Saturday, July 25, 2015

Oh, Joy. The Permitting Process.

I have a building permit! I am proudly displaying it inside the JayBee.


Why is this so momentous?

When I began building the JayBee back in 2011, my plan was that the house would be a place to live temporarily while I tore down my existing wreck of a home and built something to replace it. I got a permit for an Individual Private Campsite that would have allowed me to do just that. With that permit, all that would have to pass inspection were the water and septic hookups. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I would only be allowed to live in the JayBee for 120 days out of the year. (Can you imagine me building an entire house in 4 months? Yeah, well, me neither.)

Over the intervening years, several things have changed. I fell more in love with the JayBee and decided that I want it to be my permanent home. I would rather completely downsize now and not build another home after this one. The contractor I found to do the site work was concerned that the current location of the JayBee would make hooking up to the septic system difficult because it would be hard to achieve the proper slope with the waste line. Since I want the JayBee to be my permanent home, he suggested that I tear down the current house, build a proper pad in its place, and move the JayBee onto the pad--thus positioning the JayBee where the current house stands. What a great idea! It makes it possible to put a better foundation under the JayBee, makes all of the connections to utilities easier/better, and puts the house closer to the river view.

Having read a lot of stories about the code obstacles tiny-house folks have encountered in communities all across the country, I dreaded going to city hall to pursue getting a real building permit. My initial meeting with the code enforcement officer (CEO) went better than I had anticipated. It turns out that my city has a minimum house size of 80 square feet; since the JayBee is 238 square feet, the total building size is not a problem. After I submitted my permit applications (I also had to submit an application for a Shoreland Zone permit), the CEO presented some issues I had to address. She would not accept the gravel pad my contractor had designed as the JayBee's foundation, even though that is perfectly acceptable for mobile homes, because the JayBee is not being built by a certified, approved mobile home manufacturer. I have resolved that objection by agreeing to have a cement slab foundation constructed instead. The CEO also objected to my planned R40 ceiling insulation, noting that the code requires R49. I found a subsection in the code that allows a cathedral ceiling (with no attic space) that cannot accommodate enough insulation to achieve R49--in other words, the JayBee ceiling--to go as low as R30. That issue is resolved as well. I had no issues with being in a shoreland because I am not removing any vegetation with this project, the proposed house will not be any closer to the river than the house I am removing, and the total square footage of buildings on my property will be lower once the houses are swapped out.

So, I now have three permits: a building permit, a shoreland zone permit, and a demolition permit. I imagine there may be other code-related issues that arise as the inspections/approvals occur but, for now, this feels like a big step forward.

---

On a completely different note, I have become obsessed with the hordes of snakes that are living in my yard. At any given time, I can find at least three snakes out in the open, and I find myself checking multiple times a day.

Here's one.


George was curious and followed this one, but stayed a respectful distance away, a far cry from what he would have done years ago--kill it and proudly bring it to me.


Here's another one.


And another.


These aren't itsy bitsy garter snakes; they're two-foot-long creatures that scare the wits out of me.

There is also a bird that has been hanging out with me lately. (See her sitting on the sign in the photo below.) She has become way too cavalier about hopping around on the ground and things that are close to the ground, given that there are two cats living here. Granted, neither of my cats act like master hunters now that they are older, but they would not hesitate to grab easy prey either.


A few mornings ago, I just had to capture the sparkles on the water...and the cormorant on the buoy.




Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Siding (West Wall) 3

I've been slogging through the humidity, and slowly making progress with siding the west end. Two more rows and I was up to the window.


Another row...


...and another two. Caught both cats in this photo. George is out!


Also see:
Siding (West Wall) 1
Siding (West Wall) 2
Siding (West Wall) 4
Siding (West Wall) 5
Siding (West Wall) 6
Siding (West Wall) 7
Siding (West Wall) 8
Siding (West Wall) 9
Siding (West Wall) 10



Yesterday, I did finally go swimming in the river at the end of the day. After sweating all day in the humidity, the cool water felt great!


I invited both cats to join me at the river. Bear was eager, but George was all "ho hum, I'm not goin' anywhere."



