Putting In Some Floors

Putting In Some Floors

       Julie and I had decided that we wanted the bathroom floor tiled, and the rest of the main floor hardwood. First we headed to Lowe’s and picked up the tile and supplies that we would need to install the tile. 

        I spent about an hour getting the lay-out so that I could best use the tile, and so that I didn’t end up with just a sliver at any edge. Because this was such a small room, I laid out the tile “dry” first. By doing this I was able to make all of my cuts without the need to hurry.

      Once all the cuts were made, I was able to start at the back of the room and work my way out the door as I stuck them down. I was very happy with the way everything worked out, and once grouted, it looks great.

         Our first thoughts about the hardwood was to use  5 inch wide pre-finished Hickory. It turned out that we were incredibly blessed by my boss, Stewart Langley, who sold us some 5 inch pre-finished hand scraped oak for a price that was more then generous

         It has been a while since I installed flooring but I guess it’s like riding a bike. I was able to get it all in, in just a couple of evenings.

~Terry

Sheetrock (yuck)

Sheetrock (yuck)

         Time to close up the walls! I have to be honest, I have been dreading this part. I don’t mind hanging the sheet rock, but I was not at all looking forward to the mudding and taping part.

         I had to get creative with some home made scaffolding to reach the vaulted portion of the ceiling. Once I had that figured out, my Son-in-law Brandon gave me a much needed hand getting the sheetrock hung on the ceiling.

        

Once all of the sheetrock was screwed to the walls, it was time to do the nasty….mud.

This process took me about a total of three weeks, and I came home often looking like an old snowman, but little by little I got it done.

         The last step was to get the new sheetrock sealed with some primer. It looked so good to see finished walls and ceiling all one color. I got some much needed help from my Grandson priming the loft!

         

With the sheetrock work complete, we move on to flooring….

Rough Plumbing

Rough Plumbing

         I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures of the rough plumbing, but it really isn’t much to look at anyway. I got a bit ahead of myself with the insulation post because I had to have the rough plumbing installed before I could insulate (I actually worked on both of these things at the same time).

         One of the nice things about a tiny house is that the pipe runs are pretty short. I still had to account for all of the things in a full sized home; shower, toilet, bath sink, washing machine, hot water heater, kitchen sink, ice maker, but it isn’t very far between each item.

         I used Pex supply line and PVC drain line. Once everything was installed, I had to have it all inspected. Because we don’t  have the well in yet, I had to do a pressure test for the inspection using air. It took me a bit to get all the preparation done for the pressure test, but on inspection day the supply lines held at 50lbs for 5 min. and the drain held at 8 lbs. for 5 min.

         With yet another inspection passed, it is time to close in the walls!

Insulation

Insulation

Once all of the wiring was in place and the rough-in inspection was passed, it was time to start insulating. Because we had a vaulted ceiling, we had to install an air chase in each of the bays across the roof. This will allow air to circulate between the roof and the insulation so that there is no moisture that can cause the roof to rot or mold. The chase is just a shaped piece of Styrofoam that gets stapled from the bottom to the top.

 Once installed, we were able to start hanging the itchy stuff.

Our building code requires the use of different “R” value insulation in different areas. The roof has R-30, the walls are R-15, and the floor (because we built on piers) are R-19.

 Little by little we got all of the insulation installed, and just in time, it was getting cold out!

Way Behind

Way Behind

       So once again I have gotten WAY behind on our blog. So much has happened over the last few months, and I’ll do my best to get caught up over the next few days.

         The first BIG event was the installation of our septic system. This took place just a couple of days before Christmas. I knew that the contractor had us on his schedule, but I wasn’t sure when he was going to start. I showed up at the farm just after work on a Friday to find that the tank was already in the ground and that they had started working on the leech field. 

At this point, the septic was the single biggest expense that we had come up against. By Saturday afternoon, we had a functional system installed and ready to go.