Last
Friday I had a near catastrophe as I went to preview the most recent
post, prior to publishing it -- thought I had lost the whole
many-pictured many-captioned post (the bad news)! But thanks to a little
advice, and a little courage and ingenuity, and a lot of what can only
be called luck (although some may prefer to call it the vast intricacies
of Google software design), I rescued it. I include this picture
mostly to remind myself that the trick turned out to be clicking on the
"close" link, which closed the little block. Heaven help me if
something different goes wrong the next time.
To
those of you who have already tasted the heavenly Belgian Waffles made
by former NKU professor Marty Meersman, this photo, in association with
my tiny house, needs no caption. For the sadly underpriveleged rest,
this photo signals my success in scheduling Marty's Waffles Food Truck for an appearance at the tiny house clean-up and housewarming party near the end of next month (the good news!). Yum!
The
sight of the finished starboard siding is really deeply satisfying;
having the entry door frame trimmed, and the whole wall sided somehow
shifts the exterior work from being "in-progress" to "nearly complete"
in my mind. Now it feels like we are almost ready to roll! A vastly
untrue, but still very uplifting thought. Again, it looks like a house
from this side now; the doorway, even without its door, beckons entry,
doesn't it?
M
took me into her shop over the weekend and showed me the sheet of
hammered copper with its rainbow of colors from annealing it,
preparatory to cutting and forming it into the shower pan. Beautiful.
Now
we have the decision to make about the final surface color treatment,
which could be left as is (as I am sure J in Baton Rouge would want) or
treating it with liver of sulfate and giving it a lovely dark brown
tone. We have not attempted to explore the myriad of other possible
patina options, and, for the sake of keeping it simple, probably won't.
Apparently after the color is achieved, a lacquer may be applied to
preserve it, the only question for me being: Might there be any issue
with soap and water, and tender bare toes, coming in contact with the
remnants of the creepy-sounding liver of sulfate over time? I don't
mind the thought of the copper aging and acquiring some additional
organically patterned patina of its own.
Things-an-inexperienced-metal-worker(me)-did-not-think-of-on-her-own:
#1) M devised a crimp for the corners of the shower pan which will have
I believe the only soldered seams. Not unsurprisingly, the corner
joint needs to be stable in order to solder it, and having the two cut
edges simply meet would not be stable. M had the forethought to solve
this issue in the design stage, thereby leaving Kyle enough time to rout
very shallow channels in the wooden frame to allow PERFECTION of fit
for the finished pan into the frame. Wow!
P's
well-worn steel-toed boots dangle from the loft as we ponder and
cogitate over what 12V wiring I will actually need. There is a constant
balancing act between keeping it simple and the sensible idea of slight
overkill at the stage of installing wiring into walls. Now is obviously
the time to painlessly add paths, devices, etc., for whatever need may
be imagined to come up, in the near or distant future. On the other
hand, just how many light fixtures and outlets can possibly be needed in
a 7' x 14' house that has 7 windows?? Assuming the continued existence of both candles and oil lamps, and that the sun also rises, just how much back up do I need?
A nifty little kit with connectors will allow us to create a 12V outlet without needing separate wiring for a switch. The plan at the moment is to use five doubles and two singles of these, and only one hard-wired 12V device, for a vent fan.
The
100' spool of the Rolls Royce of 12V wire: waterproof, oil-resistant,
double-insulated, 14-3, tinned copper, stranded marine cable. Thank you
R in South Norwalk for your advice, and L in Columbus for your
promptness. We (i.e., P) will be ready to (un)roll on Friday!
I
happened to see this label on the inside of the exterior plywood
sheathing. Good to know! Minnie will surely have more confidence in
this whole enterprise ...
On
the topic of labels, this one was cleverly hidden on the edge of the
lower sash of the one Marvin window on the house (a circa 1999 display unit), the evergreen-colored one from B's Bargains in California, KY.
With the help of two of Kyle's shims, I managed to tilt the sash
outward and copy the information so T at Marsh Building Products in Ft.
Thomas could order me a full screen for the window. Amazingly (although
1999 seems to me to be a mere moment ago), I could order it in the original evergreen. Thumbs up!
The
floor finishing begins with my drawing pencil lines lengthwise on the
plywood subfloor, about 3" apart. Then in the distance may be seen a
few test lines I stained with the exterior stain/sealer from the cedar
siding, and to their right a few lines drawn with a wood stain marker.
