Re-applying the weather seal.

Sunday, October 16th, 2011:

Took advantage of a warm and sunny autumn day to re-apply the Flood CWF-UV weather seal on the sides of the house that endured the mold/mildew scrubbing.

The product we have been using to seal the cedar siding has come consistently and highly recommended by every person we’ve asked about such matters. We like it, as well. It rolls on smoothly, dries quickly and gives a nice warm tone to the cedar.

Many thanks to Sami Reuter, Carly Crabtree, and Linda Scruggs for grabbing up a roller and helping us out! We appreciate you.

Treating the siding to prevent more mold.

Sunday, October 9th, 2011:

We scrubbed the effected siding yesterday, getting most of the mold/mildew spots off of the tiny house. We’ve now decided to treat it with a mold inhibiting product to ensure we kill what growth is still in the porous wood before re-sealing the cedar.

Found a product that hooks right up to the hose and claims to be eco-friendly. Bathing the house went quickly, and now we’re ready to re-apply the weather seal on the two sides we scrubbed down to the wood.

Problem Solving: Round Two.

Saturday, October 8th, 2011:

We’ve run into a mold/mildew problem.

Two sides of our tiny house exploded with tiny black spots over the summer. Oddly, the two sides that were exposed to the direct sunlight spotted up. The other two sides, the ones that were constantly shaded, are as clear as the day we put the weather seal on.

We looked up some options for taking care of the mold, and found several folks recommending the use of an oxygen cleaner. Many people were cautioning away from the use of bleach, suggesting that it would break down the wood fibers in the siding.

Taking this advice, we purchased an off-brand ‘oxyclean’ type product. A little bit of elbow grease, and we’ve gotten most of the spots off. Took off a lot of the weather seal, as well. Once we clear this problem up, we’ll re-apply…

Finishing the Front of the Tiny House!

Sunday, November 28th, 2010:

Finished up the last bit of trim on the front and got the last of the cedar siding put up! It is extremely rewarding to step back and see the Tiny House completely sided. Looks sharp!

Made some progress inside as well: got the other gable wall covered with knotty pine and began laying out the plans for installing the Propane gas line.

Thanks go out to Bob and Hunter Coulson for their help and company today!

Sunday, November 14th: Finished the caulking!

Caulking the tiny house has been a pretty time consuming project, but an important one. All seams between siding pieces and around windows have now been filled in with caulk to keep water out as well as to seal the place up a bit.

Of particular importance were the gaps around the wheel wells. These are areas that could be a weak point for water due to the horizontal surfaces of the wells, creating an area that will, inevitably, catch rain. The gaps around the wheel wells were fairly large in places and needed a LOT of caulk.

Also started to work on finishing out the small pantry unit that we’ve designed for canned-goods storage!

Monday, November 8th: Furring and Caulking…

Finishing the Furring Project, Continuing the Caulking…

Put up the last strips of 1/2″ plywood and 2×4′s to make backing surfaces that will support the finished tongue and groove knotty pine for the front loft gable interior. Nice to check a small project off the list!

Now, continuing on with the caulking. Getting a thin bead around the windows was a challenge, but slowing down and taking the time to do it right was key. All in all, it is looking pretty good!

Sunday, November 7th: Siding the Front Loft Gable and Starting the Caulking Project…

Today Gabby put the Cedar siding up on the front loft gable while I began caulking the other end of the tiny house. We wrapped up the day by painting the weather treatment on the siding and the rest of the porch.

Before we shut down for the night, The Electrician-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stopped by and hooked up the five circuits we wired the other evening to the breaker box. We are setting the tiny house up to run on a 110 volt, 30 amp system -allowing us to be able to plug into either a camp ground or just an extension cord running from a friend’s house.

Thanks anonymous electrician friend!

Saturday, November 7th: Prepping the Front Loft Gable for Siding

Lots of prep work to get the front loft gable ready for siding…

First, we placed a strip of galvanized tin flashing between the wall and porch roof to keep rain from running down the front of the house. Next we placed some 2×4 blocking inside the gable end to create solid places for the siding nails to bite into. Once the blocking was in place, we cut and placed some thin luan plywood to create a small air space between the siding and the wall sheathing. Once that was in place, we put up the 1×4 cedar trim. NOW we’re ready for siding!

Another project that’s been on the list was furring out the interior loft gable walls. Until today they were just the thickness of the 2×4 rafters -on end (so 1 1/2″ thick). We need these walls to be 3 1/2″ thick, like the rest of the walls, to allow enough space for the wool insulation to do it’s job. So, we got creative and furred them out by placing a strip of 1/2″ plywood on the existing 2×4′s, and then a second layer of 2×4 on that, creating a 3 1/2″ thick ‘sandwich’. Creative, but more importantly, it worked.

Thanks goes out to Jim Shively, who is helping us arrange for a custom built front door!

Monday, October 11th: Weather-proofing the Cedar Siding

We spent another gloriously sunny fall day painting the weatherproofing finish onto the cedar siding. The first coat soaked right in, and we will be putting on a second coat some time later this week most likely. The cedar was pretty bright, with an almost patchwork look of light and dark warm red and brown tones before we got started. The finish went on cloudy and opaque, but then dried clear and darkened it all up just a bit, to an almost sepia color. It looks like it has evened out all of the tones a bit and really highlighted all of the knotts and textures. The wood grain is still quite present, and overall the little place is looking rather handsome.

Thanks to Larry Davis and Lucia Hodges for grabbing a paintbrush and jumping in with us today!

Sunday, October 10th: Wrapping up the siding project!

With both sides covered last night, the back of the tiny house took center stage today. Once again, it went up quite nicely. A few tricky cuts around the windows and the angle cuts along the roof pitch added to the excitement of getting to see what our tiny home is going to look like. It feels so much more real now!

Once all three walls were sided we turned to the inside of the tiny house to begin laying out the locations of the interior walls. The front of the house will have to wait for siding until we can install a custom-built front door and frame up the front porch roof…

From this point, we will just have to seal the siding with a weather protection product, put the corner tin on the roof, and complete the cedar facia and soffet for the shell to be complete!

Many thanks to Emma O’brien, Kyle Kluse, Sam Rueter, Tim Coffey, Kalie McGinnis, Beth Marcoot, and Richard Haas for their help with the project today!