moving tiny house

Day 6: Sheathing, Energy & Systems, Wall Raising

On Day 6 of Yestermorrow's Tiny House Design-Build we began sheathing the walls with CDX plywood. We're sheathing the walls flat so that the plywood creates sheer panels, which helps to keep the walls square while we install them. (See more photos in the Day 6 Slideshow.)

Since the long walls are being built in 3 sections and we have plenty of brute strength amongst the 16 of us, the panels won't be too heavy to lift into place even once they are sheathed. We decided to use 3/8" plywood to save weight since other tiny housers have done this. Unfortunately, the plywood has more warps and bows than we'd like to see so most of us have decided we'd rather use 1/2" for our little homes. (It may be that 3/8" plywood is higher quality on the Best Coast and this is another East Coast - West Coast difference.)

Now that we have the trailer level we can use it as a work surface. Our wall sheathing process involves snapping a straight line 3 1/2" from the edge of the trailer, toenailing the bottom plate of the wall to the subfloor along this line, squaring up the wall, and attaching the plywood, using the glue and screw method. Because this little house is not built down into the trailer frame we are running our plywood an extra 4 3/4" below the bottom plate so that it will cover the floor system (3/4" AvanTech subfloor, 3 1/2" pressure treated joists, and 1/2" pressure treated undercarriage). We also cut out most of the windows, using a circular saw to make plunge cuts. The windows we didn't manage to get cut out before it was time for wall raising will need to be finished with a reciprocating saw.

We got the walls almost ready to raise in the morning and after lunch I did a presentation on building science basics, energy, and systems. Afterwards we did our first wall raising and got three of the wall sections up. It's always such a thrill to see the first walls go up!

Thankfully, we set up the schedule with a 24 hour break from Saturday evening to Sunday evening, which will be a good chance for everyone to recharge. Perfect for a Saturday evening bonfire and a sing-along with a few (handmade!) instruments. It was an action-packed week and we've got another one ahead of us!

Tiny House on the Move

tiny house on the road again! My tiny move only took me a few hours. Packing was a piece of cake. My to do list read like this:

  1. Wrap breakable kitchen items (dishes and mason jars of rice, lentils, oats, etc.) in towels and put them into a storage tote
  2. Snug shiftable things (spice rack, olive oil, office supply basket) into laundry hamper
  3. Take wine bottles out of rack and tuck them into dresser drawer (ditto with candles)
  4. Strap kitchen drawers and refrigerator closed with a bungee cord

Since I was taking my whole house with me there were all sorts of things

drawers & fridge strapped shut

I didn't have to pack up at all. My jackets remained on the rack, my shoes in their basket, and my pots on their shelf. My bed stayed made up and ready for another night's sleep. I left all my clothes in their dresser drawers and just strapped the drawers shut with a bungee cord. For me the last step of feeling settled in a new place is getting art up on the walls, but this time it was already there!

tuck breakables into clothes in dresser drawers, bungee closed

A few neat tiny house details made the move simpler, too. I have a little shelf with a bar across the front for my empty mason jars (read: drinking vessels, aka glasses), so I left them where they were.  Since my dishrack hangs on hooks I knew it would likely sway a little but that nothing would fall and break. So I just left the dishes drying in the rack. I even decided to just leave my Christmas cactus hanging from its hook on the ceiling! No problems there. As I design a tiny house for myself that will be more mobile than this one, I will try to remember these little tricks made hitting the road much quicker and easier.

pulling the tiny house into its new parking spot

Once I knew everything was secure inside I headed outside to disconnect the house from its utilities. I unscrewed the water supply hose and disconnected the waste pipe from the corrugated drainage pipe of my greywater system. I unplugged my electrical cord and unscrewed my propane line and wrapped the lines up with zip ties so they wouldn't drag along the way. Then I closed the shutters so they would protect the windows in transit. I removed the wheel covers and tire blocks. With the propane tank, front steps, and jacks safely tucked inside the house, we were ready to roll.

We got the tiny house parked in its new spot, stabilized on jacks, and hooked up to water, power, and propane. Simplest move I've ever made!