Then, when Bear and I got back to the house, George ran over like he was thinking "Hey, where'd you guys go? What did I miss?"


Today when I was up on a ladder, guess what Bear was thinking?!



He paced back and forth, chatting and complaining, but he didn't climb the ladder--this time.



Sunday, July 19, 2015

Siding (West Wall) 2

More progress with siding the west end.





I was trying to hurry at the end of today so I could go swimming. By the time I was wrapping up, though, there were loud thunder claps nearby. I guess it's not such a good idea to go swimming.

Also see:
Siding (West Wall) 1
Siding (West Wall) 3
Siding (West Wall) 4
Siding (West Wall) 5
Siding (West Wall) 6
Siding (West Wall) 7
Siding (West Wall) 8
Siding (West Wall) 9
Siding (West Wall) 10

I'm Done Staining Shingles!

Here is the last batch of stained shingles! 24 bundles, approximately 125 shingles per bundle--that's about 3,000 shingles that I sanded and stained, all six sides of each one. This is the first time in many months that my living room floor is no longer covered in plastic and drying shingles.


The inside of the JayBee is Arlen's workshop these days. Here are his bed's footboard and headboard in process.


Friday, July 17, 2015

Siding (West Wall) 1

Before I began to install shingles on the west end of the JayBee, I installed this piece of trim. Can you guess why it's there? (Answer below.)


The starter course installed.


After I had half of the first official course of shingles installed...


I realized I had forgotten to put flashing on the outer corners of the bumpout. Oops! I went ahead and installed it at this point.


After I finished installing the first row, half of my mistake was hidden.


After the second row was done, my mistake was completely hidden.


[Answer: The trim at the bottom of the west end is where the JayBee's license plate will hang if/when it travels down the road.]

Also see:
Siding (West Wall) 2
Siding (West Wall) 3
Siding (West Wall) 4
Siding (West Wall) 5
Siding (West Wall) 6
Siding (West Wall) 7
Siding (West Wall) 8
Siding (West Wall) 9
Siding (West Wall) 10


Summertime low tide on the river.





The Trick to Flashing an Inner Corner

Before I first started applying flashing and ice & water shield, I was warned to be careful how I applied it because, once it touched something, that was where it was going to stay.  Initially, I didn't have this problem because I ended up applying most of it during the winter months. Not only was it not exceptionally sticky, but I usually had to use a heat gun to heat it up enough to get it to stick.

Using these materials during the summer months is a different experience. When flashing the inner corners of the east end bumpout, I learned the hard way that a special technique is required in order to not end up with a tangled, stuck-together ball of flashing. If you peel the backing off and try to stick the flashing in the corner, it ends up sticking fiercely to the housewrap before you can push it all the way into the corner. If you manage to wrench it off to try to re-stick it, it ends up sticking to itself. Frustrating, messy, and ends up wasting a bunch of expensive material.

Out of necessity, I devised a different approach. After cutting a piece of flashing the correct length, I peel the backing off it.


Then I cut the peeled-off backing into strips and re-apply it to the sticky side of the flashing, leaving a sticky gap in the middle.


I fold the flashing in half, sticky side out, and push the sticky middle part into the inside corner.


One side at a time, I peel the strips of backing off and seal the flashing against the housewrap.


Voilá! It takes a little time to use this technique, but it actually saves time and material (and headache!) in the end.


After I applied the flashing to the inner corners of the west end bumpout, I installed the corner trim.




My sweet George.



Bear is fine. He's been carousing at night and sleeping during the day, so he hasn't been around for photos. George used to hide all summer long--to stay out of the heat. Maybe he's not minding the heat so much in his old age. This summer he's been sleeping in the yard all day--sometimes directly in the sun. Lots of photo opportunities!

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Window Trim 7

Since I had made the trim for the bathroom window when I constructed all the other trim for the downstairs windows, it was a fairly easy job to install it.


I had also previously made the metal flashing for the top of the window trim, so I installed that as well.


Installed bathroom window--from the inside.



Also see:
Window Trim 1
Window Trim 2
Window Trim 3
Window Trim 4
Window Trim 5
Window Trim 6 (Check out the weather conditions when I was last installing window trim!)
Window Trim 8
Window Trim 9