We were just dumped on yesterday. The snow fell so thick and fast that, as soon as I cleared something off--like my car, I had to start all over again. Made it kind of frightening to consider driving to Portland to see the Stuart McLean (The Vinyl Cafe) show at the Merrill Auditorium. But, I had tickets--and the show went on. Well worth it; what a terrific show! All that laughing helped relieve some of the tension from the driving. :-)
It is becoming difficult to see out of the windows of my house.
Seeing the river from my yard is even becoming challenging.
I cannot remember a winter when I had higher snowbanks in my yard...
The snow will not slow me down! Today I head out to price windows for my JayBee. I haven't yet found anything through Craigslist or Uncle Henry's that will do.
Do you ever have such strong resistance to dealing with something that your mind very conveniently conspires to help you avoid this one thing? I have thought for some time that I should go to my town office, spell out my plans for my tiny home and for tearing down my current home and rebuilding, and see what permits I need. I've dreaded this. I know my plans are unconventional, and wasn't sure if I would encounter helpfulness or resistance.
Yesterday, I "lost track of time" so that, by the time I left the house, I could not fit in a stop at the town office as well as make the appointments I had. Hmm. Had a good talk with myself about that. After all, I took two days off of work just so I could deal with some of these things that have to be done during weekday hours. Then, as I was leaving the house this morning and mentally reminding myself of all the things I had to do while I was out, I left the town-office stop off the list. My goodness! I can be my own worst enemy sometimes. Luckily, I had the town-office stop on my written list and used the list to take myself in hand...
Long story short: I did stop in at the town office today, and it looks like I will be able to carry out my projects as I envision. Yes, my plans are somewhat unconventional. I had to give the Code Enforcement Officer time to wrap his mind around all that I hope to do and figure out how the codes apply to my projects and timelines. And I have the additional complications of 1) living in a rural residential zone with a shoreland overlay that affects where my house sits, and 2) having my current home situated in a way that doesn't conform to the current codes. In the end, because I intend to tie my tiny home into the existing water and septic systems, it looks like my tiny home can be permitted as a "permanent campsite." Phew.
It also turns out I will need a permit to demolish my existing home. I had no idea! Pays to find out these things, I guess...
In addition to the list I posted the other day...
- Initially, I had assumed I would insulate my tiny home with polystyrene, as so many tiny-home builders do (even though I have experienced the breathing and environmental horror of cutting large blocks of styrofoam before). As I researched, though, I discovered that polystyrene is highly combustible. If it is covered with sheetrock, at least the sheetrock serves as a bit of a fire break. I won't be using any sheetrock in my home, however. Should a fire start in my tiny home, rather than having the entire home erupt into a towering inferno, I'd like to have enough time to escape with my life. So...I will be using wool insulation (which is fire retardant as well as a joy to work with) in the walls and roof, even though it costs more. I may use polystyrene in the floor, since no wiring (the most common cause of home fires) will run through the floors. I will use a radiant barrier throughout, to add R value. I will also use a vapor barrier throughout. In the floor and ceiling, the radiant barrier and vapor barrier will be one and the same; in the walls, they will be two separate things. By the way, does anyone have any thoughts about air-tightness in tiny homes? Will I need to have some mechanism for pulling fresh air into my home? Do I need to worry about making my home too tight?
- Although most tiny homes seem to be sided with clapboards or board-and-batten siding, I plan to use cedar shingles. I haven't been able to decide about using spacers between the house wrap and the siding. I've read that spacers are necessary to allow moisture to dry out, and I've read that spacers cause more problems than they solve by creating a tiny micro-climate behind the siding that actually causes a buildup of moisture. Installing spacers behind shingles would be harder than it is for clapboards. Perhaps the little ridges on shingles allow enough air movement behind them?
- I thought I was set on metal roofing. Now I've been reading about recycled rubber roofing...
