Mark's awesome bobcat forklift.  I missed the actual unloading on Monday Oct 21st, but he said it was a bit hairy getting my trailer down from the top of the stack on the semi.   That's how one light got broken.  But I am grateful that nobody got hurt. And that someone from Tennessee got their trailer dropped off at Mark's too, and avoided a trip all the way to Gordonville, PA.

Here is my trailer -- looking kinda small -- and Mark's 3/4 ton truck in the background.  Very exciting though!!!!

Broken starboard fender light, lens and housing.  Mark said he called Holly and is having a replacement sent. 

Here is the stern license plate light -- arrived without its lens cover.  Mark let Holly know.  Hope it will be simple to replace.  I am thinking of using LED lights anyway, so we will see what the cost is to replace.

 

My mechanic Mark Buchert getting me his associate Greg's tape measure, since my burning desire was to measure the distance between the starboard fender and the bow end of the trailer! I just had to see if my design would work to have the entry door forward of the starboard wheel well, and still have room for a window on the wall, forward of the entry door.  I think it's gonna work!!!!

Mark pulled in and backed the trailer up into the preordained parking spot at Kyle's so quickly and efficiently that I had no time to take a picture of him!! So I created this wishful thinking photo opportunity with my car.   Probably I couldn't even pull the 1600 lb. trailer with my faithful 1998 Toyota Corolla, let alone the 10,000 lb. house on wheels! But now it is in position, and if the weather cooperates, we will be moving forward with construction asap!!!!    WOW!!!

Here's a photo of the wonderful polyiso given to me, months ago, for my house by my artist friend.  It is going to be cool to know that it will be in the bays of my trailer frame, warming my feet as I putter around, and I will think of her, cozy in her studio painting, warmed by the same high r-value insulation. Thank you!

Here are the ends of the environmentally safer borate-treated 2x6s that attach as skirting on the frame of the trailer.  Another truly wonderful gift, this from a train-loving couple Kyle and Marsha and I know.  Thank you!

Ah, now it may be seen how cozy, i.e. tiny, this little house will really be!  This is a 5'5" artist in overalls, standing in front of what will be a 6' doorway.  Duck, everybody!

Now, the second and final batch of polyiso, in various thicknesses, acquired from "Craig" in Xenia.  Kyle was able to pick it all up on his way home from playing the hammered dulcimer at the Renaissance Festival last Saturday.  I think we have all the insulation we need for the entire house, and got this batch for less than half of what it would have cost from a big box lumberyard. I am happy to have the option, with all the varying thicknesses, of creating shallow 1"-2" deep display shelves inside between the studs, and still having insulation of r -13 or so.  Next post will be about the trailer delivery!

Kyle and I met yesterday to get our ducks in a row for the arrival of the trailer.  We talked about siding, roofing, 2x4s 16" or 24" on center, and the possibility of a bow shed resting on the tongue of the trailer which could hold my EZ-UP booth tent and some hoses and extension cords and tools, as well as the incoming downspout for a cistern and the opening through the house wall for tapping the cistern.  We shall see.  All very interesting.  Well, interesting to us.  Neither Tuck the Cat or Shelby the Dog seemed to pay us any mind:  

 

Here is a photo of the old 3rd floor bathroom door from Machamux, purportedly the original front door of the (ca.1782) house, lockset perhaps from England.  It is in Kyle's barn right now.  It was very slightly bowed when we took it out of my storage unit, and it was a little humbling to realize that the bowing may have been caused by me leaning it against the wall of the storage unit, and not from any of the many many years it was constantly hanging and being used...anyway, it is resting in such a way that perhaps it will even out.  The jury is still out on whether it can be used in a timely manner as the door of my little house, but it will appear somewhere, to be sure.  

More photos for the hardware-curious:

 

 

Exciting news today!! My specially-built utility trailer is finished (out west somewhere)!!! And the truck will leave with a stack of trailers, including my 7x14' "no porch" model, probably on Friday of this week!  And therefore arrive here at my mechanic's on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week.  Boy, does that feel good!  I have set it up with my mechanic to take it off the truck, put the wheels on, AND hitch it up to his own truck, which has all the right wiring etc., and tow it out to the building site.  Have I already mentioned this?  Well it is still exciting!!  I will probably even have pictures of it being fork-lifted off the tractor-trailer!   So watch out!  One step at a time.  ... And on the artistic front:

 

Here is a slice of curled mulberry tree trunk I am thinking of using as outside trim on my house.  I have been moving the larger section of tree trunk around with me for so many years that I can't remember where I got it!! It may have been from the house I grew up in, Machamux, but I have only a memory of seeing the piece and asking someone if I could have it ... and memories of carefully moving it numerous times.  The object, for a long time, was to find a saw with which I could even out the end cuts, and then make a glass-topped end table out of the 18-20" long section of trunk.  When I finally was able to even out the cuts on the big bandsaw at the university where I got my second bachelor's degree I realized that slices of the trunk would be truly a wonderful way to showcase the beauty of the "log".  And after mulling THAT over for a few years, suddenly I have a house to build and a place to put these beautiful curls of wood.  Certainly they will be used somewhere in my tiny house.

The Last Window (I think)

Here is Kyle testing out what I hope will be the last window I need.  It is 16.5" x 36" so it would match in length the forest green one which is 24"x36".  It has pebble glass in the bottom sash, so it may end up being used in the bathroom area (on the port side), but we shall see.  I wanted a slightly wider window over the kitchen counter forward of the entry door (and one that is operable), and the forest green one will probably go aft of the entry door (this is all on the on the starboard side)...

The whole stack, all 9 are double-pane and low-e, some with argon gas; 5 are double-hung, 3 are casement used as awning style, 2 inoperable.  Total price: just over $500 with tax. Whew.   Another step forward.  

Speaking of which, my mechanic has okayed the drop-off of my trailer at his shop; he will put the wheels on there, and he has a pickup truck with the correct ball and hitch and wiring connectors, so he said he would tow the trailer to Kyle's house.  For some cost naturally, but presumably less than a trip to Gordonville, PA would have been.  Prettier pictures next time.


 

Building continues on the MODEL of my tiny house on wheels...

Looking in port (left) dormer windows.  I am leaning toward cedar clapboard siding after all, and whitewashing or staining it.   Turns out it is approximately the same weight per square foot as T1-11.  (Though about 2.5 times the cost.)

Looking in stern window up past (sagging!) crosstie to loft and dormers.  Mock-up of first floor kitchen and bath areas visible.  It is really not as skewed as it looks. It is pretty much on a scale of 1" = 1'.

Roof view, standing seam metal roof

 

 

 

Stern port view.  There will be one window on the port side forward of the wheelwells, in the bathroom area.  Starboard side will have two windows and the main door.  The port and starboard openings have not been cut out in the model because their final position cannot be determined until we have the mystical 7'x14' trailer on hand.  A wait of only about three weeks.