Plan F

I'm on Plan F.

Over the past three years I've considered dozens of different ways to build my vardo roof, with its exposed rafters and skylight box. This weekend I found myself working on Plan F. Fortunately, I had some great people by my side.

Because My Curved Rafters are exposed to the interior my roof system needed to be constructed on top of the rafters. This has left my roof vulnerable during several Portland rain showers, so I've been eager to get it closed up.

I was already on Plan D when I had Eave Caps for My Vardo Roof fabricated by Vinje & Son Custom Sheet Metal earlier this week. But yesterday morning when Christian, Angela, Karin and I went to install the eve caps, we realized that the top part of the skewed U-shaped metal completely interfered with our ability to anchor it to the rafters. (I have since learned about right angle drill attachments, but did not know about them yesterday morning!)

I was pretty frustrated that Plan D hadn't worked. So we took a little break and muddled through Plan E. Fortunately, I had a great group of Tiny House Helpers by my side, including my oldest friend Christian, Randy (who had braved Hail & High Water with me last weekend and was back to sort my trim (again!) and pick the best pieces to stain), and two women who have built their own tiny homes: Angela of Mighty Micro Builder and Karin who built Serenity.

Angela suggested that we install a 2x4 flat against the rafters as a nailer so that we could attach the 2 x 4 to the rafters and the eve cap to the 2 x 4. Furthermore, it would create an outrigger to which I could attach my barge rafter, which was something I'd lost when I ditched Plan A. The trouble we found was that if we slipped a 2 x 4 into the bottom of the bent eve cap it would be at a completely different angle. If the wood wasn't in contact with the vertical metal surface of my eve caps we wouldn't have very good attachment. So we decided to rip off the corner at 26 degrees so that our nailer would slip into the eve cap and give us a proper attachment surface.

I cut a sample piece to try it out and we realized that by the time we ripped off the corner at 26 degrees the board wouldn't be much longer than the flashing and it would once again be tricky to attach it. So Karin suggested we head to the hardware store and pick up some 2 x 6s. Voila, Plan F.

Karin did a great job of cheering me up, telling me about some of the frustrating moments of her build and assuring me that it's okay to be upset and that My Tiny House Helpers will still love me even if I fall apart. She pointed out, that in fact it's a good experience for others to see what sort of challenges I encounter and to learn about the problem-solving process. She reminded me that those who have been there before can relate. I know all this, but let me assure you after several weeks of working 10 hour days either at the Breathe Building or on my build site, I was having a hard time with logic. When I thanked Karin for her patience and kindness she assured me that I'll be returning the favor someday. I have no doubt. No doubt at all.

We swooped into the hardware store, picked the four straightest 2x6s in the pile, and headed back to site where Christian ripped the corners off of the boards and nipped an inch and a half off the end of each one.

And then I made an unfortunate discovery. Read on to learn all about Plan F: Take 2.

Eave Caps for My Vardo Roof

Last weekend my Tiny House Helpers and I installed the bead board ceiling over My Arched Rafters, which I wrote about in Ceiling Up My Vardo. Then I realized that I'd need to come up with a new plan for the edge of the roof box. (Because my rafters are exposed, I'm having to build my ceiling, insulation, and sheathing from the bottom up!)

My plan for the roof box as I went into the build was to attach 2x4s on end at the edges of the eaves with 6" timber lock screws. I planned to rip the top and bottom at the correct angle (64 degrees) so that they'd sit on the Rafter Tails properly. The trouble was that I'd done my sketches before I cut my rafter tails. (The biggest trick to design I've learned is the ability to think 28 steps ahead! I'm working on it!) Once we'd finished Ceiling Up My Vardo, I realized that it wasn't going to work to put 2x4s on end at the tips of the rafters.

By the way, in these little thumbnail sketches, brown is the rafter, yellow is rigid foam insulation, purple is plywood sheathing, blue is flashing, and green is roofing. The orange on the first one is the 2 x 4 on edge.

