Living Room & Kitchen Floor Joists

I got a late start today...Since it rained again last night and everything was wet, I used this morning to make a run to Home Depot and the grocery store.

I hardly ran a saw today. I spent the whole day fastening joists and braces in the living room and kitchen area of the JayBee. The things that look like weird mushrooms growing in odd spots are actually spray insulation. I filled the few gaps in which the regular insulation won't fit.

The tricky part was beginning to frame in the entryway.

The only floor joists left to attach are the ones for the bedroom bumpout. I just might get to installing some subfloor tomorrow...

More Floor Progress

Today was the best day all week for working on my project--not too hot, enough clouds floating by to keep from scorching, and a nice breeze.

I finished the floor joists on the west (bathroom) end of the house!

When I said yesterday that I was screwing down the floor joists, that was an over-simplified description. Most of the joists are sitting directly above the steel ribbing on the trailer, so they can't be simply screwed in place. Where I need to, I'm using braces--so the screws holding each brace in place end up outside the rib of steel.

The joists that span the wheel wells are connected with screws through the wheel wells. I will add one brace to the middle of each of those joists as well.

On the rare occasion that a piece of framing is not sitting on top of steel and I can reach from underneath, like with this piece...

I have screwed up into the piece from underneath the trailer.

The joists that form the cantilevered bathroom bumpout are supported with upside down joist hangers. (I even chiseled the joists a bit so the hangers would lay flush with the joists.)

Where the cantilevered joists intersect the outer sill, I toescrewed the joists to the sill. And, of course, all the joists have adhesive on their undersides. (I should have stock in the company that makes the adhesive, given how much I'm using!)

I just gotta say, the fun part is cutting the pieces of wood. The time-consuming wrangling with all the pieces to get them squared up and connected--not so much fun. Seeing it finally put together as planned is very rewarding, though.

Ta Da! A completed west end. Well...just the floor-joist part. (If the edges look a bit odd, remember that the walls will go up outside the floor.)

While I was working on the JayBee today, I kept hearing an eagle "chattering" above me. Finally, I spotted him/her. I took these photos while standing on my trailer. Not a bad view!

Floor Joists are Finally Multiplying

We had some incredible thunderstorms last night, so everything was drenched this morning. I had a bit of bailing to do.

At the beginning of the day, the fog was so thick I couldn't even see the river. It took until mid morning for it all to burn off.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to make much progress until I began to attach the floor joists to the trailer. Sure enough; once I committed (and got the first one attached), I made a lot of progress. I put a bead of adhesive on the underside of each joist and screwed it down--using 24" o.c. spacing.

I decided the joists over the wheel wells should have spacers between them on the outer edges--so the edges of the plywood will be supported. I had just the pieces of wood to use for this--pieces left over from our raft of years ago. (See Doing vs. Talking post about the raft trip.) It makes me smile to think that part of the raft will be incorporated in my new tiny house.

By the end of the day, I had even cut some of the pieces to make the bumpouts on the ends of the trailer. The small bumpout on the bathroom end...

and the larger bumpout on the bedroom end.

Good progress today!

Misc Midweek Progress

I'm a bit behind on posting...

After I finished the flashing on the trailer...

I then "lost" all kinds of time on various things that were important but not visually impressive...including a half a day spent moving lumber around to more convenient staging areas (because, of course, the lumber I needed first was on the bottom) and setting up a work area with a tarp for some shelter from the sun.

I spent half a day crawling around under the trailer, finishing the leveling process I'd begun weeks ago when it was too wet and muddy to be crawling around under there. I also took pictures and studied how the trailer is constructed--in order to understand how to install the floor joists so they're on top of the steel supports.

I discovered that some hornets had started to build a nest under the trailer. It was right over my head when I got under there! It took me some time to get rid of the hornets and the nest, but I did not get stung in the process--a major victory!

I won't even try to explain how much time I lost hunting for my tape measure. First it was in my tool belt, then it wasn't. Turns out I managed to lose it on the hillside I climbed to tighten the rope that's supporting my sun shade. Aargh!

Finally, at long last, I started to cut floor joists. These are not screwed down yet, just set in place--but you get the idea.

Also see:

Trailer Under Construction

Trailer!

Trailer is Done

Trailer/Foundation Arrives!

Trailer on the Level

Trailer Prep

...

Trailer Prep

I'm on vacation this week, and the plan is to make real headway on the building front. Well, I'm off to a slow start. Yesterday I did lots of running around rather than building--car appointment, hair cut, quick run to Home Depot, blah, blah, blah... At the end of the day, I did clean off the trailer. It had sat so long waiting for me that it had accumulated a lot of schmutz all over it--sticks, leaves, seed pods, snails (tons of them!--related to the exceptionally wet season we're having, no doubt, since I don't remember ever seeing any in other years), etc. Did you hear me scream? When I moved a tarp, a garter snake dropped onto the top of my bare foot. Eek! Harmless or not, snakes freak me out.

As the Advantech plywood has aged, it has shrunk quite a bit, leaving substantial cracks on either side of the c-channel beams. I carefully cleaned out the organic matter that had accumulated in the cracks around the c-channel beams.

I don't want to have trouble with ants or any other critter that might find these cracks to be an attractive entryway into my new home, so today I worked to cover these cracks with flashing, even though it has been a very dark day--threatening to rain at any moment.

I was surprised that the flashing laid completely flat as soon as I unrolled it. (I had anticipated that it would need to be uncurled in some way.) Cutting the flashing to fit around the wheel well was easy, but folding the flashing was a real challenge. Finally, I improvised a method: I used the edge of a cinder block to help me make the fold.

Once I checked that the flashing fit exactly,

I ran beads of adhesive down both sides of the c-channel,

I put the flashing in place, and then used bricks to hold it all in place until the adhesive dries.

When I finished one side, I threw the tarp back over that side, uncovered the other side, and began to repeat the process. Unfortunately, it began to rain, so I didn't finish. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more cooperative so I can finish the flashing and begin cutting floor joists.

Update--Next Day:
Yes, I did finish the flashing on the other side of the trailer.

Also see:

Trailer Under Construction

Trailer!

Trailer is Done

Trailer/Foundation Arrives!

Trailer on the Level

...

Misc Midweek Progress

Aerial Maneuvers

I've just decided that, if I make a major career change, I'm going to become a crane operator. I thought operating an excavator was fun when I rented one years ago. How much better to make things fly through the air! I will not skimp on these pictures of my lumber order being delivered because I know Finley, especially, will appreciate every one of them.

First to back in my driveway was the boom truck.

Then, my lumber order was backed in on a flatbed dump truck.

The boom-truck operator lifted the crane,

spun it around and used it to lift all the 2x lumber,

spun back around,

lowered the load,

and set it precisely in place.

Then the crane was spun back around to the flatbed dumper to pick up all the plywood

and set it near the trailer in the driveway.

Without a load once again,

the crane spun back to the dump truck and picked up the pallet of shingles,

spun back around again,

and set the pallet in place.

After everything was set in place and the trucks left, I scurried around--moving things into the house, covering and securing everything else. I kept tripping in my yard until I finally figured out that one of the outriggers that steadied the crane while it was operating left a substantial square indentation in my lawn. Not surprising, I guess, given the size of the thing!

I also noticed I had a visitor during this fine day...