(Post 3) Feb. 26 - Shall We Dance?

On Tuesday, Kacey did not go to work.  Instead, he worked on putting the sub-floor on the trailer. For the record, he had the day off--neither one of us are in the habit of shirking our professional duties.

Previously, we had secured the 2x4s to the trailer.  The next step was to cover the exposed metal on the trailer with seam sealer and then put plywood down on the floor and bolt those to the trailer--providing another layer of protection between the inside of the house and elements and squeezing the insulation in place.

The all-thread rods were, once again, something to be reckoned with.  Kacey had to drill holes in the plywood so that they slid down over the all-thread rods.  He sent me pictures of his progress all day at work and I was wishing I were at home beside him (I'm pretty much always wishing that, though, tiny house or not).  When I got home, the palms of his hands were red and nearly blistered--maybe he worked too hard?

The sub-floor is half done.  I think it looks like a dance floor.  Here's what I think would be fun: a tiny house on one trailer, a dance floor on another, a gym on another, etc.  Then, we could drive down the road (okay, okay, with a HUGE truck) pulling our house and all our hobbies.  First things first, though, build the house.

On Sunday, we'll finish the sub-floor and start working on framing the house.  This is the part that makes me nervous--the ridge beam is so heavy and has to go along the very top of the house!

Our stack of framing materials from Ashby Lumber is considerably smaller than it was previously.  It's exciting to me making visible progress so soon after we started.

Thank you for checking in.  It really is exciting to share our tiny house journey with you!

You can see, well, Gus looking cuter than ever, and the exposed trailer covered with seam sealer.

Close-up of first piece of sub-floor.  Notice the *%!^@% all-thread rod.

Zoomed out view.

1/4 done.

1/2 done.

(Post 2) Feb. 24 - It doesn't look like much...yet

After successfully completing the first five steps, culminating in a mini-freak out, we got the trailer in our backyard and were ready to get started with construction.

The first step was to level out the trailer which people said would be really hard.  It wasn't.

The next step was to insulate the trailer.  It is, after all, the floor of our house, so it's important that it be protected from the elements.  Essentially, we cut slabs of insulation to size and put two in each section of the trailer.  We then filled in the gaps with "Gaps and Cracks" expanding foam.  Kacey was an expert (no surprise there).  I was very messy at first (no surprise there, either).  It did make us both crave soft serve ice cream, though.  So far we've resisted.

After that, we attached 2x4s to the perimeter of the trailer. The footprint of the house will extend just slightly beyond the edge of the trailer, hence the added 2x4s.  People said this step would be really easy.  It wasn't.  Perhaps because of sub-par tools or not-sharp-enough screws, it was exhausting drilling the 2x4s to the trailer.  But we did it.

Kacey hard at work.  Thankfully (for the structural integrity of our house) Kacey measures a lot.

You can see the sun rising over our backyard.

Just over 1/3 done.

Halfway done.

Slowly but surely.

Progress--slow and steady.

We were delighted and a little bit nervous to realize that Gus is about 1/24 of our new house.

Nearly done, spray foam is everywhere.  (Even on Gus' face)

All insulated, spray foam all cut off.

Notice the 2x4 attached to the back of the trailer.

Close-up.  We had to cut the wood so that it fit around the all-thread rod.

View from the back of the trailer.

(Post 1) Feb. 23 - This Is Gonna Be Fun

Last Valentine's Day weekend (2014), Kacey and I camped along the beautiful Big Sur coast.  Just 90 minutes away from our house in Monterey, our camp site was a bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean.  We watched the sunset over the beautiful Pacific Ocean.  Without saying as much, we each thought, "How will we ever top this?"

This Valentine's Day weekend, Kacey and I drove to Portland, Oregon to pick up a 24' trailer.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  Camping along the ocean to picking up a big-a** trailer.  Hmmm, you definitely didn't top last year's Valentine's.  Oh, but we did.

Kacey and I are going to build a tiny house.  Instead of a traditional foundation, it is built on a trailer, and by virtue of being on a mobile foundation, it bypasses property taxes and most zoning laws.  (Cha-ching!)

This is the first tiny house either of us have build (blanket forts don't count, we were sad to learn) and so far, we've identified the following five steps.  We have accomplished all five.
Step 1: Buy a trailer.
Step 2: Pick up the trailer.
Step 3: Bring the trailer back home.
Step 4: Park the trailer in it's first semi-permanent location.
Step 5. Freak out.

We drove by Mt. Shasta--so beautiful. 

Workin' hard or hardly workin'?

Drumroll please... our trailer!