So Plan B was to install a piece of normal L shaped flashing at the eaves to catch the insulation. I figured with enough finagling, the flashing could be bent up to the proper angle so that it would be vertical. When the metal roofing goes on another piece of flashing would cover up the top of the L-shaped piece before the roof panels went on.

But then it occurred to me that if I had an eave cap shaped like a U the sheathing could be tucked underneath as well. That seam could be flashed with the Fast Flash from the Prosoco R-Guard system. (Read My Tiny House Air Barrier for more on that!) So that was Plan C. However, It wouldn't work for these U-shaped eve caps to stick out without being bent up to vertical because I'm building my eves to 10' so I can still move my house with a trip permit. I don't have enough wiggle room to have the roof box extend out any further. And I knew it would be tricker to bend a U than an L.

So I decided it would be nice to have an eve cap that was already bent to my specifications. It would look much tidier but it would also be easier. So Plan D emerged. Laura and I noodled through the 7th grade geometry and determined that I needed a 64 degree angle at the bottom and a 116 degree angle at the top. The pieces needed to be 2 1/2" long on the bottom to catch the beadboard and 3 1/2" tall to accommodate 3" of insulation and the 1/2" plywood.

I asked around and everyone told me the place to go is Vinje & Son's Custom Sheet Metal. Vinje's is a great local family-owned sheet metal company that works with lots of do-it-yourselfers on jobs both big and small. I called them up and they said it wouldn't be a problem at all to create just what I envisioned. So I enlisted them to help with Plan D. When I got there we sketched out what I needed and they put my order into the manufacturing queue. They fabricated four 10' long eve caps that I could piece together to make a 16 foot length. I placed my order on Wednesday morning and the pieces were ready for pick up on Thursday. Their staff was friendly and knowledgeable and I'm sure I'll be back again soon whether it's for the Lucky Penny or another project.

I was planning to pick up the eave caps in the morning and get to work, but it was raining (again!), so I spent my morning working at the Breathe Building and doing errands. This evening it had cleared up so my friend Amy helped me pick up the flashing pieces and spray paint the bottoms copper. The other portions won't be seen, but the copper colored eave cap will be visible between the rafters. (By the way, I'd asked the fellow at Vinje's about copper while I was placing my order, but it would have been a couple hundred dollars instead of $60! So I'm fine with faux copper.)

Amy and I also sealed up the joints around the rafters with Joint & Seam and the blocking with Fast Flash from the R-Guard system by Prosoco. (You can read all about that in My Tiny House Air Barrier.)

Tomorrow the plan is to install the eave caps at the ends of the wall and slip the insulation inside. Hopefully we can sheathe the roof on Sunday and I'll add the air barrier on Monday. Then I won't have to tarp anymore. Hip, hip, hooray!

Come Hail & High Water

Yesterday we worked on Ceiling Up My Vardo and today the plan was to continue work on both the roof and the windows. But today was one of those gray days that makes you suspicious from the start. According to the weather forecast there was only a 20% chance of rain, but it started raining while I drove my rental car to the build site in the morning. And actual rain, not just typical Portland spring showers. I hoped maybe that meant we were done with rain for the day. But I decided it wasn't worthwhile for us to attempt to work on the roof again, just in case.

Instead Randy, Eleanor, Shelley, Matthew, and I worked on windows and door. Shelley and Eleanor did the most meticulous taping job I've ever seen in my life and then put the first layer of paint on the exterior of the arched window. Meanwhile Randy and Matthew worked on the door and I put a second coat of paint on the door jamb. It was almost lunchtime and Randy and I were sorting out pieces of varied trim I'd picked up from Green Star International when his rain-o-meter warned us that rain was imminent.

We had a lot of different materials out and realized we'd better get them put away. Eleanor and Shelley created a little tarp tent to protect the window they'd been painting and Randy and I threw tarps over the trim. We were hustling to put our tools away when that 20% chance of rain decided to arrive all at once.

