Update 7.29.12
Quick updated, not TONS of progress like I’d like to show but I did finish getting the roofing membrane up. I got a new toy and I have a couple questions. Here are some pictures:
So we got the rest of the roof membrane up!! Finally! Note to self, do not pick the hottest month and particularly hottest weeks of a year to roof a house... the hard part is done, now to seal the seams and trim it up!
Made a trip to the store to pick up all my trim boards and gutter/planters. I decided to go with 5' sections that will grow ivy. We bought some gutter and started hanging it! I think it will work out just right!
took a little tooling but we got the gutter cut and the end pieces one
The edges are sealed but I am still thinking I should put some holes in the bottom so that excess water can drain out... What do you think?
Here is a planter installed on the trailer. Soon I ought to be able to plant the ivy in there and get it going to start growing up the side of the house and over the roof.
I picked up a planer today that I'm pretty stoked about! I found this on Craigslist and was able to pick it up for $200. I think it's a pretty great deal! I will use this to plane down all the siding boards and the deck boards. It's in great shape, has new blades and works like a champ!
Here is the first piece of siding. Prior to planing it looked just like the ones below it. I think these will all clean up great and stain up super nice! Excited to see how it goes!
I also managed to finish ripping the deck boards for the patio. I am using the same boards that were originally on the deck of the trailer. They are super dirty but hopefully clean up well.
Goes in dirty and comes out clean!
It takes a few runs, probably about 5 but the greasy grimy coating comes off well!
Some of the pieces have really cool grain to them and are pretty bright colors
Here is the before and after shot. I almost like the black color but i would track grease in my house indefinitely... that was a no no so I think I will stain these up the same color as the walls and be pretty happy with my little patio!
This is all I got done before it started getting dark and I started requiring a shower 🙂
This started happening on about the 9 and 10th board, you can see pieces of the grain start to curl up. What causes this? I am inclined to believe its a poor quality of wood but is it maybe a dull blade? Am I trying to cut off too much at a time (I am only doing about 1/32" per pass)? Any incite would be awesome! Thanks
you can see there are still areas where the grease is penetrating, I think it's kind of a cool effect so I decided to leave it there... for now.
Guinny came to spend the day working with us too, James is not pictured but should be... this is his pup 🙂
I even managed to fit in some swinging this week! It's been a stressful couple weeks, I like to swing when that happens, you can't help but smile while swinging 🙂
And the sun sets yet again on my tiny house.
I just liked it!
If I remember correctly (it’s been awhile since I used a planer) you might be able to avoid the curling bits by feeding the board through the planer in the other direction. You need to do a bit of wood-grain reading. I found a PDF that might help: http://www.woodshoptips.com/tips/052603/052603.pdf
I have done it both ways and it seems like either way it does that. Because these were the deck boards I am thinking they are just stressed and of lower quality anyway… I tried a variety of different heights and thicknesses to plane off at a time and none of it seemed to work. I was wondering if the blades are not sharp but the guy told me they were brand new so I don’t think that’s it either… I’ll check out the link, thanks Jonathan!
You are getting so close! You asked about drain holes for the gutter… yes! definitely drill a few small holes along the length for drainage. We drowned some of our strawberries in gutters by not drilling enough holes. Easy to add more if needed, and Ivy is pretty forgiving in dry climates. Good luck!
Awesome, good to have an experienced gardener on my side! 🙂 Thanks Marci!
I love planing. Oh yes I do. You may remember the pics I posted of our planing. There is NOTHING like breathing new life into something. As for the curling. Hmmmmm…..I have never had an experience like your picture shows. However, I am inclined to think it is the blade bevel angle, just after it severs the wood fiber. Is the wood bowed at all? Because if it is then the angle is changing as it goes through the planer…even at 1/32\”. That is all I can think of. If you can\’t find any answer let me know. I can contact Rockler Woodworking (one of our sponsors) and ask them.
As for holes in the gutter? I would do some small holes, yes. But not large enough for roots to really grow out of and not enough for moist dirty to drip out of. You may even want to put a very fine layer of peet rock or gravel in the bottom to help with drainage.
Anyway, you are doing great gal! Keep it up!
Thanks Drew! The wood isn’t warped. The more I think about it the more I think it has to do with the wood itself… it was used for years as decking for tractors and other heavy things, its coated in greasy grime… It doesn’t seem to be ‘quality’ wood anyway, it seems like that just has to be the contributing factor… I wold be really curious what Rockler Woodworking had to say though. Thanks for the encouragement as always! 🙂
hi Macy! looking awesome! great progress!
– Carrie
Thanks Carrie! Good luck with your move I will be watching for updates! 😉
Hi Macy, love your design and kudos to you for following your dream despite the difficulties in the beginning 🙂
Would you consider selling your design?
Hi Megan-
I do actually have plans available here, http://minimotives.com/buy-plans/, they are designed for the DIYer but you could easily hand them off to any contractor as well!