the EM & EM tiny house

Building Walls – A Non-Political Post About Our Tiny Walls

December 23, 2016

Don’t worry- no politicking here! Just fun building updates!

The exterior walls were up and filled with the plumbing tubes, electrical wires, and spray foam, so it was time to close them up! One of the most exciting parts of building the house so far came when we started putting up the inside walls. I never would have expected to be so thrilled about this, but the further we got on this project, the more excited I got. As each wall panel went up, the house changed from a complete construction zone to a decent looking building. Not being able to see the bones and insulation of the house really was a nice change.

We probably dragged this out way longer than it needed to take, but sometimes we just don’t feel like working! And, now that everything needs to look nice, Eric really feels the pressure from me to get it right. So, I can’t really blame him when he says he needs a vacation from the house (and his bossy wife…hey wait, that’s me.) But we finally got it done!

Splish Splash – The Shower Floor

November 2, 2016

Now that the majority of major construction is finished, it seems the rest of the work is smaller, more localized projects such as building the shower, building the kitchen cabinets, building the stairs, building the couch, etc. None of those projects are as major as, you know, framing, but just because they address a smaller section of the house doesn’t mean they aren’t still hard work. In fact, Eric would argue that these jobs are more of a headache because from here on out, everything has to have function and form. Sure, we wanted the siding to look perfect, but no one is really going to look at every seam of it to see if the boards line up just right. So, if some are off (which some are) then oh well. But, if the stairs are crooked, or if the cabinets won’t shut, or if the couch is uncomfortable…people will notice that. And, more importantly, I will notice it. Once the spray foam went into the house, it signaled a shift from just making sure things work, to making sure things work and look really nice.

This includes the shower floor, which was the first project we tackled after the spray foam was installed. This project was definitely a learning experience for us. Eric decided to make our shower floor out of sandcrete, which is a kind of concrete. We debated getting a traditional shower pan, but we could never find the correct size, and why buy it when we can build it?! So, many youtube tutorials later, we started on the shower floor. PS: I’ll probably say the word “concrete” in this post, but just remember what I’m really talking about is sandcrete, which is basically a type of concrete, so never mind, just don’t worry about it, it’s all the same thing.

The shower floor liner.

Time to Cool Off – Installing the AC & Heater

October 7, 2016

Who can believe it’s already October?? I love the cold weather, so I look forward to the changing seasons each year with more and more anticipation. I also look forward to having this house finished with more and more anticipation each passing week! We seem so close to the finish line, and yet there is still so much to do. One thing we can finally cross off our to-do list is installing the AC and heat unit.

Where should the AC go? Probably in this big hole.

The Magic of Spray Foam Insulation

August 15, 2016

Almost from the very beginning of building, we had planned to use spray foam insulation. So, for quite a while, our goal line was just to get to that point. Just get to the insulation. We kept talking about all the things that needed to be done before we could insulate the house. Many times we would say, “Just get this done so we can spray foam. Just get that done so we can spray foam.” It seemed like we were always motivating ourselves to keep moving forward to reach the magical moment of Spray Foam Insulation. This might seem like a strange target to set for ourselves, but I think it comes down to the fact that once the spray foam goes into the walls, they become unchangeable. Because spray foam is fairly permanent, we knew we had to have everything ready, installed, working, and perfect before hand, and so it became a logical target to work towards.

After a lot of work, it finally became time to insulate the house. We knew spray foam was more expensive than traditional insulation like fiberglass, foam boards, or even stuff like shredded newspaper or denim, but the benefits heavily outweighed that extra cost. And, after our whole experience with the nightmarish foam boards, I was dead set against having anything else to do with insulation. A girl has her limits! Spray foam insulation it is! Onward and upward!

Everything is ready for spray foam insulation.

Exterior Trim – The Longest, Worst Project Of All Time, Ever

August 1, 2016

You can tell this is going to be good, right? Exterior Trim. Ugh, just typing those words makes me angry. I never thought that something could be so deceiving: it seemed so easy and simple and quick, and yet it was the longest and most irritating and the worst. The worst, I tell you!!!

About 10 years ago, Eric and I began staining wood for our trim…. Just kidding, it was only 4 ~~years ago~~ months ago, but you get the idea. Way back in April, Eric and I decided it was time to tackle the trim around the windows, the door, the metal siding, and all the edges of the tiny house. How hard could it be? Slap some stain on a 1×4 and screw it down. No. No no no. No no no no no no. No. Little did we know, we were about to embark on a four month long journey of misery and headache. Now, because this project took 4 months to complete, and I don’t want to think about trim ever again in my life, I’m going to try to make this post as compressed as possible, while still giving you a glimpse of this torturous process. Be thankful you’re only reading about it and not living it.

Staining a.k.a. Slowly killing myself with boredom and tears

Staining the trim a.k.a. Slowly killing myself with boredom and tears

Plumbing the House

July 29, 2016

Today’s post is going to be a short one, because plumbing in our tiny house is super simple. Once the wiring in the house was installed and ready to go, it was time to tackle plumbing. This was the last step to finish before we could insulate the walls. Because our tiny house is moveable, we won’t be hooking up to the sewer system like traditional houses, so our plumbing only required hot and cold pipes to the kitchen and shower. So, we mapped out where the pipes needed to go, and got to work.

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