Progress Since Moving Day

Before the excavating company left me to my own devices, they leveled up the JayBee on stacks of cinder blocks.

They finished burying the electric lines that run from the pole to both the new shop and to the JayBee.

They also finished up the top of the driveway and made a nice little walkway to the front door.

After they left, I tweaked the leveling a bit to fix a low corner. Since I don't plan to ever move this house, I want it right before I anchor the house to the slab!

The electrician came and finished bringing the power from the power pole to the panel in the JayBee. 

I only have one working outlet inside the house at the moment because the prior electrician did not label a single wire he installed. I have a bit of work to do to get everything labeled before the panel can be all hooked up.

I found a plumber who said he could do the rest of the plumbing during Thanksgiving week, so I scrambled to get things ready for him. I stacked the tires more compactly under the JayBee to help give the plumber some maneuvering room.

Next came removing the axles and springs. Honestly, this had not even been on my radar. I just figured I'd leave the axles and springs attached--hanging out under the house. Once the plumber showed me, however, it was obvious there was no way he could plumb to the septic line under the house because the axles and springs were in the way. I could not find anyone who could do this work in the timeframe I needed it done, so I decided to do it myself. The thought of taking this on scared the livin' daylights out of me but, once I figured out how to disconnect the brake wiring from each axle end, I was on a roll. I bought an air impact wrench and a new face shield, and got all set up to start dismantling.

The air impact wrench worked great on all the nuts connecting the springs, but I could not maneuver it to reach the nuts holding on the u-bolts. For those, my arthritic hands had to make do with hand wrenches. It took me almost three hours to get the first one completely dismantled, but I did it!

Before letting all the axles drop to the ground, I propped them on boards and bricks so I could roll them to the correct side of the waste line while they were still up above it.

Finally, I got all the axles and springs off. The axles are stored up off the concrete, on pieces of plywood. I coated all the various nuts and bolts in a thick layer of grease and stored them away. See how the plumber can now access the waste line under here?

While I was sitting inside the JayBee, listening to a podcast and greasing up trailer parts, look who came to visit! I don't know his name, but he regularly wanders over from the neighbor's yard. Makes me wish George and Bear were still here to move into the JayBee with me.

I moved everything out of the end of the JayBee that has plumbing runs to make it easy for the plumber to get to things.

I installed the bathroom faucet and hung the sink on the wall...

 

...and hung the on-demand water heater.

I also installed the front steps--to make getting in and out of the house a whole lot easier. Railings and the rest of the deck to come--but probably not until spring.

Here's the bad news: The plumber did not show up, and he has not been in touch. The one phone number I have for him rings forever and then disconnects, so I have not been able to leave him a voice message. <sigh> I'm beginning to think I might end up buying some plumbing tools and doing this work myself. Stay tuned...

Changin' My Mind (another in the "You Know You're Taking Too Long" series)

You know you're taking too long to build your house... when the multiple years slipping by give you endless opportunities to re-think and alter plans.

Thankfully, even all these years later, I am still very happy with the floor plan I designed for the JayBee. When I designed the house, there were very few tiny-house designs to find. Now... just about every design possible has been done. I think my design holds up. It still feels like the most functional design for me. (Wouldn't it be horrible if I was trying to finish a house I now thought was fatally flawed?!)

This winter, though, I surprised myself by doing a complete about face with my energy plan for the JayBee. Many years ago, I wrote this post about my plan to use propane appliances for cooking, heat, and hot water--primarily because those things would still function just fine when the electric power went out, which it does with some regularity where I live. Last summer, I decided I needed to let go of my plan to bring my beloved range/heater into the JayBee. At 40,000 BTUs, it would have heat-blasted me right out of the house. (The skepticism of several propane installers sunk in at last, I guess.) I still was thinking, though, that I would use a propane range (just smaller) and a propane water heater. I planned to add a propane wall heater with a nice little fireplace-like window.

A few weekends ago, I changed my mind. After years of staying on the same steady track, everything just shifted. I decided I will not use any propane appliances in the JayBee. These things all finally coalesced in my mind:

• I didn't want propane appliances that use electronic ignition since that would render most of them useless when the power went out. But why would I want open pilot lights in my tiny house compromising the air quality?
• Every winter, getting routine propane deliveries is a challenge. While I generally don't have a problem getting my car up and down my icy driveway, the propane delivery trucks have a huge problem with all that ice. Did I really want to spend my future winters worrying about the timing of propane deliveries?
• Even though I have pre-purchased all kinds of fixtures and appliances for the JayBee and have been building with them in mind, I have not been able to commit to any of the propane appliances I have researched endlessly. Hmm... maybe there are good reasons for all that hesitance?
• The only propane wall heater I like is one that does not have a thermostat so really shouldn't be left running if I'm not home. Not reliable heat for the winter.
• The one system I have never started in the JayBee is the propane system. No pipes yet installed. No holes drilled. Why not simplify and save all those additional punctures to the building's envelope?
• The salesperson for the electric-radiant heat system I'm planning for under the floors of the JayBee pointed out that their system uses so little energy, it works well with solar panels.
• I had always planned to add solar panels at a future date. Maybe the future is here?

