Tiny House Plumbing

Tiny house plumbing...seemingly so easy but fraught with difficulty. I designed my plumbing system to be minimal with the kitchen sink placed adjacent to the shower so the interior wall between could be my plumbing wall. I purchased a Bosch Tronic 8 gallon electric water heater and placed it beneath the sink in a stainless steel pan made of leftover material from my shower pan. Water heaters can either have their pressure relief valves directed into pans or out through the floor or wall of a building. Since I wanted to minimize exterior penetrations, I decided to direct mine to a pan.

I used 12" flexible 3/4" copper hoses to connect the water heater to the brass fittings reducing to the 1/2" PEX system. The cold water in comes through the floor (see photo below) via a frost free hose bib connected to a water hose and outdoor spigot. The water is directed into the water heater which, when connected to electricity, will heat the water and send it out the hot side to the sink via the braided flex line and shower via PEX tubing and brass elbows. The cold follows a similar path. In the shower, the mixer valve combines hot and cold in varied amounts depending on handle rotation. I used clamp rings to secure the tubing to the elbows and in line connections. It requires a special tool that I borrowed as well as a tubing cutter. (You can buy the push fittings but I was told by some plumbers that they are not as great for long term durability.) The clamp tool requires significant strength to tighten the rings but when it is dialed in, you only have to squeeze to the point when the tool releases. If it's not tight enough, the tool stays connected to the ring. Fairly straightforward. Make sure you leave 1/8"-1/4" of tubing end visible between clamp and fitting to ensure a good connection.

The tubing is somewhat flexible but cannot really make 90 degree turns quickly so I used elbows in those junctions. There are also T fittings which can help direct water to other fixtures but I didn't need them in this situation. I used red tubing for hot and blue for cold which is not really necessary (you could do all of one color or even all white) but I like color coding things so that was kind of fun. Just make sure you check the labels on the fixtures if you color code so they match up with the PEX colors and hot/cold indicators on the escutcheon plate.

I used a drop ear 90 up top to screw in my shower head which I will be directing toward the back corner of the space. I added blocking behind both the drop ear 90 and mixer valve in order to mount them. The front face of the mixer valve needs to be flush with the finished wall surface so you have to know what thickness that's going to be before adding the blocking. I actually swapped out the 2x4 blocking for the mixer valve for a piece that is only 1" thick since I decided to go with a 3/8" marine grade plywood coated with epoxy paint for the walls (see the next blog post about that).

Once I ran the supply lines, I started working on the drain system. For the sink, I used an S trap so I could drain out the floor. A P trap can also be used to drain out the wall. I needed an extension tube to continue the vertical piece through the floor since my system is taller than typical.

I added an ABS adapter under the trailer to connect the drain to a short piece of 1 1/2" tube and then to a rubber coupling which transitioned the size from 1 1/2" to 2" to match the diameter of the shower drain. I used ABS cement to attach a piece of 2" tubing to an elbow, let it dry, slid it into the coupling and tightened the metal ring with a screwdriver. From there, I added a length of 2" tubing to the shower drain.

I added an exterior p trap to the shower drain again connected by a rubber coupling attached by metal clamps secured with screws. These couplings will enable me to easily disconnect the drain system when I want to move my house. 

I added a vent to the system which allows air in so the water can flow out easier and faster. Ideally you have one of these for each fixture but since my system is so small and a short run, I was told I really didn't need any venting. Since the area under my sink is open and I wanted to use chrome fittings, I couldn't find a way to make a vent there look good. I will see how well the system works and if I feel like it needs to be changed, I can explore those options in the future.

When we did the first test on the system, there were so many leaks! First in the outside spigot to hose connection (a different fitting and a clamp solved that problem), then in the connection between the hose and frost free hose bib (just needed to be tightened), then in the brass connections between water heater and PEX/braided sink connects. I tried to tighten those connections which was difficult to do in place then retested but still found leaks. I asked a friend to help me take everything apart and use new Teflon tape tools to get those joints water tight. Also part of that process was replacing the flexible copper hoses since they had developed pin leaks from too much bending and one actually broke off while I was trying to disconnect it, shooting water out onto the floor until I could tip it upright. Hopefully that didn't do too much damage after I got the water mopped up and a fan running. Once we re-installed everything, all of the supply joints looked water tight. All of the PEX joints looked good from the start so I was thankful for that. The sink strainer was leaking so I took it apart, cleaned things up, applied new plumbers putty, re-installed and it seems good to go after another water test. The sink faucet is still leaking a little at the base which is somewhat worrisome since I had all of the internal components replaced when I had the new copper tubes braised on. Not sure what's going on there but it's an old faucet so maybe nothing can be done. Worst case, I have to remove the sink to take out the faucet, find a new faucet, have new holes drilled in the sink and re-install. Read the post about my farm sink for more details about that component. Now I can start focusing on my electrical system so I can not only have running water, but hot running water!