Life is full of trade-offs. Roads taken--or not. Designing and building a house is no exception. In fact, it could be the poster child for trade-offs. The process involves a seemingly endless series of decisions and choices. Once one decision gets made, it narrows the options for future decisions. For example, once I decide to build a home on a trailer, a home that I intend to be roadworthy without a special permit, I have committed to build a home that is no more than 8.5 feet wide and will stand no more than 13.5 feet high off the ground. All other decisions have to work within those size constraints. (And not just building decisions. There are huge lifestyle choices constrained by that decision as well.) Same goes for cost. When I decide that my house cannot cost more than $X, all other decisions have to work within that financial constraint.
Is this a problem? I don't think so. I find it empowering. I am enjoying defining the way I live, and the ways I want to live, and how they relate to the space I live in. I enjoy reading all the stories that can be found online about how others have navigated this process for themselves. There are as many unique housing solutions/configurations as there are people on the planet. Or more, since our needs shift through time. The choices I am making today about my tiny home are certainly different from what they would have been during earlier phases of my life (when I was younger, when I was partnered, when I was childrearing, etc.).
I find myself shaking my head sometimes--when I read a story online in which someone shares some of the decisions they've made or some of the features they've incorporated into their tiny home in such a way as to make it sound like they have THE answer and all other tiny homes built differently are wrong. Ah, no. Your home may be beautiful and adorable. (Most of them are, aren't they? :-) Congratulations; you've found the answer for you (and maybe part of the answer for others with similar needs). I can guarantee you, though, that you haven't found the answer for everyone. That's just the nature of things.
So, here's the fine print for the whole rest of my blog: If, in my enthusiasm for some discovery or decision I've made about my home, my tone sounds at all like I think other ways of doing things are wrong, I sincerely apologize. That's not my intent at all. I'm merely leaping for joy at finding a workable solution for me--just me.
Here are some of the trade-off home decisions I've made already:
- I may be ready for my home to be constrained to 8.5 feet wide and 13.5 feet high, but I've purchased a longer-than-typical trailer. My home will be 26 feet long. Well, even longer than that because each end of my home will have a small bumpout as well. Given how I live, I just could not imagine my life working in less space than this.
- In order for my tiny home to work in my life, I need to: 1) downsize. I've been selling and giving things away on Craigslist and Uncle Henry's. This is turning out to be unexpectedly fun! I'll do a separate post about this soon. 2) figure out some storage solutions outside my tiny home. I'm a project person. Consequently, I have tools and materials to support my sewing, knitting, crocheting, drafting, and woodworking projects. I have no plans to divest myself of my tools, and I know they will not all fit in my tiny home. Thus, my need for outside storage.
- Table. Most tiny homes I've seen either devote significant space to a table or have a table that can be folded against a wall when not in use. If I was not living alone, I would need a table like that, too. What I've discovered living alone is that I only use a table when I have people visiting. Never in my life have I worked at a desk. I work in my lap. Even more so now, with my laptop computer. I don't eat at a table either--unless I have company. Since I do have people over to dinner on a regular basis, I do need to be able to turn my home's living area completely into a dining area on occasion. My tiny house will have a folding table and chairs that are slid into a narrow closet until needed. This round table is 28" in diameter, but I can expand it to 48" with an extender board that can be opened up on top of it.
- Bathroom sink. I went around and around about this. Seems a little redundant to have both a bathroom and a kitchen sink--within a few feet of one another. The thought of guests coming out of the bathroom and using my kitchen sink while I'm preparing dinner was enough for me to decide that my home would have a bathroom sink--although a tiny one.
- Bed on the first floor. I decided I want a queen-sized bed on the first floor of my tiny home--one that I don't have to set up every time I want to use it. I have to give up a lot of floor space to make this happen. I'm hoping all the underbed storage space and the possibility of using the bed for overflow living-room sitting space might make up for some of the downside.
- Shower vs. tub. I love baths. Given all my other priorities, however, I've let go of having a tub in my tiny home. Since making that decision, I've figured out that I can easily set up a tub outside for use during the warmer months. (See previous Bathroom Fixtures post.)