The wood stain marker won out, and I was able to draw ALMOST all the lines with one marker. A good buy.
After
drawing the stain lines I began sanding (see upper right patch) with
medium grit sanding sponges, with the direction of the drawn lines, NOT
with the grain of the plywood, which went side-to-side. There were two
purposes for the sanding: first, to clean up the dirty surface without
wetting it, and second, to impart as many lengthwise striations as
possible, to enhance the lengthwise hard wood floor effect.
Above may be seen the floor after directional sanding, as compared to the left-most strip here, that has not yet been sanded.
One 4' x 7' piece of flooring is prepped for staining. But it is time for my wrists to take a break, so more anon.
Since
this picture was taken, the starboard side of the tiny house has
probably gotten the rest of its siding installed. Kyle has been working
over there yesterday and today. The door has its trim on, and the
forest green window looks quite handsome. I have decided not to install
the last window -- it would be squeezed in just to the right of the
door. It is white, and I think the house will just look better without
it. There will be plenty of light from all the other windows.
As
the bow wall siding installation (and the construction of the shed to
house batteries and propane tanks) is contemplated, an inventory of the
remaining long siding pieces suggests we will not have enough siding to
do that final wall (sigh...more staining!!). But for the moment, we
have collected all the shorter pieces, and may squeak by, since the shed
side walls will be set in about a foot from the outside of the corner
trim on the house, necessitating about 42 very short (perhaps 9") cedar
siding lengths. Similarly, the roof of the shed will run about a foot
inside the roof line of the house proper, but since the ends of each of
those siding pieces will be mitered, they will have to be more like 20"
pieces. The rest of the shed could be built and trimmed differently.
Here
is an optimistic view of the house floor (otherwise known as the
sub-floor). At the time of the picture, it was very clean, having been
swept immediately prior by yours truly. The optimism comes from the hope
that I can get the floor painted and sealed before any more
construction or visitor debris can settle in. Even as I write this,
though, there is a plan to work on some of the wiring tomorrow, which is
a higher priority. We shall see.
Soon
after my last post, Kyle's wife M and I decided to go ahead with the
design and construction of a hammered copper shower pan, since I
couldn't find an inexpensive 30" x 30" shower pan. Instead of spending
several hundreds of dollars on a pan that would have to be modified
anyway, I finally allowed myself to imagine M making me one!! Hours (or
moments) after Kyle brought home the 4' x 10' sheet of 16oz copper,
Junior, the youngest member of the household, innocently joined our
discussion and amiably reclined on one end of it. Who knows, maybe it
was cool to the touch, or maybe he really has sophisticated taste in
lawn furniture. The phrase "to the manner born" came to mind, although
none of Junior's other pastimes, including chewing rocks as big as his
head, call that particular phrase to mind.
Hearing
that Junior got into the picture, Tuck made sure to give me a happy smile
from his (Junior-proof) perch in the house, just to ensure he got his
15 seconds of fame.
And Shelby, looking the picture of disheveled contentment, grinned too, from her position on the walk.
Okay,
here is a view of the first step toward the frame for the shower pan.
In home-decoration-ese, this is known as a neo-angle corner shower pan.
Designed by M and I and Kyle, and produced in the open air shop of their
barn by Kyle.
Isn't
this gorgeous? I contributed about 53 dimples to this copper landscape
of gently rolling hills, M did the rest. It is REALLY fun to bang on
the copper sheet (cut to 4' x 4' -- by me, incidentally). But my
hammering muscles were long out of shape, so I had to leave it to the
blacksmith to sculpt. What a beautiful job, too! It looks simply
luscious.
Here
is a view of the final framework Kyle constructed to support the
copper. It took much mulling over on all of our parts to design it in
such a way that it can be installed into the house, and also be entered
by a shower-taker, and also gotten underneath in case of leaky drain
pipes and such (there will be a chase).
M test-soldered a corner joint, possibly to be sure she was happy with the pattern she was making for the copper sheet.
And here she shows that she is in the running as an expert origami paper-folding practitioner. Again, impressive!