Check out my flickr for more photos!

Modified Rock Climbing

Since it's my birthday month and I needed a more regular place to shower, I decided to get a rock gym membership. It has been a couple of years since I have been climbing regularly and though my favorite climbing buddy currently lives in Astoria, I decided it would be a fun way to get exercise and focus on a skill to reduce the stresses of tiny house building, work, etc. The gym I go to has a bouldering area and a rope area with top ropes, lead climbing and auto belays. The auto belays enable you to belay yourself while climbing via a mechanism at the top so you don't need to have a partner. They are pretty great except for not having the ability of more abruptly catching and stopping you if you fall so it is more difficult to get back on the wall when that happens. In the few weeks of climbing almost every other day, I have been able to go from a 5.7 to 5.10- which is the highest level I was able to climb previously. One of my current favorite routes is a 5.10- called "push it real good" which involves stemming and mantling up the wall, really fun!

Naturally, I decided that I should install some rock holds in my tiny house. I needed something to hold onto while climbing up and going down my loft ladder as well as something other than a ladder to open up the window above the door. So I went to a local outdoor store and scored some used holds. In this process, I learned that holds get anchored in two different ways: T-nuts with bolts or screws. Smaller holds are screwed in from the face of the wall and larger holds typically require T-nuts which must be installed in drilled out holes before the wall panel goes up. I bought larger holds so I could use them with more ease without climbing shoes. Unfortunately, I had installed my wall panels months ago and was not going to take them down to get access for the T-nut installation. So I decided to get some beefy lag screws and use them in place of the bolts. The downside of this technique is that I cannot easily tighten the screws over time like you can with the bolt system so I will either have to get longer screws or move the holds to new locations. I also might be able to drill holes and add secondary screws to add more structural strength. All of the holds are currently screwed into studs so we will see how they hold up over time!

Year End Wrap Up

After Settling In and building some storage in November, I took a break from house projects in December to focus on designing and finding materials for our shed structure which will house a washer, dryer, shower and electrical sub-panel. After bringing the materials to site and determining the desired location for the structure, we realized that we needed to move the travel trailer farther forward toward the street which would give us space to build between my house and the future tiny house at the front of the lot.

With limited space between the tongue of the trailer and the fence, we borrowed a power mover from some other tiny housers who have used it to move their homes. This is a homemade piece of equipment with small, fat wheels, a motor and pieces of steel that clamp onto the trailer tongue via bolts. One issue in using the power mover was that the travel trailer's tongue was of larger dimension tube steel than the bolt system was capable of so we had to connect it with other removable clamps. That worked as an ok connection but was one we had to keep an eye on and re-clamp multiple times after things shifted during the move. The other issue was, once again, the soft garden ground in rainy December. The trailer was too heavy for the wheels to gain traction on the ground, on plywood and even on gravel. After several attempts, we realized that the only way to move the trailer was to make it lighter which meant deconstructing it.

So we planned a d-con party which of course ended up being on a very soggy wet day. The day before was dry so Eric and I started removing some of the interior components. The day of, a couple of Eric's friends stopped by to help and together, they went to town with sawsalls, hammers, crowbars, shovels and the like to strip the travel trailer down to the frame. Eric had bought the trailer cheap with the intention of doing this eventually because he wanted to use the sturdy frame to build a tiny house on and also to possibly salvage some of the appliances. I played the role of fire master most of the day since having more than 2-3 people demoing it was dangerous and I didn't want to hurt myself since I would soon have 1 1/2 weeks off of work for a vacation (see below for more about that).

Once the trailer was stripped down to the bare frame, we called it a day and resumed trying to move it the following day. The power mover kind of worked but we again ran out of space so Eric grabbed the tongue and Johnny, one of his friends, and I pushed down and forward with the rear end. It still was really heavy but we got it moved out of the way to build the shed! We will be working on putting the structure together this month and getting things set up so we can run electrical out into the yard from the shop building. I am thinking that the site electrical and then my own house's electrical system will be a project for next month.

After moving the trailer on the weekend, I had a couple of days left of work for the year and then headed out on another desert adventure. It was my first time to the desert in the winter if you don't count the short trip I took to the John Day Fossil Beds over the long Thanksgiving weekend. It was a bit of a challenging trip since the weather wasn't quite what I had expected it to be, though I learned from some locals that it was colder and snowier than usual for this time of the year. 

I spent Christmas eve in Christmas Valley exploring some of the geologic features there; I wandered around the lost forest and sand dunes Christmas morning before heading to Hart Mountain where I had the hot springs and campground to myself until the following late morning. Then I headed over to the Steens Mountain and hot spring on the east side in the Alvord Desert. It saddened me to see that the spring has been more developed since the last time I was there. Now you have to pay $5 but it is on private property and apparently the alternative was bulldozing the existing structure. And, I did get to meet this guy Joe who is getting paid to manage the site while living out of a tiny home he built himself. You can read more about his story in Unlikely Lives. 