- Full-sized stove, oven, kitchen sink, and refrigerator. I love camping--truly. I know myself well enough to know, though, that I would not find it fun to face the challenges of camp cooking and cleanup every day. I would cope by rarely cooking anything. My stove/oven has the added benefit of having a 40,000 btu heater in its side--which will provide heat for my home. When I purchased a new refrigerator a year ago, my top priority was to find the most energy efficient model I could find. I thought I would get a smallish one. Imagine my surprise/disgust to discover that the smaller refrigerators use more energy than the really efficient larger ones. I did buy the most energy efficient model I found. It's of moderate--not huge--size. When I host a big event--a holiday gathering, for example--I supplement by using a cooler to store some things.
- Small living room. Given all the items/spaces I feel I need in my home, my living room will be quite small. Sometimes I see floor plans for a tiny home that makes me re-think my plans. "How come they have such a large living room?" I wonder. After I look closely and realize that that home has no storage space and no kitchen, etc., I end up thinking my plans are really a better fit for me.
- Little head room in loft. My home will have two lofts. The larger loft--over the kitchen and bathroom--will probably be only for storage since it won't have much headroom. The smaller loft--over the bed--will be a good spot for reading or for a guest to sleep. It will have a lot of headroom because, being over the bed, the joists for it will be much lower than the joists for the other loft.
And the decision-making about trade-offs continues...
I have collected some things over the last 20 years that I hoped to include in my future home. I have used a few of these things in my current home (like light fixtures), but most things have just been waiting. Enough time has gone by that some of my ideas have changed. For example, I acquired an antique claw-foot bathtub for a very good price 20 years ago--and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. Not long ago I decided that, much as I love the tub, I will not install it in a future home. The next tub I install will be one with a side door for easy entry/exit. Instead of selling the claw-foot tub, though, I am going to set it up outside so I can still take a bath eight months of the year--since my JayBee will have only a tiny shower. (Just thinking about setting up my tub outdoors makes me think of an Australian TV show, McLeod's Daughters. [I know; I don't have TV. I watched every episode of every season through Netflix.] Drover's Run had an outdoor tub; when used at night, bathers were surrounded by that vast Australian sky...[Yes, of course they were surrounded by the sky during daytime, too. :)])
Although I prefer a classic (even rustic) look, the fixtures I will install in my JayBee bathroom will have a more contemporary look. I guess the term for the look is "transitional." The toilet has smooth, clean lines (easier to keep clean!); dual flush (.9/1.6); ADA-compliant height; and one of those slow-closing lids. The sink is really cute. It's small (10" x 15.5"), but has good depth. I get annoyed having to adjust hot and cold water with separate faucets in my present sink, so I'm eager to try this single bathroom-sink faucet. The hand that is steadying the sink in this photo gives you some perspective of just how small this sink is.
Rick Lauze, of Northlander Trailers (Machiasport, Maine), sent me this photo of my finished trailer--before it was moved outside for the rest of the winter. Although the tongue is cut off on the left side of the photo, you can see part of it at the bottom of the photo.
I have been working on framing drawings, so this feeds my excitement! I need to find a way to be enthused without getting so over-amped that I don't sleep. I lost another night's sleep last night because I was so excited about a solution I had worked out for a small framing dilemma. Silly me.
Also see:
Since I've had a number of people express concern that stacking my washer and dryer might put their controls out of reach, I thought I'd post a bit more information. I took photos of my washer and dryer and very crudely "stacked" them in Photoshop (dryer on top, washer on bottom).
Note that all of the controls are on the fronts of the units. It appears that the dryer controls will be just above my forehead--not much of a reach up. I won't even have to stand on tip toe to make sure I've removed everything from the dryer!
Now, as long as I make sure there is enough vertical clearance--floor to ceiling--for the units to fit in my tiny house when stacked... :-)
(It's a bit of a stretch to add this post to the "duh" category, but I just had to do it for you, Shannon.)
