekend. #gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Ceiling complete! The long dormer edge has been trimmed all that is left to be trimmed is the angled edge at the top. The corners came out really nicely so we won’t be trimming those.

Window with trim.

Large window with trim.

Just for comparison – the large window next to a window waiting to be trimmed.

Another dormer with siding and trim.

The windows in the small loft and the dormers.

The view from the master loft.

The other wall of the loft.

One of the master loft windows.

Lying down in the bedroom loft this is the smiley face I see looking up. That face makes me smile.

Interior Siding and Trim There is siding on lofts , the great room and the kitchen. There is just a bit of siding left to do in the kitchen along the wall that divides the kitchen and the bathroom (that wall hasn't been built yet).

Another visitor! Michelle was able to come and visit.

You can see the difference in colour between the sanded and un-section of the ridge beam.

A sanded ridge beam!

The bedroom loft with most of the siding up and a ceiling – just the dormer sides to do!

Another dormer.

Another dormer – installing the siding on the dormers is a slow process. We started with the top full piece of siding and then did the two pieces above it. The top two pieces are long to do with all the cuts and the angles.

I am really happy with how the siding has come out.

The small loft with all of its siding and ceiling installed. The purple is slowly disappearing.

My door. The company I ordered my door from sent me a door that was ½” too short back in October. The new door arrived this week and was installed on Thursday. The window is a little crooked, but that’s an easy fix – it’s the same window as the door that was too short and I watched him put the window in, so with a little help, I can get the window squared away. Also note that there is a door handle and a lock! I have keys and everything.

We had a mini thaw this weekend, the temperature got to 4C (39F) and the show started melting off the roof. This is the only snow left on the roof.

This has been a wonderfully busy week for Tiny Refuge. The replacement for my door finally arrived and it was installed. The door they originally sent was 1/4″ too short, leaving enough space for the weather to get in. I have been waiting for the new door for months. Not only do I have a new door, I have a door handle and a deadbolt. Much fancier than the scraps of 2×4 that were standing in for a door handle.

I spent quite a few hours this week sanding the ridge beam. I wasn’t sure if the ridge beam was going to be visible or not, so I didn’t get it sanded at the sawmill. It had a few dark marks on it and was rough enough that you could get splinters if you rubbed it the wrong way. I used a palm sander and got that ridge beam smooth. I am going to leave it exposed and as we installed some of the ceiling this weekend, it needed to be sanded before hand.

By the time Saturday rolled around, the tiny house was ready for some more siding. Saturday we finished the dormer fronts and the ceiling in the dormers. The dormer fronts were pretty straightforward, with far fewer cutouts than the main floor. The ceiling on the other hand was a little more challenging. I am using wider boards on my ceiling and unlike the walls, where I manned the saw and Stefan did the installation, we were both up in the lofts getting the boards in place. We started the installation at the ridge beam and then worked towards the walls.

Sunday, we started tackling the dormer sides and I was up in the loft installing the siding. Saturday, I used a nail gun (the brad nailer) for the first time and Sunday I was manning the brad nailer. The dormer sides are slow going. The angles are slightly different on each one and the top two pieces of siding require cuts on the table saw and the mitre saw. The tiny house only has space for the mitre saw, so the top two pieces required quite a few trips outside. We got 5 ½ dormers done and one of the small sections of 12/12 pitch ceiling done in the small loft.

Next weekend: the dormer sides will get finished, as will the ceiling on the rest of the 12/12 ceiling. The bathroom wall will get built and sided and then we start on trim.

Interior Siding: Part II This has been a wonderfully busy week for Tiny Refuge. The replacement for my door finally arrived and it was installed.

#build #construction #friends #insulation #interior siding #ridge beam

Last week was quite the week. Tiny Refuge went from bare studs with electrical, to purple with some studs coming through to beautiful knotty pine siding. Part of me had forgotten what a difference siding made to the exterior of the house. It is certainly making a wonderful difference to the interior.

The interior siding arrived just under four months ago when the ridge beam was delivered. It was stacked beside the big house, protected under tarps, until December when it was brought inside before the snow fell. Although it might have been fine to stay outside, the thought of snow sneaking its way inside the tarp and then melting, was enough to move the whole lot into the tiny house. That pile of siding, much of which is 16′ in length was really interesting to get inside the house and then even more interesting to cut and install.

We set up the mitre saw next to the large window on the short wall of the house. Then we set up a ladder outside, lined up with the window. Whenever a 16′ board was cut, we had to open the window and slide the board outside, where it would rest on the ladder and stay level to be cut. If the board was the wrong way around, it was fed outside through the window, turned and then sent back in through the window.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold on Saturday and though colder on Sunday, it wasn’t too bad. The insulation got it’s first real test and I have to say, it did a great job. I had read a post by Laura Moreland of Tiny House Ontario on Tiny House Listings that described the effect opening a door had on the heat in her tiny house. It had me rather nervous, and I am happy to say that Tiny Refuge held its heat fairly well. Granted it was a balmy -12C (10F) and not -31C (-23). Nonetheless, it was reassuring that with the small electrical heater going, the house remained comfortable while the window was completely open for minutes at a time.

We started by installing the 2×3 stud that is the beginning of the bathroom wall, with cutouts in it for the wires to be able to reach the breaker panel that will be in the wall. Then the siding started going up. It was a little bit of slow going with all of the cutouts needed for the electrical outlets and switches and for the wheel wells and windows. Stefan used the table saw for the long straight cuts and we used two different tools for the smaller cutouts. The first was a jigsaw and the second was an oscillating multi-tool. We used the multi-tool a little with the exterior siding, but it really got good use with the interior siding. It was nice tool to use. The jigsaw was also fun, I even got to cut circles with it and they were pretty fantastic for my first shot of cutting circles with a jigsaw.

We had wonderful help on Saturday from René. He manned the mitre saw and juggled 16′ boards.

The first wall of siding almost complete. Because most of the siding is in 16′ lengths, there are no joints along this wall.

Stefan working marking a cutout for an outlet.

Measuring.

The back wall at the end of day 1.

Sage and Clover playing.

Stefan getting the top piece of siding in on the dormer.

Back wall done!

Close up of the window.

Interior Siding: The Beginning Last week was quite the week. Tiny Refuge went from bare studs with electrical, to purple with some studs coming through to beautiful knotty pine siding.

#heating #help #insulation #interior siding #Sage #siding #weather

Insulation done!

Tiny Refuge is now insulated and very purple. One of the installers cleaning up. Clean up continues. The bathroom, kitchen and main loft. The little window behind the door…

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#build #construction #insulation #weatherproofing

An Unexpected Break Ending in a Purple Haze

My tiny house has been getting a lot of wonderful attention over the past couple of weeks. It has…

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#electrical #heat #insulation #propane heater #siding #suppliers

Roof Matters

This post has been really difficult for me to write. It has been sitting in drafts for almost two weeks.

Two Fridays ago, the contractor I hired to install my roof arrived and started the installation. Friday was a pretty stressful day. I chose this…

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