From there, I hiked at Borax hot springs and then stopped at Field's Station for a giant, delicious cheeseburger and fries before heading to Willow Hot Springs. The following day, I checked out the Pillars of Rome before attempting to get to Three Forks for the third time. The other two times, summer and fall wildfires prevented access and this time snow and an overflown creek from previous rains stopped me 11 miles down the road. One of these days I hope to get there to see that part of the Owyhee Canyon and check out the warm springs. 

After being cautioned to not attempt to get to Leslie Gulch (25-40 miles of gravel roads depending on route) due to the recent rains, I decided to try anyway since the ground seemed pretty hard from the cold temps. I did learn to be wary of puddles of unfrozen water under the snow and thin layers of ice but it wasn't really all that much different than winter driving in Minnesota, where I grew up. I really don't like the cold and the snow which is a significant part of the reason I moved to Portland in the first place. So while I felt I could travel in those conditions, I had hoped for warmer days and less snow. 

Anyway, I made it to Leslie Gulch and hiked some trails (including the one to my favorite known place in SE OR) on the way to the campground at the end where the gulch meets the Owyhee Canyon. I slept the night there (in my car as I did for most of the trip since it was usually too cold and windy in my opinion to set up a tent). I had noticed that the river level was really low so I decided to try hiking to Echo Rock hot spring a little over four miles in the canyon (You can only get to it during low water unless traveling by raft at higher water). The trail to the spring is a road best suited for ATV's or Jeeps, maybe some pickups but not really for Subaru's. I was glad to be on foot anyway since the weather was ok and I could enjoy the scenery and silence more. The hot spring was a little tricky to find since the small pool is left empty to avoid algae buildup. Once I found the constructed tub and the drain plug, I opened the fill valve and let the water fill the space while I wandered around a bit. 

It was really interesting to experience so many different developed and undeveloped hot springs during the trip. I soaked for a couple of hours until the wind picked up and it started snowing, then headed back to my car before dark. Not knowing what snowstorms are like in the desert, I decided to try to drive closer to a town so I wouldn't be completely alone 30+ miles away from anything. In the fading light and decreasing visibility due to the blowing snow, I drove to Succor Creek Campground and decided to take my chances and stay there for the night since I didn't feel safe to continue on 15 more miles of icy snow gravel roads with about 12 feet of visibility.

It snowed more that night but luckily not that much and I was able to drive to Snively hot springs near Lake Owyhee for a morning soak followed by a walk out onto what is usually the middle of the lake during normal water times. The day was one of the few sunny blue sky days of the trip so I took time to sit and bask in the sun on a rock usually many feet under water.

Then, I headed west to the Beulah Reservoir to spend the night and try to locate the last hot spring of the trip. After the coldest night yet and two hours driving around the next morning, I eventually did find the spring which was supposed to have been developed with a shed and bathtub, but it was in ruins. Disappointed, I left and headed into Burns to treat myself to hot coffee and a warm breakfast sandwhich before heading John Day for New Year's. I splurged and stayed at the Dreamer's Lodge there since I really needed a shower and wanted a warm place to spend the night since temps would likely go below zero again. I explored town a little and checked out the brewery before heading in for the night. 

The next morning, I found a free library (so Portland) before getting a pumpkin latte (one of my favorites) and driving on to Pendleton. The only other time I have visited Pendleton was during the round-up in September when the town is packed with crowds of people. This time it was just the opposite with many quiet shops and few people walking the streets. I decided to jump on the freeway to head west since it would be faster. Kind of last minute, I connected with a friend in Mosier who let me stay in his strawbale house that night which was a real treat since I want to build a strawbale home someday and it had been at least a couple of years since I had stayed there last. It was also great to reconnect with a fellow builder. The next day I wandered the streets of Hood River before heading back to Portland via a quick semi-frozen waterfall gorge hike on the way. It felt so good to come home to my little house!

Settling In

It has been over a month since I moved into my house and I can't believe how fast the time has passed! After an intense weekend of moving, I pretty much took the first week off from working on house projects to focus on my job and volunteer projects. Once I had regained some creative energy, I decided to focus my efforts on building storage for my things so I could get them off of the floor in order to continue working on plumbing and to be able to plan the electrical. It's interesting how those two things keep getting pushed farther out depending on other higher priority tasks. I have been thinking about and planning both since August but so far have only started a little of the plumbing. 