Randy asked me if I wanted to tuck the Skylights for My Vardo inside, too.  "No, they should be fine in the rain," I told him as we hurried under cover.

And they were fine with rain. But no so much with the wind. A gust of wind came up and caught one of the skylights and smashed it into the concrete, cracking the acrylic dome in several places.

I was crestfallen. Not only because I'd gotten a great deal on these skylights from Mark at Natural Light Skylight Co. And not only because I was pleased to have diverted them from the waste stream since they're salvaged. And not only because I'd already Painted My Skylight Frames. Actually, I was most upset that this was the second skylight I'd broken!

In January when my build buddy Laura Klement and I had been scouting materials for our tiny house builds, I'd come across a dome skylight at Building Material Resources. I checked it over and it was in great shape so I brought it home, only to discover the next morning that it was cracked. I must have cracked it somehow while moving it from the store to Laura's car to its temporary storage spot. In any case, it wasn't useable anymore so I took it to the landfill the next day since I was helping a friend with a dump run.

I hated thinking that I was contributing another skylight to the landfill that was in perfectly good condition before it came into my possession! I began wondering if it was a sign from the universe that my mollycroft roof was doomed. I'd already considered removing the skylights from my vardo twice, but couldn't bring myself to do it because I was so looking forward to the feeling they'd create inside. Fellow tiny house builders had encouraged me to stick to my dream. Now I was wondering if I should just give it up.

While I was wrestling with all of this frustration I was also attempting to appreciate that I had three really excellent people who had come to help me. We'd made good progress on the door and window. And here we were, all huddled in my house eating our picnic lunch while the rain - and hail! - battered my tarp. It was an adventure! And it was pretty cool being inside in the deluge! It will be really cool once I have skylights on the roof!

Nevertheless, we decided we were done for the day. So when Randy's rain-o-meter notified us of a relative dry spell from 1:12-1:23 pm we packed the trim away again (in no particular order - just like it had been before we sorted it!) I was afraid it would be floating in standing water since there were puddles everywhere, but it was actually relatively dry so we were able to get it put back just fine.

I was feeling grumpy and not quite sure how to rally. Fortunately, my build buddy Laura cheered me up by suggesting a trip to Sauvie Island. The rain had stopped by now (of course!) so we went to a u-pick strawberry farm. The berries were tiny and super sweet and the farm was beautiful so we had a great time picking pints.

Determined to make the most of the car rental, I ended my day by exploring several hardware stores and making a trip to Ikea. I enjoyed picking up a few supplies I needed and taking the time to wander the aisles to see if there were any new innovations I should be aware of.

Next weekend I'll be able to work on the tiny house all four days! So we should get the roof buttoned up and we may even get to start installing windows. I can't wait!

Ceiling Up My Vardo

The past two weeks I was only able to work on The Lucky Penny one day, so I was excited to have three whole days of building this weekend. I've had some help Making Ends Meet, so I was eager to jump into roofing yesterday and get my house buttoned up. Unfortunately, yesterday was so rainy I spent the day doing other errands. Rain is predicted again for tomorrow. This is, after all, spring in Portland! Nevertheless, today was sunny and we made some good progress. This morning Matthew continued working on the door. He installed the new hinges and the new lockset, which look great! He also helped me pick out a beautiful cranberry color for the my trim that contrasts nicely with the copper. I keep finding myself wandering over to admire it again. While Matthew put the first layer of paint on the door jamb, Love and Kellyn prepped the arched window for its first coat of paint.

Meanwhile, Kenny, Natalie, Alex, and I installed the bead board ceiling over the rafters. (BTW, Kenny has done roofing professionally so I should probably add a "don't try this at home" to the photos below!) We finally had a decent stapler this time, thanks to Eric for letting me borrow his pneumatic. Having the right tool for the job makes all the difference in the world! On each side of the skylight box we stapled two full sheets of pre-finished birch paneling detailed to look like bead board. Then we cut a fifth sheet of bead board panel into two smaller pieces to fill in the gap on either end of the skylight box. Kenny and Alex notched away the bottom corners so that it could rest on the rafter along with the skylight box. Along the way we employed most of my clamps. You really never can have too many clamps!

