The Floor on the Floor and Back Again

Once we cut all the floor shims, we lifted the floor frame off the trailer and turned it upside down on the floor next to the trailer to work on. We nailed the shims in place on the now upside down floor frame (the underside of the frame so that the top has a more consistent surface area) and then got to work installing the flashing.

The flashing is mainly to protect the underside of the floor frame and insulation from road debris and to prevent rodents from entering the cottage from the bottom. To that end, we used a staple gun to fix the flashing to the frame with staples every 3 or so inches. Note that we don't seal the flashing because if any water did get up in there we'd want it to flow out.



It took three of us to get the flashed floor frame back on the trailer. This took a bit of thinking. It was pretty heavy at this point. Also, our floor frame is made of 3 parts: front, middle and back. At each connection point there is a weak spot. We didn't want the frame to separate as we moved it into place.

Our saw horses are about the same height as the tops of the wheel wells, so we put one in front of the wheel well and one behind - both right next to the trailer. This gave us an even tipping point. Then we stood the frame up on its side, tilted it against this new pivot (so the frame was supported in the back, middle and front by a saw horse, wheel well and saw horse in that order), and slowly lowered it into place onto the trailer.



We used 3 inch lag bolts in the front 2/3 rds to secure the floor framing to the trailer deck. With the flashing in place, we were concerned about knowing where to drill through the deck to make sure we connected with the frame studs. This turned out to be no problem since we had a nice line of staples to follow.

Since the back of the floor frame has shims, we used progressively longer bolts going back, measured so we always had 1 1/2 inch bite into the studs of the frame (so with a shim of 1 inch, and the deck at 1 1/2 inches, our total bolt length at that point was 4 inches). The plans suggest a bolt every 2 or 3 feet, but, being paranoid, we did a bit more than that.

So that pretty much sums our weekend. This week we should be moving forward on insulation and adding a few supports here and there.

If you aren't aware of it, the Tiny House Company is building a Fencl (the name of the tiny house design we bought from them). It is amazing how fast you can put one of these together if you have 2 or 3 full-time dedicated, experienced construction workers on it. The best source of information for the progress on it can be found on the Tiny House Blog. Stop by there and tell 'em Jeff and Arlene sent you!

At The Source

When you buy a set of plans from Tumbleweed Houses you get three hours of consultation time with Jay. Today, we went up and spent an hour with Jay. We came prepared with a list of questions. Jay happily answered each one. It felt more like a mellow conversation than a consultation. It was also fortuitous that Jay and company are currently building a Fencl, so we got to climb around it and take a look at how they are building one.



It turns out that there are a great many details that you don't notice when just looking over the plans. For example, the wheel wells are situated such that water could creep in between them and the inner wall. So when building, we'll need to account for this and develop some sort of protection for it. Further, the plans don't come with a framing plan for the roof. Fortunately, there are a number of sets of build pictures we are drawing on. These help - a picture is worth a 1000 words. But seeing the in-progress Fencl filled in a few more details.

So we're getting it all together and should have a trailer soon. Then we can really start!

What?

So what are we building? We're building a 'Fencl'. This is one of the tiny house designs from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. We've altered the floor plan, and will use different materials in some places, but otherwise it will basically be like the house in the picture (but longer).

The house will have an upstairs sleeping loft, vaulted ceiling, and have about 115 square feet of living space. It will have a small kitchen, a bathroom, a desk space and living room. Of course, achieving all this, while avoiding feeling cramped, requires a carefully considered, efficient, floor plan.

In addition to being space efficient, we'll be energy efficient too. We aren't TV watchers and don't need many of the other common gadgets that tend to consume a lot of energy, so our electrical draw will be minimal. In fact, the way we are building our cottage will allow us to add modifications later such that we could, if we wanted, get off the electrical grid all together.

And, because the house is small, we can use high quality, mainly sustainable building materials, while keeping the cost low.

Finally, our house will be on a trailer. We'll be building it in the San Francisco Bay Area, but in September of 2009, Jeff starts a PhD program at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. So once we're done building it - or close to it - we'll be moving our tiny house to Seattle!

This is a good time to mention that tiny houses are drawing a great deal of attention lately. If you check out our resource links you'll note that a growing community of folks across America are building their own tiny housing.

Some common reasons people build a tiny house:

• Ecological considerations
• Avoid conspicuous consumption
• Use of sustainable building materials
• Use of hypoallergenic building materials
• Joy of building your own house
• Efficient use of energy & space
  
• Focus on Quality over Quantity
• Economic considerations
• Use as a rental or in-law unit
• Mobility
  

Moving forward, this blog will document the building of our tiny house. We'll put up some pictures and give some details about why we choose this or that. We've found that reading other builder's blogs has helped us clarify our own process, so we intend to make our own experience available as a resource for others. But, note that we'll be starting slowing and then moving faster as we get into the summer.

So, what's next? We have a space, but we'll need to build our mini mobile cottage on something...