Luckily I have access to a shop building next door which has a bathroom and running water and also outside faucets for water when temps have been above freezing. I paid for a community center pass the first month primarily to shower and to use the hot tub but also for classes. The classes, however, never really worked with my schedule, the hot tub wasn't always accessible and most of the time, the showers were room temp or cold so I decided to find a different shower option. A friend I met volunteering reminded me about the Kennedy School soaking pool and more importantly that the bathrooms there have showers! Since I have been hard on my body from the time the build began and haven't treated myself to regular massages, this sounded like a great idea. And it has been :) Next month is my birthday month so I think I'm going to treat myself to a rock gym membership where I can shower and get back into climbing. And we are going to be building a shed with a shower and laundry on site in the next month so that is exciting.

As for the electrical, I have been running an extension cord with a three-way splitter for power. I have a great, inexpensive lamp from IKEA with up light and directional light plugged in and also an awesome mirrored glass table lamp up in my loft. Recently, I added batteries to two small motion sensor lights and set them on the window sills below my loft, one for the kitchen and one near the closet. I think I will eventually put them in the bathroom since I haven't quite figured out how I want to light that space yet and also run power there. I have a power strip in my loft mainly to charge my laptop and phone. It's actually been helpful to live in the space while planning the electrical layout because it's easier to have an idea of where I am actually going to want outlets and switches. I decided earlier that I am going to mainly have outlets in my house to plug things in and then have a couple of switches to power a fixed light on the ceiling of my "great room" which will also provide light to my loft. So far I am glad I have chosen a surface mounted electrical system because it has provided me time to consider all of these things. We will see how things go in the next couple of months when the time comes to finally install the system.

And now, back to storage. Living in while working on a tiny house has definitely been a spatial challenge. I am really glad I installed the flooring and trim before I moved in so I wouldn't have to worry about getting everything off of the floor to work, having excessive amounts of sawdust covering things and airing out the polyurethane I used to coat the trim. I tried to take some photos along the way to capture the spatial changes in working space which was continually adapting to projects.

Here is a list of the storage projects I have been working on:
*Shoe rack from extra flooring material
*Closet shelves from extra trim and loft plywood
*Closet rod from scrap at wood shop
*Kitchen wall storage from IKEA rods and hooks and some temporary wood shelves from scraps until I make some welded ones
*Kitchen storage from two used water heater stands stacked on top of each other and some new wire organization basket/shelves, made mobile by a  base made from scrap plywood and trim with used castors. (Once I learn how to weld, I'm planning to modify this arrangement.)
*Craft storage from another water heater stand and the same castor base as kitchen storage
*Great room wall storage via used and painted shelf brackets and Fir T&G seconds, some fruit crates and coat hooks from IKEA (This is all temporary since I want to weld some cantilevered shelves, add more crates, drawers, small cabinets and other found items to create a more textured wall similar to walls in my inspiration album.)
*Hammock re-hanging (I had it up earlier during framing and exterior work until I put up the interior wall sheathing.)
*Loft crates for books, movies and art created by myself and others

Check out my flickr for more photos!

Tiny House Move: Part 2

Well, I think I've kept you in suspense long enough so I'll tell you about the rest of my move weekend...

Day 3: Sunday
After two days of moving and a night sleeping on the floor, my body and brain needed somewhat of a break. So instead of making an effort to continue to solve the jack problem, I decided to move my personal belongings to my house. Luckily, most of my things were either still in boxes or arranged in neat piles since I never really had time to unpack at my last place. Starting my build, work and moving had all coincided at the same time in May and unpacking had been the lowest priority. I managed to get the majority of my things in my car once again without much of a tetris game. It still amazes me that I always seem to fill the space with my things regardless of the continual process of letting things go.

Once I had my car packed, I drove to my new home and started unloading things. Space filled up quickly since I still had all of my tools and materials inside too. And I wasn't doing a great job a organizing since I knew I would be moving things around often to be able to work on different things. In addition to my bed, I put all of my outdoor gear in my loft until I could build some shelves on the opposite wall. I also had stashed most of my tools and some materials in the bathroom since I knew the next steps to living in the space would be creating storage spaces for my things so that I would have space to plan out electrical and continue working on plumbing.

I spent most of the day moving things, taking some breaks to imagine spatial layout. Finally, I called it good and went back to my other place for the night.

Day 4: Monday
I took the day off of work since I wasn't feeling all that well the day before. And I felt like tackling the jack situation. I slept in, packed the remainder of my things and headed to my house. Eric was ready to help dig into the project which was awesome because as much as I enjoy working solo, I really needed some moral and physical support for this project. Eric and I had come to similar conclusions as to what needed to be done so we got to work. 

Eric dug out a rectangular hole near the rear front corner of the trailer, then we put down a piece of 1" plywood, a layer of CMU blocks (left on site from a former gardener), another layer of plywood, CMU blocks and then plywood. We cut some shims to put on top of the plywood since it was a low spot. With the car jack in place, we slowly lowered it onto the foundation stack.

