To take this photo I was sitting in the loft with my back to the bow wall, looking aft. In the foreground may be seen the plank and partial sheet of plywood which are the acting loft floor at the moment. Looking up, two sets of dormer rafters may be seen, with their plywood sheathing.
I went over to Kyle's and ducked under the huge tarp to get the feel of things now that the framing is complete and the roof sheathing is on. It was a cold but sunny day and I was bundled up against the outdoor chill, but it got very (maybe too) warm in the tiny house after a while! A novel concept -- insulating with a 30x50ft black tarp and heating with nine candles! (And the sun.) It helps to climb up and down a ladder a few times too.
The two blue triangles in the above photo are the aft walls of the dormers, which have their own blue tarp. The blue tarp is also covering what may be distinguished as the aft ends of the rough openings for two of the four dormer windows (port and starboard). Looking further aft, rafters for the peaked roof may be seen (five I think), and the wrinkly black equilateral triangle shape is the aft end of the house (with a tealight candle set on the header for ambiance). Just below this may be seen the rough opening for the stern windowseat nook window. That diagonal 2x4 across the window opening is temporary bracing.
For this picture I sat approximately where the notebook and green pencil were in the previous picture. So I am looking forward now at the bow end of the loft.
I took the following three pictures to help me plan the windowsills/shelves which will be built in under the four dormer windows, but thought some of you might be interested in the nifty framing puzzle Kyle solved for the dormer construction.
The aft end of the port dormer framing. This is where the dormer rafter meets the side and end dormer walls. Lower right in this photo (above) is the top left corner of the rough opening for the aft port dormer window. Still with me?
The bottom left corner of the rough opening for the aft port dormer window. Where peaked roof rafters abut dormer wall.
The bottom right corner of the forward port window dormer wall, where some more fancy framing was done by Kyle. The line of the peaked roof will show on the outside of the bow wall.
Looking up into the loft from the stern window seat area. It is possible to see that the dormers extend further toward the stern than the edge of the loft floor; this will allow the ladder to be placed anywhere along the loft floor edge and climbed without fear of bonking one's head on the peaked roof rafters... Tea-lights for atmosphere.
I have spent many hours in the past few days researching potable water tanks, cisterns, grey water holding tanks, camping shower units, solar-powered vent fans, fridges and ice boxes, mini-air conditioners, and many a cook-stove, from alcohol to wood to propane, to butane, to gasoline, and eek there are a lot of choices. Also Australia certainly has a lot of interesting solutions to problems of roughing it in the great outdoors...
Wooooo-ey!! I just looked at Kyle's blog and THERE are all the pictures I was wishing I could post yesterday!!! Kyle is out-of-town, and obviously had some time to put together a post, since he was many hundreds of miles away from the actual wood and sawdust of the construction site. No house pictures from me today -- look here:
http://buildingatinyhouseonwheels.blogspot.com
Happy Boxing Day!
Here are Kyle and M inspecting the brand new 30' x 50' tarp which has enabled work to continue outside. Kyle kept the trailer covered once there was exposed plywood in place (the floor of the house), and uncovered it on days when work was to be done.
Here that huge and unwieldy tarp is doing the simple job of covering the trailer. As construction continued, that tarp apparently became a pain to haul over the 6' 6" high stud walls, and then an even bigger pain to haul over the ridge beam, rafters and dormer framing.
Here Kyle and my dear friend L stand on kitchen chairs debating whether the ceiling under the loft floor would feel cramped at (I think) 6' 3". They thought it would and, lucky for me when I joined them, I didn't think so!
A sneaked peak under the tarp (at the rough opening for the big stern window), as it is being raised by installation of the stud walls. Actually the tarp was off while work was being done (thanks to heroic efforts of M -- that thing is TALL!), but a time-lapse photo sequence of the project at rest between workdays would show it rising in several leaps and bounds...getting exciting!
Looking forward to the bow wall, windowless. It is possible to detect the rough opening for the bathroom window on the port side (left here), and the rough opening for the starboard window over the wheel well on the other side. If you're really good, you can see the rough opening for the entry door, forward of the starboard window, and evidence of the rough opening for the narrow window forward of that. Whew! Or you could wait until I have better pictures!
This unprepossessing shot is actually the most exciting one of all. It was taken after Kyle covered up the finished framing for the roof rafters and dormers!! Since this was taken he and D installed the plywood sheathing on the roof, so the house probably looks just like this at the moment! After the self-sealing membrane is attached over the roof sheathing, the tarp will probably not be needed. "Curtains" of plastic drop-cloth material should suffice.
So even though I won't get to "unwrap" this gift today, I may well be able to before the Twelve Days of Christmas are past. Goody!
A Merry Christmas 2013 in memory of the handsomest kitty in the whole world, Misha, who enjoyed almost seventeen years on this earth, from 1996 - 2013, much beloved, much missed.
Back after a hiatus of distractions, I realize that my work on this house has more to do at the moment with sorting, purging, organizing, photographing and fundraising with my huge portfolio of artwork, and otherwise preparing for a big move to a tiny house, than it does with the actual building. Kyle is plugging away in between raindrops, snowstorms, furnace-replacements and trips to a certain college in Kentucky. He has the double-insulated coveralls, not me!!
So I will just fill in some background information on our design decision-making process, more or less starting with the following:
Here is a smartphone picture of the study plans for the now discontinued EPU Tumbleweed Tiny House model.
Credit for the plans, and for absolutely wonderful, enthusiastic help and question-answering goes to www.tumbleweedhouses.com !
Kyle and I attended a workshop in June 2013, given nearby, to get started on our design process. It was very helpful as an introduction to the tiny house movement, and gave us lots of ideas. We made enough changes in our design that until now I was unsure as to whether I could call my design an EPU or not. But having seen that many other Tumbleweed House builders have modified aspects of their plans, I have chosen to reveal (drum roll, please) Tumbleweed Tiny House Company's EPU as the design of my house, as well as TTH as the source of friendly and cheerful design and building advice (via email and the old-fashioned telephone!)
Apparently there is a location out there in Sonoma, CA., where all these enthusiastic folks are building houses, designing houses, giving building advice, sending books and plans and DVDs, and signing new enthusiasts up for (currently discounted) workshops. It seems to be a hotbed of ideas and activity about the small/tiny house movement. A very fun website to check out (no I am not being paid to toot Tumbleweed's horn -- it really is fun).
So, if there is any chance you can see the details in my smartphone picture, here goes. Although I have kept the general layout of the bathroom and kitchen areas as positioned in the bow (top of picture), I have shifted the entry door from being centered in the stern to being on the starboard side, forward of the wheel well, right where the stove burners are in the picture. And aft, instead of a porch, that space has been enclosed as part of the interior, and will have a sort of window seat with a pullout bed. There will be a large double window in the stern (see picture of stern window in some previous post or other).
From inside the house the window will be framed by the seat/bed, a small storage loft at the height of the header, and shelving built against the port and starboard walls, facing in. (This may be the only real storage for BOOKS! And no, I am not getting a you-know-what yet -- I still like reading a real paper book.)
Above the forward half of the first floor will be a loft, with two dormers, increasing the usable space by a lot; these dormers are taken from another Tumbleweed design (for a different house plan).
I think that better be all for today, since my sorting is calling me. But more exciting pictures are to come! As of this posting time, Kyle has framed up the walls, framed in the windows, gotten at least the ridge beam and two sets of rafters up, and is working on constructing the dormer framing. WOW! Also look for a do-it-yourself paper model project posting soon!