New plan: Everything in the JayBee that requires energy will be electric. Electric-radiant heat under the floors, supplemented with one or two electric wall heaters. Electric induction cooktop (cooks faster than anything else, and won't add heat to the space). Electric convection oven. Electric on-demand water heater. Simple. No fossil fuels. No open pilot lights.

I don't know that I can afford the solar panels this year, but the plan is to install ground-mounted panels on the south-facing hillside behind the JayBee. When I was at the Maine Flower Show a few days ago, I talked with a solar installer who told me that their grid-connected systems are usually installed with a battery backup system that automatically kicks on when the grid-supplied electric power goes out. Perfect.

Water Line Repaired!

Back in January, the water district sent me a letter saying they had identified a leak in my city water line, and that I needed to fix the leak immediately, or my water would be shut off on February 11. Standing on the rise to the west of the JayBee, I could see hundreds of feet into the woods to where the leak was.

I could not imagine that I would be able to find someone who could get equipment into the woods to fix this problem in the middle of winter...

Many inches of snow later, after negotiating with and updating the water district multiple times, and after early spring had finally melted the snow...

I had a plan for fixing the water line. First, I needed to cut a path through the trees for an excavator to make its way in to the leak.

From down in the valley, looking back at the house...

There is a LOT of water running through the valley in multiple streams, especially this time of year.

Both George and Bear came through the woods with me. George quickly found a cushy pile of leaves, curled up, and fell asleep. Bear spent more time hanging out with me.

Here's the leak identified by the water district with some blue flags. It doesn't show in the photo, but there is quite a stream of water running down the hill--and it has eroded a deep trench in the hillside.

Above the leak, it is hundreds of feet to the upper road where the excavator would need to travel. I spent hours clearing a path...

Finally, fix day arrived. Walking the repair guys through the woods in to where the leak was, we startled a family of six deer. They bounded away too quickly to get a photo. Here is the excavator at the site of the leak.

After the excavator found the leak and the pipe was cut for the fix...

Hours later--after two trips for more parts, and coordinating with the water district for water shut off and on--the excavator filled in the hole and left.

Unfortunately, below the fix, there is still a long, deep trench that I should fill in to protect the water line from freezing in future winters. I mentioned my concern about this to the guy doing the repair, but he really didn't want to deal with it. I guess I have some heavy-duty shoveling in my future!

My biggest concern about this project was my worry that, once the water was turned back on after the fix, the plumbing in my old house (the one I want to tear down) would burst left and right from the increase in water pressure. (After I did work on the water line in 2004, the water pressure rose above 100 psi and the shower head blew off!) Luckily, this time, no plumbing has burst in the house (yet). A couple of the fixtures act a bit stressed with the high water pressure (even though I have to say that taking a high-pressure shower is quite nice) but, so far, they are holding.

It is exciting to have a repaired water line and to know that I will have great water supply for the JayBee!

In other spring news...

George on a walk with me along the river.

There is so much water in the river right now, with all the spring run-off, that it can be hard to see the difference between high and low tide. In the photo below, it is an hour and a half before high tide, but the gully between the road and the river is filling up with water.

The spring flood tides pick up all kinds of debris. Below, near the near shore is a huge tree floating down the river.

This can't be good. Directly in front of my house along the railroad tracks is a cement box. It always had a metal lid secured on it, and I assumed it held stuff related to the railroad crossing of the road a short ways away. Recently, the lid suddenly went missing. Who does this stuff? Vandalize things for no reason. Was it really enough metal to salvage for money? Anyway, I peered in the box the other day. Old batteries submerged in water. This cannot be good.

Heat & Hot Water

I have been asked about the source of heat I will have for my JayBee. Here it is:

I know this kind of stove as a "gas on gas stove." My first experience with one was 30 years ago in an apartment in old mill housing in South Barre, Massachusetts. It is a propane stovetop and oven that also has a 40,000 btu heater in the left side of it. I remembered how great this heater was when, ten years later, I needed a stove for the house I had just purchased. After an extensive search, I finally found this one. The beauty of it is that it still has pilot lights (as opposed to electronic ignition) so, when I lose power in a snow or wind storm, I still have heat and I can still cook. This heater should have no problem keeping the JayBee warm.

These stoves are hard to find now, due to the fact that most things are no longer made with pilot lights. Speaking of which... When I needed to replace my hot water tank last summer, one of the reasons that I did not replace it with an on-demand unit (as I had assumed I would) was because current models of those units are now built with electronic ignitions. I like having hot water even when I lose power and I did not want to lose that. The older on-demand models that still have pilot lights did not qualify for the energy-efficiency rebates. Add on the expense of the on-demand units and the fact that they need a lot of ventilation space...I ended up buying a small propane regular hot water tank. The tank will be moved into the JayBee as my hot water tank there as well.