It felt solid once in place so we decided to use that method on the other three corners. The front corners needed a third layer of blocks and plywood since the ground slopes down there and we could tell from the level. Eric needed to leave so I finished the last stack solo. Once in place, the house felt so much more solid than it had on the scissor jacks. It was also very close to level all the way around so I didn't feel the need for any interior leveling yet. With everything on the floor, that would have been difficult anyway. I'm sure the house will settle some this winter with all of the rain and the soil gradually compacting so I'll likely have to add more shims. I also dug out the wheels so they wouldn't be in contact with the ground and deteriorate over time. I am still thinking of getting wheel covers to protect them more as well.

You can imagine my happiness at getting the house feeling stable. If I can help it, I will not be moving it in the raining season again though it probably would have been just fine with this last week of cold temps hardening the ground. I was so excited to spend the first night in my own home!

For more photos, check out my flickr move album.

Tiny House Move: Part 1

Last weekend, I moved my tiny house for the first time. It was a very emotional experience to say the least. Highs, lows, laughter, tears, frustration, learning opportunities, success. I hope to capture most of that in this post and in more photos on my flickr.

Day 1: Friday, October 31st

For Halloween, I was a tiny house mover. Dressed in a t-shirt, fleece, Carhartts and Danner work boots, I started the day by helping Eric (who I am renting my space from) pick up a beefy 3/4 ton diesel truck and move a travel trailer from Forest Grove to his place in inner NE Portland. I was happy to help provide moral support and also benefited in getting a feel for what it would be like towing my little house.

Once we dropped off the travel trailer at site, we drove up to Green Anchors in St. Johns where I have been building. My build buddy, Lina, met us on site to help pack up and take photos from the follow car. Once there, we got the house ready by loading the extra materials I had stored underneath and my stairs into the back of the truck. We checked the tightness of the lug nuts and swept the ground with a magnet to pick up stray nails, screws, staples, etc. The last thing I needed was a flat tire. Eric backed up the truck to line up the trailer's 2 5/16" ball hitch once we had jacked it up. We lowered the trailer onto the ball, then connected the chains and lights.

Everything went smoothly except the part when the front door was left open over the stairs and we started lowering the trailer onto the wheels. Part way down, someone noticed that the door looked like it was at a kind of funny angle. It had caught on the stairs and was starting to pull itself off the hinges. After a bit of a meltdown on my part (softened by a pumpkin shake Lina brought me), we decided to try to fix it and reinstall. We unscrewed the door from the hinges, set it on some stickers and chiseled the rough edges smooth. Lina went to ACE to pick up some new screws that were double the length of the old ones so they would be able to tie into the door and frame. Eric and Lina were rockstars and soon had the door securely back in it's place. I guess I'm lucky it didn't fall completely and shatter the glass.

Then, we were ready to go after checking the light and brake signals. I decided that I wanted to drive the truck at least part of the way so I jumped into the driver's seat. Of course this was an important photo op so Lina took lots of photos of me laughing at the absurdity of what I was doing (with the St. John's bridge in the background of course). Then Eric jumped in the truck with me to help guide the turns on the way to the bridge.

Once on the bridge, I took it slow to take in the beauty of the Gothic arches, the Willamette River, and so Lina could take photos. I'm sure other people trying to drive across the bridge were not appreciative of my slowness but I wasn't ready to drive fast quite yet anyway. Once across the bridge, we took Hwy 30 to the Fremont bridge which I did manage to cross going 50 mph. Once off our exit, we drove the short rest of the way to the new space. Towing my little house was actually not that difficult.

Getting it into the space was another story. Since we are in rainy season now and the land was last used as a garden, the soil was very soft and slick once compacted. I let Eric back the house in since I didn't feel confident taking on that challenge. As he carefully maneuvered the house up the slope through the gate, Lina and I helped guide. After a few attempts of getting the house and truck up the hill, the truck lost traction and started slipping sideways which was kind of terrifying considering it was attached to my house and because we had to be near to give directions. We tried adding pieces of wood and 1 1/4" thick plywood that we borrowed to gain more traction but were unsuccessful after hours of attempting. I decided to call one of the founders of Green Anchors to see if he had any ideas of what would possibly work to get the house in place. He suggested a come-along with chains and straps connecting the trailer to a tree behind to take some of the weight off the truck. It was dark by then but we decided to drive to get the tools, bring them back to site, set everything up and go for it.

We tried using this system with the truck several times but were unsuccessful. We thought about unhooking the truck and trying to just use the come-along to move the house but then realized that wouldn't work since the tongue wouldn't be supported. At that point in the evening, we decided to stop and pick it up again the next morning.

Day 2: Saturday

On Saturday morning, Eric took the truck to go pick up some 3/4 minus gravel for the driveway since we had decided it would be our best option for traction. While he did this, I packed up one of his vans with my futon frame, mattress, extra door and propane stove and then met him to help unload.