In
this view, one of the trailer lights (still with its temporary
jury-rigging from the move) leans against a tire of Kyle's truck, a
mnemonic device to remind him to take it off the 2x4, and me to bring it
with me to Columbus to the marine electric store the next day. I was
to look for possible replacements, with a lower profile, and possibly
LED lights instead of incandescent. (I did bring it, but what with
getting carried away by the 12V wiring, deep cycle marine batteries,
fuse blocks, and cigarette-lighter-type receptacles, I didn't look very
hard -- and didn't see much -- maybe there is more choice in an auto
parts store. But more on that topic in the next post!)
This
little pipsqueak, LL, came for a visit, and happily found the house
interesting. I like having the kids pass through every once in a
while, because, not only do they like giving me ideas, but it reminds me
that I really want to keep the house kid- and mess-friendly as I put
together the interior furniture and decor. I don't want to have to keep
on saying no, and don't want to spend a lot of time protecting things
from curious or less-than-impeccably-clean hands.
Bless
my friends C & H for coming by, and relieving me of the queen-sized
futon mattress that has sat on this frame as my couch for probably 20
years! Now I can work on cutting down the backrest portion to make it
into the built-in windowseat/bed for the stern end.
I
made three drawings to plan the construction of the shed that will be
built on the trailer tongue. This one shows (in red) the outline of the
shed relative to the bow wall. It's a view looking at the bow wall from
the front. The shed will be about 5' wide and 16" deep. I guess the
height will work out to be approximately 10', since the trailer floor is
about two feet from ground level, and when last measured (before the
ridge vent cap!) the whole thing was 13' 4" from the ground.
In
this view, I sketched in the batteries and propane tanks where I hope
to place them, the propane in a metal-lined box, and the batteries as
far as possible from the propane tanks and connections as possible. If I
am lucky, I will have room between to stand my collapsed six foot long
EZ-Up booth tent (just slightly less square footage than the house
itself). The batteries are about 72 lbs. each, and the full propane
tanks are about 36 lbs. each. So the batteries are going on the
starboard side, to offset the greater weight of the kitchen on the port
side.
I
wanted to get a feel for what kind of doors I would need on the shed,
and this sketch shows a bottom door/cover which will lift up to expose
the batteries and propane tanks. I will need to be able to get the
propane tanks out as easily as I can in order to exchange them. I tried
to leave room on the inside to allow two milk crates to fit (with their
respective tanks). I read online somewhere that keeping the tanks in
milk crates is a fairly easy way to keep them upright in transit. The
two upper doors will open out on hinges on either side.
Too
much graph paper is not good for the soul -- so I took to making some
crayon encaustic prints while in Columbus helping out a friend after
surgery. Must keep the artistic fires burning after all! I want to
have something to trade or sell in my traveling peddlar life...
Additionally,
nobody can have too many pickles in his or her pantry (especially as a
way to preserve vegetables a bit), so I was happy to experiment with C
and B in Loveland a couple of times making the most delicious
refrigerator pickles. Pickled beets and carrots are tastier than beets
and onions, and cauliflower is yummy, though raw Brussels sprouts not so
much. Zucchini and cucumbers are wonderful. I am about ready to make a third batch -- I am almost out!
In
response to a 2012 (!) call to artists, I was chosen to be in a very
interesting exhibition in Covington which opened a few weeks ago, of
artwork made specifically in response to life's biggest challenges:
grief, loss, PTSD, mental and physical disabilities and illness, etc.
Intermixed with all the myriad of details with my tiny house, I managed
to successfully deliver my artwork on time (and even respond to
interview questions of a local arts reviewer)! My entry was the work
"47 Goodbyes: A Tribute to My Father's Life and Death", a series of
stained and glazed miniature porcelain vessels capturing my memories of
my father, including his final illness. The opening reception was very successful, and more personal than most.
On
a domestic note, Minnie, the frustrated girl warrior, who has not been
let roam all summer, has been doing a very good job keeping the insect
population down in my apartment. Here she is fixated on a small shadow, which turned out to be a shield bug on the OUTSIDE of the screen.
But
HERE she has found a bumbling (and very much alive) cicada, either out
on the porch or after it got inside somehow. She/he provided only one
evening's entertainment before keeling permanently over, but Minnie
avidly interacted with her/him for several hours. Thankfully, though,
she did not eat the poor critter as she has the moths and scutilaria she
comes across -- I wouldn't want to listen...
