I put another 6 days into the tiny house, this time with help from my brother and dad. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite enough to call it a wrap.
Last week my brother relocated the trailer from Lakeland to DeLand where I was able to stay with my dad while I worked. The house was a little too big to fit under all the trees on his property but fortunately he has a nice neighbor who let us park in her yard for the time being.
On the first day we worked on finishing the rough electrical and plumbing…
…including the drain lines that will eventually be connected to the main homes sewer lines.
We then moved on to the interior siding and trim. This is detail work and thus requires a lot of time. I also didn’t account for the trim in my mental ‘budget’.I thought I had essentially already laid out all the money I was going to have to to finish this job, image my disappointment when I had to put out another $1000.
In hind site, given the circumstances of this build, I could have and should have been more conservative with many of my selections. I could have easily shaved off a few grand if I had opted to build the economy model.
When I left a small amount of trim and ceiling still needed to be completed, as well as all the flooring. My brother is going to travel back out to my dad’s next week to finish it up before moving it back to my mom’s for staining.
(lc:16, sc:132, lt:109.5, st:414)
The light wood on the interior is lovely and makes the space appear larger. Are you certain that you want to stain?
The whole building is very handsome, inside and out. I’d be thrilled to park it in my driveway!
It’s funny that you mention that, I was just having this exact conversation with a coworker.
I would like to see it just clear coated. The color of the pine is very warm and nice. My mother however either wants to stain it gray or paint it
!!!!!. When I told my coworker this she looked horrified (probably the same look you have right now 
Like I’ve said in a previous post though, she sometimes wears purple shoes too.
having not seen the “lovely interior” as it stands, perhaps I am premature in my opinion…However, I cannot help but feel that a light gray stain could be absolutely phenomenal. The divine artwork that is to hang on the walls cries for a “darker” stain than the natural wood. Of course since your mother is an artist, purple shoes and all, she may well see things in a different light (pun intended). I hope you don’t choke on your words when you have to say “gee Mom, this really did turn out beautiful. How could I have been so wrong! Time will tell.
I just stumbled upon your blog. I am very excited to see others building tiny houses. We live in the Atlanta area but we are building our house in North Carolina. I’d love to talk with you more about what you’ve been doing. The house looks amazing!
Hi Laura,
You house looks good! I’ll send you an email so we can chat.
Dan
Hey, just wanted to say that I love your design and layout so far. I have a somewhat similar design in mind especially with the double dormers, but with a few modifications. I’m still young (24) and in school thus I have a few years to tweak my design and am getting some good insight from you so thank you. I was also planning on no loft, but with the bed under the floor, I figure if you put insulation under the trailer like the Gypsy Rose owner did, then you can use the extra space you used for insulation to use for a bed. Plus, if you raise the entire floor you got all the space you need under the floor for storage.
I was hoping to get some measurements for this house to give it some perspective such as distance from side wall to side wall inside the house. What is the measurement of the retangular bathroom, cause I was thinking for mine to have it 3×3 feet all in one.
Additionally, any thoughts on using SIP panels if you had to do it over again? I figure you want to maximize the space as much as possible and this will make the walls thinner while at the same time insulating. I just don’t know how to wire the house with SIP panels.
Finally, I know this will be parked in Florida, but any plans on how to heat or cool this thing?
P.S.-any way to get your plans that you created? (zac.wertz (at) gmail dot com)
Thanks and good luck with the rest of the finishing touches
Zac,
Thanks for the positive comments.
I think it would be hard to insulate the area below the trailer to convert it into livable space. Insulating the roof (floor) and sides would not be difficult, however, insulating the ground while not closing in the area too much would be hard without digging out some of the land. The earth is a large thermal mass that is hard to fight.
My bathroom is 7’-4” (the entire interior width of the trailer) by 36”. I chose 36” because that was the size of the shower I purchased. They make a 32” version but I felt that was a little cramped. I really like the size that I chose, I don’t feel cramped at all while standing in it.
I never considered SIP’s but after looking at them they seem like they might be a good possible option. You would want to make sure you selected one with a high enough r-value so that you wouldn’t need to add additional insulation. I don’t usually like OSB but these might offer significant cost and time savings (I didn’t look into how much they cost) since they do multiple jobs.
For cooling I added a hole to the back for a “windowless” window unit. There are more elegant solutions out there but for $80 there aren’t many as economical. Heating isn’t needed much in Florida so a small plug in space heater will be used.
Finally, I have been meaning to revise and improve my plans to make them available for some time now. I think I should have them done by mid-June so I will let you know.
Dan
Thanks for the reply, all the information is extremely useful. But when I stated about putting the bed under the floor, I didn’t mean under the trailer. It would still be apart of the trailer and could move. Most people simply put the insulation on top of the trailer, but if you check out what the gypsy rose owner did, he put the insulation below the trailer which was pretty easy to save room above the trailer. The below the trailer insulation is still attached to the trailer. From this you would be able to place a bed beneath the floor boards because of the extra room saved.
Zac
Hello! I recently found out about tiny houses and while googling about them found your blog. I live in DeLand and was wondering if I could visit your tiny house?
Hi Anabel,
The house is at my Dad’s house and he is somewhat of a private person. However, if you would be willing to drive to Lakeland I’m sure my mother would love to give you the grand tour when it gets moved back over there.
Dan
Dan,
When you get a chance, could you mention some of the areas you could have been more conservative and saved money on materials?
Thanks.
Jonathan
Hi Johnathan,
Below are some of the areas where I could have cut cost if I wasn’t as concerned about aesthetics.
Exterior siding – I could have used a textured plywood which is common on sheds (e.g. http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=1397) This would have been much easier to put up and would have pretty much eliminated the cost of the siding all together (since I could use it as the sheathing and siding.
Interior siding – I could have used a unfinished paneling. This would create a little more waste (there is very little waste with the slats) but would have been cheaper and easier to install.
Interior trim – The trim for the interior was almost $1000!!! If I would have had time I might have found it cheaper someplace other than the big box retailers. My dad is a contractor and he said I could get a much better price (but no time). Also, if I was going to paint the interior instead of stain, that is a much cheaper product.
Reduced the amount of windows – I like the amount of light in the TH with all the windows, but windows are expensive. I could have also kept my eyes out for some used windows.
Roof – This isn’t something I really considered but there are cheaper unpainted metal roofing materials available
Trailer – My trailer was pretty cheap new but if I had patience I might have found one used one for less.
Final idea to save cost would be to bundle all the materials into just a few purchases. I got big discounts when I went through the pro desk but I couldn’t do it every time since it required a $2500 purchase. If I had all the materials identified before I started I expect I could have saved another $500 or so.
Dan
hello sir
look some information on you home build want send some informaion this to to here is mail address and email hope hear from you soon P.o. box 534 cave city ,ky 42127 wolfthunder68@yahoo.com & spiritwild09@gmail.com thank for your time
Hi TW
I don’t have anything available to send you right now, but should have something by the end of next month.
Thanks
Dan, please give me a range of cost + cost of home and monthly living….or how to find this info….I’m interested in the same house you did for your mom…I’m in that same situation, where I’m considering some land at my son’s…can you help me with the info???
Thanks,
Carolyn
crinok@hotmail.com
Hi Carolyn,
The house cost me about $12K in materials to build (this does not including the costs of any tools that I purchased). To have it built, at one time I quoted someone $28K since it takes a little bit of time.
I’m not sure about the monthly cost to operate since it is not being lived in yet, but I image it is not going to cost very much.
Hope that helps
Dan
hi ,, I have a question? do i need some permit to do this kind of work?? thanks in advance
I’m going to respond to your question in a post