Once that was complete, we reconnected the truck and trailer and Eric backed in without much resistance from the tires. The gravel did its job in getting us to flatter ground. We laid down some of the thick pieces of plywood for the truck to drive over and not get stuck in mud. That worked pretty well though we had to keep rearranging the pieces of plywood as the truck backed in. We decided to un-hitch and re-hitch once to get a better angle so the house would be close to parallel with the adjacent building.

With my house finally in its new place, we quickly backed in Eric's travel trailer so we could get the truck back to the rental place. They weren't happy that we returned it late but there wasn't much else we could have done due to the mud issues. Back at site, I started to level the house with my scissor jacks setting on top of the thick pieces of plywood on top of the ground. I used a car jack to jack up one corner at a time. The problem with soft ground and the scissor jacks is that they are meant to stabilize but don't do well on ground that had not been compacted. When I would try to lower the house onto the jacks, the compensation for the vertical compression and lateral sliding was too great so they started deforming.

After a few unsuccessful hours of trying to get the jacks in place, I decided to call Lina so see what she thought might work. She mentioned that hers is on some beefy timbers. I didn't have timbers easily available but I did have access to some CMU blocks left behind by a former gardener. So we decided that it might work to dig out the ground a little bit, put a couple of blocks in, a layer of plywood and then jacks on top of that. It seemed to be working for the first three jacks but then the whole back end shifted again with the last one which might be broken at this point. It was getting late at that time and I decided that 7 hours spent trying to jack up the house was enough for the day so I went home.

Stay tuned for Part 2...

Trim, Flooring, Shower Pan, Etc.

I feel like I'm in architecture school again. I'm in that final stretch of working on my project to get it "done enough" for the final review with late nights in the studio after days of classes and work. Not getting enough sleep or proper nutrition or doing much of any self care. In college, I was able to pass out for hours, days after the review. I wish that were the case this time...

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm getting ready to move my tiny house to its next location and start living in it while I continue the finish work. May as well keep in the tradition of other tiny housers. I had really wanted to get the plumbing and electrical in by the time I moved, but realized that I needed to take care of the trim, flooring and shower pan first. And my new site isn't quite ready with plumbing and electrical hookups anyway (I'll be helping install them). So it will kind of be like camping which is great since I didn't have the time to do that this summer.

After trimming out my windows, I decided to start on the floor. I had picked up some 1x4 Doug Fir T&G flooring from BMR (can you guess one of the themes of my home?) when I bought the trim. I had a friend start helping me install the first few rows of flooring. We started against the wall with the door since I wanted to pick out the clearer pieces to use for the main path first. We needed to notch out the pieces around the wheel well, but that was not too difficult to do with a table saw and jigsaw. We ran a bead of construction adhesive on the floor under each piece and then nailed four 2" 18 gauge nails through the tongue of each piece to secure them to the subfloor. Once the first row was set, the next went faster. We staggered the seams in each row and made a three row pattern. Looking at it finished, I kind of wish we had done more staggering but that would have been difficult to do with boards that were only 3' long.

I continued working by myself for the rest of the floor, carefully selecting each piece of wood since they were seconds (but cheap at $.50 a foot for CVG or close to it!). Once I had all of the pieces in place, it was time to sand. I thought I would need to use a portable hand belt sander. In larger spaces, you can rent those large drum sanders, but I didn't think it would make sense for my house especially since it wouldn't fit under the sink or loft ladder. It was dark outside while I was sanding and so I sanded under two work lamps. The belt sander is a powerful tool, one that took away more material than I realized until I had made three passes with 80, 120 and 150 grit sandpaper. It had created some small (but at the time seemed large) gouges in the floor. I decided to use an orbital sander to try to even them out and made some progress but realized I should have just used that tool from the start. I had been frustrated from shower pan stuff (see below) and I just didn't really know what I was doing so messing up the floor a bit was annoying as well. But people pay good money for the reclaimed look and now I won't be as worried about marking up the floor. After the sanding, I added 3 coats of satin Zar Ultra Max waterborne oil modified polyurethane as recommended by the guys at Woodcrafters.

Meanwhile, Rory was working on my shower pan. I took the measurements, handed Rory my drain and he ended up bringing them to Schmeer Sheet Metal so get the pan made since they have a larger brake than Rory does. They used stainless steel as the material. I'm not really sure of the whole process since I wasn't there but they did a great job because it fit in the space! If I did it again, I would get the pan made and then frame the wall around it. Kevin, the other welder on site, had told me to put the wall in first so we could get the pan measured, so that's what I did. I had thought they messed up with the hole size since it was one of those days so Rory's dad made the hole a little larger. Then I realized that the drain actually attached a different way and the cutting was all for nothing. Luckily there is still about 1/4" of material around the edge which should be enough for plumbers putty. I'm going to silicone caulk around the edge too.

With all of that happening, I was also cutting, sanding, coating and installing my door, crown and baseboard trim. I have learned that trim prep and finish work in general takes a long time, especially if you are only working on it nights and weekends.

