Author Archives: Dan Louche

Progress Update

Posted on by

019

Roof

My brother recently came back out to my dad’s and tried to finish the roof but we ended up being short two pieces of the gable rake and some screws. I put an order in for the last of it so that will only take a few hours to wrap up once it arrives (and my brother makes it back out there).

Windows

The windows were delivered and have been installed. They still have some protective wrapping on them which can be seen in some of the pictures if you were wondering.

Front Door

The front door was just ordered so we are waiting on that. We won’t be able to finish any more siding on the back of the trailer (front of the house) until that gets installed.

017

Interior Siding

About half of the interior siding has been installed. The Florida humidity is giving my dad a hard time right now as the wood that the siding is made from is very porous and thus easily grows and shrinks with the weather. Its tongue and groove so if it shrinks after it is installed it’s not that give of a deal (the tongue and groove prevent you from seeing any spaces between the boards when it shrinks), but if it grows after it is installed then it wants to pop off the walls (not good). So he is leaving some of the wood out in the open (in the house) to expand before he puts it up.

005

Exterior Siding

Both long sides of the house are practically done. He can’t begin on the short ends until the roof is done (in addition to the front door going in) since the scaffolding is attached to the house there. The siding is stained before it is installed so that you don’t see any unstained strips in the event that the wood contracts after being installed. I have only been able to see the house in pictures but my brother says he loves it and it feels really cozy.

I’m really looking forward to going back down there in a couple months.

Plans

I’ve just put the finishing touches on the plans and the wiring diagram for this house. I still need to complete the materials list and the build manual before I release them but I’m optimistically shooting for August 1st. Then I will start updating the first set of plans and materials list. I will also start selling the manual separately for people who want to see what goes into building a tiny house but haven’t quite decided on a set of plans.

Part of a roof and insulation

Posted on by

Not getting a chance to install the metal roof on the house had been bothering me so I took a day off from vacation last week to drive back to my dad’s and work on it. I also convinced my brother to drive out there as well to give me a hand. I was really hoping to at least get all the panels up (but not all the trim pieces). Unfortunately my metal roof supplier wasn’t done causing me misery and forgot to include the butyl tape used to seal wherever metal meets. So my dad made yet another hour and a half trip out to them to pick up the missing supplies. I also forgot to get Mother Nature’s buy-in on my plan and it started to rain around 2pm. We worked through most of it but when all was said in done we had about 60 percent of the roof complete.

20110629-IMG_1107

If you recall from my first build I had some issues installing the roof because of the way I designed it. Before releasing my plans for sale I redesigned the roof after consulting my dad and applying the knowledge I had gained from that first experience. This was the first chance I had to try out my changes and although we haven’t completed it, things are working out much better and I don’t expect any of the issues from before.

On Thursday last week the insulation installers also showed up and sprayed the interior. I was supposed to get 3” on the ceiling and 2” on the walls. My dad said watching them spray it was pretty interesting. He said that it expanded so quickly that it would take someone with considerable skill and experience to control with any precision the thickness of the foam. To my benefit, my install didn’t have that skill. After they were finished the areas between the rafters in the ceiling were completely filled (3-1/2”) and between 2” and 3” of the foam was in the wall cavities. He said the only place that it appeared slightly thin was in the areas where the studs were closer than 5”. There are only a few of these and he will add a little of our own Hilti foam to make up for it.

DSCN0653

Finally, I spoke to my dad yesterday and he said he has the windows mostly installed and has been working on the interior wood. I’ll have some pictures soon.

House 2 – Day 12/13

Posted on by

20110625-IMG_1029

I expected the roof to arrive in Port Orange on Friday morning so while we waited for the call that it was ready to be picked up we didn’t really do that much. Without the windows, roof, or spray foam we had pretty much done as much as we could do. Last time I purchased a roof I was able to deal directly with the manufacturer and we were able to pick it up the next day. This time, we were dealing with a distributor (Bradco) who was getting the roof from the manufacturer (Semco Southeastern Metals). This extra layer made everything slower. By the time I finally got ahold of the salesman, I found out that a mistake had been made and the roof wasn’t on the truck for delivery. This meant that it wouldn’t be delivered until Monday, several days after I will have left. I thought a week would be more than enough time to get a roof but I now realize that I should have placed the order on the first day that I arrived.