You might wonder why my roof is taking so long when my build buddy Laura Klement had her roof done weeks ago. Basically, because of my exposed rafters I wasn't able to sheathe the vardo to get it dried in and then insulate and install the ceiling from the inside. So it's taking longer to get the roof up than it would on a standard roof. I'm so sick of tarpping, I wish I were actually sealing up my vardo, but at least now the ceiling's up on my vardo! It took most of the day, because of the curves and the little variations here and there. But it sure looks beautiful! It's starting to come together like I envisioned, thanks to my Tiny House Helpers!

We also picked up EPS foam board for the roof insulation (it seems the 1" is bendable enough to really make that curve well so we'll stack it up). I have 5 1/2 inches of insulation in my floors and 3 1/2" in my walls, so I'm hoping to have 3" in my roof. That's all sort of backwards as really it would be best to have the most in the roof, but my roof is mostly skylights, so I'm not sure it will make an enormous difference putting more insulation in there. Instead I'm focusing on air sealing and making plans for shading as well as I can.

As the ceiling went up I noodled over a new plan for the edge of the roof since my initial plan of putting up 2x4s on end was clearly not going to work once I looked at it in the field. When I'd done my sketches I hadn't accounted for the curve of the rafter tails which reduces the amount of rafter we had to bite into with the Timber Tite screws. I'll need to keep working on a plan for that. So we decided to tarp it up and pack it in around 5pm. We headed to Occidental Brewing Co to talk tiny. Cheers to a good day's work! Hopefully we'll have a productive day again tomorrow...

Making Ends Meet

Memorial Day Weekend was momentous for me. On Friday we had My SIPs Wall Raising. On Saturday we applied My Tiny House Air Barrier. On Sunday and Monday we had my Vardo Rafter Raising. Fortunately, I had lots of Tiny House Helpers. Then I (mostly) took a break from building for a couple of weeks. I spent the last couple days of May in Walla Walla, Revisiting Homeownership, and then lead a guided bike tour for Portland’s ADU Tour.

The first Monday of June, I snuck in a build day with my friend Chris who helped me install blocking between my rafters. This involved nipping off a corner at 26 degrees. Fortunately, Chris got really good at doing this with my circular saw.

Then we worked on figuring out a plan to close up the end walls. While I was finishing up Building My Arched Rafters, I Ordered My Tiny House SIPs. I figured it might be tricky to match the curve of the rafters, so my plan was to build rafters that would fit into the end wall. But then I learned that the SIPs company could cut the panels to a radius and put blocking in for me. So Patrick Sughrue of Structures Northwest and I figured out what the radius must be based on the rise of 15” at the 8’ mark. It turns out that, even though the rafter jig was based on a radius, the rafters have a more oblong curve because of the spring back that happens when they’re released from the form.

So when we put the rafter up against the end wall to test it, we discovered the curves didn’t match up properly. Once I had the birdsmouths in the rafters there was only ¼” difference between the curves at the top but 2 ½” difference at the ends.

So Chris and I explored a lot of different options last week and Tony chimed in, too, when he swung by. “Why don’t you just build more rafters?” he asked. “I can’t do that,” I said. “I already returned the jig. I’d have to source the strips and I wouldn’t be able to get the fir strips milled down in time so I’d have to use hemlock lathe. I’d have to build the rafters and plane them and sand them and birdsmouth them and seal them and install them.”

Eventually we decided to cut a curved piece of plywood to seal up the exterior and on the interior install the barge rafters I’d built. We got the rafters in place, tarpped everything up again, and called it a day.

The trouble was, it just looked off to me. As Jacob Deva Racusin, one of my natural building instructors, taught me, there are two rules to hack:

1. Is it safe?
2. Can you live with it?

Using the rafters this way was safe, but I couldn’t live with it. I couldn’t sleep that night. At 3 AM I found myself devising a new plan. And I’ve learned about myself that when I come up with a plan at in the middle of the night I’d better at least give it some good thought in the morning.