I haven't been taking many photos of what I've been up to since it's crunch time but here are some of the trim, flooring and bath pan ones in my flickr albums.

Trimming out the Windows

This past week I have been trimming out my windows since I realized I should get my trim and flooring finished before I start living in it at the end of the month. This way, the finishes will have time to air out and I will not have to move my things around as much. It also was kind of necessary to do so I could plan my surface mounted electrical to run along the edges of the trim if needed and so I can get the water heater set into it's place in order to do the plumbing. And I am waiting for my shower pan to be custom built this next week.

I picked up some Doug Fir trim from BMR. Before I made the trip there, I measured out approximately the amount and types of trim I wanted to buy. I planned to get 1x4s for the baseboard trim and 1x3s for the upper trim. For the windows, I wanted 1x4 trim for the sills, 1x3 for the interior wrap and 5/4x4 for the window headers. I wasn't quite sure if I would use 1x4 or 1x3 trim for the vertical face trim and apron so I bought a little extra of each. It was fun to pick through the trim there and find some beautiful CVG (or close to) material.

Back at site, I started the window trim by measuring and cutting out the sills. I decided to use 1x3s for the face trim, so I extended the sill edges 3" on each side to account for the width of the face trim and it's reveal. Then I measured and cut the top and side pieces of the interior wraps of each window. I trimmed out the loft window slightly different since the sill protruding from the wall looked a little weird. On that one, I just made a complete interior wrap with ripped 1x4s on all four sides and no face trim.

Once I had cut the interior wrap pieces, I sanded them with 60, 100 and 150 grit sandpaper. Then I applied a coat of Arm-R-Seal, let it dry, sanded with 400 grit sandpaper and repeated the process another time. I will maybe put another coat on after it is installed, the nails are set and holes are filled. When the pieces were dry, I installed them in place with 2" 18 gauge finish nails. I set the nails with a hammer and 1/32" nail set.

With the interior wrap in place, I measured and cut the face trim. I planned to have a 1/4" reveal on the wrap so I cut the vertical side pieces and aprons accordingly. I made the headers the same width as the sills but with the 5/4 material so they could be a 1/4" proud of the side pieces and also be in the same plane as the front edge of the sill. The two headers under the loft joists were a little tricky since I had to jig out around the steel.

Once I cut all of the face trim pieces, I repeated the sanding and coating process with them. The rain made it more difficult since I had to let them dry inside my house overnight without much air movement. The undersides were still a little wet in the morning but I guess I should be happy because that means my house is pretty well air sealed!

I used a combination square set at 1/4" for the reveal to align the vertical trim pieces. Then I centered the header piece on top and apron below. I installed the face trim with the same 2" 18 gauge nails and again set the nails. For more photos, check out my flickr!

Kitchen Farm Sink

This spring, before I started my build, I found a stainless steel double basin sink at the ReBuilding Center for $24. Since many tiny housers start their build with a sink, I figured I may as well too. I had planned to make a cutting board to rest over one of the basins which would also contain the dish rack. That way I would have flexibility in space use since I was not planning to install another sink in the bathroom.

I really wanted to find an old cast iron farm sink with drainboard but had no luck in finding one at the time. So I kept passively looking and then stumbled across one a little over a month ago at BMR just before I was about to check out. It was resting near the front of the store away from the rest of the sinks so it must have just recently arrived. I stopped and stared at it for a minute, thinking "huh, I think this is my sink." At $95 it was more expensive than my other sink but my other sink would have required a butcher block countertop that I had planned to make. With the sink basin on the left side and drainboard on the right side, it fit in with my house design. It even came with a unique wall-mounted faucet (more about that below).

So I decided to buy it. I learned later that several other people had come back to buy it after I did so I felt lucky I chose to make the trip there when I did. (I found two similar sinks the following week but each had a center basin flanked by drainboards). I took it back to site and set it on a folding table in it's eventual place. There is about a 7" gap on the left side between it and the bathroom wall that presents a new design opportunity for some kind of pantry and/or dish storage with shelves/hooks/etc. On the right side, I will build or find a small cabinet with a drawer and shelves for cookware.

But before that, I needed to figure out if the faucet would be usable. (I found the patent number, looked it up and found it was from 1945!) Whoever removed it, cut the copper supply pipes off so short that I was told by most people would render it useless. If I could not use it, I learned that a replacement would be difficult, if not impossible to find due to it's unique quality of the supply coming in through a central hole in the backsplash wall. For some reason, a second hole was cut in the backsplash behind one of the faucet "wings" and no one has had a good explanation of that. I could not find any new faucets with this single hole design, most wall-mounted faucets are now designed with two separate holes 6-8" apart. If I used a new faucet, it would mean that I would have to drill another hole into the porcelain/cast iron backsplash. I did not feel comfortable doing that so I kept asking around at the reuse stores.

