Posts Tagged With: Tiny House

The windows and doors, Typar, vapour barrier and insulation.  We put some extra Typar on the roof because the steel roof did not arrive yet.  This was not water proof!  What a mess.  If you have to wait for your roof, buy a tarp!

Early June 2011

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Due to the fact, that the building code in Ontario is followed in my area, I was restricted to build a place which is under 108 square feet (exterior measurement).  It also cannot be over a 15.5 feet in height.

Since 108 (exterior) is very small I realized that I could not go with straw bale as I had hoped.  Thus I decided on a stick build with an additional 1/2 story loft which is under 6 feet tall so that it does not count as part of the square footage.  Still the 1/2 loft would add the sleeping space which is required so that I would not be stuck pulling a bed out of a sofa every night.  The second floor, meant of course, that I would lose a lot of the main floor square footage to stairs.

Still, the 1/2 story option was sensible for my specific needs.  You see, I have little dogs that insist on sleeping with me and dogs can’t climb ladders.  Also, I recognized that I would have to carry them up because the stairs would have to be very small and narrow in order so that they did not fill the whole Tiny House.

In putting the second floor up, I very nearly met my end falling off of a ladder.  Nearly took Leo with me too.  Very thankful that we got another day!

If you have ever built, you may notice the plywood.  I decided on plywood as opposed to particle board for sheathing both because I liked the idea of having better quality building materials as well as the fact that I am planning on using a local mill for the board and batten and I am not sure if this little mill will get the materials made this year before the snow flies.  I felt that the small additional cost was worth it because of not being able to secure a solid date for the board and batten. In retrospect, I am glad I did because the mill was not able to fill the order this year.

May end 2011

By late May
I had been planning out my Tiny House all winter, so I was feeling pretty prepared with what I wanted to do in the spring.  At least, I had the visual idea for the house, but not really knowing much about framing a house, I brought the pictures I

had drawn with the measurements with me.  First, I brought my plan to Gananoque Home Hardware; Rob who works there, looked at the plan, helped me pick out the windows and doors and had $4872 worth of material delivered.  Rob was very skilled at putting the materials together;  I was very few pieces off!

Woodchuck’s brother-in-law Leo, was hired to get the tiny house up and I worked along with him.  Well, actually, he worked and knows what he is doing.  I got in the way, learned a lot and got in the way even more.  Leo is a brilliant guy and very patient too.  He is also pretty easy on the eyes, so being out in the woods with him for a few weeks was not all together an unpleasant experience…

*** photos by Liisa.  Thank you!

I know that cement is not exactly the most environmentally friendly material.  Still, I am planning on actually keeping this house standing for a good many years, so, I decided on an 11’10” by 8′ cement pad to build on.  I also put in an adjacent one of the same size in as so that I would have an exterior space to hang out on too, where my feet would not get dirty and I could wash my dishes.  There were multiple issues that came up during this.  Issues that I would prefer not to discuss because I am building in a small community – but I will say that this part of the job was annoying and cost me well over double what it should have.  The concrete was $835 delivered and my awesome cousin Kenny dug me the hole in order to bring the ground down to the bedrock.  This cement pad is NEVER moving!  Well drained and I really appreciated having Kenny’s expertise on the land there!  Kenny was also there when the cement truck came and used his bucket to bring the cement in through the woods.

Here is what it looked like in Early May 2011

I got a few estimates for a driveway.  They wanted lots of money… $14,000 to be exact.  So I spoke to my late dad’s best friend, John (or Woodchuck if you prefer) and he said to leave it with him.  Over the fall, he got together a few of his friends and they carved me out a path into my land.  I have to say, I am pretty lucky that my dad knew such a good guy!  I got a few loads of gravel.  Exactly $1930. worth and tada!  I still have to get the culvert installed and the permits… but even so I believe that I am very fortunate to be friends with Woodchuck!  We should all be so lucky to have such a good person in our lives!  Here we are in April 2011!