Dad is a Rock Star
I can’t express enough how much my dad’s efforts have picked up my mood this week. It’s only Tuesday but I have to admit, it hasn’t started off to be the best week. On top of that I didn’t meet my goals for the weekend with the house so it added to me feeling a little overwhelmed. Part of me says ‘hey, this is a ‘for fun’ project, don’t let it get you down’, the other part of me screams ‘Macy, do better at meeting your goals!’. Well, I fell short, dad, he made it all better. I had to stay home yesterday to meet some people who were interested in buying my things, they assured me they would ‘most likely, definitely take it home’ but they couldn’t meet me on my designated time I have set up to consolidate everyone and streamline the whole process of selling all of my possessions. I made an exception for them and they debated for a half hour in my living room (about a 35 dollar bookshelf, really I wanted to give it to them so they would just leave) then decided they were ‘going to think about it’. So it was a wasted evening as far as tiny house construction was concerned. I did get to use the time to get some work done for the USGBC though, so it wasn’t a total loss. It did make me feel a bit further behind but then I got a call from dad, he worked on it and got all the grooves cut in for the wiring, it was taking a while and it felt SO good to hear he had found a tool that made it easy and he just whipped through it for me! Amazing person. On top of that, he let me vent to him about my ‘woahs’ and made me feel lots better. THEN, that’s not all folks, I got a text message this afternoon from him that said ‘Smile, the rafters are all cut.’ And I smiled! Just like that the goals for the weekend were all met! Even though I couldn’t be there to help it was pretty awesome to hear and he did an amazing job, lots better than I would have done. So I got to work on it tonight and here is the progress:
Tomorrow morning I am taking in my doors to get pre-hung, I was going to do this myself but I have heard form others that it is another major pain area and that if they had it to do over they would pay someone to do that. So I trust them. It also saves me a weekend of time so I can proceed onto other things that need done. AND I get to support Bentley Door and Windows who have been so generous to me in donating all the windows in the first place. It’s not nearly enough but I am happy to save the work for them instead of me :). Tomorrow dad and I are going to cut the furring for the rain-screen wall and I will start to install it. Because the radiant/wind/water barrier shouldn’t have penetrations in it I have hung it in a way that I have staples just at the top, overlapped by the pieces above it. I plan on taking my furring strips and caulking them on the back side and then nailing through them into the sheathing to create a waterproof seal that I can then fasten my siding to. Because I am using recycled pallets for siding the lengths are all going to vary so I am placing the furring at one foot on center then I will cut each piece into the maximum nominal foot dimension, I will have pieces varying from one foot long to probably five foot long. This will be a ton of effort to complete that portion but I figured that from the beginning, I think it will look ‘that cool’ to be worth the extra effort, we will see though.
I hope everyone is having a great week, that’s what I got for now!
~Macy
Macy,
It’s looking great and it seems to me that your making great progress. Building these tiny homes are way more work then building any normal sized home. But that is part of the fun.
Thanks Shane, that means a lot coming from you! Your guys’ house has turned out just awesome!
Parents are the best!! I couldn’t have built mine without my mom, I still constantly call her to bounce ideas and figure out creative solutions.
Yes they are!
Currently from the outside, your tiny house reminds me of a giant old-school tv dinner (not sure if it is fried chicken or salisbury steak but apple pie is definitely the dessert…). I didn’t see any spray foam around the foam board, are you going to put up a plastic vapor barrier instead? Also don’t forget to vent and screen off the rain-wall at the top and bottom. Don’t want any insects making your home their home.
Hi Michael, that’s what I have been saying! Definitely need some apple pie in there!
As far as the vapor barrier, as I understand that silver product (by Key Energy Solutions) acts as a vapor barrier when taped and sealed properly. I love the idea of this products more and more and after getting to work with it a bit I think I will do a post just about it… I have a funny story of my dad biting it… I’ll save that for later though. As far as I can tell the reason it’s probably not more widely used in construction is the cost but it serves multiple purposes, vapor/air/radiant barrier. The stuff is pretty intense, its thick, sort of like wrapping the building with a tarp, and pretty impossible to tear. It is perforated but as I understand this is necessary with every vapor barrier in certain climates. In my humble opinion the stuff rocks.
If you know something I don’t though I am always open to learning about other things! Thanks so much for the comment!