Finally, I went to Hippo Hardware which specializes in antique hardware. I figured if anyone could help, it would be them. I talked to a guy in the plumbing section who looked at the faucet, took it apart to check out the condition of the components. He said it was in pretty good condition and could probably work with some new gaskets if I could find someone to braise on new supply pipes. I thought about who I might know and trust to accomplish that task and then asked Kevin on site who had welded my loft joists. He looked at it and told me that if I could get the body separated from the rest, he would try to make it happen.

I had other house projects that were more pressing so I set it aside for the time being. Kevin came by an hour later and said, "Let me see that faucet." I gave it to him and went back to work. A few hours later, I needed to leave and let Kevin know. He went to get the faucet and handed it over to me pipes braised and internal components replaced! I haven't tried it yet since my plumbing isn't in but my fingers are crossed that it will work.

Next, I worked with Rory to design and build some steel sink brackets to cantilever it similar to the loft ladder. I had originally thought I would need a steel cube wireframe structure but Rory reminded me of the strength of steel. Apparently some old cast iron sinks were hung from special brackets but I figured the chances of me finding ones that would match my sink were slim. So he made two really beefy brackets out of 3/8" x 1 1/2" steel. They started out as L's and he thought about adding a small triangle gusset to each but I thought a diagonal support would be better. He thought that piece as an arch would look better so I told him to go for it.

Once Rory cut, drilled and welded the pieces together and I had marked out their locations on the wall (ensuring space for water heater and fridge below), we set one in place to mark the location of the top hole, then removed it and predrilled a hole for a hanger bolt. I installed the hanger bolt, then we put the bracket in place, plumbed it, and added a temporary screw in the bottom hole. Next, we leveled over for the other bracket and repeated the process. Then, we set the sink on top to line up the edges so we could mark where the holes in the sink would need to be drilled into the horizontal section of the brackets. This was a tricky process since we could only do one at a time and space was tight since we had to mark from the top. I tried spraying paint through the hole of the sink onto the bracket but that plan failed since the paint spread beyond the hole opening. I tried drawing a line with a short pencil around the flange of the hole so when we removed the sink, I could more accurately locate the hole with measurements. That worked much better. Once one side was done, we added temporary bolts to secure the sink to the bracket so we could mark the second side. All went well except one of the holes was slightly off but Rory just drilled a larger hole so it was fine.

We took everything apart to Rory could sand and lacquer the brackets and I could add the remaining 4 hanger bolts. Once the brackets were dry, we put it all back together without much difficulty. Now I can start installing the plumbing! For more photos, check out my flickr!

Doug Fir Ladder Treads

One of the projects this past week was cutting, sanding and clear coating my Doug Fir loft ladder treads. I found the material at BMR where I found the Fir for my ceiling and loft walls. Rory, who welded the steel support structure, thought it might look interesting to start with shorter treads at the bottom and make each progressive one 1/2" longer to the top so they would create a slight angle and offer more support at the top. I thought about this idea but decided I would rather them all be the same length. It was beneficial to have the steel component installed for some time before deciding on the tread length so I could figure out how long they needed to be. I decided to cut them to 16" since I wanted to overhang them a little out from the steel supports which are 14" long.

Once I cut the treads to length, I sanded them with 100 grit and then 150 grit sandpaper. Then I applied a coat of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal oil and urethane topcoat which I used on the loft floor and ceiling/wall T&G Fir. This finish is not meant for heavy traffic but I figured I would try it out for the treads since I do not plan to wear shoes when climbing up there. The other option would be to use a flooring finish but since I don't have that material yet, I am waiting to figure out what I will need. After drying, I sanded them with 400 grit sandpaper and repeated the process until I had applied 3 coats.

For installation, I decided to leave a space between the end of the tread and the wall since I need to add a piece of trim to cover the gap between the wall board and the diagonal steel support and since the weld joint would require either sanding or a mitered corner. I used a piece of 1/2" plywood as a spacer both for the wall gap and for the amount of overhang on the face. The treads are 5/4"x4" nominal so 1" x 3 1/2" actual dimensions and the steel surface is 2 1/2" which makes for a 1/2" overhang on the front and back of the tread. I used clamps to hold the wood in place while I drilled holes for the screws into the bottom of the tread.

I drilled one hole on each end first and then drove a screw in to set the tread in place. Then I removed the clamps, drilled and drove in the remaining screws. I used #12 x 1" sheet metal screws which is the same diameter as I used to secure the diagonal support and loft joists to the walls. Rory had thought about adding a piece of steel on the top of the horizontal steel pieces to create a key which would require a channel routered into the wood that would in theory keep it in place better over time. I decided this added extra steps to the process that I didn't feel were necessary since each tread has 6 screws so they should be set and I can always replace them over time if needed.

It's so rewarding to see this idea come to fruition. Yay design/build! For more photos, check out my flickr!