20110625-IMG_1041

On Saturday, I only worked a partial day and wrapped up a few miscellaneous items but nothing very significant.  I left early to go see my family who have driven down for a vacation in Kissimmee, FL with my wife’s parents. I’ll be spending the next week over there before returning to Atlanta. We My dad is going to continue working on the house while I am gone and I plan to continue to post updates as they come in, though I expect not nearly as frequently.

Quick funny story. My brother stopped by and saw the fan we had set up to keep the inside of the hose cool and ask (jokingly) if we were doing wind tunnel testing (maybe you had to be there :) .

20110625-IMG_1040

House 2–Day 10

Posted on by

This morning I awoke to a terribly upset stomach. I either had some type of bug or food poisoning. So while I still managed to be out at the tiny house for half the day, I wasn’t that much help while I was there. We did manage to mostly complete the drain plumbing which was a little tricky since you have to navigate the various parts of the floor and metal supports of the trailer. I shot a video but since it was rather short I thought I would combine it with a video of other parts of the plumbing tomorrow.

I also met with the second insulation guy today. He gave we a quote that was much more in line with what I  was expecting: $1080. If I were to do it myself with 2” foam it would cost about $650. So given the benefits of the closed cell spray in (very good seal, high r-value, added rigidity to the trailer) I think I will have them do it.

I also spoke to my brother this morning about helping out with the roof and he thought he would be able to make in out on Friday. So I am pretty confident that that will get completed before I leave.

Hopefully I feel better in the morning.

House 2 – Day 8

Posted on by

No progress today worthy of a picture or video.

This morning we drove to Port Orange Florida to get a quote for the metal roofing. We didn’t hear back from them today but when I called at 5 they said they expected to have a price for me in the morning. Either way they said we should be able to pick it up on Thursday, which means we should be able to get that done before I leave (especially if my brother drives over to help).

I also called several companies about spray foam insulation. I have one company coming out in the morning and another on Wednesday. After talking to one he indicated that I may be looking at around $500 for closed cell spray foam for the house. If that turns out to be true, that will be significantly less than what I was anticipating (and cheaper than DIY). But I’ won’t get my hopes up until they see the job and I get an official quote. They also indicated that that could be completed on Friday, just enough time to complete the electrical and plumbing.

Other than that I met up with Alex Pino from tinyhousetalk.com who drove all the way up from Naples Fl. to check out the house. He unfortunately got his car stuck in the dirt road just outside my dad’s driveway so we spent a little bit of time trying to get him unstuck. I saw him take some pictures of it and quite a bit of video of my tiny house so be sure to check out his site for that.

Finally, for those of you who have expressed an interest in seeing the tiny house, I plan on having an open house once I return to Deland after we have our second child. I plan on coming back in no more than 3-4 months.

Thanks to everyone for following along.

Tiny House 2 – Day 7

Posted on by

Happy Fathers Day!

In the morning I told my Dad that as his Fathers Day gift I would only make him work 6 hours today. I know what you are thinking: But Dan, you have a schedule and a tiny house to build, now is not the time for generosity ;) Don’t worry, we ended up working until 5:30 anyways. We did take a little break in the afternoon to once again take a dip in the pool to cool off.

Check out the video for where we stand:

Day 7

I ordered the windows before I left Georgia but they take at least 3 weeks before they can be delivered (after I will be gone). Without windows we are prevented from doing too much more that will be really noticeable (siding, internal siding, etc.) beside the roof. So going forward it will likely appear that our progress will have slowed. But as I’ve pointed out before, the devil is in the details.

Tiny House 2 – Day 6

Posted on by

We finally completed the roof today and got the tar paper down. Just in time for a big storm to move in. We also made a trip to home depot during lunch to return some of the supplies that I had delivered. Having two people involved in the build allows you to be a little more efficient with the supplies since you can move around larger pieces of wood.

I will be updating the materials list for my first house with the latest information, including prices, with information that I have learned from this house. I’ll send out an email with a free link to everyone who has already purchased them once that is complete.

20110618-IMG_0992

Day 6