After building my first tiny house, I figured out that I am not the most comfortable being up on a 13’ high roof. Fear of heights is certainly not uncommon, but whether you like it or not, you are going to have to spend some time in the air during your tiny house construction. Here is some advice on conquering (or at least lessening) your fear of tiny house heights.
Scaffolding is probably my favorite tool outside of the pneumatic palm nailer. We use the Metaltech Multipurpose 6ft. Baker-Style Scaffold (pictured here). This is easy to set up and take down, locks into place and can be easily added onto. There is nothing better than when you have to work from the inside attaching rafters on both sides of the house and you can simply walk back and forth on top of the scaffold. Talk about don’t worry, be happy? No fear on this thing.
Nowadays, many extension ladders have spikes on the bottom in addition to feet. This is awesome for when you are working on a non-paved surface and will give you a great foothold for the ladder. Also, make sure that you have the ladder extended two rungs above the roof level so that it makes it easy to get on and off. There is nothing scarier than having to dangle your legs off of the roof “fishing” for the ladder rung.
This isn’t the best option in the world, but it will do the job, especially if you are just afraid of working on the ladder. You can clip-in using something like the Miller Titan by Honeywell. If you have a rope, you can throw it over the other side of the roof and have someone keep an eye out for you falling.
There is no better way to conquer your fear of heights than to avoid them all together. Asking around or contracting that part of the job out is not cheating! There are some people that are not comfortable with plumbing, so they bring a real plumber in to do the work. If you just can’t get up there to do the work, find someone you can. READ MORE: How Not to Die While Building Your Tiny House So hopefully that helps explain some of the ways that you can get over your fear of tiny house heights. Just because it is a tiny house, doesn’t mean that this is a tiny fear. What fears do you have about building your tiny house? Let me know in the comments below.
The popularity of tiny homes has been increasing over the last 10 years or more. Several reality TV shows have popped up to show us in great detail the excitement of planning for and building a home that is less than 400 Sq Feet. Not to mention that these homes are usually on a trailer which opens up the entire world to our wonder lust!
There are several different ways to build a house, each having their own advantages and disadvantages. The most common approach is called ‘stick-built’, which refers to the 2x dimensional lumber used to construct a wall.
Many people can do the basic electrical wiring of a new fixture. For the most part it is black to black, white to white, green to green. But when you get into more advanced techniques like wiring the same light to be controlled from two different switches, some people get scared. Fret no further, as Dan Louche is here to teach you the understanding of the 3-way switch.
There is very little more terrifying for most DIYers than doing electrical work. The fear of blowing circuits, starting fires or even electrocution is usually what steers most people away from attempting to rewire anything in the house, let alone install electricity from scratch. Here we will discuss how even the most novice of tiny house builders can learn to feel comfortable around tiny house electrical wiring.
I’m frequently asked what the hardest part of building a tiny house is. People expect that I’ll respond that it’s the electrical or the plumbing (the two tasks that seem to scare people the most), or perhaps attaching the house to the trailer...