The next morning I decided it was going to be a pain, but it was still a good plan. So a couple days later my friend Willie helped me pick up the rafter jig again from Katy and I ordered 52 strips of 12' long hemlock lathe and built myself four new rafters – one for each side of each end wall.

Then I spent the weekend out of state at a family reunion where I got to show off baby pictures of my tiny house (which were, of course, completely upstaged by my nephew who is admittedly way cuter!) Yesterday Eric helped me plane the rafters and Jack arrived just in time to help us sand them. We took a lunch break while waiting for the sealer to dry and then installed the rafters and fixed the blocking.

I filled the gap between the new end wall rafters with spray foam and got myself good and sticky as I always seem to do when attempting to make Great Stuff go where I want it to. The trick here is to just let the foam do its thing and then shave away the excess with an old saw once it’s hardened.

We wanted to get the bead board up, too, but the staples I’d picked up weren’t long enough to hold the bead board into the rafters on that curve. So we set the bead board aside (again!) and tarpped the roof up.

I plan to have work parties again this weekend with the assistance of more Tiny House Helpers. Hopefully we’ll be Building My Roofbox on Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned!

Vardo Rafter Raising

I am grateful to all the Tiny House Helpers who spent their Memorial Day weekend giving shape to the Lucky Penny. Special thanks to Angela Ramseyer of Mighty Micro Built who made the trip down from Whidbey Island to be my right-hand-woman for the weekend, Chris Robison who spent three whole days helping, and to Randy, Tony, Audrey and Tomas who committed two days of their holiday weekend. My tiny house on wheels is well on its way!

My SIPs Wall Raising was on Friday. On Saturday we applied My Tiny House Air Barrier and put up one of the walls of my build buddy Laura’s tiny house. Yesterday we raised the rafters for the Lucky Penny and raised another of Laura’s walls. Today we put the skylight box into place and prepped the beadboard sheets for installation.

I knew that Sunday would require some noodling as we figured out the spot for the birdsmouths, the scribing for the skylight box, and the spacing of the rafters (since they couldn’t be quite even). My roof is fairly complex because I have both curved rafters and skylights. Fortunately, I had lots of help and plenty of sounding boards. Everyone played a role in getting my roof overhead.

On Sunday Aline finished up the spot sanding on the rafters to remove scuffmarks and Randy and Anita sealed the rafters with a clear sealer. (I’d already sanded and sealed the rafters, but they were jostled around enough between then and now that they needed a little more TLC.) Angela scribed the rafter curve onto the skylight box and made the cuts with a jigsaw. Tony and I worked together to figure out the placement of the birdsmouths and to map out the rafter layout on the top plate. Tony and Angela, who have both built themselves tiny houses on wheels, were a great help as I figured out how to take the ideas that were in my head and my sketch book and manifest them in three dimensions in the real world.

We had just put the rafters up when the wind and rain kicked up and we realized we would be rained out. So we threw the tarp over the top of the Lucky Penny and secured it down all around. Aline and Tony buzzed up to the Ace Hardware in St. John’s to pick up four more tarps to cover my door and windows. Once we’d battened down the hatches we headed to Proper Eats where a few other tiny housers joined us for dinner. It was a very celebratory atmosphere, especially because amongst us there are three tiny houses in the works and several of the other tiny houses have recently found great parking spots!

Today Tony, Chris, and I secured My Arched Rafters into place with Timbertite screws. This involved drilling a pilot hole followed by a larger hole to countersink the screw head. Supposedly we didn't need to predrill but enough of us had put time into the rafters by this point we wanted to be careful with them! We ratcheted the Timbertite into place with an impact driver fitted with a 5/16" hex head. Once the rafters were secure, Miles, Matthew, and Rebecca helped hoist the skylight box into place. Fortunately, Angela did a great job with her scribing and cutting so the skylight box lined up nicely with the rafters that were placed to support it. We secured the skylight box into the rafters with more Timbertites.

