Tuesday, 9 October 2012
New Trailer!!!!
Well after much deliberation and looking on kijiji everyday, I was able to find a very good looking and affordable 12' trailer that I am now going to use for the tiny house. On Tumble Weed Tiny homes website they have a 10' tiny house called the XS which is what I'm going to base my tiny house on now. Because the trailer is 12' I will build the 10' long structure and have a 2' porch/deck! It may not be the Fencl model that I was set on building but I am happy that I'm still building my tiny house. We got the trailer on Friday and by Monday the trailer was stripped of the walls that were originally built onto it, unbolted the wood from the trailer deck, sanded and painted! The trailer has a 3500lb axle so we might be switching it out for a 5000lb axle so I havent dont any more work to it so far. Here are the pictures to show the progress...
Blogging Hiatus...
So I have been on a blogging hiatus since going to purchase my trailer from a seller off of Kijiji. The trailer was an 18' flat deck trailer that was built in the late 80s. My friend and I went down to meet the seller for the trailer (2 hour drive!) we pulled up and the trailer looked awesome! After further inspection of the trailer you could see that it had been freshly painted but after looking underneath you could see some pretty serious rust problems. I called my husband and a few friends who new more about this than me and after some convincing, I walked away from buying the trailer. I was so dismayed that my project would seriously never get done because I needed the trailer in order to build the little house! Here are some pictures of the 18' trailers rust that made me change my mind...Maybe it wouldnt have been that bad but better not take chances when your building a house on it!
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
I will need to cook! Stove/Oven options
I've been thinking about what I want my tiny house to look like and the amount of electrical needs or other potential costs that will be associated with it, I guess you could say "utilities". Since I've been thinking about this aspect of it I had to think about potential hook ups for electrical and water or come up with a better plan :) For now I'll cover only the electrical aspect and leave the water for a later post.
As it is with me I've chosen the somewhat harder road of researching and planning and have come up with a "better plan". For starters, I have decided not to utilize the propane method for cooking or heating as there can be many issues with ventilation in such a small space and it is costly over time. Potential problems associated with propane are as follows. Propane blowing up your tiny house! Or suffocating you while you cook because of lack of ventilation....scary, and no thank you! I may be over exaggerating somewhat of course...but you never know!
Besides the physical issues of propane, it can also cost quite a bit over time to constantly buy propane and the fact that it is not a renewable resource is not appealing to me either. So I have opted for an alcohol run Orgio 600 stove/oven combo that is often used on boats because it is safer than propane in small spaces, easier to store alcohol because it wont combust, no off gasing and it is a fairly renewable resource which makes it that much better! These tiny house builders have also opted for this option for much of the same reasons that I have http://2cycle2gether.com/2011/01/origo-6000/ .
The only downside to this option is that the initial investment to purchase it will be a bit more expensive ($1500-$1600). I will be roughing in the opening for this while building and will purchase it shortly after the tiny house is built. I will have a bit of time before spending my money like I own my place of employement instead of just being employed there!
This little stove/oven combo is going to be used for cooking purposes solely. I have a different method for heating which I will talk about more later :)
As it is with me I've chosen the somewhat harder road of researching and planning and have come up with a "better plan". For starters, I have decided not to utilize the propane method for cooking or heating as there can be many issues with ventilation in such a small space and it is costly over time. Potential problems associated with propane are as follows. Propane blowing up your tiny house! Or suffocating you while you cook because of lack of ventilation....scary, and no thank you! I may be over exaggerating somewhat of course...but you never know!
Besides the physical issues of propane, it can also cost quite a bit over time to constantly buy propane and the fact that it is not a renewable resource is not appealing to me either. So I have opted for an alcohol run Orgio 600 stove/oven combo that is often used on boats because it is safer than propane in small spaces, easier to store alcohol because it wont combust, no off gasing and it is a fairly renewable resource which makes it that much better! These tiny house builders have also opted for this option for much of the same reasons that I have http://2cycle2gether.com/2011/01/origo-6000/ .
The only downside to this option is that the initial investment to purchase it will be a bit more expensive ($1500-$1600). I will be roughing in the opening for this while building and will purchase it shortly after the tiny house is built. I will have a bit of time before spending my money like I own my place of employement instead of just being employed there!
About Passion
I was reading a fellow tiny house builders blog @ http://mytinyabode.blogspot.ca/ and am really enjoying her posts and also her progress with her tiny house. The main thing I wanted to share is a post she had on her blog about living life and following your passions and dreams. I really think this quote is full of truth and inspiration to do what you think will make you happy and in turn will also make others inspired :)
I really think one of the biggest challenges in life is truly following your dreams and remembering that life is very short. We need to dive in and following our dreams, goals and passions! This is what makes life worth living!
“The best thing you can do for yourself, your community and the world – is to follow your passions. And by diving in to that pool, your ripples will inspire others to do the same. Thus creating an inspired, fulfilling life, a diverse community and many wonderful stories."
I really think one of the biggest challenges in life is truly following your dreams and remembering that life is very short. We need to dive in and following our dreams, goals and passions! This is what makes life worth living!
“The best thing you can do for yourself, your community and the world – is to follow your passions. And by diving in to that pool, your ripples will inspire others to do the same. Thus creating an inspired, fulfilling life, a diverse community and many wonderful stories."
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Layout
For my tiny house I've decided on the tumbleweed tiny house plan called the fencl. I've decided to make some changes to the floor plan and hopefully make it feel a bit bigger inside. The fencl plan has a full size loft and a second smaller loft that is used for storage. In my tiny house I've revised this so there are two full size lofts each with their own skylight. The original fencl plan makes the bathroom/kitchen area seem squishy when you go into that part of the house. I've attached the original layout and my revised layout. Sorry my drawing isn't very good :)
Still thinking about different things to add but this will be the main layout with possibly only a couple changes!
Still thinking about different things to add but this will be the main layout with possibly only a couple changes!
Sunday, 12 August 2012
And I have a skylight!
Like I said in my previous post, I was able to find a skylight off kijiji which will be one of two that I will be needing.
I feel like I am taking more steps in the right direction, lots more supplies to go though!
Here it is!
I feel like I am taking more steps in the right direction, lots more supplies to go though!
Here it is!
You gotta start somewhere!
For my tiny house project my plan is to use as many reused, free, recycled materials as possible. There are two reasons for this; firstly, to keep costs down as much as possible and secondly, I want to help keep materials out of the landfill and try to make my house as "green" as possible. I have been looking on kijiji for weeks now trying to find materials that are either free or pretty close to free and have been emailing back and forth with quite a few people that are trying to get rid of their left over renovation materials. I was lucky enough today to find some really nice oak hardwood flooring that is just the perfect amount to have flooring in both the lofts of my tiny house! I would like to add at this point that it was completely FREE, I just love that I was so lucky to grab it before someone else and it's good knowing it will be put to good use. I also found a large skylight and a door that I will be picking up today. So far my tiny house has cost nothing and am hoping that I will be lucky enough to build the whole thing for less than $6000 with the trailer and all the supplies. My tiny house trailer will be purchased on Friday, again for a pretty good deal. Take a look at my flooring, pretty nice hey :)
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