Reinforcements

After the pouring rain and wind we had last night, I was so worried about the tiny house.  I couldn't stop thinking of the floor getting wet, soaking through to the insulation or warping the plywood.  Luckily I have a boyfriend willing to help a gal out!

We drove down to the site, through the pouring rain, stopping at Canadian Tire to pick up a tarp and some rope.  We arrived to find the rain had created huge pools in the tarp on the roof, straining the fabric to the breaking point.  The strong winds (and poor tarp placement) had allowed rain into the structure, but luckily it wasn't a fishtank as I feared.  We swept out the excess water, replaced the floor tarp, and went to work reinforcing the roof tarp.

The pooled water was too heavy to force the water over the edge of the walls, so I had to release the pressure by cutting a hole in the old tarp and directing the flow outside.  It took 5 minutes to drain all that water!  I then taped up the hole, and covered the entire structure with one large tarp.

Almost two weeks until I'm down to the site again, so fingers crossed this keeps things dry!

Friends in Blue

Sometimes friends come out, even when it's raining!

 Five of the six wall pieces are done, and I'm eager to see them raised!

 Three pieces up!  Wow, it's taller than I expected!  :)

Five pieces up.  Used palette wrap and tarps to keep the rain out.   Until next time!

Alone in the Rain

Some days it rains...

...and tarps leak.

Some days it's just me...

...working inside, out of the rain.

Filming & Wall Framing: Part 2

Today was full of excitement, as we had filmmakers come to document the building process!

 Claire, Chuck, Kevin and Joshua - the talented crew!

  Claire on camera.

 

 Kevin with his boom mic.

While I reviewed the plans for the third wall.

 There were time consuming notches to be made in the studs...

 ...but these ladies made it look easy.

Fits like a glove!

Progress was slow today, but we ALMOST got the third piece of wall finished. The angles and notching slowed us down, but mostly is was my lack of confidence leading to long periods of indecision.  Next time, I'm just gonna go for it!  All this time spent hemming and hawing over the right way to proceed gets me nowhere.  Instead of overthinking, trying to foresee all the issues, time would be better spent just doing it, and dealing with the issues as they arise.  At least, that's what I'll try next time.  :)

Wall Framing: Part 1

Now the fun begins, framing the walls!  Big thanks to Beth, Jared and Kyle for coming out for day one of framing!

 Wall # 1 done!  A milestone! :)

And wall #2 well on it's way!

We may have gotten more done if it wasn't such a lovely day, but the lake was calling to us, and a swim and kayak were in order.  :)

Floor Sheathing

Last time I left off with the problem of my t&g plywood not lining up with my joists... my solution: buy full 48" sheets of 3/4" plywood.

Dad came down one last time before his cataract surgery.  After tomorrow, he'll have to stay away from sawdust and other irritants for a couple months, so thought I'd get one more day of advice/work out of him before he's out of commission.  :)

 Getting creative when it comes to moving plywood.  It was Dad's idea!

 Working from the far end.  We cut the holes for the plumbing drains, and screwed the plywood down with flooring screws.

 Floor sheathing done!  Woo!  Feels good to have all that insulation protected.

Me and my dad. Couldn't have done any of this without him.  And I'm lucky to have a dad that didn't treat me any differently because I was a girl... it's because of him I had the confidence to take on this project. :)