Meanwhile, Matthew and Rebecca worked on reversing the swing of My Arched Door and Audrey and Tomas put a layer of sealer on the beadboard sheets. I’d considered using true beadboard the way Katy Anderson does for her vardos, but the sheet good seemed like it would be quick and lightweight. We had started to put the beadboard in place when I realized that the staples weren’t holding well enough. I wanted to keep working, but I decided it would be best to tarp everything up well and call it a day. Or rather, call it a couple weeks. I’m going to have to let the Lucky Penny sit for a couple weekends because I’ll be out of town and leading a Guided Tour for Portland’s ADU Tour.

Fortunately, I already have some Tiny House Helpers lined up for the weekend of June 14-15 and a couple more for the weekend of June 20-21. If you’d like to join in on the fun, please contact me. If you can’t make it out to help, but you’d like to Support the Lucky Penny, you can contribute via The Lucky Penny Wish List or send me notes of encouragement on Facebook. Thanks everyone!

P.S. Lots more photos to come!

My Tiny House Air Barrier

On Friday we had My SIPs Wall Raising under the expert leadership of Patrick Sughrue of Structures NW. Yesterday we applied the R-Guard air barrier system by Prosoco with the help of Tom Schneider. What a fun day and what a neat transformation for my little house!

I first learned about the R-Guard air barrier system through my work as the Living Building Challenge Coordinator for the Breathe Building. Cody Hakala at Atlas Supply told me I had to learn about Prosoco's liquid-applied air barrier, which had been used on another Living Building Challenge project, the Bullitt Center in Seattle. I invited Tom Schneider, the chemist who invented R-Guard, to come talk to Mike Vogt and me at the Breathe Building. He told us about the benefits of liquid-applied systems, the ease of using the product, and the story of how the Bullitt Center inspired him to reformulate the entire product line so that it would be Red List Free. Needless to say, we hadn't talked very long before Mike and I were convinced. Not only was this an amazing product, but it was invented by an amazing person! We're thrilled to be working with companies like this for the Breathe Building.

At the Breathe Building's Groundbreaking Celebration I mentioned my gypsy wagon to Tom and he said he wanted to hear more about it. It seemed to both of us that a liquid-applied, color-coded waterproofing system was the best bet for do-it-yourself tiny home builders like me. I asked Tom dozens of questions about the product line so I could learn how to apply it properly and Tom offered to provide the waterproofing for my wee house AND show me how to use it!

So yesterday my Tiny House Helpers and I prepped the surfaces by furring out the corners where the SIPs come together with strips of 3/4" subflooring left over from my floors. Then Tom introduced us to the R-Guard line and taught us how to apply it. We spackled all the joints with pink Joint & Seam and Tom coached me through applying the Fast Flash to my kitchen window rough opening. He was able to do the other two windows in the time it took me to do one, but I managed to get the same effect, just not with the same finesse. As Tom told us, "the slower you go, the quicker you'll finish." He says once someone has flashed 10 openings they've usually got the hang of it. I picked up on a couple tricks that helped so I believe him. Still, it reminded me of the summer I finished out Tandem and I was A Jill of All Trades - just as I was getting good at something it was time to move on to the next thing!

Once we had our seams and openings complete we rolled on the orange Cat 5 with 3/8" nap roller brushes. We had to make sure we were applying the right amount to provide a complete air seal. Fortunately, Tom made it easy. When you can't see through the R-Guard you have applied enough of it! We worked in a team with me, Audrey and Tomas working low, Chris on the ladder getting the high parts, and Randy doing detail and quality control. Meanwhile, Angela spot sanded My Curved Rafters so that they can be installed tomorrow.

By late afternoon my house was wrapped in an orange rain coat with pink and red accents and it was time for a beer at Occidental Brewing Company. I'm grateful to all my Tiny House Helpers for helping me make these transformations for my little house so quickly. A special thanks go to Tom for sharing his product, his time, and his expertise. You can Support The Lucky Penny, too, by offering physical, emotional, or financial support.

