Monkeying Around

On the second day we finished the sheathing and starting putting up the roof rafters... which meant lots of monkeying around up high...

 But first, how many people does it take to change a jig saw blade?  :)

 Rafters being measured and cut.

 Lots of balancing on ladders...

 ...and bum shots.

 Nicole is fearless, and lefthanded... which comes in handy.  :)

Another bum shot!

After some issues with attaching the rafters, we ended the day with only six in place.  Not quite where I wanted to be, but not bad!   Thanks to my ladies for coming out!!

Wall Sheathing Begins

Luckily the forecast is nothing but sunshine and low humidity for the next week, so the wet slippery floor will have plenty of time to dry out.  I swept up as much of the goo as I could, and let the air and sunshine do the rest.

The goal for this weekend it to get the roof rafters up, but before we can do that I want to get a round of 1/2" OSB sheathing on the walls to make sure the whole structure is square before measuring the rafters.

First sheet of OSB in place.  We had to push on the wall to get it squared up, but once the OSB was nailed on the frame stayed nice and plum.

Mom and Dad drove down to bring me some tools I had forgotten.  Thanks!!

Tarp: a new strategy

When I left here on August 9th, I knew I wasn't going to be down at the site for almost three weeks, and fearing the weight of the water on the tarp again I decided to try a new strategy.  This time I left the holes in the roof tarp so any pooling water would be able to drain.  I put a second tarp on the floor that would catch any water and direct it out the door.  Brilliant, right?  Not quite.

Looked pretty good on arrival... tarp still nice and tight:

Inside, everything appeared to work as planned.  The bit of pooling water had drained down onto the floor tarp and overflowed out the door onto the ground.

But when I peeled up the floor tarp I found this... a wet, slippery mess.

I'm not sure how the water got under the floor tarp, but the water on top had not let any air in so it had been sitting there wet for days or maybe even weeks. The plywood floor was soft and spongy in parts, and the liquid on top was thick and slippery like vegetable oil.  I'm not sure why it was slippery... maybe something leeching from the wood?

So, in the end it seems letting the wood get wet then dry would have been a better option than having the tarp on the floor which ended up preventing the floor from drying.  A good lesson as I move towards installing the building envelope... water WILL get in, one way or another.  Best thing you can do is allow it a way to dry.

Ridge Beam in Place

Last of the walls are up, and the ridge beam is in place.  Thanks so much to my Meetup helpers!

My wonderful helpers:  Nicole, (Me), Kyle, Fergus, Roula

I apologize for the lack of photos.  I get wrapped up in the work and forget to document!  (The photo above was taken by Joshua, courtesy of Nicole.)  The beam is two 2x8s laminated together with 1/2" OSB sandwiched in the middle.  All glued and screwed together to make a very strong beam.  The beam will be exposed so we sanded the wood and countersunk the screws so it'll look pretty.

The beam (purple) rests on 4x4 posts (green) and is sandwiched between the wall sections to hold it in place.  I screwed threw the wall studs into the post and the beam from both sides

 My 3D model showing the stage the house is at now.

 Detail of the beam/post/wall connection.

Angle brackets were added under the beam to attach to the post, and I will also add a tie plate to the outside to secure the beam to the posts there as well.  The roof rafters will be notched to sit over the beam.  You may notice one wall is higher than the other in profile. Not a mistake!  This was done on purpose.  :)  Since the slope of the roof is different on each side, this adjustment will ensure the two rafters meet snugly at the top.

Tarp Fail: Water is HEAVY

I was so proud of my new tarp job, but when I came down last night I could tell my plan had failed.  The tarp was not pulled tight enough, and the water pooled in the middle of the tarp AGAIN, pulling the walls inward.  The weight of the water was enough to snap the screws that were holding the diagonal braces in place, and once those were gone the walls didn't have a chance against the pressure from the water.

Yet again, I had to cut a hole in the tarp to allow the pooled water to drain, directing it out of the house using another tarp.  I was able to push the walls back up, and made it my goal to get the last of the walls up and the roof beam in place so this won't happen again!

What $133 looks like

I am meticulously keeping track of every penny that goes into this tiny house.

I've placed a few big orders for delivery, the biggest being $1,959 which constituted most of my lumber and plywood for framing the whole house, plus other random adhesives, spray foam, poly, even a pocked door kit... so the price was to be expected:

But there are other times when I go to the store and leave with a couple small bags and a receipt for a mind boggling price.

Today, this is what $133 looked like:

Spray foam, adhesive, screws, nails, various brackets, jig saw blades, hurricane ties and some drill bits.  The biggest expense is the nails, which I may have overpaid for at $28.99 for 1200 spiral nails.  (6d, 2", hot galvanized.)

Don't underestimate the time you will spend shopping.  The time I spend planning & shopping easily matches the time I spend actually building.  I'll be heading to a different store later to see if I can get a better deal on nails!