Tomorrow we will attempt to install my curved rafters and the skylight box. Wish us luck!

My SIPs Wall Raising

Yesterday we put the SIPs walls up for my gypsy wagon! My Tiny House Build Began last Friday when we picked up My Custom Vardo Trailer and started on Floorbox Lessons Learned. Then the Floorbox Continued because I was thwarted by supply issues and rain on Sunday. I also changed my mind (again) about my wall and floor attachment systems, eventually going back to Iteration #37 with Patrick’s help.

So yesterday morning I figured it would be a piece of cake to put the sill plates down in their proper place, stand the walls up, and get them secured. And it would have been – if the sill plates were in their proper place. It took us nearly 3 hours yesterday (in the drizzle) to get the sill plates just where they needed to go. Fortunately, I had a great crew of Tiny House Helpers: Patrick Sughrue of Structures NW, John Labovitz of Polymecca, Laura Klement, Deirdre, and Eric.

The trailer was square but the flanges were not, so when we measured off of them we came up with ¾” variation from front to back. I had already ordered my trailer when I decided to have SIPs made for me instead of trying to make them myself. If I had it to do over, I absolutely would have taken Patrick’s advice to do a SIP floor, too! That way we would have a perfectly square and 8-foot-wide starting point. The trick was Patrick’s idea of marking the centerline and working off of it – no matter what. Once we did, things came together really quickly. Patrick was an excellent crew leader, showing us how to install his panels properly.

We put sill seal down underneath the bottom bottom plate (a 2 x 6) and then sealed the top bottom plate (a 2 x 4) on top of it with Prosoco’s Joint & Seam, nailing the plates together as necessary to make them easier to work with. We secured the bottom plates to the trailer flanges with 4” long ¾” bolts and added self-tapping metal screws along the front and back of the trailer since there were only two bolt holes in each of the flanges which we could screw into for these sills. We did have to drill a couple more holes in the flanges and with a good bit this wasn’t horrible to do, so in the future I’d probably not have them pre-drilled by Iron Eagle Trailers.

Once the sill plates were down it only took us an hour and a half to get the walls up! We lifted the panels, rotated them as necessary, and set the edge down on the trailer floor. Once we were lined up, we applied spray foam to the bottom plate and scooted the panel off the edge of the floor and into its proper place. Laura held the first wall in place while we got the second and third panels up, securing them together with long screws. We connected the two panels on the long walls with a spline, which we spray foamed on both sides and the bottom. The front panel was the only one that caused us any trouble and that was because we hadn’t quite gotten the two back end panels all the way to the back panel. That 1/8” matters! We used ratchet straps to pull them as tight as we could and chipped away a little bit of the sill plate at the front and then realized we were being held up by the bolts. So cut away a bit of the stud on each side of the SIP so that the front panel could nestle into its spot.

Hooray for four walls! We celebrated with a picnic lunch in the future kitchen of my tiny house!

Support The Lucky Penny

Tonight I’m so excited I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep. My Tiny House Build Began last Friday and tomorrow is My SIPs Wall Raising! Eep! By this time tomorrow I should have four walls up!

I am already thoroughly impressed by the way my community has rallied around me and my little house, The Lucky Penny. You have been cheering me on, sending me encouraging notes, making trips to the ReBuilding Center to boneyard materials, assisting with tiny house prep, listening while I noodle through design conundrums, oohing and ahhing over pictures of my door and sink, and offering to pitch in when the time comes to make it happen.

The time has come.

I’m ready to ask for your support. That may be moral support or financial support or it may be literally holding up my rafters while we get them in place. Any which way, I’ll take it!

It’s Memorial Day weekend and my build buddy Laura and I will be hosting work parties all four days. I’ve got a great line-up of Tiny House Helpers for this weekend. Here’s my grand plan:

• Friday: My SIPS Wall Raising
• Saturday: My Tiny House Air Barrier
• Sunday: Vardo Rafter Raising

Next weekend I’ll be leading a guided tour for Portland’s ADU Tour (and the following weekend I’ll be at a family reunion), but I plan to host tiny house work parties the weekends of June 14-15, June 21-22, and June 28-29. If you’re in Portland and would like to help, please contact me so we can arrange a time for you to come on out and pitch in!

If you’d like to contribute but you can’t make it out here to assist in person, please consider supporting The Lucky Penny in one of these ways:

• Make a financial contribution by purchasing one of the items on the The Lucky Penny Wishlist
• Subscribe to my blog This Is The Little Life (in the top right corner under follow) and post encouraging notes in the comments section
• Follow along on Facebook and/or Twitter and like or retweet

Thank you, everyone! I am grateful for your support!

My Floorbox Continued

My Tiny House Build Began on Friday last week when friends helped me pick up My Custom Vardo Trailer and work on my floorbox. I wasn’t able to finish the floorbox that day because I couldn’t source the ½” rigid foam I needed, but I managed to have plenty of Floorbox Lessons Learned anyhow.

Over the weekend I helped my build buddy Laura with her floorbox and wall framing. Sunday was a crazy-rainy day so Laura, Jeff, Logan, and I snuck in moments of foam layering for my floorbox during the collective 30 minutes or so when it was dry enough. We worked on Laura’s framing during the mist, the drizzles, and the showers. We hunkered down in her car during the pure downpours.

On Monday my friend Christian helped me finish up the floorbox. We layered in the rest of the foam, lapping the seams so that none of them were directly above the ones in the previous layer. Between each course and around all the edges we sealed up the gaps with a low-expansion spray foam. The top layer of foam is 2” that spans the trailer frame and is sealed to the trailer with silicone caulk.

We then cut the ¾” Edge Gold to fit, starting with the piece we had to notch out for the wheelwells. We nestled the sheets on either end into that first sheet and cut off the excess. We didn’t have to cut the sides because the sheets of Edge Gold were 8 feet long, exactly the same length as the SIPs.

I’d originally planned to isolate my floor system from my wall system because it would provide a thermal break between them, my walls would be directly connected to my trailer frame, and it would be a better use of materials since my house was going to be 8’-6” wide. However, once my house was only 8’ wide I decided to just line them up and put my walls right on top of my subfloor. So we cut the sill plates and bolted them down through the trailer frame, securing them with carriage bolts. Ta da! Floorbox complete!

But I couldn’t sleep that night. I didn’t like the way the bolts were angled. And I didn’t like the fact that I’d put all that insulation into my floorbox only to run the subfloor out to the edge where it would get cold and make my feet cold. And I didn’t like that I didn’t have a solid nailer all the way around. And I didn’t like that the foam wasn’t well protected. I just didn’t sit right. I wished I’d used my original design of having the floor system inside the wall system rather than on top of it. I decided I’d better fix it while I still had the chance.

So this evening Patrick Sughrue of Structures NW, the supplier for my SIPS (structural insulated panels), helped me with my first remodeling project. We ripped a set of 2 x 6s to 4 ½ inches. Then we cut the foam back all the way around, put down a layer of sill seal then the 2 x 6s, followed by a layer of liquid nails and then the sill plate. We bolted these down to the trailer with the carriage bolts (which involved boring a couple new holes because some of the ones I’d requested were too close to the edge once I factored in the necessary spacing for my SIPs). We worked until dark and then called it quits. I’ll finish bolting down the rest of the bottom plates on Friday morning.

I feel so much better about this system that I’m annoyed with myself for not just doing this in the first place. My floorbox took much longer than it would have if I’d known then what I know now. However, I learned a lot in the process and I really enjoyed working with Alex, Christian, Laura, Jeff, Logan, and Patrick. I built my floor box in a way I’ve never seen done before and experiments sometimes require additional tweeking.

Most importantly, thanks to Patrick, I am now ready for My SIPs Wall Raising on Friday morning! Follow along!